Pacific Education Institute

https://lnkd.in/gm7zNx82 Resource Monday: Coastal Wetlands Storyline (high school level) Spring is just around the corner and it's a great time to study wetlands. High school teachers, this storyline takes a solutions-oriented approach to climate change through exploring the function and benefits of wetlands, along with their role adapting and mitigating rising carbon levels and sea level rise. Students will collaborate to design solutions that enhance coastal wetlands. Middle school and elementary school teachers, PEI also offers wetlands storylines for every grade band level.

#SouthSoundTeachers take a look at this program through Capitol Land Trust. The next session starts in March. https://lnkd.in/gzJfj9sX The Conservation Kids program is a 3rd grade FieldSTEM? outdoor education program that takes place at our 108-acre Inspiring Kids Preserve in Thurston County. This program is a collaboration with North Thurston Public Schools, Pacific Education Institute, Puget Sound Estuarium, and Black Hills Audubon Society. By using Inspiring Kids Preserve as a teaching tool, students see real world connections to school topics like Science, Social Studies, Math, and Language Arts. School topics aren’t the only things developed during field experiences! Being on the land fosters curiosity and relationship building. Students visit Inspiring Kids Preserve in the spring during their 3rd grade school year as a part of a district-wide outdoor learning initiative. Students engage in four hands-on lessons about ecology while experiencing local land conservation first hand. The lessons are designed to support classroom lessons and align with Next Generation Science Standards.

https://lnkd.in/g--YD5z3 Community partner spotlight: Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve is a great partner for PEI's dual language and multicultural education programs and an invaluable resource for research and education about the Salish Sea. Take a look at their education and outreach efforts below.

https://lnkd.in/gnvtTyKi Finding dual-language resources for teaching science is a challenge, which is why educators attending PEI's Bilingual ELA Performance Task workshop were excited to learn about PEI's materials in Spanish. Participants also learned about the dual-language resources available through PEI and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). These include WIDA, a comprehensive approach to supporting, teaching and assessing multi-lingual learners and the accompanying Marco DALE framework, which supports Spanish Language standards development. “I’m very happy about people signing up and finding out about these resources," says PEI's Multicultural Engagement Coordinator Lourdes Flores.

Resource Monday: The Winner is . . . Native Plants! Today we offer another performance task, this time for elementary school teachers grades 3-5. As a reminder, performance tasks are min-research units that incorporate math or English Language Arts with Next Generation Science Standards. The purpose of this Math Performance Task is to provide grades 3-5 students with an opportunity to problem solve based on a real-world situation. There are a variety of mathematical approaches students can take to successfully complete the task. With this approach, students are shown different strategies for using multiplication to find the solution. https://lnkd.in/dJgBhRA9

Community partner spotlight: Eastern Washington friends, @SpokaneConservationDistrict is a rich resource for educators as well as parents. Their educational programs include hands-on, interactive demonstrations and activities about natural resources and local issues concerning these resources. The lessons are designed by a certified teacher to be grade-level appropriate and in line with all state standards. Most lessons will also connect with the science education that students are receiving in their schools. Lessons are provided free of charge to K-12 classrooms; as well as, home-school groups and other organizations that serve the youth (i.e. YMCA and the Boys and Girls Club). Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gQgjFcgP

https://lnkd.in/gxP4XsNd Congratulations to #LaConnerElementarySchool teacher Christi Malcomson and students for making the news! Through Western Washington University 's CREST project, students learned about Coast Salish engineering, traditional knowledge and culture and built their own ROVs out of PVC pipe to investigate the presence of marine debris in the creek. The project was part of an effort to use math and science to restore and care for the environment.

https://lnkd.in/gyZ6afBH Dual Language resources are in demand in North Thurston Public Schools and in January, PEI stepped in to fulfill that need. Multicultural Engagement Coordinator Lourdes Flores and South Sound FieldSTEM Coordinator Lauren Troyer facilitated workshops for elementary and secondary teachers to explore dual language science resources. Elementary school teachers experienced a ‘sit spot’ and discussed its benefits, explored PEI’s Spanish language Schoolyard Investigations resource, and built a ‘toad abode,’ an activity that integrates science and engineering with reading and writing. Secondary teachers learned strategies for developing community and a sense of belonging for older students. Teachers were excited to learn about PEI’s Spanish language resources. “They were blown away,” says Troyer. “They spent some time looking and seeing what they could connect with the content they teach.”

https://lnkd.in/gtk95rp9 Monday is PEI resource day! Today's offering is for middle school teachers: a stormwater engineers English Language Arts 'performance task.' Performance tasks are mini-research units that align STEM and English Language Arts (ELA) or math in accordance with Next Generation Science and Common Core standards. In this task, students watch two informational videos about stormwater management and read the job description for a stormwater engineer, taking notes on these sources. Then they will respond to three research questions and write an article explaining the important work of a stormwater engineer.

A little research on strengthening connections through place-based learning for Valentine's Day. Learn how a sense of connection to place improves student outcomes and their connection to community. https://lnkd.in/gdy8vv5g From the article: What is your place? What role does it play in your life? Your work? Your hobbies? Your relationships? Like all of us, your place is likely very significant to you. It’s something we all share, yet it remains personal and unique to each of us. My place is different from yours, and yours may even differ from your neighbor’s. But no matter where we are, we all have a place.