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Viability
| LSF's Quarterly Newsletter
June 2010
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Eco Heroes: Eco Force Five (Mother Nature, Inferno, Creation, Aqua, Typhoon), and Anti Eco
 | Greetings!
This month VIABILITY features an update on our 8th Annual State of Education for Sustainable
Development Symposium. We were all very inspired by the fantastic presentations given by our guests, especially by the Eco Team from St. Leo Catholic School in Brooklin Ontario - pictured here.
LSF is excited to announce a number of new initiatives including: EcoLeague in Sudbury; A Day Made Better; Teaching Grade 9 Geography Through a Sustainability Lens; and Mining the Carbon out of People's Lifestyles.
We also welcome our new funders for 2010 who are helping to ensure that LSF can continue to inspire the next generation of responsible citizens!!!
Enjoy,
Pamela Schwartzberg
Executive Director
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Annual State of Education for Sustainable Development Symposium 2010
 On Tuesday, May 18th, 2010, BMO Financial Group hosted Learning for a
Sustainable
Future's 8th Annual State of Education for Sustainable Development
Symposium and Dinner at First Canadian Place. Over 80 business and community
leaders joined together to learn how
Canada is responding to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and the role LSF is playing in leading this important work in Canada. Presentations were made by: - David Bell, Chair of LSF;
- Gerry Connelly, Former Director of Education for
Toronto District School Board;
- Bob Willard, Speaker and Author of the Sustainability Advantage; and
- Michael Thornburrow, BMO Financial Group.
The highlights of the evening were student presentations by Jovana, a co-op student from Stephen Lewis Secondary School; and students and teacher Jennifer McKeown from St. Leo Catholic School in Brooklin
Ontario. Learn more about the Annual State of ESD Symposium on the LSF website. |
Going Green
Ontario 2010 Summer Program
Join other elementary educators in
learning how to use environmental education as an engaging context for
all
subject areas. Through critical thinking and inquiry-based strategies, integrate biodiversity, sustainability and stewardship into your lesson
plans
across many subject areas including the revised Science and Technology,
The
Arts, and Health and Physical Education.
You will: - explore natural areas to increase
familiarity with nature and outdoor learning
- plan integrated learning
experiences, including TLCPs
- examine a wide variety of resources
available for use in your classroom
- create multisensory learning
experiences through The Arts and Health and Physical Education
Please note that this professional
learning experience meets Ontario EcoSchools certification
criteria.
ELEMENTARY
WORKSHOPS
London - July 7-9 Hamilton - July
13-15 Sault Ste. Marie - July
28-30 Outdoor Education at Kemptville -
August 4-6 |
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Work in a Warming World (W3)
 LSF to participate in million dollar research project
W3 is a 6 year Community University-Research Alliance (CURA) project funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The project will examine how climate change will affect work and employment in Canada, including the education sector, which is where LSF will pariticpate. The project is housed by the Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability at York University. Read more about the W3 project.
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New Program: Mining the Carbon out of People's Lifestyles
"Mining the Carbon out of People's Lifestyles" will provide grade 5
and 6 teachers in Ontario with the resources and tools to engage their
students in activities to measure and reduce their carbon footprint at
school and at home.
Launching in September 2010, the program includes: - A workshop for teachers from 21 southern Ontario School Boards
- Participating teachers will receive a class set of electricity meters and classroom resources
- Upon completion of classroom and home baseline energy audits, each student will receive a compact fluorescent light bulb and classes will receive 10 power bars
- Classes undertake an Action Project, using funding from LSF and document their savings on the LSF website
- Contest and prizes for the schools that achieve the greatest reduction in energy
Check the LSF website in August for all the details and to sign up!
LSF would like to thank the Ontario Ministry of Environment's
Community Go Green Fund for their support.
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EcoLeague™
 Linking Education to Action
In April, the LSF team delivered two EcoLeague Teacher Workshops in Sudbury Ontario - one English and one French. All 21 Sudbury area high schools, as well as some elementary schools, participated.
As a result of the workshops, school energy and water action projects are pouring in. Here are a few examples of what Sudbury students are taking on:
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Manitoulin Secondary School,
M'Chigeeng is erecting a solar panel and a small wind
turbine on the school. The energy will be stored in a small battery in the greenhouse to power the
greenhouse and the filtration system in the school pond.
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École Secondaire Catholique Franco-Ouest, Espanola is rehabilitating the stream of the Espanola golf course, and a river that
supports salmon on Manitoulin Island.
