Sustainability and STEM

March blew in so very quickly! Time for renewable and non renewable resources lessons, tied to natural resources, as well as to wind and water powered hands on STEM challenges. I love using recyclables to let my kiddos create!

First things first, students need to know what sustainable resource means. Doing something in a way that minimizes damage to the environment and avoids using up natural resources, for example renewable energy. 

Here is a list of renewable resources: (can be created again in our life time)

• wind
• water
• sun
• wildlife
• plants

Examples on non-renewable resources: (can not be recreated in our life time)

• oil
• natural gas
• petroleum
• coal
• gasoline

An anchor chart can help you discuss the different vocabulary words and help them visualize the difference. Here is a quick video to help you also explain the concepts of being green in a way that kids can connect!

For older students you could use a little bit more detailed explanation to show it with a three pillar model as well as a global concept: global, economic and social

There are a ton of great activities that you can incorporate along with teaching your students right away at the beginning of the year how to live sustainably and help the classroom, school, community, and planet!

Great Ideas:
 -recycled paper is great and when you make a card for someone with it....so special
-toilet paper tubes can be used for so many great projects...from binoculars, robots, 
-cans can be reused as a pencil holder, but if you can get the big ones form your lunchroom, they make great robots, drums, utensil holders for a present, paint them and have the kids take it home to put their stray plastic bags in, and a great after school project you can  make games for a school carnival!
-start recycling efforts in your school. Think outside the box. Try recycling old markers!

-plastic bottles make a great plant holder, water filter project, bubble blower, car, bird feeder...
-Kurig Cups are in mass in our teachers' lounge. We could store our frozen herbs from our school garden in them, plant seeds in them, turkey or snowman craft, mini pom pom shooters for a STEM project, perfect for an anemometer...
-  egg cartons make perfect animals such as bugs and caterpillars, they make great seed starters, and rock collectors, even lovely flowers! These flowers were started in an egg carton for our school garden! 

For more great ideas that include writing, STEM, research, qr codes and more...check out this newly updated 30 page Sustainability Pack! Find this Sustainability and Earth Day Pack HERE!

I love teaching sustainability all year long! This is a great summer school, back to school, and science unit for anytime!

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Planting Gold with Potatoes Science and Social Studies Connections

I like to start with a book called What's For Lunch...Potatoes by Claire Llewellyn. 

Planting Potatoes is a great way to show your students how their food grows. They can be easily grown in a garbage can or even a laundry basket! I first started planting potatoes outdoors six years ago when I got tired of the FOSS Plant unit planting potatoes in a cup, so why not create a school garden to extend our learning. What we found by planting a garden helped us realize that planting a seed is magic! Not only that, learning that food doesn't all come from a seed from a seed pack is pretty neat, too!

Don't want to plant potatoes? That is okay, too. These lessons can be taught with a bag of potatoes from the grocery store. Want to extend the concept to connecting the Westward Movement and gold rush...keep reading because simulations are perfect for cross curricular activities and getting kids up and moving!

Getting Started: 
What do you need for an introduction potato activity? Seed potatoes and learning stations. Let's get growing!


Next, you can show a little video that shows the process of how they can grow potatoes at home or at school.

Using Potatoes to Learn Science:
Here, we go...now it's time for students to learn about the life cycle of the plant, how it gets from field to fork and also different ways that we eat potatoes. I used  this great site when I first got started it has a ton of resources and ideas: Growing Your Own Potatoes Link

Science Stations Potato Pack

 We use the list we generate in class usually getting over 20 different ways that they are eaten. Here is a few to start with: boiled, baked, chips, pancakes, potato salad, JoJo's, potato skins, German Potato Salad, fries, tater tots, wedges, curly fries, sweet potatoes...

Have them learn about how food gets to our table by watching a quick video and then writing about it!

Interested in your own Potato Pack? Follow the link HERE: Science Stations: Potato Pack


Connecting Cultural Awareness: 
Another great way to add a bit of social studies to your lesson is to discuss where potatoes originated and what cultures eat potatoes at home as a staple food. Europeans typically brought their love of potatoes over and continued to eat them which is why some families eat more than others. We have a great discussion about what everyone's staple food is from rice to tortillas we learn a little bit about our heritage.

Kids that finish my stations get to go and play Mr. Potato Head where I have one of my own children's favorite toy. If you don't have that, have kids make their own by looking at a Mr. Potato Head picture.

