2014 Resources

Summer Teachers Institute 2014

Taking Action & Becoming Ecoliterate

Resources presented at STI 2014:

  • MindUp – A research-based training program for students and teachers, providing social and emotional learning skills that link cognitive neuroscience, positive psychology and mindful awareness training utilizing a brain centric approach.
  • Ecoliteracy – The Center for Ecoliteracy is a nonprofit that advances ecological education in K–12 schools. We recognize that students need to experience and understand how nature sustains life and how to live accordingly.
  • Garden Raised Bounty (GRuB) – grassroots non-profit organization based in Olympia, Washington, dedicated to nourishing a strong community by empowering people and growing good food.
  • Office of Native Education – Indian education dates back to a time when all children were identified as gifted and talented. Each child had a skill and ability that would contribute to the health and vitality of the community. Everyone in the community helped to identify and cultivate these skills and abilities. The elders were entrusted to oversee this sacred act of knowledge being shared. That is our vision for Indian education today.
  • Nisqually Reach Nature Center (NRNC) – A volunteer-run, membership-supported, nonprofit organization that promotes the understanding, appreciation, and preservation of the Nisqually estuarine ecosystem and its integral role in the local environment, history, and culture, through interpretation, education, and research.
  • Pacific Education Institute – PEI expands students’ opportunities to learn in outdoor settings throughout Washington State. Students apply math, science, the arts, and social studies skills to field investigations both out-of-doors and in their classrooms. PEI’s rigorous research-based approach assures that students are “learning by doing”.
  • My Watershed Pledge – A publication from partnering organizations, Chehalis Basin Education Consortium, South Sound Green, Nisqually River Education Project, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with help from Americorps and Washington Conservation Corps.
  • Healthy Water, Healthy People – An innovative water quality education program sponsored by Project WET and the Hach Scientific Foundation. The goal of Healthy Water, Healthy People is to make complex concepts of water quality relevant and meaningful for you and those you teach.
  • Beyond Waste – Beyond Waste is the Washington state plan for managing hazardous and solid waste. This 30-year plan has a clear and simple goal: eliminate wastes and toxics whenever we can and use the remaining wastes as resources. This will contribute to economic, social, and environmental health.
  • Project Learning Tree – Project Learning Tree is an award-winning environmental education program designed for teachers and other educators, parents, and community leaders working with youth from preschool through grade 12.
  • Wild Thyme Farm – A private eco-retreat near Olympia Washington. These 150 acres of forests, pastures, gardens, orchards and streams, showcase an evolving model of wild forest management, permaculture, agroforestry, diversity.
  • Olympia Beekeepers Association – A non-profit organization which provides education, training and support for beekeepers in Thurston County.
  • River of Words – Every year, in affiliation with the Library of Congress Center for the Book, River of Words sponsors a free international poetry and art contest on the theme of watersheds. The contest is open to students ages 5 through 19 anywhere in the world.
  • Wasted Food Project – From The Solid Waste Program, of Thurston County’s Public Works Department, comes a campaign to waste less food in Thurston County, through public education and action.
  • Plant for the Planet – Founded by then-nine-year-old Felix Finkbeiner, Plant-for-the-Planet is a children’s initiative that aims to raise awareness amongst children and adults about the issues of climate change and global justice. The Initiative also works to plant trees, and considers this to be both a practical and symbolic action in efforts to reduce the effect of climate change. In 2011, it reached a goal of planting a million trees.

Guest Presenters for STI 2014:

  • Kim Gaffi, of GRuB – As a GRuB co-founder, and former Director, Kim has served the organization for more than twelve years. She earned her BA in Community Development and BS in Environmental Science from the Evergreen State College and loves thinking about and working on the intersection of humans and the natural environment. .Kim brings her passion for experiential education & food justice as well as her skills in group facilitation & organizational development to her leadership role at GRuB.
  • Jackson Sillars, of GRuB – Jackson has 9+ years of experience with GRuB in various roles. He is currently working as a consultant to help design and deliver GRuB Institutes, and document the best practices of the Kitchen Garden Project. Jackson is passionate about building relationships with people and the Earth that honor the work of those who came before us. He is most content chopping wood and napping with his daughter.
  • Daniel Hull, Director of NRNC – Daniel Hull has been the Director of Nisqually Reach Nature Center at Luhr Beach, since its founding in 1982, and has been the driving force behind its mission to promote “understanding, appreciation, and preservation of the Nisqually estuarine ecosystem and its integral role in the local environment, history, and culture, through interpretation, education, and research.” On Monday, June 23rd, at STI 2014, Daniel will be giving a presentation about citizen science, with information about Sea Star Wasting Syndrome, at the Nature Center.
  • Breanna Trygg, Environmental Education Director of Pacific Education Institute – Breanna will be giving a presentation on Tuesday, at STI 2014, about Environmental and Sustainability Standards in support of Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.
  • John Hendrickson, of Wild Thyme Farm – On Tuesday, at STI 2014, John will give institute participants a walking tour of his farm, Wild Thyme. Wild Thyme is a “private eco-retreat near Olympia Washington… 150 acres of forests, pastures, gardens, orchards and streams, showcase an evolving model of wild forest management, permaculture, agroforestry, diversity.”
  • Laurie Pyne, President of Olympia Beekeepers Association – On Tuesday, at STI 2014, while at Wild Thyme, Laurie will give institute participants a presentation about beekeeping and pollinator gardens.
  • Omroa Bhagwandin, Fishery Program Manager of Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation – On Tuesday, at STI 2014, while at Wild Thyme, Omroa will give institute participants a presentation about riparian restoration, with regards to the work of the Chehalis Tribe.

Field Trips at STI 2014:

  • Nisqually Reach Nature Center – On Monday at STI 2014, participants will visit NRNC, on Luhr Beach, and receive presentations from Daniel Hull, Director at NRNC, about citizen science. Participants will be involved in a beach seine, quadrant survey, plankton survey, and beach clean-up.
  • Wild Thyme Farm – On Tuesday at STI 2014, participants will visit Wild Thyme Farm, and receive a walking tour from farm Director, John Hendrickson. Wild Thyme is a “private eco-retreat near Olympia Washington… 150 acres of forests, pastures, gardens, orchards and streams, showcase an evolving model of wild forest management, permaculture, agroforestry, diversity.” While here, participants will also receive presentations about bees and pollinator gardens, and riparian restoration with the Chehalis Tribe.

Other Resources to be Provided at STI 2014: