I was in class three times last week learning about land and water. The first was Laura Honda’s 4th grade class at Manor Elementary School in Fairfax, California. Laura is a Teacher Ambassador for the Education and Environment Initiative Curriculum (EEI) and uses the EEI extensively with her students. Laura was teaching Lesson 5 from […]
In fall of 2013, California’s State Board of Education (SBE) adopted a slightly modified version of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)* intended to reinvent science education in the state. This adoption triggered a series of events that can lead California into the forefront of science education for the 21st Century. Released in early 2013 […]
Recently, Ten Strands hosted its first event at the Brower Center in Berkeley—a great venue for networking, building community and viewing a documentary, where our special guest David Gelber introduced his Emmy Award winning series Years of Living Dangerously. Photos from the event can be viewed on the Ten Strands Facebook Page. People involved in […]
Our Teacher Ambassadors (TAs) are teachers who advocate for environment-based education. They are teachers who believe that the real key to combating climate change and the destruction of our natural world is through teaching future generations every day in the classroom about the environment and how it ties in to all the other subjects they […]
In 2010 when I stepped down from my long-term position as principal of the K-12 Head-Royce in Oakland, I set out on a journey to help grow greener, more sustainable schools. Aware of all that I needed to learn, I visited well over 125 public and private schools serving K-12 students, a number of colleges […]
(Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood ~ Nina Simone) My esteemed colleagues here at Ten Strands have been putting out some great blogs for a few months now, as you may know. Initially they encouraged me to join the fray, but they finally gave up after several polite (and not-so-polite) declinations. Chalk it up to shyness […]
We’ve just completed our first full school year of partnering with the Office of Education and the Environment (OEE) at CalRecycle and the results are in! Our focus last year was to increase awareness of the Education and Environment Initiative Curriculum (EEIC) among California teachers, curriculum leaders, and administrators, and encourage more teachers to introduce […]
I know wildfires are good for a forest, and play a necessary natural role in maintaining our ecosystem. However, as I think about the magnificent Purisima Creek redwoods towering over me during a mountain bike trek last weekend, or a dear friend who lost her family home to the Beaver Creek wildfire last August, I […]