Earth Day Network Blog Updates

Authors Join EDN to Promote Environmental Summer Reading for Kids

Last month, Jill Kryzinski was awarded the Golden Apple Award for excellence in teaching.  Only ten teachers in Illinois receive this prestigious award each year.  The Golden Apple Award recognizes Jill’s zest for teaching, dedication her students, and willingness to go above and beyond for her students.  Jill has taught science at Bloom High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois for over a decade.

This Wednesday, Earth Day Network is hosting a webinar on the importance of Summer Reading for the Environment in partnership with the United States Department of Education as part of the Green Strides Webinar Series. The Green Strides Webinar Series provides school communities the tools to reduce their schools' environmental impact and costs; improve health and wellness; and teach effective environmental education.

Yesterday, Earth Day Network and Ward’s Science donated twelve boxes of science laboratory supplies, valued at $1,200, to DC Public Schools. This donation will help support Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in two resource-limited schools. Read More

Congratulations again to the 2013 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools! The sixty-four winning schools were announced in April, but they were honored yesterday at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. Additionally, 14 school districts were recognized with the District Sustainability Award.
Read More

There were some special guests in attendance for Earth Day Network’s fourth annual Climate Leadership Gala: 23 high school students from the D.C. area who take a special interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. Many are part of a high school robotics team.

Six D.C. area schools were represented: Coolidge, Benjamin Banneker Academic, Friendship Collegiate, School Without Walls, Whitman, and Wilson.

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week (05/06 – 05/10). Take the time this week to reach out to a teacher who has impacted you or your child to say “thank you.” Teachers play a vital role in ensuring that students receive the quality education they need to become the leaders of the future.  Let the teachers in your community know that you appreciate the creativity, patience, dedication, and positivity they bring to their job.

Today, we celebrate the 11th National Healthy Schools Day in order to bring attention to the correlation between healthy indoor school environments and student health and academic success. Nearly 55 million children and 7 million adults in the United States (20% of the population and 98% of all children) spend their days inside school buildings. Children have no control of their environment but are suffering the consequences of attending unhealthy schools. Read More

On April 16, the Next Generation Science Standards were released, revealing a significant change in the direction of science education. For the first time, the topic of climate change has been included in both the middle and high school science standards.

On Earth Day, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the sixty-four 2013 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools and 14 District Sustainability Awardees during a visit to Mundo Verde Bilingual Public Charter School in Washington, D.C.