GSNN Online

  June 24 – 26, 2020 | 12:00 – 4:00pm ET Elementary School EducatorsFocused Topic: Pollinators This virtual PD session for elementary school teachers explores the diversity of pollinators that can be found in backyards, schoolyards, and parks. Over the course of three, four-hour sessions, attendees will learn how to translate their students’ observations into burning questions that will help them understand the importance of pollinators in an ecosystem and in our food system. These learning experiences were designed using a rubric for place-, project-, and problem-based learning, can be replicated with elementary students, and support mastery of science, art, math, and ELA standards. Cost: Free for Catalyst Network members; $50 for non-network participantsRegistration limited to 24 participantsRegistration deadline is June 10 (5:00 p.m. ET) June 24, 2020 | 12:00 - 4:00 ETJune 25, 2020 | 12:00 - 4:00 ETJune 26, 2020 | 12:00 - 4:00 ET

Looking for opportunities to deepen your understanding of education for sustainability? This webinar is for you! Presenters from Green Schools National Network, Center for Green Schools at USGBC, Envirolution, and The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education will provide an overview of professional development approaches, virtual resources, and upcoming workshops that are designed for future thinking K-12 educators who want to bring sustainability education to life in their classrooms.

Growth in careers within environmental and sustainability fields is expected to trend upward for the foreseeable future. It’s vital that educators prepare students to be leaders and innovators in these fields by equipping them with the skills needed to ideate, design, adapt, take risks, learn from mistakes, and collaborate with others. This webinar will feature a school and a school district that are giving students opportunities to hone these skills. Common Ground High School in Connecticut will offer insights into their Green Jobs Corps program and how powerful experiences like this one provide students with a clearer pathway to college and careers. Whitefish School District in Montana will share how their Center for Sustainability and Entrepreneurship offers students a fast track to a green future. Students from Common Ground and Whitefish Schools will be on hand to share their perspectives as well.

Best of the Best! Designed for preK-12 educators, this interactive, 60-minute webinar highlights "best of the best" resources and curriculum that GSNN and its collaborators have curated for virtual and at-home learning.

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is recognized as a critical component of student learning, fostering skills and dispositions in students that are critical for their success in navigating an increasingly complex and ever-changing world. This webinar will feature two New Mexico schools that are actively deepening their SEL practice and tracking impact. Zuni Middle School in Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico will discuss how they are combining SEL development with A:shiwi Core Values to further traditional Indigenous culture. Vista Grande High School in Taos, New Mexico will share how SEL practices are enhancing Crew structures and daily lessons. Both schools will discuss actions that participants can take to integrate SEL into school culture.

Many solutions exist to address the shift from cheap, precooked hamburger patties and chicken nuggets that have been the staple of school lunch programs for too long. This webinar will highlight two school districts that have taken on major reform efforts to make their school lunches healthier and in-line with the efforts needed for a more sustainable future. Encinitas Union School District will discuss their Health and Wellness Program and Farm Lab, where students learn how farm to school works by engaging in lessons around sustainability, local ingredients, and entrepreneurship at the district’s ten-acre farm. Oak Park Unified School District will share lessons learned from their use of Orca, an innovative technology solution, to reduce the volume of food waste sent to the landfill and transition their entire school lunch program to include more plant-forward menus.

Hosted by our Western States Catalyst partners, this webinar will focus on two exciting ways that energy can become a foundation for your sustainability initiatives. In the first half of this webinar, Tashanda Giles-Jones, from Environmental Charter Schools (ECS) in southern California, will share how her team used Energy as the Context for Deeper Learning. By leveraging local sustainability issues, ECS has developed a process that integrates field work, service-learning, and civic action to breath life into their curriculum and deepen learning. In the second half of this webinar, Ryder Delaloye, from Whitefish School District in Montana, will share how supporting teachers to Develop a Classroom Energy Management Plan has become an integral part of their District Energy Management Plan, using real-time data to benchmark and develop action plans that ensure the efficient use of resources in their schools. By engaging students in day-to-day operations and management, Whitefish has been able to save money, decrease its footprint, and increase student and faculty engagement.