Visit www.ecoleague.ca to access action project recipes.
Thanks to Xstrata Nickel for supporting EcoLeague in Sudbury!
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Belfountain Public School receives Burtynsky
Award for Teaching
Excellence in Environmental Education
LSF nominated Belfountain Public School for the Institute of Child Study's Edward Burtynsky Award for Teaching Excellence in Environmental Education. Belfountain Public School
has used the environment as an integrating context for the entire
school. They were selected from a particularly impressive batch of
applications from a
number
of school boards across the province of Ontario. Congratulation to Wendy
Brooker, Andrea Broersma, Michelle Svoboda, Sarah
Hamer,
Janice Haines, Jiiva Somerville, Bryan Bibby Smith and John Harrower. |
 Teaching Grade 9 Geography
Through a Sustainability Lens!
LSF and the York Region District School Board (YRDSB) are pleased to launch Teaching Grade 9 Geography Through a Sustainability Lens!
This classroom resource, developed and tested with a team of geographers from the YRDSB, helps teachers examine the Ontario ministry-mandated concepts in grade nine geography from a sustainability perspective.
It addresses the 'big questions' that grade nine geography students should consider if they are to become responsible citizens. A must have resource for all geography teachers!!
Download Teaching Grade 9 Geography.
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Youth Advisory Committee (YAC)
LSF is launching a Youth Advisory Committee (YAC)!! The
YAC will consist of 8-10 high-school aged youth from across the
country.
YACs will provide LSF with a stronger youth perspective on our programs. YACs will also act as ambassadors for LSF. collaborating with students nationwide, and helping LSF engage more
youth in sustainability education and action
initiatives.
For more information or to apply, please contact: yac@lsf-lst.ca |
 Project FLOW
For the Love Of Water
You and your students can become water stewards through Project FLOW -
for the Love of Water .
Please
visit www.r4r.ca/en/project-flow for teaching resources, project ideas and funding.
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 Step Outside
Your Guide to Nature's Events
Bi-monthly nature guides are a compilation of seasonal happenings that can be used to bring nature
into your classroom.
Check out the latest Nature Guides: |
Success Stories
LSF is looking for Success Stories for Step Outside, EcoLeague and Project FLOW! Please email Lilly at lilly@lsf-lst.ca with your stories. |
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The Survey Results are in...
In the spring, LSF conducted a survey of our programs. 178 educators responded. Here is what you told us...
- of those who have attended an LSF teacher workshop, the majority used one of the resources provided
- 89.6% of respondents indicated that participating in the teacher workshops had enhanced their action projects
- there is a split between club based, class based, multiple class, and school-wide projects
- class based projects linked to science are most popular
- 40% of respondents have visited R4R.ca
To learn more about our survey results, please email pam@lsf-lst.ca.
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What teachers are saying about R4R...
"Search function is amazing. It is a super search - a one stop shop for
sustainable education resources."
"Peer-reviewed resources, easy navigation, link to resource or ordering
option."
"Well organised. I like the Find resources. Easy to use and to find
something."
"database is fast, well laid out, bilingual" LSF Survey Respondents
| What
teachers are saying about LSF...
"Thank you for your continued commitment to support learning in this field. When we
can show the connected relationship of all living things, perhaps we will value all life as sacred and essential to preserve."
"The need for LSF has never been greater ... keep up the good work!"
"Thanks for the great work you do!"
LSF Survey Respondents
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Check out all the LSF Programs: |
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New
2010 Donors
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LSF is excited to announce our latest Donors. They are supporting both existing programs like EcoLeague and Resources for Rethinking (R4R), as well as new initiatives including: A Day Made Better; and Mining the Carbon out of People's Lifestyles. The new 2010 donors are: - Grand & Toy
- Home Depot Foundation
- Loblaw Companies Ltd.
- Ontario Ministry of Environment - Community Go Green Fund
- Vale Inco
- Xstrata Nickel
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Donate to LSF and inspire a generation of responsible citizens!!
LSF works with partners to provide the teaching
and learning strategies that students will need to meet the profound social, environmental,
economic and political challenges of the 21st century.
LSF delivers our programs to teachers and students in classrooms across Canada everyday.
By making a donation on the
CanadaHelps.org website you can help LSF inspire a generation of responsible citizens.
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How to Contact LSF...
Questions? Comments? Innovative ideas? Please contact: Lilly Briggs
LSF
Project Coordinator
lilly@lsf-lst.ca
1-877-250-8202 or 416-327-7028. |
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