Greenfox Teachers Weigh In: Teaching Sustainability

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Students in Ms. Beebe's kindergarten class in Vail, Colorado, proudly display their "worm box."

Kyla O’Neill, Brooke Beebe, and Ashlee Martinez Dahlberg have been on the Greenfox team since Greenfox Schools was founded in March 2008, and were a part of several early discussions on how to implement sustainability education in a classroom.

As our Public Relations Coordinators, Kyla and Brooke are also elementary school teachers, as is Ashlee, our Environmental Education Consultant.

In the following entry they weigh in on the following question:

“Why do you think teaching sustainability is valuable to children?”

1. Kyla O’Neill, Grades 4 & 5

San Francisco, California

“Teaching sustainability is of value to children at every age in that it provides the framework and knowledge for them to use in their lives well beyond the classroom.

I am fortunate to have the strong structures of the environmentally conscious Bay Area and the support of a green school, including green buildings with solar panels and sustainable bamboo floors!  Daily exposure to these visible measures provides children with constant reminders about the importance of taking care of the earth.

In my combined fourth and fifth grade class, we use regular routines to promote the practice and understanding of environmental sustainability.  Teaching by doing is an effective method for instilling a sense of agency for sustainability work in children.  In our class, both recycling and composting are daily jobs assigned to the students.  Using a simple plastic box with a lid, students contribute their leftover food scraps to the compost.  At the end of each day, the “composter” is responsible for adding it to our compost bin outside the classroom.  This bin also serves as a habitat for numerous earthworms.  The students understand the dual responsibility of saving leftover food to use as nutrients for the soil and food for the worms.

In addition, we find it especially hands-on to go out into nature not only to enjoy our beautiful world, but also to put our knowledge about preservation of the earth into action. Just recently, we took a trip to Point Reyes National Seashore and had a wonderful time exploring the area and conducting a simulation survival activity for our study of the novel, Island of the Blue Dolphins.  An essential aspect of our trip, before, during, and after, was discussing the “Leave No Trace” principles in order to protect our natural world. These conversations enable children to understand the reasons behind park guidelines, and will undoubtedly serve them as they continue to explore the world on their own.”

5th Grade students work together to build a model of a LEED-certified environmental school building

2. Brooke Beebe, Kindergarten

Vail, Colorado

“As a kindergarten teacher in Vail, CO, it is so important for me to help the children understand that being environmentally friendly and helping the earth will in turn help them protect the earth for the time when they grow up and have kids.

We talk about turning off the lights every time we leave the classroom or bathroom, putting as much paper, plastic and aluminum in the recycling bins as possible to help save the earth, and we talk a lot about animals, especially endangered animals.

I ask questions like, “How do you think the earth would change if ________ (insert animal here) did not exist?” or “What do you think our planet would be like if Saber Tooth Tigers (or Dinosaurs or Wooly Mammoths) were still alive?” They of course relate it back to Ice Age the cartoon movie, but it gets them thinking about how the things that people do in the present can and will affect the future.

Another aspect of teaching sustainability is our worm bin. We have over 1,000 Red Wiggler worms that eat our scraps! The children love feeding them their leftover snacks (bread, egg shells, fruit and vegetables) and they learn about compost and how we can use that to plant our classroom garden. The worms also use recycled paper as their ‘nest’ and as a class we shred paper from our recycling bin and put it in the bin daily.

The children really love hearing about how they can do their part to ‘help the earth’ and act responsibly about recycling, carpooling to and from school, and turning off lights when they are not in use. After snack each day, I have three or four children ask if something or other can be recycled or “given to the worms.” It is so important to educate the young children about being environmentally friendly so that they can do their part to help our earth!”

3. Ashlee Martinez Dahlberg, Grade 3

Cambridge, Massachusetts

“With increasing demands on a classroom teacher’s time and strict curriculum frameworks, when is there time for sustainability education?  The answer: always.

Sustainability is a lifestyle, and teachers can help to instill that lifestyle in the students they teach.

Simple practices in the classroom can help students develop sustainable habits.  In my third grade classroom, for example, we recycle as much as possible, conserve water by only using what we need to drink and wash hands, conserve energy by turning the lights out when we leave the room, and on bright, sunny days when there is enough sunlight coming into the classroom, leave the lights off much of the day.  The students are aware of these small actions and it empowers them, making them feel that they can make a difference.

Whenever possible, I try to incorporate sustainability education in the classroom in more direct ways.  During a science unit on “backyard habitats” for example, our class created a worm bin in the classroom, learning simultaneously about habitats, the importance of composting organisms, and ways to reduce waste.  The class loved feeding the worms and gained a better understanding of what we can do with the waste we create.”

