August 2016

Oh, What a Feeling!
We are inspired and hopeful working with teams of teachers to develop the coming generation's ingenuity and creativity. They are the future and the best guarantee of a sustainable, healthy and equitable future. 

"This has been the best workshop I have attended so far in my [19-year] career. It was apparent that the whole team is knowledgeable and flexible... I have never seen a team work so hard at making things meaningful. Adapting to the needs of the participants really modeled how we should approach teaching and learning in our classrooms" - Kim Caporaso, Mamaroneck High School teacher

C ELF ANNUAL SUMMER INSTITUTE in Education for Sustainability 
 We were thrilled to welcome dozens of teachers from Brazil to CA and beyond. Their creativity, energy and passion contributed to the Institute's compelling and measurable outcomes. 

2016 Presenter Highlights:
  • Aniket Shah of UNSDSN connected teachers' work in the classroom to broader global sustainability goals with an inspiring message to young people, "you can make the world a safer and more livable place."
  • Josh Dahn, co-founder and president of Elon Musk's Ad Astra School, presented examples of his real-world lessons to a rapt audience, believing that "relevant projects and experiences will lead to the best educational outcomes".
2016 Participant Highlights
Teacher teams from North Salem and Harlem Children's Zone Promise Academy Schools attended together as part of an ongoing partnership. North Salem Assistant Superintendent, Mike Hibbard, says,  "We've gone beyond a collaboration and we're bringing kids from Harlem Children's Zone and kids from North Salem to land that HCZ owns in North Salem, forging a connection between an urban and rural environment with our kids. It's a really wonderful learning experience for all of us and we're very excited about it." 

Dr. Achil Petit, Superintendent of the Harlem Children's Zone Promise Academy schools adds, "Because our students get so little first-hand exposure to natural settings, we are really excited to work with CELF to capitalize on their visits to our North Salem property so they can truly understand what is involved in the environmental issues they read about in books."
 
Teams of LA teachers from CELF's LAUSD Pilot Program engaged in the Institute's first   Transformative Action  track to bring what they learned back to their home schools. Teachers worked on curriculum plans to study LA River water quality creating student action projects and an analysis of waste associated with the district's "breakfast in the classroom" program. 

Check back for more highlights throughout the year!


"Citizen Science & Social Justice in Your Community" Galvanized Action 
Thanks to our participants and partners - Mount Sinai and CUNY law - for an outstanding week! Here's a sampling of projects that teachers are bringing back to their classrooms:
  • A 5th grade class will develop a school traffic plan to improve air quality.
  • A 6th grade class will learn how to a protect a natural environment for pollinators in an urban setting.
  • A 7th grade class will study ingredients in products and conduct statistical analysis on the presence of toxins.
  • Another 7th grade class will trace food seed-to-table while examining the industrial food system
    and learning how their food choices affect personal health and climate change.
  • A 9th grade biology class will study the health of a local brook--testing for nitrates, phosphates and pH levels and measuring pollutants to understand what affects local waterways. 
  • An 11-12th grade environmental science class will use the NYC health portal to learn about and present to the community on environmental health risks.
LEARN MORE about bringing CELF to your school or district.
         
Warwick Teachers and Administrators set a High Bar for Change
As part of an EPA grant awarded to the Warwick Valley Central School District, CELF spent an invigorating week of meaningful curriculum development and community building with district teachers. The summer program established a foundation for four Warwick school teams to develop a learning community that includes environmental instruction and sustainability as part of the school curriculum and culture.

Teachers embraced activities like "Looking Out and Looking In" as a way to reflect and to make place-based learning connections between what is inside the classroom and what lies outside the building. One 4th grade teacher developed a place-based project that entails investigating the agricultural roots of the community, from the original Polish settlers to today's local farmers. 

LEARN MORE about bringing CELF to your school or district.
CELF's mission is to make Education for Sustainability (EfS) an integral part of every school's curricula and culture - from kindergarten through high school - to prepare current and future students to be active and responsible citizens of a sustainable world.