Plant some potatoes in a bucket and let them sit until Fall! This is a great way to continue a project that another class started. You can have the planters write letters to give clues as to what is in the bucket or better yet they can go gold mining!

Gold Mining and STEM Connections: 
The best part about planting potatoes is that we get to pick them in the fall! I not only get to see each of my students year after year, I then can continue a lesson! However, not everyone can do this, so a great way to tie STEM activities to a social studies connection is to learn about the gold rush! I help them learn about this in science and then they get to dig for gold...Yukon Gold that is! Tie in measuring and writing and this is a perfect well rounded mini-unit~

Want to give a simulation a try and then connect engineering a wagon and prospector's tool...this pack is for you! Grab the STEM Gold Rush Science and Social Studies Connections HERE!

One potato...two potato...three potato...four, learning about potatoes can be fun and so much more!

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Sunshine Where Have You BEAN...Adding Jack and The Bean Stalk STEM

The sun has not come out for days...it has been cold here in Wisconsin and indoor recess is killing them! (and the teachers...) Time to pull out the fairy tale STEM packs to save the day!  Here are some quick and easy ways to add fairy tale STEM to your lessons!

Get a variety of fairy tale books that cover the theme you are trying to cover. 

For example, Jack and the Beanstalk. I use Epic Books for mine. It's a free site for teachers when you sign up.

Tie it into what you are already doing.

Using Jack and the Beanstalk can be used during a sound unit if you choose to  make a harp. We make a harp/stringed instrument using cardboard and rubber bands. We cover pitch and vibrations and volume.

I also love to use Jack and the Beanstalk with my plant unit in spring. We grow beans in our school garden and add the STEM activity of how tall of a beanstalk can you build using just masking tape and green bulletin board paper. We add leaves and jack to the vine.

You can also add activities such as building a parachute to get Jack safely to the ground. We use different types of materials to test to see which one has better air resistance. We set up a bull's eye for the parachutes to land on to see if Jack gets safely down.

Add a twist...discuss how Jack did not do the right thing by taking something that didn't belong to him.  Have them build a safe way for the giant to get down to get his harp and goose back. You can have them create the biggest giant out of a certain amount of paper and measure each of the giants and compare. This adds a little math to the equation.

If you want to save yourself time...get these activities all in one place. Find the whole pack HERE.

Bean there....done that and the kids loved it! Add a great version of Jack and the Beanstalk...a fractured fairy tale...a fun comparison and contrasting connection along with measuring how high each beanstalk is and you are set to go!

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Garden Weeds Otherwise Known As Problems In Your Garden

Planting a garden hasn't been all rainbows and unicorns! There are a lot of problems that can come up when you plant a school garden with kids. Today, I can't wait to share with you some common problems we faced in our school garden and some solutions to get you on the right track!

Problem 1: Take for example when seeds do not germinate! That is the worst thing when kids are waiting for their little seeds to have a little sprout growing from it and it never happens...you have to figure out what to do and my suggestion is to teach a lesson in germination. You can also create an anchor chart prior to planting that helps them understand what seeds need to grow. 

Quick Tip: If you plant seeds without a name on the container or baggie, then the kiddos own all of the seeds that grow or don't grow. We then go to the garden with partners to plant what grew as a group. It seems to eliminate any issues when seeds don't grow (especially their's!)

Another thing you can do then is to discuss why a seed did not germinate. I do that before we even grow a plant as a type of check off list we can refer back to which helps us go back to that anchor chart to predict and make judgments. It really helps your learners understand what might have occurred. 

Problem 2: Another problem that can exist is planting in the garden and then having it die on you. That is an awful feeling when an entire crop isn't productive or the sun was too hot and burned your plants, or even over the weekend they weren't wet enough and dried up...I have to say that all of the above has happened to me at one time or another over the last five years. I can also add a hungry squirrel who ate all of our squash...pumpkins...sunflowers... I can also add to that by saying one year the only flowers we had on our pumpkins were males....I had to teach a bit about the birds and the bees...

Quick Tip: Once again take the opportunity to have a teachable moment such as teaching the life cycle or what plants need to survive. Head back to an anchor chart that you create with your students! It really is a great way to reference!

Here are some other fine examples of why our plants died...I have been know to  put them underneath a grow light and you leave them for over a weekend and you  forget to water them....

or you  forget to turn off the lights because when you come back...you have fried your plants...


Problem 3: Shall we talk about weeds!

Weeds....weeds...and more weeds!!!! There are always weeds to contend with! 