Students brainstorm the Greenfox5: Energy, Waste, Food, Products, and Greenspace

Thank you for reading. Happy Holidays and best wishes for the New Year,

-Kristen von Hoffmann

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November/December 2009

Sustainability Education Resources

Monday, November 16th, 2009

This month Greenfox Schools is highlighting five excellent resources for sustainability education. The following list includes organizations listed in alphabetical order that provide useful tools for schools going green.

Read below and click on the links to learn more.

Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education

The Cloud Institute is a non-profit based in New York City that works nationally and internationally to promote sustainability education. The Cloud Institute’s approach to sustainability directly engages young people to work with their communities.  Cloud’s model for sustainability begins with its mission: to ensure the viability of sustainable communities by leveraging changes in K-12 school systems to prepare young people for the shift toward a sustainable future.  During the first phase of work, Cloud facilitators develop an awareness and shared understanding for Education for Sustainability (EfS) among staff, faculty, and administrators at a given school.   They work with the whole school system to collect baseline data, and assess the extent to which the school is teaching for sustainability.  Teachers work with the Cloud Institute to design EfS outcomes and indicators and to develop a pilot EfS unit.  Over time, facilitators work with the school to collectively develop an EfS Scope and Sequence that is mapped across the entire school curriculum.  This process allows teachers to collaborate and build on one another and to integrate the broader school community, and beyond, into their classrooms. These outcomes are achieved by differentiating professional development, coaching, and capacity building with participating faculty and administrators, trustees, parents, community partners, and students.

Facing the Future

Facing the Future is a non-profit based in Seattle, Washington, that supports teachers by providing resources that teach students about complex global issues, the linkage between local and global communities, and environmental sustainability. Facing the Future delivers curriculum workshops to middle and high school teachers, and maintains an online database of teaching material related to service learning projects of local and international interest. Serving public and independent schools, Facing the Future develops curriculum across all subjects, including math, science, history, geography, language arts, and more.

Sustainable Schools Project

The Sustainable Schools Project (SSP) is sponsored by Shelburne Farms, and is a partnership with Vermont Education for Sustainability. A dynamic new model for school improvement and civic engagement, the program helps schools use sustainability as an integrating context for curriculum, community partnerships, and campus practices. The SSP aims to improve communities economically, environmentally, and socially for current and future generations by facilitating curriculum and campus projects, offering professional development, and identifying funding sources for schools.

Roots & Shoots

Roots & Shoots is a program of the Jane Goodall Institute, and seeks to initiate positive change for communities, animals and the environment. With tens of thousands of young people in almost 100 countries, the Roots & Shoots network connects youth of all ages who share a desire to create a better world. Young people identify problems in their communities and take action. Through service projects, youth-led campaigns and an interactive website, Roots & Shoots members make a difference across the globe. Here is Dr. Jane Goodall’s inspiring vision for Roots & Shoots: “Roots creep underground everywhere and make a firm foundation. Shoots seem very weak, but to reach the light, they can break open brick walls. Imagine that the brick walls are all the problems we have inflicted on our planet. Hundreds of thousands of roots & shoots, hundreds of thousands of young people around the world, can break through these walls. We CAN change the world.”

U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development

The U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development unites leaders in education, environment, and business to promote sustainability education and government policy. The U.S. Partnership was established to fulfill the goals of the United Nations declaration of a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), a declaration that was established to promote the local and global acceptance of principles of “sustainable development.”

The K-12 Sector page provides a variety of resources from useful links to actual national K-12 sustainability education standards developed by the U.S. Partnership. The U.S. Partnership has launched the first national listserv for K-12 educators focused specifically on the topic of education for sustainability. Educators involved in teaching students in any subject in the K-12 arena are encouraged to join. The goal of the Sustaink12 listserv is for educators to communicate and collaborate on strategies to integrate education for sustainability into the teaching and operations of K-12 schools.

To join the listserv go to https://listserver.itd.umich.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=sustaink12

-Kristen von Hoffmann

Kristen von Hoffmann with the Board of the Women's Leadership Initiative at Yale University, October 2009

Linda Rosenbury, Principal, Middle School 22 Bronx NY; Dr. Colleen M Getz, U.S. Department of Defense; Kristen von Hoffmann.

Kristen von Hoffmann to present at Women In Leadership Conference @ Yale Law School

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Kristen von Hoffmann, founder and president of Greenfox Schools, has been invited to present a workshop and speak on a panel at this year’s Women in Leadership Conference hosted by Yale Law School on Saturday, October 24th, 2009.

Kristen’s workshop is entitled “Social Entrepreneurship in a Green World: Taking Initiative,” and will engage young women who are interested in becoming leaders in the emerging green economy. The Workshop will examine the overarching themes of globalization, social justice and environmental sustainability as well as discussing the details of how to start a green business.

