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LSF's Quarterly Newsletter
  Fall 2010

FLOW Action ProjectGreetings!

Welcome back!! Hope you all had a wonderful and sustainable summer!
 
As the new school year begins, LSF has a host of opportunities to engage you and your students in exploring important environmental, economic and social issues through active and interdisciplinary learning:
  • Access over 700 sustainability resources on R4R.ca!
  • Attend a workshop or book a free program!
  • Apply for funding for your Action Project!
  • Step Outside with your students and appreciate nature in the fall!!
This month we also feature two new partnership initiatives - ZEROchallenge and the AVIVA Community Fund.

Take a look at the programs and I am sure that you will find something to inspire you and your students to make a difference!

Enjoy,
Pamela Schwartzberg
Executive Director

Pictured Left: The Ghost River project, at Annette St. Jr. and Sr. Public School, celebrates the buried river that flows under the school's yard and teaches students about the fragility of our watersheds. -Project FLOW, Toronto, ON
Resources for Rethinking (R4R.ca)R4R
ESD Teaching Resources at your Fingertips!

Access over 700 classroom resources (in English and French) that help you to explore the environmental, social and economic issues in our world today through active, interdisciplinary learning.

R4R.ca is an on-line database where you can search by subject, grade, and theme for classroom-ready resources that connect to your curriculum outcomes. There is no charge to access this inventory and a majority of the materials it offers can be downloaded.
Mining the Carbon Out of
People's Lifestyles

Carbon Footprint Teacher Workshop

Space is limited for grade 5 and 6 teachers to attend LSF's "Mining the Carbon out of People's Lifestyles" Teacher Workshop taking place on September 28th, 2010 at York University. This workshop provides teachers with the resources and tools to engage their students in activities to measure and reduce their carbon footprint at school and at home. You will get electricity meters, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and power bars. There are also prizes for the schools that achieve the greatest reduction in energy.

Please visit http://www.lsf-lst.ca/en/projects/youth-taking-action/mining-the-carbon-out-of-peoples-lifestyles for more details, and to register! Registration deadline is September 17th, 2010.

LSF would like to thank the Ontario Ministry of Environment's Community Go Green Fund for their support.

EcoLeagueEcoLeague
Linking Education to Action

Funding
Sustainability Action Projects

Want to start a school-wide vermicomposting initiative? Make your own cloth bags? Plant native species in the schoolyard? Or start a litterless lunch campaign? Sustainability action projects are eligible for up to $400 of funding through LSF's EcoLeague program! Please visit www.ecoleague.ca for details. The deadline for submitting applications is November 1st, 2010.

School Action Days
Facilitated Classroom Workshops

Interested in getting a sustainability initiative going at your school, but don't know where to start? EcoLeague Action Days are the perfect opportunity for you!* Choose from one of eight EcoLeague recipes, including No Idling at School, Food for Thought, and Yellow Fish Road. Book your free program. LSF staff will visit your school to facilitate a 3-hour, hands-on, action filled workshop that supports your curriculum outcomes. For more information, please contact Lilly Briggs, Project Coordinator, at [email protected].
 
*EcoLeague Action Days are only available in select Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal.
 

LSF will be at the Roots and Shoots Conference in Sudbury
EcoLeague Workshops - October 6, 2010

LSF is delivering two EcoLeague teacher workshops in Sudbury this fall as part of the Roots and Shoots Conference! If you teach Grade 9 Geography, Grade 10 Civics, Grade 10 Science, Grade 11 Environmental Science, and/or manage the Green Club, this workshop is for you!! You will receive the tools, techniques and resources to help you facilitate a successful energy or water action project with your students.

The Roots and Shoots Conference is being held at Science North in Sudbury on Wednesday, October 6th, 2010. To register:
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:
[email protected]

Step OutsideStep Outside
Your Guide to Nature's Events

This school year, engage your students in hands-on, active learning by having them Step Outside! Take your students on a field trip without ever leaving the school yard!! Be prepared to answer questions like "why do leaves change colour in the fall?", or "where do frogs go in the winter?"

