Curriculum and Instruction Focus

1. Action Team 6We will infuse instruction with environmental stewardship and integrate sound environmental practices into facility design, construction and operation. Curriculum and Instruction Focus

2. People become environmental stewards as a result of years of connection to, understanding of and appreciation for nature. Challenge-Loss of children's outdoor play and contact with the natural world due to societal, cultural and environmental factors negatively impact the growth and development of the whole child and their acquisition of knowledge, it also sets the stage for a continuing loss of the natural environment. Unless children ‘s exposure and connection to nature increases, they will not become stewards of the environment. Goal- to utilize existing k-12 curriculum objectives to provide students with increased exposure to, understanding of and appreciation for nature ; the intended result being the development of a positive environmental ethic. We believe that extra effort should be expended at the elementary level when attitudes are very malleable. Students who begin to form a strong environmental ethic at a young age will be more likely to form lifelong patterns of environmental stewardship.

3. Action Items Action items must be encourage and supported by the Curriculum department in order to be realized at campus level. There must be some flexibility in curriculum sequence to enable teachers to involve students in ongoing outdoor investigations with plants, weather, ecosystems and lifecycles. This flexibility will enable students to study natural phenomena in the context of the natural flow of seasonal changes. $Gardens and Outdoor Classrooms- Installation of native garden areas that will entice wildlife for observation by students. These should be installed by students and tied to Science TEKS. Installation of vegetable garden areas by students that will be used year round for investigations in science , math measurement and writing. Activities should be inquiry-based and encourage critical thinking. Use of outdoor classroom areas will be encouraged and supported by curriculum and instruction. $ Ecoschools-The encouragement and rewarding of campuses by central office to become Eco-Schools or an equivalent. Schools should be given some sort of monitaryreward for accomplishing and maintaining goals that promote and demonstrate environmental stewardshipand save district money for operations.

4. $ Staff Development-Teacher inservices that provide background knowledge, resources and practice in teaching life and earth science concepts in outdoor settings. These should be either offered on paid staff development days or on teachers own time with a stipend. Examples- Project Learning Tree, Project Wild, Groundwater to Gulf Resources- Compile a list of Free Resources on the X drive for teaching environmental science. This would be a working document that contains organizations that provide free materials and services to classroom teachers. For example Modern Woodsmen, GRBA, TPWD. $ $ Field Trips- Many of our students live in family situations that limit their experiences with nature. We need to allocate money for field trips that provide real experiences with nature . These could involve collaborations between environmental organizations such as TPWD and BSEACD. Dahlstrom Ranch off of 967 will be ready to receive students next year for environmental actives including caving for grades k-12 . This is close and will get students out into a natural area to learning about local geography, wildlife, and environmental issues.

5. Partnerships with environmental organizations for the purpose of collecting and analyzing environmental data such as water quality and animal migrations (martins and monarchs) Funding-Collaboration b/w science leaders in the district to seek external funding sources for outdoor classrooms and teacher stipends for training. $ $ $Elementary Science Labs with teachers having a strong science background that will be offered as a specials. This teacher will focus on scientific inquiry, cycles and systems in nature and utilization of outdoor learning. These programs should be very hands on and NOT TAKS review or book based. Through this class students will have hands on time in outdoor learning every week in addition to hands on science in the classroom . This person could be the point person on each campus for acquiring and maintaining Eco-schools status and organizing recycling programs, environmental clubs and partnerships with environmental organizations. They could also be the instrument for developing garden areas with students and utilizing these garden areas year-round.