Issues such as funding, networking, women supporting women, men and women supporting each other in business, operations, and budgeting will be included. The Workshop will be highly visual and interactive, allowing participants to engage in two colorful activities that relate to exploring individual’s strengths and interests. Kristen will also talk about her work with the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, for which she serves on a fifteen-person K-12 Sector Team that examines current sustainable education policy at a national level.

Kristen will also serve on a panel at the Conference, “Women in the Public Sector: Education Policy,” where she will share her viewpoints on education reform, sustainability in education, and emotional learning.

A Feeling of Universality

Monday, September 28th, 2009

During the second week of school this year I took my 5th grade class on a 3-day camping trip to Project Adventure in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Project Adventure is a company that is known for its exciting ropes courses and climbing challenges, and every year myself and a few other teachers bring the 5th and 6th grades to Project Adventure for 3 days of community-building.

On the afternoon of Day One I found myself trying to balance on a large wooden plank with half of my class and one of our guides. Heavy, jolted movements caused the plank to tip one way or the other and I noticed that when we bent our knees it helped us to balance, versus standing upright. After 15 frustrating minutes, the plank continued to tip on its fulcrum and touch the ground as we all moved around.

Our guide told us that to achieve balance would mean that no sides of the octagonal plank would be touching the ground. It was hard for me to imagine how this might be possible, since several people on the plank were absorbed in their own movements and not paying attention to the group dynamic.

Suddenly, one of my students raised his hand.

“I have an idea,” he said. Our guide got everyone’s attention.

“What’s your idea?” he asked.

“Why don’t we all hold hands and stand with our heels closer to the edge?” he answered.

There was some snickering and eye-rolling as my fifth graders considered the idea of holding hands, but before I knew it, we were all linked together and shuffling backwards towards the perimeter.

When we got there, another student spoke. “How about we shuffle one step to the right in a clockwise direction as we hold hands, to keep up the momentum,” she said.

The transformation was amazing. In one gentle movement it felt as though the plank lifted off the ground and that we were hovering in the air, low to the ground. I took in the sight of everyone holding hands and felt the lightweight sensation of the plank in balance as we moved together. It was awesome.

The experience is one that stands out in my mind and will not be forgotten. It was a powerful metaphor for the way in which we can achieve balance in our own lives when we work on it together. Likewise, when one person is self-absorbed, connection breaks down because they don’t notice what’s going on around them.

Without a doubt, the plank touched the ground and got unbalanced a few more times. But we had found a way to keep the plank more or less successfully balanced, and when I looked around the circle at my students’ faces, they were smiling.

I think this experience can also be applied to the larger question of sustainability that Greenfox Schools seeks to address in educational settings. It is necessary to recognize the interconnectedness of all living things on our planet, and to realize that this is why we need to implement long-term environmental solutions in schools that benefit the environment and teach our children how to be stewards of the earth.
Thanks for reading.

-Kristen von Hoffmann

Education Reform: Emotional Learning

Monday, August 24th, 2009

Think back to grades 3 through 12. What dominated your thoughts as you sat at lunch? In algebra class? Waiting for the bus? The answer for most people I talk to is always the same: “I was thinking about other people and myself.”

I would venture to say this is true of our experience as adults as well, as we continually process emotions at work when developing relationships with colleagues, or thinking about the relationships we have at home with family.

As a teacher I observe that students focus on subject matter to varying degrees, but it is clear that children’s happiness as human beings depends significantly on their ability to have successful relationships with other people. The same is true for adults. Why, then, have we failed to bring explicit emotional learning into mainstream education?

A place to start might be to ask: what is the function of K-12 education in America? Education as it now stands in our country functions to prepare children for the careers they will assume in society as adults, and so we teach them the intellectual skills necessary to be successful in the workforce. Math, reading, writing, science and history teach children the skill sets they need to organize and manage jobs relevant to these subject areas.

Aside from a handful of progressive programs and schools on the fringe, our education system has remained relatively unchanged for the past 50 years, which is ironic given the rapid pace at which the world is globalizing around us.

I agree that academic excellence is of great importance because it enables us to train a workforce that fuels our economy and serves as an integral part of our society.

What I advocate for is a greater vision: a significant reform in our country’s education system that puts emotional learning on par with academic excellence. I believe that we can have both, and that to do so would result in a nation of adults who are much happier individuals, and an economy that is strengthened because of it.

The reason emotional learning results in happier individuals is because it allows people to gain a self-awareness that provides stability. The confidence in knowing oneself—fears, weaknesses and strengths, allows a person to better communicate their needs to others, and allows a person to better understand the needs of another individual. In the classroom, one example I have found to be transformative is helping children feel comfortable exposing a mistake they have made, rather than covering it up.

Emotional learning in schools would not teach children how they should feel, because that is up to an individual to determine. Rather, emotional education would teach children the explicit communication skills needed to gain self-awareness and to communicate joy and pain to other people in order to build stronger relationships.