Step Outside are nature guides, published two to three times per month, highlighting seasonal happenings which are often taking place just outside the classroom! Please visit www.r4r.ca/step-outside to sign up for the guides.
Project FLOWProject FLOW
For the Love Of Water

Are you passionate about reducing the use of plastic water bottles at your school? Are you concerned about the quality of your drinking water? Is your local riverbank littered with debris? If water issues are your focus, than LSF's Project FLOW is the answer!!

Project FLOW provides workshops and resources for teachers, and funding of up to $3000 to support your water action project. For project ideas, eligibility criteria, and application forms please visit www.r4r.ca/project-flow.

The deadline for Project FLOW funding applications is November 1st, 2010.
Calling all Teacher Candidates/
Master of Education Students


LSF is seeking Faculty of Education ESD ambassadors to facilitate the sharing of ESD related programs and resources with their teachers and peers. Ambassadors will be the eyes, ears and heart of bringing ESD to your faculty for the coming year. This is a volunteer position, with free training and classroom resource benefits!! It is open to students in undergraduate or graduate teacher education programs. If you are interested please contact Fiona at [email protected].

A Day Made Better
Winners to be announced October 5th!

'A Day Made Better' Grand and Toyrecognizes teachers for going above and beyond the call of duty in engaging their students in sustainability education. On October 5th, 2010, LSF, in partnership with Grand and Toy, will honour 12 amazing Canadian teachers from Calgary, Burnaby, Victoria, Winnipeg, Dartmouth, Kingston, Ottawa, Toronto, Vaughan, Anjou, Lachine and Saskatoon.

The winning teachers, who have been nominated by their peers, administrators, parents or students will be surprised with $1500 in school supplies, sustainability resources, and a brand new chair.

Learn more about A Day Made Better.
Lights, camera, action!!

Want to show the world your amazing action projects?? Send us your stories, pictures, and videos an
d we will post them on the LSF sites!! Please
email Lilly at [email protected]
ZEROchallenge
Measure. Compare. Change!

LSF is pleased to
be partnering with Zerofootprint for ZEROchallenge - helping students measure their schools' carbon footprint and compete to achieve the largest reduction!

Visit http://zerochallenge.zerofootprint.net/ to sign up and get your school on the map!
AVIVA Community Fund
LSF partners with Aviva for the 2010 Competition

Aviva Community FundWant to create a Helping Hands club to make "back to school kits" for needy kids? Want to engage the school community in cooking a holiday dinner for the homeless in your community? LSF is pleased to be partnering with Aviva Canada to help schools across Canada undertake community initiatives that address children and families in need.

The Aviva Community Fund is providing $1 million in 2010 to lead, empower and support these initiatives. Schools post their ideas and Canadians vote for their most popular ideas. The winners will have a chance to share the $1,000,000 Aviva Community Fund. Submit your ideas by September 27, 2010. Voting begins October 4, 2010.

For more information, please visit http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/.
Meet some of our Partners...

Out to Learn... Experiential Learning that Lasts a Lifetime!
Out to Learn offers natural resource and ecological education programs and services that are science and geography based with direct links to the Ontario curriculum. www.outtolearn.ca;
 
Yours Outdoors... Explore Haliburton
Yours Outdoors specializes in experiential tourism in the Haliburton Highlands. Themed packages engage learners in authentic experiences; connect them with local communities and the outdoors; and foster understanding of and commitment to sustainability.
www.yoursoutdoors.ca
Follow us on...  Find us on Facebook  Follow us on Twitter
& watch for the LSF blog, coming soon.
Check out all the LSF Programs:

Project FLOW Step OutsideR4RSEdA
EcoLeagueESD Canada
Donate to LSF and inspire a generation of responsible citizens!!
Canada Helps
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.
How to Contact LSF...
Questions? Comments? Innovative ideas? Please contact:
Lilly Briggs
LSF Project Coordinator
[email protected]
1-877-250-8202 or 416-327-7028.   
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