Food justice classes and mock G7 summits are on the curriculum in the first US state to fund “climate change education” in public schools. In science teacher Ali Coker’s sophomore biology class, students became farming activists attending a G7 summit. Coker wove in...
Partner stories
These stories are a collection of educator professional learning experiences and opportunities provided by ESD, CBO and Tribal School partners.
ESD 105
The focus of the work within the ClimeTime Proviso has been to leverage an existing collaborative effort of 21 School Districts and 3 private schools that are members of the ESD 105 Science Cooperative to implement NGSS-aligned instruction for the vast majority of the region’s K-5 students.
Rural Students Bring Climate Conversations into the Community
When Celia Cummings started teaching Waterville High School’s first environmental science class, she discovered that many of her students came from families that doubt the science of climate change. Celia was enrolled in a climate justice focused professional...
Opening Minds to Learning, Action, and Hope.
Ever wonder how to talk to students about climate change and how to empower them to take action? Many elementary teachers in Washington State wonder about this too! In an effort to support teachers, Regional Science Coordinators in Tri-Cities, Yakima, Wenatchee, and...
Urban Forestry: The Benefits of Urban Trees
Trees provide incredible benefits to our economy, human and more-than-human health, the environment, and the overall aesthetics of cities. On Saturday, October 8th, ten educators from the Yakima area joined Pacific Education Institute (PEI) and ESD 105 to learn how...
Our Climate is Changing, Why Aren’t We? Getting Started Using Children’s Literature
In the spring of 2022, Regional Science Coordinators met to reflect on Climate Literacy work completed in 2021-22. A few patterns began to emerge. The first pattern was that elementary teachers were excited to bring climate science to their classrooms, but unsure of...
EarthGen Expands Climate Justice League Statewide
Teacher Casey Jones’ family includes migrant farmworkers, whose lives are directly affected by climate change and social injustice. The students at Rowena Chess Elementary School where Casey teaches also see the effects of these twin crises in their daily lives....
Central Washington teachers dig in to PEI’s Regenerative Agriculture Storylines
Thanks to the support of ESD (Educational Service Districts) 105 and 171, eleven more Central Washington teachers were able to join the Pacific Education Institute (PEI) for an exploration of their Regenerative Agriculture Storylines. This two-day hybrid online and...
Teachers Tackle Food Waste with PEI’s Solutions Oriented Learning Storylines
Nehemias Chalma, Compost Facility Manager at Natural Selection Farms, spoke to teachers in both English and Spanish cohorts about using compost to support healthy soil. Where does good food go bad? This question gave educators in ESD 105, NCESD, and PSESD something to...
Hot and Hazy Summers Connect Climate Change to Local Experience
Educators learned why we had such an extreme heat wave this past summer, as they heard from Robin Fox, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Spokane. Chelsea Freeman teaches high school in Tonasket, an agricultural community hit especially hard by the...