Who is going to pick them? When are you going to pick them?  Who is going to be out in that garden with the kids talking about how weeds are not going to do well for your garden plants because they eat up all of the nutrients in the soil? What are you going to do with the weeds once you pick them? Compost? Leave them lay? Put them in bins for someone to haul away? All things to think about...

Quick Tips: There are great lesson, but when kids pick the plants instead of the weeds there is another problem within a problem. Pick the weed you want them to get for you. I then have them focus on just that weed. You can give each group a different weed to pull, but remember to help them by teaching them leaf structure. You will always have someone pick the wrong thing, but that is a lesson in itself!

Problem 4: All your plants are growing who is going to watch them who is going to pick the vegetables?

Without a team trying to figure out how to harvest those vegetables and maintain watering them and all of the other things that come along with growing a school garden can get overwhelming!

Quick Tips:  Establish your team that will help you water, weed, and harvest. Here are some great options that we have tried:

1. Remind 101 is set up for parents that sign up before school is done to come in and weed, water, and pick. The reward is to take vegetables home. I remind them what to take home and what to let grow.

2. Teach a summer garden class. Each Monday, six weeks out of the summer I teach a garden class. I teach STEM and science lessons and then we weed, plant, and harvest. This helps teach students what the process of growing a garden is all about from start to finish. 

3. Have Americorp help you or other agencies looking to volunteer and help. They are always looking for volunteer hours and I have had great success with volunteers. Check your local garden clubs, Master Gardeners, and University Agriculture classes, too!

One more quick tip that I always get asked...What do you do with all of the vegetables you harvest?

1. We do ding dong ditch with a special garden note on it so when we go to neighborhood homes they know where the veggies came from.

2. I go to our local food pantry, donate, and then take a picture of them receiving it...we want to teach paying it forward.

3. I know where some of my poorest families live as well as our low income housing apartments and I actually like the ice cream truck open my trunk of my car and give out bags of vegetables! They know my car by now and come running! I had to figure out how to divy out the vegetables because they actually remember from week to week who got the "cabbage" or "zucchini".

4. I harvest and bag and I leave them at the front of the school with a sign, please take one! I also go to our local pool that is right behind the school and find families to give food away to!

5. We also plant a ton of vegetables that will be harvested for our school lunchroom. So whether it is our egg roll garden or our coleslaw garden, the cabbages and carrots will wait until our kids get back. Our popcorn garden and pumpkin patch can wait until fall! We replant our peas and pick our beans all season as well as lettuce and kale! 

Are considering a school garden?  I want you to know that planting a seed does really help kids grow, but you also have to take into consideration all of the other components that make a school garden successful. When you have those all in place before you even start putting a seed in the ground you can find out that a seed is truly magical. 

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School Gardens In The Summer: Tips For Maintaining

Our school has had a school garden for fives years! I am the lovely facilitator of that garden...I say that because it is not MY garden...it is the children's' garden! I often get asked how we can maintain a garden and second how it can last that long. Often times, schools want to get on the school garden bandwagon and then after a year find out that it is hard to maintain. If you are remotely interested in starting a garden at your school then here are some quick tips to get you "growing"...

Tip 1:
You NEED to have one person (or more if you are lucky!) that is truly dedicated to maintaining and advocating for your garden. That is me at our school. You then need your administration and your maintenance crew on board as well. Our garden has changed from its original state due to the garden beds being too hard to mow around...the herbs were placed in metal cans which can be unsafe (but we wanted to contain them so that they didn't get out of control...they can do that you know) We as a team, find ways to make sure that our district policies are being followed and yet still hold true to what our vision is.

You need your administration to be on board and part of your team. Whether that is support of your plan, seeing academic benefits, or getting down and dirty along with the kids as they learn how to garden, you truly cannot do it without them on your team!

And let's just say when your administration sees it as a benefit they can find ways to fund the project and sustain it for years to come. (I will get to that next)

Tip 2:
You will need to find funding, grants, and donations. Each year, I have been able to find "free" money that helps support our school garden. Whether it be the Anthem Watch Us Sprout Grant which provided us this year with soil, books, hundreds of free seeds to distribute to our families and students, as well as amazing banners that we display in our lunchroom that supports healthy eating habits!

Find a local greenhouse that might be willing to donate. If you have a composting business close by, call them to see if they can give a deal to a local school garden. People LOVE the idea of kids growing and may be excited enough to donate or give a product at a reduced price!

