I am exploring the need of time in nature in young children, ant the effects of lack of time in nature for my Capstone Project. While researching this subject, I found several national organizations with the same goal of ensuring that children are provided with time to explore the natural world.
National Environmental Education Foundation
http://www.neefusa.org/health/children_nature.htm
The NEEF has specific goals for creating environmental education programs for all children:
Environmental education in our schools: Core environmental knowledge for America's children while improving their overall academic success. Program includes: Classroom Earth and EE Week.
Environmental education for the adult public: Baseline environmental knowledge for America's adults to make more informed decisions. Program includes: Earth Gauge (Weather) and National Public Lands Day.
Environmental education for health professionals: A stronger public health safety net through environmentally educated healthcare providers. Program: Health & Environment initiative.
Environmental education for business managers: Training and information to help business managers align corporate environmental values and day-to-day operations through employee education. Program: Business & Environment initiative.
Their website describes the many great Environmental Education programs they offer. The most interesting of these, for me, is the prescription for playing outdoors program, in which they are asking pediatricians to prescribe daily time in nature over medication for many childhood ailments.
The website also offers many activities, ideas and publications regarding creating environmental education programs both inside of and outside of schools.
National Environmental Education Week
http://eeweek.org/
The National Environmental Education Week Foundation is a group dedicated to raising the awareness of the importance of environmental education. They organize a week each year in April where they ask educators and schools to pledge to include environmental education activities into their curriculum. They also offer a great deal of information on the importance of time in nature for development, as well as ideas off lesson plans, activities, and making connections with families and local environmental agencies.
National Park Service
http://www.nps.gov/index.htm
The United States National Park Service also offers wonderful resources for teachers and students. They provide curriculum aides, loan learning materials, and offer distance learning opportunities via the Internet for students all over the world. For instance, if you live hundreds of miles from the grand canyon, you can still provide grand canyon experiences to students via the long distance learning programs they offer. Additionally, they provide lesson plans for discovering nature in your own neighborhood, regardless of where you live. It is truly a great resource.
I think the information in these resources will really help me to organize my capstone project and to add environmental education experiences into my own classrooms.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Connecting to Early Childhood Organizations
I chose three agencies in Illinois that I feel have strong missions regarding the I,prove meant of the caref for, services for, and lives of young children. I am very familiar with two of these agencies. The third is new to me, but looks like a very interesting and positive entity in Illinois.
The first agency I chose is actually my employer, Illinois Action for children, www.actforchildren.org. The mission statement of IAFC is "Illinois Action for Children is a catalyst for organizing, developing and supporting strong families and powerful communities where children matter most.". Their vision is to make children and families a priority in Illinois. They work to make this vision a reality by providing various sorts of financial and social assistance to children and families. It is impossible to write here all of the services they provide and all of the advocacy work that they do, so I highly recommend thT everyone take a look at their website.
The next agency I cose is the Illinois Resource and Referral agency, or INCCRRA. Http://www.inccrra.org. The Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies is a statewide organization which – in partnership with its 16 partner Child Care Resources and Referral (CCR&R) agencies – is a recognized leader, catalyst and resource for making high quality, affordable early care and education and school-age options available for children and families in Illinois.
INCCRRA provides free training for Early Childhood staff, grants for Childcare workers to go to school or to stay in their current schools, assistance and referrals for families, mental health services for children and much more.
The final agency I chose is Voices for Illinois Children, http://www.voices4kids.org. Voices for Illinois Children champions the full development of every child in Illinois to assure the future well-being of everyone in the state. They work with families, communities and policymakers on all issues to help children grow up healthy, happy, safe, loved, and well educated.
I am actually very happy in my current job, but am always looking for ways to provide better care and education to my students. I think that the most important trait to have for any jobs in these agencies is a passion for providing quality education to young children.
The first agency I chose is actually my employer, Illinois Action for children, www.actforchildren.org. The mission statement of IAFC is "Illinois Action for Children is a catalyst for organizing, developing and supporting strong families and powerful communities where children matter most.". Their vision is to make children and families a priority in Illinois. They work to make this vision a reality by providing various sorts of financial and social assistance to children and families. It is impossible to write here all of the services they provide and all of the advocacy work that they do, so I highly recommend thT everyone take a look at their website.
The next agency I cose is the Illinois Resource and Referral agency, or INCCRRA. Http://www.inccrra.org. The Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies is a statewide organization which – in partnership with its 16 partner Child Care Resources and Referral (CCR&R) agencies – is a recognized leader, catalyst and resource for making high quality, affordable early care and education and school-age options available for children and families in Illinois.
INCCRRA provides free training for Early Childhood staff, grants for Childcare workers to go to school or to stay in their current schools, assistance and referrals for families, mental health services for children and much more.
The final agency I chose is Voices for Illinois Children, http://www.voices4kids.org. Voices for Illinois Children champions the full development of every child in Illinois to assure the future well-being of everyone in the state. They work with families, communities and policymakers on all issues to help children grow up healthy, happy, safe, loved, and well educated.
I am actually very happy in my current job, but am always looking for ways to provide better care and education to my students. I think that the most important trait to have for any jobs in these agencies is a passion for providing quality education to young children.
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