Environmental Education In Action
Gardening with Class!
The Master Gardeners partnered with the Del Mar Fairgrounds and SD Children and Nature in October to provide SD County teachers and garden instructors a full day conference on School Gardens and Schoolyard Habitats. 117 educators and 25 Master Gardener School Garden Consultants attended choosing from 15 workshop presenters and 8 activities in the afternoon. The Habitat strand included morning sessions with Clayton Tshudy with Creating Outdoor Learning Environments, MG Meredith French with Creating Wildlife Gardens, Cami Abel speaking on Community Support for Habitats, Norrie Robbins with Ethnobotany for SD Teachers, and Cindy Jenson-Elliott on Common Core Gardening. Afternoon workshops continued to share curriculum for schoolyards with Leta Bender sharing Ilisa Goldman’s presentation, From Bug Rugs to Tree Hugs, for preschool teachers, Exploring our School Yard with Judie Lincer showcasing the SDCaN Urban Forests K-5 Curriculum and Linda Rasmussan sharing other successful pilot programs for Elementary schools, Science teachers Su Scott and Ashley Holmes showing their Adventures with Arthropods, SDCaN’s newest pilot program for Middle School, and Shelley Glenn Lee showing high school teachers how they might use Citizen Science with their students. All featured the use of NGSS practices. Breakfast and lunch were provided by the Fairgrounds and held in the beautiful Director’s Dining Room on the Fifth Floor of the Grandstand Building with relevant exhibits next door. Master Gardeners provided the planning and the volunteers for the event, co-chaired by Leta Bender and Charlotte Getz. The day ended with Activities such as our SDCaN Loose Parts Activity, Nature Illustration with Liz Paegel, and Nature Journaling with Lilian
Cooper. Participants left with plants and door prizes and great ideas that they will share with their schools.
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