Tip 3:
Find ways to integrate the garden into the curriculum. We have a unique situation at our school...I teach each and every student. That means over 400 students come to me for Science, STEM, Gardening. You name it...I teach it! The beauty of this model is that I then can work with each grade level to take part in gardening. (Watch for this week's series for ideas on how to grow plants with kids!)

Kindergartners plant a kinder"garden" which is pumpkins, zucchini, and gourds.
First Graders plant flowers to learn about insect pollination. Sunflowers are great to grow as well as daffodils.
Second Graders plant potatoes and then gold mine for them in fall to tie in Social Studies and the Westward Movement as well as lettuce, spinach, kale, and peas. We use the FOSS Plant unit to start us off, but then I deviate.
Third Graders plant an egg roll and coleslaw garden. We plant cabbage which is sponsored by Bonnie Plants (free cabbage plants for the annual cabbage contest. Find the Link here: http://bonniecabbageprogram.com/ ) We also plant carrots for our coleslaw and egg rolls!
Fourth Graders plant the Three Sisters Garden which ties in native american history. That includes Beans, squash, and corn.
Fifth Graders plant a victory garden as they learn about WWII. They plant kohlrabi, tomatoes, peppers, and anything else we want to stick in the ground.

I know that this may not be how your school teaches science so here are some ideas....
-each grade level can be assigned special vegetables and an area to plant them in
-someone that is interested can have a container garden that they watch and learn from
-facilitators can teach lessons, plant seeds, start them at school and send them home
-interested teachers can work together to grow a school garden, it can be part of an after school program, or even a summer school class.

Tip 4:
Just do it. I cannot tell you how many people I talk to that want to start a school garden and then just sit and wait for everything to fall in place just perfectly....nothing is ever perfect. We learned from our mistakes, changed them as we went, and continue to learn as we go!

 Your team, whoever it is that is part of your plan, can find an area for your garden, create a design, decide what to plant, figure out who waters, weeds, picks, and shares the harvest.  (In this week's series, I will share with you different ways to use your bounty!)

Tip 5:

How do you keep it growing? Summer weeding, watering, and picking and then what do you do with it? All things to think about. In the past I have tried a lot of different methods. Here are a few ideas for you...
-Americorp volunteers. They always need hours.
-United Way. If they weed and pick ...they can keep some of the harvest.
-Parent and Family volunteers. I used Remind 101 after a digital sign up link went into our school newsletter. It is sometimes hard for them to remember to I send a reminder with this app.
-I use my summer school program to tie gardening into the STEM based curriculum that I developed. We use STEM Little Red Hen to teach teamwork and hard work come first before the reward. We then weed and then eat!
-I have an underground irrigation system that I wrote a grant for...so watering is not an issue for me, however utilize your helpers, custodians, school programs that can help with this chore.

This week, I will be sharing more tips, epic fails you can learn from, as well as celebrations! I will always say...a seed is magic. You just have to get "growing" to find that out!

This pack has been worked on for over three years. I now use this pack for my kindergarten though third graders.

Here is a link to a free portion of this pack...Let's just call it a "FREEBEE"! FREE-BEE For You Found HERE!

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Summer School Can Be Cool!

Summer is now here and I am just got done with school... now it's time for Summer School Community Connections. This means I get the kids after they are in the morning session and now it is the afternoon. For me my Community Connection is STEM garden club. In the past I have taught strictly  Garden Club, but after seeing their exhausted faces after not only going to school 9 months out of the year with such rigor, I could not put them through any more let's learn a ton from a book or go outside for an hour and connect to nature. That is when I see discipline issues...when they just can't take anymore learning. 

 Let's just say this Monday, I was a little nervous because I saw these kids goofing around and not focus in the gym as I went to get them. It was kind of scary they weren't my students from my school...they were at MY school...and they were not having any of the I am going to be a listener thing!

 These kiddos are  not used to STEM activities so the test was going to be whether or not they could handle calming down and focusing and using their brain to build something absolutely amazing...absolutely summer centered... and garden connected!

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Let's Get Growing...Five Ways To Grow With Your Students

It is that time of year at our school...garden time! We were the proud recipients of a Farm to School Grant five years ago and we are still growing strong!

This week we started planting seeds in two grade levels. So I thought I would give you some tips on how to plant seeds with your students...

 1. Have a planting station ready with soil, seeds, water, trays, and towels
2. Preteach how to plant seeds and practice this mantra:
-scoop
-pat
-poke
-drop
-cover
-water

3. While some students are planting have an activity for the others to do...I usually have them do an activity such as how to read a seed packet, how to plant a seed, or what do seeds need.

