Think and Eat Green @ School Summer Institute at UBC, July 2012

Think and Eat Green @ School

You’ll reap the biggest benefits of the Institute if you can attend with a small team from your school, and if you have a plan or a firm intention to start a food garden at school.

That being said, being surrounded by creative thinkers and problem solvers is a great way to spend a day (or three).

Each day offered choices of sessions: Tools in the Garden; Lawns to Loaves; Teaching Science in the Garden; Watering and Irrigation; Cooking up Curriculum and Eating the (PL)Outcomes; The Gonder’s Neck; Season Extension in the Garden; Cooking in Cramped Spaces; Farm to School: Integrating Local Food into the Kitchen, Lunchroom and Classroom.

In short – come with a problem; leave with a solution.

Coffee, Snacks and Lunch were provided all three days, as well as dinner, on the final day. The food alone is worth the trip – the ideas, the company… icing on the cake!

It was all very accessible, entry-level information intended to help you start from zero and find a garden that suits your school community. Of course, this can be adapted to help you expand, improve or rescue an existing garden.

Best tip (and the hardest one to follow) –

START SMALL. (But label it clearly so that District Maintenance doesn’t remove it.)

My favourite? Chef Steve – a few minutes of his rapid-fire stream of recipes, ideas and innovations was totally worth the trek from Coquitlam to UBC.

I attended with an entire district on my mind. We have a lot of teachers and staff who would dearly love to garden with the students. I think the TEG program would suit many of you, and I strongly recommend that you check it out. There will be another Summer Institute next year, and if you want local Pro D on gardening and outdoor classrooms, just let me know! That’s the role of an LSA – to provide Pro D and support and EELSA would be more than happy to arrange the kind of Pro D that YOU want.

The District Carbon Neutral Action Reports (Coquitlam SD43)

Even wonder about the details behind the scenes? 

What are the District's goals and plans? 

What supports are available? 

From the public site, Our Green Future, come the Guiding Principles:

1. Educate students and staff on energy consumption, and our carbon footprint; the Moral Imperative (Improve Student Achievement through Ecological Literacy)
2. Engage staff and students in Climate Action programs of change i.e. reduce environmental impact, minimize waste, reduce energy consumption, paper
3. Support Facilities management of energy saving upgrades and maintenance
4. Promote innovation in design in the implementation of sustainable facilities planning
5. Develop well represented Climate Action Design Team that works closely with the Executive Level "Green Team".

Here's some light summer reading for you - you know you can't resist:

http://www.livesmartbc.ca/attachments/carbon_neutral_action_reports/SD43_2009.pdf

http://www.livesmartbc.ca/attachments/carbon_neutral_action_reports/SD43_2010.pdf

http://www.livesmartbc.ca/attachments/carbon_neutral_action_reports/SD43_2011.pdf

My favourite, though, is the "Activate" page on the District Green sharepoint site. I'm a little biased, since it has my fingerprints all over it, but I like it because it's more "grassroots" than some of the other information.   This page has the potential to be BY teachers, FOR teachers. 

Happy Summer, everyone!

Summer, now with sunshine!

After a rather cold and dreary West Coast spring, Summer arrived with a teaser of sunshine. More rain in the forecast. Such is life in the temperate rain forest. I like the rain, actually. I love the soft rains we get and the smell of the wet city when it hasn't rained for awhile. I like that the colours around my neighbourhood intensify in the rain, and that the hustle and bustle of the city gets muted and blurry.

Some good news for the District Network - we are well represented in the PSA (EEPSA). Kerri and I have both joined the PSA Executive (check your email if you don't know what I mean). There will probably be another General Meeting of the PSA in the fall, so add that to your calendar so that you can check it out.

I think a lot of us are in limbo, waiting to see what the political climate delivers, and yet, we don't want our projects held hostage by politics. Is your project EXTRA-CURRICULAR? Well, are there learning outcomes to your project? Do you assess your students using your projects? Could you?

Still not sure? There is a Curriculum Framework (on the Ministry's own web page, as well as many other places). It's called "Environmental Learning and Experience", and it contains Curriculum Maps that easily enable you to make connections between your teaching and the PLOs.

Job Action does eliminate "clubs" outside of class-time, but that doesn't mean we can't find a new way (a better way?) to connect your students to the natural world.

Survey Question: Even though we ALL teach about "the environment" in one way or a million others, the concept of "environmental education" seems to exclude a lot of educators. How would you "brand" teaching about the environment as part of your whole curriculum? Our primary teachers are working on "Nature-Based Play"... thoughts?

Seaview's Garden Story

Hi Laurelei,

Here is my garden story which began almost two years ago. Three Kindergarten/ grade one classes worked together to get an area fenced for an "Exploration Garden".  The children decided they wanted an apple tree in it. One of the children's parents worked for a garden centre which generously donated a beautiful apple tree grafted with five different apples. 


