My kids are environmental superstars! There is something very special about teaching students about decomposers in my 4th grade classroom and then watching them excited to be a part of the Green Team. They work very hard teaching other kids how to dispose of their lunches by sorting compost, recycling, and trash. They have a zeal […]
Over the last year, I’ve had the privilege of serving as the Co-Chair of the Environmental Literacy Task Force, a group of extraordinary environmental education leaders from around the state, convened by California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson. This effort could not have come at a more critical and propitious time. As members of […]
On September 15, 2015, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson released the much anticipated A Blueprint for Environmental Literacy: Educating Every California Student In, About and For the Environment at a press conference at Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco. The Blueprint was created over the course of a year by a 47-member Environmental […]
Welcome to a new year of learning in Room 101! Our class is filled with twenty-seven third graders and me—the one who has learned with and from my students for 30 years. As you look around the room you might notice Julius Squeezer, our 35-year-old rosy boa on the science table. Or you might head […]
I am a huge proponent of organics! For as long as I can remember, organic food has been a staple of my life, and a cause I believe in and fight for passionately. Certified organic agriculture has an enormous positive impact on personal and public health, local communities, farm workers and their families (who bear the brunt of […]
The youth have such an amazing way of giving adults perspective. Recently, I have been volunteering and mentoring a diverse group of middle school students. During my time with them I have been impacted by many things, but one thing in particular has nestled itself into my head and my heart. While working in the […]
Since the Green Schools National Network was launched in 2010, I have attended each of the five national conferences, and this year’s gathering in Virginia Beach, Virginia demonstrated that the national movement for healthy, environmentally sustainable schools is making significant progress. Led by executive director Jenny Seydel, the mission of the GSNN is […]
Curricula are like tools: in the right hands magic happens, learning is made relevant, and learners are inspired. Deploying diverse instructional resources so students can build upon their own interests, life knowledge, and place in the world is especially important in serving 21st century learners. The task before us with the new science standards (NGSS) […]