 #ITeachSTEM Campaign Kicks off January 15,
2014 Teach For America’s STEM
Initiative launches an #ITeachSTEM social media campaign on January 15, 2014,
to showcase the inspiring and incredible impact of STEM teachers. The
campaign will include stories, photos, and voices from STEM K-12 classroom
teachers – bringing to life why teaching is a meaningful STEM profession.
Follow @TFA_STEM and #IteachSTEM on Twitter and Instagram. Tell your story of STEM teaching by
posting a picture, video, or anecdote. >>>
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 International School Meals Day is March 6, 2014
The 2014 International School Meals Day is March 6th, 2014,
also World Book Day. Schools around the world can celebrate the
Day by promoting healthy eating and learning, using the theme Food
Stories. Schools and organizations can
connect across the world and share their stories about food through established
online education platforms that allow students and teachers to experience
learning and teaching beyond their classroom wall, including Connecting Classrooms and Skype in the Classroom. >>>
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National Environmental Justice Conference is March 26-28,
2014
Leaders from various sectors will engage in three days of
free exchange of new ideas and new approaches to environmental justice. This
interactive training session will include voices of experience, research,
discussions, and thought-provoking dialogue. The program format will feature
needs and challenges of communities, governments, municipalities, tribes,
faith-based organizations, and others with an interest in environmental justice.
>>>
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 The Green Schools National Conference is March
27-29th in Sacramento, CA.
This year’s keynote speakers include Matt Bogoshian, U.S. EPA's Senior Policy Counsel at the
Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, and Yalmaz Siddiqui, Senior Director of Environmental
Strategy for Office Depot. Find out more about the program, including
Solution Summits, pre-conference excursions and a special Student Summit.>>>
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ED’s Green Strides Webinar Series brings together the
various tools that help schools and districts reduce environmental impact
and costs; improve health and wellness; and teach environmental education
from a variety of agencies and organizations. Here’s a small sampling of early
2014 webinar offerings:
Jan. 15, 2014, 4:00-5:00 p.m. Learning Site
and Your Classroom (Rainforest Alliance)
Jan. 15, 2014, 4:00-5:00 p.m. Improve Asthma Management
in Schools (ALA)
Jan. 16, 2014, 4:00-5:00 p.m. Climate: What We Know and
How We Know it (NASA)
Jan. 17, 2014, 1:00-2:00 p.m. Resolutions on a Better Planet
(EarthEcho)
Jan. 28, 2014, 7:00-8:00 p.m. Green Engineering in the
Elementary Classroom (NEEF)
Jan. 29, 2014, 7:30-9:00 p.m. Programs for Climate Change Education (USFS)
Feb. 5, 2014, 1:00-2:00 p.m. Service Learning in the Dynamic Classroom
(EarthEcho)
Feb. 12, 2014, 4:00-5:00 p.m. Meet the Needs of Common Core (Rainforest Alliance)
Also find
resources support your school’s strides in all three Pillars on the
Green Strides Resources Page!
New Safe Routes to School Policy Workbook Available
Safe Routes to School encourages students to walk, ride bicycles, or use other forms of active transportation to and from school. Active transportation improves health, increases the livability of a community, and helps to protect the environment. The Safe Routes to School Policy Workbook is designed to help school board members, administrators, families of students, and community members create and implement policies that support active transportation and Safe Routes to School. >>>
 EPA Requests Environmental Education Grant Applications
The purpose of the EPA Environmental Education Regional
Grant Program is to provide the skills that participants need to make informed
environmental decisions and take responsible actions toward the environment. EPA expects to award two or three grants per
region and two at headquarters for an expected 22 - 32 grants nationwide,
totaling approximately $2,778,940 nationwide. The award amounts for the
Regional grants will be no less than $75,000 and no more than $200,000 in
federal funds. Applications are due by February 4, 2014. >>>
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EPA Requests Applications for Environmental Educator
Awards
EPA
welcomes applications through February 28th from K-12 public school teachers
for the third annual Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Education.
The award recognizes outstanding K-12 teachers for excellence in integrating
environmental education into their lessons and connecting students with the
natural world. Selectees receive $2,000 to support their professional development
and their school receives a $2,000 award to fund environmental education
activities and programs that support the teacher.>>>
 An Opportunity to Bolster Green Career Pathways
Youth CareerConnect, a new grant program, is designed to
reward local partnerships among schools, employers, institutions of higher
education, workforce partners, non-profits, and community leaders that
transform the high school experience by focusing on real-world
learning. Through Youth CareerConnect, the U.S. Department of Labor, in
collaboration with the U.S Department of Education, will provide $100 million
in grants to 25 to 40 local entities that have marshaled their collective
strengths to provide transformative high school experiences for their students. The deadline for application is January 24th,
2014. >>>
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 White House Student Film Contest Opens
Fall 2014
The White House
has launched the first-ever White House Student Film Festival –
and is inviting K-12 students from around the country to create and submit
one- to three-minute short web videos. Finalists could have their videos
screened at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, and posted on the White House website.
Submissions for the White House film festival will be accepted from November 25
through January 29, 2014. >>>
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EPA's Draft 2014-2018 Strategic Plan Open for Comment
The EPA is seeking comment from individual citizens,
states, tribes, local government, industry, the academic community,
non-governmental organizations, and other interested parties. The Plan outlines
how EPA will make a difference in communities across the country by advancing
sustainability, innovation and providing sound scientific advice, technical and
compliance assistance and other tools that support states, tribes, cities,
towns, rural communities, and the private sector. >>>
NAACP Releases ‘Just Energy’ Report
The NAACP has released a report that assesses energy
policy in all 50 states from a civil rights lens. Titled “Just Energy Policies:
Reducing Pollution and Creating Jobs,” the report provides analysis of each
state's energy sector policies based on both the environmental and economic
impacts. "Powering our nation, protecting the environment and empowering
communities of color are not mutually exclusive concepts," according to
the report. "In fact they are essential and interrelated calls to
action." The report assesses states
on five criteria: Renewable portfolio standards, Energy Efficiency Resource
Standards, Net Metering Standards, Local Hire Provisions, and Minority Business
Enterprise provisions. >>>
New Investing in Innovation Grant Award
On December 13, ED announced that all 25 of the
highest-rated applicants from the 2013 Investing in Innovation (i3) grant
competition secured their required private matching funds and became official
grantees. Together, they will share more
than $134 million in federal funding to expand innovative practices designed to
improve student achievement. Of the 25
grantees, 18 are in the “Development” category -- grants that will support
implementing new and promising, but relatively untested, projects -- and seven
are in the “Validation” category -- grants that will support building
organization capacity of projects that have evidence of effectiveness. As in the past, the grantees address a
variety of issues, including five projects focusing on science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM) course content and instructional practices, four
projects focusing on family and parent engagement, and four projects serving
rural students and communities. >>>
American Public Health Association Passes First Policy
Resolution on Nature
At their 141st annual meeting in November, APHA
for the first time ever passed a policy resolution recognizing the link between
spending time outdoors in nature and public health. Resolution number 20137
"calls on public health, medical and other health professionals to raise
awareness among patients and the public at-large about the health benefits of
spending time in nature and of nature-based play and recreation." >>>
 Wishing you a very happy holiday season, from our Green Team to yours!
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