We planted it, watered it and loved it but two weeks later our caretaker found it pulled out by the roots, tossed aside on the grass. We wondered if it would survive the vandalism but we replanted it, watered it and loved it. We tagged the tree with a special message indicating that it belonged to the K/1 classes and needed love and care.The rest of that year it looked very bleak. The child's parent donated a second apple tree herself just so that the children would be sure to have at least one tree the following year. 


I am very happy to report that this spring the original tree grew new buds on one of it's branches and many new branches are beginning to grow. The second tree has survived very well and so far no more vandalism! We have added planter boxes with a variety of plants and grow new ones from seeds. The children delight in their ability to carry water to the trees and plants, pull weeds and generally frolic in the garden. It is a happy place!

Sincerely,
Hanna, Vicki and Stefanie

Pitt River's Front Garden - formerly a Green Games Project

BEFORE

AFTER

I wanted to let the photos speak for themselves, but I think some clarification is necessary. Just imagine, that I used to think the "Before" picture was ugly!

The school is  going to be demolished after the new school building is complete, around September, 2013. This, of course, really limits what kinds of gardening projects you can undertake. I had wanted my Green Team to work on beautifying the front garden, so that the school would look more welcoming during this awkward phase. This section of the front garden was in question, since the part of the building in the background was slated for demolition. When it was decided to keep that section intact, the garden seemed safe for another two years.

The frustrations, aside from the obvious?

1. It wasn't easy to get the grant to buy the plants - the money came in around June 28, last year.

2. Getting the plants - one Rona location offered me a really good discount, but they're an hour's drive from home, and my trunk doesn't actually hold very many plants.

3. Only having my student gardeners for a 25 minute block really made it hard to get the plants in. 

4. The principal found out late on a rainy, Friday afternoon. There was no time to dig up the plants and relocate them, or store them to be replanted next week.

Obviously, my disappointment outweighs both the cost of the flowers and the time to plant them. The hardest part will be facing the kids on Monday. 

AFTER-AFTER

The trees came down on Saturday. I went back on Sunday to see if they'd removed the debris, but it was still there. So, Monday morning, I took the Green Team out to survey the wreckage. By the end of Monday, the debris had been cleared, and the stumps removed. It was actually worse than I'd expected. The few flowers on either sides of the trees are fine, but I don't think anything in the disaster zone can be saved. The stump removal was something I hadn't anticipated - I'd thought the worst would come from the work boots of the clean up crew. I really hadn't pictured the ground getting torn up the way it did. The kids and I will have to discuss moving the survivors to a better spot tomorrow.

Another P. S.

Friday morning: The Green Team and I went out to water the salvaged and replanted flowers. We had moved them to the lower garden which seemed like it would be left alone. A student reported that "they" were removing more trees outside. Water buckets in hand, we went out to investigate. Sure enough, some younger trees were being removed (they will be replanted somewhere else to save them from what's next). What's next? It seems that the front garden area will be redone by the construction company (or someone). Anything we have planted was wasted. Wasted time. Wasted effort. Wasted money.

A little bird told me that the courtyard is next... and since the whole thing will be demolished eventually, the word was "salvage what you can". But not 'when'. I have more to say... it won't be posted here. 

The continuing saga of the garden: very late in June, the excavator dropped by...

Hopefully, the next picture has something "green" in it.

11 months later. Still waiting.

Got Outdoors!

Despite last night's torrential rain, today's Pro D day was sunny and warm. Good thing, because "Get Outdoors" isn't just a workshop title, it's an instruction!

We had about 32 participants at the workshop held at Kilmer today, and even though I don't get to read the feedback sheets, it looked like everyone was having a good time! I had fun!

We discussed curriculum connections, and how getting your class outdoors isn't doing "one more thing", it's just taking your learning to a different location. We looked at meeting the PLOs out of the classroom and even found out that being outside playing in the dirt makes you happier, scientifically.

Everyone received a resource guide (over 100 pages of activities), and some other goodies. I really love the big, laminated satellite maps of the region - now that I have 6 of them, I can distribute one per group, and turn my students loose exploring the maps.

On the edge of Kilmer's "forest" we played games and discussed how to adapt and extend them for all grade levels. The Get Outdoors workshop can be offered in short and long versions - which is great, because I think I could happily have played outside all day.

I'm looking for dates to book Get Outdoors again next year. If you'd like to check it out, let me know.

Meetup in May - Save the Date!

	Coquitlam Green Teacher  Networking and Social Thursday, May 10, 4 – 5:30 pm Nestor Elementary, 1266 Nestor St., Coquitlam RSVP Jill Reid, Staff Development or Laurelei Primeau, Network Coordinator Refreshments will be provided Guest Speakers: Alena Prchalova, Environment Ed. LSA Bruce Ford, Sustainability Education Coordinator, Metro Vancouver