As some of you may know, my “day job” is working in early childhood education. (Naturally, my Grass Stain Guru skills come in quite handy!)

Wile I have worked K-12 for many years, I have to say that the need for quality early childhood education is so profound, that it has really stirred my inner advocate (as well as registered voter!) more than any other professional experience to date.

And speaking of powerful, please watch this video from The Ounce, which I hope will stir a fire or two…

Whether you are a parent or not — and regardless of socioeconomic status — this is on your doorstep. It’s on all of our doorsteps.

Step up America. Any way you look at this issue, including bottom line economics, investing in early childhood is investing in our county.

Thanks for indulging my less playful side today, folks.

See ya outside! ~ The Grass Stain Guru

photo credit: woodleywonderworks

TGSG Note: Sometimes as a writer, a topic or post just resonates with us — for whatever reason. This post is one of those for me. In fact, if I had to pick one thing to share, it would probably be this piece.

Recently, I was discussing Gilbert’s work with a friend — someone who I respect very much. While he had read the book Eat, Pray, Love (well, to be honest, he never finished it), he had never heard her speak. He was not a fan of the book, and while I am, I tried to explain that the book paled in comparison to seeing her speak. Well, at least for me.

Now, I am not really a woo-woo out there person, but I will tell you that I feel this odd kinship with Elizabeth Gilbert, a woman I was slow to hear about. For whatever reason, I didn’t read her book for the longest time. A friend had finally gone out and gotten it for me, but I let it sit on my coffee table for months and months. Not thinking, I casually tossed it in my bag for a work trip I was taking to Italy, where I finally got around to reading it.

So you see — here is the weird thing: my maiden name is Elizabethe Gilbert. I just so happened to have been living in Rome at the same time as Elizabeth Gilbert, where I too was trying to start life over and get my footing, and it was at this time I really started flirting with the idea of becoming a writer.

While I loved the book (although, oddly enough India was my favorite part), it wasn’t until I saw her speak that things really started to click for me. Thoughts set in motion. Permission granted. Calm, and more.

Below you will find the original post, and I have added her TED talk as well. I hope that my friend will give her a few minutes of his time and see if his perspective shifts at all.

I hope that each of you have a person, a song, a poem — whatever — that gets your wheels turning and grants you permission to be OK with wherever you are headed, even if you don’t quite know yet.

Thanks for indulging my personal side today. ~ Bethe

I find myself writing about creativity for the second time this week. After all, it is something that we associate with childhood — make-believe, capturing the world in the colors of a 64 pack of crayons, or the wonderful and winding words of  a Shel Silverstein poem. Creativity should be the cornerstone of childhood (and adulthood as well).

I had the opportunity to see Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat Pray Love, speak last night. I was as struck by her engaging storytelling and warm spirit as I was for her quest to understand things — to ask questions and seek truths in a really joyful and thoughtful way. Not in a prescriptive and dogmatic way, or with an agenda of outcomes as her driving force, already answering questions yet to be asked. Her creativity is evident not only in her writing, but in the way her mind works, and the way she allows it to work.

She told a story about seeing the National Cathedral as a young girl, and being so inspired by the beauty and dimensions of its physical space that she wanted to recreate it in her bedroom. Right that very moment — leave DC and head home so she could get started on her own masterpiece — to start decorating her own cathedral.

How much do we love that about children?! Because they don’t just think those delicious thoughts — they act on them. They decorate their own cathedrals. If we let them have room to breathe — have time to just think, play, and make mistakes. If we nurture this discovery process, children find their own voices — their own creativity.

As parents, educators, and/or caring adults, we have to allow this to happen. It’s a conscious decision on our parts through choices that are sometimes unpopular, like limiting screen-time, including “educational” TV or video games. Actions like reducing the number of structured out-of-school activities kids are signed-up for, encouraging outdoor play and the exploration of the natural world, and trips to the library are also important ways to foster creativity.

Creativity must also find its way into our education system, via reform at all levels. Education is about far more than learning the facts — of learning what to think. Good education is learning how to think – how to ask questions and problem solve. How to love to learn. One size does not fit all.

Often, I think that creativity is attached to only the arts — drama, dance, music, and so on. Indeed, those are all creative, but so is math, science, economics, and the like. Creativity is the root of all those things. Of everything. Often, when someone says a person is creative, it can be meant as a slight. “Oh, he’s so creative,” can really mean, “Oh, he’s not too bright, but he’s an amazing dancer.” How sad is that?