Connecting to other people to build strong cooperative relationships is essential to teaching sustainability now and in the future, and for this reason as well, emotional learning belongs at the core of our education system.

-Kristen von Hoffmann

A Big Thank You

Monday, July 27, 2009

Thank you to our sponsors, writers, and editors of Greenfox Kids Magazine, a teaching resource on environmental sustainability for grades 4-8, with articles, lessons and games for classrooms and libraries.

Our first issue featured an article on the environmental impact and lifecycle of food products; an interview with Janie Katz-Christy, Director of the Green Streets Initiative; vocabulary keywords including “globalization,” “sustainability,” and “economy;” solar panel math problems, a word search game, and more.

A big thank you to the following individuals and companies:

Our Sponsors:

CitySprouts

The EarthSavers Gang

Little Bits Recycled

Greenward

Paradice Ice Packs

People Powered Machines

SolSolution

Our Greenfox Editorial Team:
Kevin Y. Lee, Creative Director
Patrick John Morris, Business Relations
Soren Harrison, Dan Riles, Camille Stevens, Writers
Janie Katz-Christy, Green Streets Initiative, Greenfox5 Hero
Puritan Press, Publisher
Brooke Beebe, Ashlee Martinez, Kyla O’Neill, Public Relations

Other News

Cambridge Montessori School

Greenfox gave a workshop this spring at Cambridge Montessori School, presenting to the CMS Green Up Committee. Notes from the lecture for public viewing can be found by clicking here.

Green Decade Cambridge

Greenfox was invited to present to Green Decade Cambridge, an organization of Cambridge residents concerned about global warming and taking action locally.

Greenfox spoke to the group about the Greenfox5: Energy, Waste Disposal, Food, Products, and Greenspace, and discussed its applicability to Cambridge Public Schools. More information on Green Decade Cambridge can be found by clicking here.

Facebook and Twitter

Check out Greenfox on Facebook and Twitter !

ExCL (Extras for Creative Learning)

If you are a teacher or involved in K-12 education in the Boston area, be sure to check out ExCL over the summer for excellent recycled supplies and materials for your classroom.

New White Paper
Kristen von Hoffmann co-authored a working paper entitled “Internationally Sustainable Education for the 21st Century” with June Gorman, Education Chair for the United Nations Association of the USA.

Both are members of the K-12 Steering Committee for the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development.

Thank you for reading, and have a great summer.

-Kristen von Hoffmann

Make Hay While the Sun Shines

Monday, June 29, 2009

When school lets out everyone sighs a collective breath, and as a teacher I can relate to the feeling of relief that arrives when the end-of-year frenzy gives way to slower summer days.

Summer, while a time of rest and relaxation, is also a time of planning for every school community: refreshing the classroom curriculum and budgeting for the fiscal year.

Summer is a great time to think about ways to green your school for the upcoming year, and to prepare a budget—whether for your classroom or school—that allows for sustainable consumer choices, environmental curriculum development, and environmental upgrades.

Below, Greenfox offers a few suggestions to get started this summer for those of you in the education field:

Administrators

o    Budget for areas of environmental improvement in any or all of the Greenfox5 areas:

Greenfox5
-Energy
-Waste Disposal
-Food
-Products
-Greenspace

o    Create a sustainability pledge based on the Greenfox5 that your school community signs together (this pledge can be voluntary or required)

Teachers

o    Add an environmental piece to your curriculum, or develop an existing one. Environmental teaching can be woven into nearly any subject, including science, math, social studies, and language arts.

o    Create a classroom “green team” that will be responsible for environmental endeavors in the classroom, such as turning off lights when the class leaves the room, collecting food at meal time for the composter, collecting recyclables at the end of the day, etc.

o    When buying classroom supplies, budget for eco-products, such as recycled content lined paper, folders, journals, and pencils.

o    Brainstorm an environmental community-service effort with your class such as collecting recyclables to raise money for tree planting, collecting and recycling cartridges to raise money for your school, or working with your neighborhood to pick up litter.

o    Work together with other faculty or parents to implement recycling programs, composting systems, and environmental programs.

Parents

o    Ask your child’s teacher how you can be of assistance with any green or environmental initiatives in the classroom.

o    Work together with faculty and administration to implement recycling programs, composting systems, and environmental programs, or to create a “Green Committee” at your child’s school.

o    When buying school supplies for your child, budget for eco-products, such as re-usable lunchboxes and sandwich wrappers, recycled content lined paper, folders, journals, and pencils.

o    Set up a clean-air carpool or bike group that will commute to school in the fall.

Students

o    Have fun and enjoy nature! The first way to help the environment is to care about it. Have a wonderful summer!

-Kristen von Hoffmann