Climate Education

Earth Day Network Appreciates Teachers

Earth Day Network’s education programs would not be possible without the support of teachers worldwide. While we strive to provide teachers with quality resources and materials for teaching environmental and climate literacy, our work would be pointless if we didn’t have great teachers bringing those materials into the classroom. This Teacher Appreciation Day, Earth Day Network wants to recognize some of the great education moments that happened during Climate Education Week and Earth Day 2016!

This year for Climate Education Week, April 18th-22nd, we had thousands of teachers bring climate education lesson plans and materials into their classrooms. In addition to having a 1,000 new educators join our Educators Network, we had the pleasure of receiving updates from a few wonderful classrooms. In Madison, WI, fourth graders at Lincoln Elementary School participated in a Climate Change Forum. Students in Laurie Solchenberger’s class at Lincoln Elementary School worked with local Madison Audubon Society’s education specialist, Carolyn Byers, and implemented a series of Climate Change lessons on climate changes, its causes, habitats impacted, and on possible solutions. Then, they got together in a Climate Change Forum to discuss Long-Distance Migrants, Short-Distance Migrants, Residents, and People. Together as a whole group, they identified common problems and generated possible solutions to create a sustainable future for us all. Thanks Ms. Solchenberger for leading your students in such an important conversation and learning experience!

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Climate Education Week was even celebrated in Pakistan. The PECHS Girls School in Karachi celebrated with an entire week of activities. They integrated lessons on environmental and climate topics in language, art, social studies, science and math. Students began researching different types of trees and the costs/benefits of participating in the Canopy Project during the 2016-2017 school year. And lastly they hosted an open mic event for students to share their class activities with each other!

Earth Day Network is incredibly grateful for the inspiring work that our teachers and educators do to teach students about environmental and climate issues! Please feel free to check out the resources for teaching about climate issues on our Climate Education Week Toolkit. Even though Climate Education Week is over, it’s not too soon to begin planning for next year!