4. What they will be planted in? We do peet pots now, we have tried cups with holes in the bottom (too expensive), milk cartons (need lots of water and hard to cover with plastic to keep the water cycle doing the job), we have tried egg cartons, too (too little for my taste)

5. Where will you put the containers or we like to call them seed babies? We have grow lights...I mean huge ones, but if you don't...use the window sill or you can rig up a light source using pvc pipes and florescent grow lights found at hardware stores.

The big think is not over water, under water, have them get too leggy...okay gardening isn't an easy task, but when I see that a seed is magic and they can put their plants in the ground when it is warm enough it is worth the work to keep the babies alive!


Need some help with your plant unit? Check out this plant pack that I just finished up on!

FIND THE PLANT PACK HERE!

Let's get growing together! Plant a seed...plant ideas for your students...learning to garden is a life long skill that they can take with them. Whether it be in a small cup, a container, or a garden...growing seeds can really be a great way to bring the outdoors in!

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Earth Day: Planting a Seed with Three Easy Steps

Wanting to teach about Earth Day, but don't know where to get started? First, don't just jump on the bandwagon without knowing a little bit about how Earth Day came to be...

Earth Day...How did this "holiday" even get started? The book that inspired Earth Day was the Silent Spring written by Rachel Carson which dealt with the state of the environment and what was happening to our air, water, forests, and animals.  Earth Day is the  largest secular holiday which beats Valentines Day and Halloween! 

1969...the year I was born...yes I am getting up there... people were getting really upset with what we were doing to our environment from the use of  DDT which significantly impacted the Eagle population to the pollution of our water ways caused by the dumping of chemicals into our rivers, lakes, streams  from factories around the country. 

The worst oil spill of the time occurred in 1969 as well. Senator Gaylord Nelson from my state of Wisconsin started taking a look at ways we could teach others about what we were doing to our environment. Our significant impact on the Earth from population growth to climate change continues to be a problem both politically and environmentally, but how can we continue to help our future generations learn about the importance of saving our Earth, going green, recycling, growing gardens, appreciating nature...without causing other issues? 

On April 22nd, 1970 the first Earth Day was celebrated.  Teach in's were used to help educate others on what impact we have on the Earth is and what the devastating impact Earth faces if we continue down this path. Grass roots levels organized to help the cause in 1970 with  over 20 million Americans celebrated Earth Day that first year!   The Environmental Protection Agency was created which  laid  the groundwork for the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act to name a few. 

How can we take what they did back in 1970 and teach our students that they can make a difference just by the choices they make? We want to help our students learn about the environment and we care about our world so that we all  can make good choices for our future! 

Here are three simple ideas:

1. Show a song or video. Then have them write about what they heard. This simple song is about 8 principles for a better world! Respecting and caring for ALL living things from trees to seeds, animals big and small...a great message!

2. Have students go outside and just take in their environment! Draw what they see. Write down what living things they can observe. Give them time to really look at their surroundings for plants and animals,  and nature!  Let them breath in the clean air. Then have them share ways to go green with each other! 

This one one of my favorite Earth Day memories! Sitting and taking it all in until you just need to share with the teacher what you saw!!!! I love her excitement as she is ready to tell me her observations!

3. Have them connect with an activity about sustainability or going green!
From STEM lessons, to sustainability concepts, or even an energy activity a hands-on science connection is a great way to get your students connecting with their environment and also become problem solvers as they tackle some of our environments biggest issues.

Building a wind turbine can be complex or simple. Differentiating to meet your level of comfort is key. As an energy certified teacher, I made a wind turbine that can be tested after the students create their fans. You can produce wind powered cars...solar ovens, sun dials...All it takes though is planting that seed!

Taking the time to teach about Earth Day can come from a book, a video, a quick writing prompt or even a STEM project, but the important thing is that we are teaching our students to be stewards of the Earth and that EACH day can be EARTH day!  

Interested in any of the Earth Day challenges? Check out my Earth Day Resources HERE!

Let's celebrate the Earth! Stop by the Science School Yard TPT store for  an EARTH DAY FREEIBE, TOO!

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Three Easy Steps to make Heredity or Learned Behavior Connections

We are starting our plant unit shortly after break. It is my favorite time of year! Teaching my 400 students about the power of a garden is thrilling. Even better when I can use our FOSS Insect and Plants units,  as well as NGSS standards in my lessons is perfect!

