News
Two important events to highlight this month! Indigenous Peoples Day is Monday, October 14 and Take Me Outside Day is Wednesday, October 23. Read below for special programs and resources to connect to these environmental education opportunities.
K-12 Student Writing Contest: The Idaho Forest Products Commission sponsors this Forest Products Week contest, offering cash prizes for winning writers and their classrooms, and engaging ways to address Idaho ELA standards! Elementary students will write a letter to a tree or forest expressing how they appreciate what they do, and how they will ensure healthy forests for the future. Middle and high school students will write a script for an audio Public Service Announcement about the environmental merits of using wood for construction. Deadline: November 8, 2024. More at idahoforests.org/writingcontest.
The EPA has released a number of new resources:
The Kids and Climate Health Zone is a collection of stories and information about how the hazards of climate stressors are impacting different childhood life stages and regions in the United States and what people can do to protect their children and families. The tool uses the best available scientific information from the U.S. Global Change Research Program's Fifth National Climate Assessment and other published resources.
The new Emergencies and Indoor Air Quality website details how to protect yourself and your Indoor Air Quality (IAG) before, during and after emergencies. People spend most of their time indoors and rely on indoor spaces for shelter. Weather-related and man-made emergencies can create a range of hazards in indoor environments.
The new Climate Resilience and Adaptation Funding Toolbox (CRAFT) website was created to support technical assistance providers working with states, Tribes, communities, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, businesses, and others looking to invest in climate-resilient projects. By using CRAFT, technical assistance providers can support potential funding applicants and recipients with a variety of simple yet effective resources.
Professional Workshops
Resources and training to support Indigenous Learning. The Outdoor Learning School and Store has excellent Indigenous Learning Resources that you can use to support your EE work for Indigenous Peoples’ Day on October 14. These are all made available on the recommendation of Indigenous staff, advisors and partners, and are all written, created, developed and offered by Indigenous authors, educators and artists, and offered in partnership with a variety of Indigenous publishers, partners and organizations. Their 4 Seasons of Indigenous Learning series is open for registration through the end of October. IdEEA Members are eligible for a 20% discount!
Idaho Ecosystems with WILD, WET & PLT. In this interactive virtual class, receive training and award-winning materials from Project WILD, Project WET, and Project Learning Tree, with which you will engage upper elementary students in learning about Idaho ecosystems. The class includes three synchronous Zoom sessions, with most coursework done separately on your own. For part of the class, you will choose one of the curricula (WILD, WET, or PLT) to explore in more depth and will receive that program’s comprehensive activity guide(s). You will leave the course with plans to use materials from the course with students, both indoors and out. Zoom sessions October 29, November 19, and December 3. 7-8:30 pm (MT)/6-7:30 pm (PT). Fee $45;1 PD credit for an additional $60. Register at idahoforests.org/plt.
PLT Explorations. In this self-guided training, explore a PLT curriculum of your choosing, conduct PLT activities, explore supporting resources, and plan how you will use PLT in your context. This course is always open and accepting new participants. Fee $35;1 PD credit for an additional $60. Register at idahoforests.org/plt.
Professional learning opportunity from National Geographic. The Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship provides pre-K–12 educators the opportunity to travel aboard Lindblad Expeditions’ voyages for a life-changing, field-based experience, exploring destinations like Antarctica, the Galápagos Islands, or Southeast Alaska. Grosvenor Teacher Fellows will transfer their onboard experience into new ways to teach students, engage colleagues, and bring new geographic awareness into their learning environments and communities. Applicants must be a full-time pre-K–12 classroom or informal educator who spends 50% or more of your time working directly with students; a resident of the 50 U.S. states, Canada, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico or are a U.S. citizen teaching at a U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity school; returning to a classroom or teaching environment the year following the expedition; and able to fully participate in all elements of the two-year fellowship (including the April pre-expedition workshop, expedition and virtual seminars). Submit your application today and share your teaching and leadership abilities and how this experience will positively impact you, your students, and your teaching environment.
Project Dragonfly applications now open for multiple graduate programs. Miami University’s Project Dragonfly is accepting applications for 2025 Earth Expeditions graduate courses that offer extraordinary experiences at global field sites in 15 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. Earth Expeditions can build toward the Global Field Program (GFP), a master's degree that combines summer field courses worldwide with web learning communities so that students can complete the GFP master's part-time from anywhere in the United States or abroad. Project Dragonfly also offers the Advanced Inquiry Program (AIP) master's degree that combines web instruction from Miami University with face-to-face experiential learning and field study through several AIP sites in the U.S. In addition to their master's degree programs, Project Dragonfly's core online and AIP web+ graduate courses may be taken on a stand-alone basis for professional development and lifelong learning.
Employment Opportunities
Climate Outreach position in Washington state. Are you passionate about addressing climate change and ready to contribute your skills and energy to reducing climate pollution? Interested in reaching out to a wide range of communities across Washington to make sure they are engaged? The Climate Pollution Reduction Program (CPRP) in Lacey, Washington is looking to fill a Greenhouse Gas Inventory & Transportation Section Outreach Team Lead (Community Outreach & Environmental Education Specialist 4) position. This position will remain open until filled; we will review applications on October 16, 2024. In order to be considered, please submit an application on or before October 15, 2024. See full details at:
Upcoming Events
October 21-25: Take Me Outside week
October 29: Idaho Ecosystems with WILD, WET & PLT
November 7-9: NAAEE 2024: Building Bridges in Pittsburgh, PA
November 12-15: Idaho Earth to Sky in Grand Teton National Park, WY
November 15-17: Washington’s Growing Together conference for outdoor, environmental, and sustainability educators
IdEEA Updates
Climate curriculum available! We have units for grades 5-12 based on the Idaho Climate-Economy Impacts Assessment and tied to the Idaho Science Standards for a place-based discussion of climate variability relevant to Idaho’s students. See the full list of lessons at https://www.idahoee.org/climate-curriculum.
Support EE in Idaho by becoming an IdEEA member today! Stay current with all our updates: subscribe to this newsletter and follow our blog at idahoee.org. If you have an interest in supporting our mission more fully but don’t have the capacity to be on the board, join one of our committees. Any active members are eligible to meet with a committee to help with specific events and projects. Let us know you’re interested by emailing communications@idahoee.org under the subject “Committees” and we’ll connect you to the correct Committee Chair.
About this newsletter - We bring you the latest Environmental Education resources, events, and opportunities from around Idaho, now once per month. You can be a part of this process by sharing resources, events, jobs, etc. with communications@idahoee.org under the subject “Newsletter.” Grow our reach by sharing this message with your contacts and having them subscribe to our mailing list at http://idahoee.org. If this message has reached you in error and you’d like to be removed, you can unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of this message.
Comments