This week, we are excited to introduce the first of our environmental literacy lesson series, Bananas About Bananas, complete with teacher guides, interactive quizzes, and board games for students to play!
Bananas About Bananas advances environmental literacy through a series of 3 lessons based on English language arts standards. Bananas About Bananas is a lesson best suited for Kindergarten and First-grade learners.
Through readings, games, and discussions, students trace the journey of a banana from the farm to the home and beyond! Students consider the environmental impact of the banana’s journey and envision a greener approach.
Click the link below to sign up and receive access to all three lessons in this series!
Relevant Links
In the All About Birds program, students will explore the wide variety of birds typically found in our local neighborhoods. Learn about the unique features of bird beaks, feet, and feathers that help these beautiful animals thrive.
CAELI Community-Based Partner Hub
The Hub promotes environmental literacy by building educator awareness of environmental education community-based partners and their products and services and fosters educator-partner relationships for increased student enrichment and engagement.
In the Farm Discovery fields, garden, and animal pens at Live Earth Farm, students from diverse backgrounds learn how to care for the health of those three interconnected systems. Through sustainable farming and hands-on nutrition education, Farm Discovery field trip participants learn how caring for themselves can also support healthy ecosystems, economies, and communities.
Fall Farm to Fork Field Trips: For 1st grade through middle school students, this program helps students to make the important connection between farms and the food on their dinner table. Winter Feeling Fine with Fresh Food Field Spring Science Exploration Field Trips: For 1st through 4th graders, grade-specific themes align with NGSS: (1) Structure and Function/Plant Parts; (2) Pollination; (3) Life Cycles; (4) Structure and Function/Internal Plant Parts Sowing the Seeds of Wonder Field Trips: For PreK/K, this program gives young learners hands-on experiences with the source of their food
News and Events
Summer Training at Home 2021
Jun 14-25, 2021 Edible Schoolyard Project
The event is open to all and free of charge. Join this exciting series of workshops, webinars, and skill shares that will bring together edible educators from around the world.
The Children’s Environmental Health Series
Jun. 15 and 22, 2021 NEEF
This series engages medical and public health professionals in discussions that explore prominent issues affecting marginalized people and presents evidence-based methods for integrating best practices for broad implementation.
After Dark Online: Get Up, Stand Up: Organizing for Environmental Justice in Richmond
Jun. 17, 2021 Exploratorium
Hear from prominent Richmond environmental justice organizations about their work to connect with the land as a form of resistance—educating the public, empowering residents, shaping policy, and more.
Petrifying Climate Change
Jun. 03, 2021 Hakai Magazine
Researchers want to combat climate change by chemically converting carbon dioxide into rock on a grand scale.
California moves to disentangle its spending from global deforestation
Jun. 03, 2021 Friends of the Earth
Recent research from Friends of the Earth concluded that up to 25 percent of California’s public purchasing may be linked to deforestation in sensitive tropical and boreal forests.
How Returning Lands to Native Tribes Is Helping Protect Nature
Jun. 03, 2021 e360
From California to Maine, land is being given back to Native American tribes who are committing to managing it for conservation. Some tribes are using traditional knowledge, from how to support wildlife to the use of prescribed fires, to protect their ancestral grounds.
Don’t compromise science when protecting water quality in the nation’s rivers and streams: Derrick Z. Jackson
Jun. 03, 2021 EHN
Follow the science – which Obama used and Trump ditched – in developing a new definition of “waters of the US” under the Clean Water Act.
Bringing tech innovation to wildfires: 4 recommendations for smarter firefighting as megafires menace the US
Jun. 08, 2021 The Conversation
Record-breaking fires over the past decade suggest the western U.S. has entered a new era of megafires. They are fires that produce massive amounts of smoke that can kill thousands of people prematurely and contribute to climate change.
3 ways to work with nature to boost biodiversity
Jun. 09, 2021 World Economic Forum
Returning land to its natural state is essential to boost the quality and quantity of the ecosystems that support plant, bird, wildlife, and insect species.
COP26 launches environment education packs for UK schools and students
Jun. 10, 2021 Gov.uk
Schools across the UK are being encouraged to start a conversation on climate change with their students, ahead of the UK hosting global climate summit COP26 later this year.