How can you take NGSS standards and time it into a reading lesson, writing lesson, or even your own science curriculum can be easy with these simple steps.

STEP 1: Find NGSS standards that tie into your curriculum

I have to teach plants and insects so finding a way to teach this with an activity is key! I have to teach these concepts so they are in FOSS and in NGSS. This is the connection I am seeking! 

 For first grade a perfect connection can come with the Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits Standard for 1st grade. This sounds quite complicated, but here is a simple way to do that.

The standard states, "make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals look like, but not exactly like,  their parents."

This strand is repeated again in 3rd grade with the same standard, however they add, "analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variations of these traits exist in a group of similar organisms."

Step 2: Find an activity that will allow your students to see the standards in action or help them make a visual connection

Now, what to do. I came up with a simple lesson for you to tie a fun activity to both grade levels!

Let's make bugs! All you need is three body shapes...I chose triangles, circles, and hearts. I cut them out of colored paper...all the same color I might add. 

Next, make shapes for the top, you could also make wings, but we discuss how some insects have colorful exoskeletons. 

Now, it's time to cut out legs. I have the students get three and cut them in half after we discuss that insects have 6 legs.

Finally, I buy puff balls for the kids to pick as eyes.  

I get the kiddos into groups of two. I call each student one and two. One's go and get their bug parts: 1 body, 1 top piece, 3 legs to cut in half, and two eyes. Twos can now come up. To get them thinking differently, they can come up as a team picking if they want to be the same or different. You can even shake dice and evens mean you are the same and odds are you are different!

Once bugs are glued together, time to make the baby bug. Ones are the mother bug, and twos are the daddy bug. To set up the cards, print pieces that state mom's body, dad's body, new body. I have included the cards as a freebie below!!!

I then glue them on a colored paper. Each part is on a different color. They take turns picking the parts and going to the designated spot for the baby bug parts. 

The best part is that they are able to compare how their baby has inherited certain traits from the parents! Refer back to the NGSS standards to connect what they now know!

Step 3: Pull it all together with a vocabulary review or quiz

We made an anchor chart with the definitions and examples that we came up with. I also have cards made up that we put on the correct part of our chart. These sheets can be found in my Heredity Pack on TPT. 

The perfect pack for teaching NGSS Heredity Standards! HERE

I find that my students, in any grade that I teach, struggle with the Tier 3 words. New words need visuals and they need to be repeated, displayed, manipulated...the more exposure they get to the science terms the more retention you will see! So when you can add an art related project that can really show vocabulary words that time to NGSS standards...then you are set!

The NGSS standards that I focus on are:

1-LS- 3: Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like their parents. 

3-LS3-1.  Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits

Thanks for stopping by...You can find the cards and quiz freebie HERE!

This activity is a perfect way to tie in your insect unit with NGSS first and 3rd grade standards! The freebie can also be found in the large heredity pack HERE!

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Plugging Into Environmental Education

 I was asked last week about the importance of environmental education and why I spend the effort in my science classes teaching students about the outdoors.  We have an extensive farm to school garden and are recognized as a Green and Healthy School. Environmental lessons are key to helping save our planet.  My answer was simple...

Having nature based activities not only meets many of the new NGSS standards, but it engages both boys and girls in a hands-on way! Here are some other key components to why we need to add environmental education into our school week.

Sustainability Lessons and Activities

1. Connections
Environmental Education connects students to the outdoors and disconnects them from their virtual worlds that this generation of students is living in.

2. Service Learning
Service learning is defined by the National Service Learning Clearinghouse as "a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities."

Whether that be a neighborhood clean-up and recycling effort or helping a local wildlife organization with fundraising efforts students can learn the value of the needs in their community outside of their own lives.

3. Stewards of The Earth
Let's admit it...we have done a pretty good job messing up the Earth lately. Landfills are filling...we are using our fossil fuels at a rapidly growing rate...we are going to need the help of this generation to come up with some viable solutions!

Teaching our students about the outdoor world outside of their classroom walls will help to improve their understanding of the world around them. From planting a school garden, to composting...teaching  about renewable resources or taking pond samples to test the alkaline levels...it is our responsibility to help our students learn to use and protect our natural environment through conservation and sustainable lessons and modeling positive behaviors.

Aldo Leapold once said, "We abuse land because we see it as a commondity belonging to us. Wehn we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect." 

              Stop back to learn more ways to include environmental education into your Science School Yard!

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