Creativity. The power to innovate — all kids have this. We all have this, actually. It’s just the ability to allow ourselves to tap into it or give ourselves the time to embrace it that we seem to have misplaced. It’s time to take it back. It’s time to stop looking at creativity as something that is second, third or tenth on the list of things to value and nurture in our children and in society.

Let the children in your world decorate their own cathedrals. And while you’re at it, decorate your own.

Below you will find Gilbert’s TED speech. While I wish I could share her talk from the National Cathedral that gave me so much insight and calm about where I was at the time and allowing myself to finally become a writer, this one is also amazingly powerful and inspiring.

For a little additional inspiration, why not go see what Mother Nature is up to? She has creativity down in spades.

See you outside! – The Grass Stain Guru

TGSG Note: I originally ran this post in April, but with the new school year upon us, I thought it might me good to revisit it. There is also an article in The Boston Globe, Pressure Cooker Kindergarten, that you might be interested in. See the end of the post for comments made by one of the reports co-authors, Ed Miller. He makes some great additional points to ponder.

The shadow of No Child Left Behind has darkened the rooms of kindergartens across America. We often hear people bemoan this particular piece of legislation, and rightfully so, but you might be surprised to learn that those rumblings come from frustrated educators and parents of kindergarten students, too. Test stress is not just for older children now — it starts at five-years-old.

Kindergarten, it seems, has become the new first grade. While some might call this progress, it ignores the fact that kindergarten was developed based on heavily researched theories and practices of child development, and specifically designed to be different than upper grades — to incorporate the learning styles of young children and engage the whole child, including their social and emotional development needs.

The Alliance for Childhood has just released its new report, Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School. Needless to say, it is an eye-opener. If you are not involved in early childhood education or don’t have kids of that age, you might be surprised at some of the findings, not to mention the increasingly didactic, scripted instruction and prevalence of time spent on test preparation. For five-year-olds.

“Teaching to the test,” is now a phrase that can be applied to the education of five-year-olds, regardless of the fact that experts caution its reliability in children under eight. According to the report, “Standardized testing of children under age eight, when used to make significant decisions about the child’s education, is in direct conflict with the professional standards of every educational testing organization.” And of course, we all know that this is exactly how test scores are being used — to make significant decisions about individual children — their capacity to learn and the educational path where they will be placed.

Kindergarten. Gone are the blocks and water tables. They went by the wayside along with music time, rest period, and space for easels. According to the Alliance, “Too many schools place a double burden on young children. First, they heighten their stress by demanding that they master material beyond their developmental level. Then they deprive children of their chief means of dealing with that stress—creative play.”

The 72 page report is based on the findings of nine recent studies of today’s kindergarten classrooms, as well as on long-respected research in the field of early childhood education. With a forward by Dr David Elkind, author of The Hurried Child, the report makes a call to action for parents, policy makers, educators, and child advocates to bring this issue to the forefront of education reform.

It’s amazing to me that in an age where noted scholars, as well as business and tech leaders are calling for creativity and curiosity as an absolute necessity and the future of the workforce, our education system continues to impose practices and standards that make that virtually impossible to achieve. Among all the failing schools and increasing behavior problems in children, we march forward, putting undue stress on children and educators alike. In our nation’s fever to beat other nations’ test scores, we are only beating one thing — the love of learning out of our children. We are forsaking creativity, resilience, and individual strengths for methods and protocols that do not work. Shame on us.

Obviously, this issue and report are far too large and important for one blog post, so consider this the launch of a series on kindergarten here at TGSG. I would love to hear about your questions and concerns surrounding the issue.

I hope you will join the movement to bring play back into schools. After all, play is serious business.

See ya outside! – The Grass Stain Guru

photo credit: woodleywonderworks

Comment from Ed Miller, Alliance for Childhood

Bethe, thanks for writing about the 2nd-grade teacher who can see the differences between the kids who were in play-based kindergartens and those who had more instruction and academics. The things you named–being excited about learning, having fewer behavior problems, etc.–are not easily measured, and certainly not by standardized tests.

And this is a very big part of the problem we have gotten ourselves into. School reform, in too many people’s minds, must be “data-driven.” And it’s very easy to produce lots of data. But with young children, almost all of the numbers are about things like how many letters they recognize and how many words they know–things that are easy to count, and relatively easy to drill into children’s minds if you are single-minded enough about it.

So kindergarten has been taken over in many places (not all!) by the teaching of these discrete skills and bits of knowledge–and by standardized testing. And the people in charge can point to higher test scores as proof of success. Very few policymakers, however, seem to be aware of the research that shows what happens after a few years. By fourth grade, the early “gains” have disappeared. By age 10 the children who were in play-based kindergartens are far ahead of the others–because of those hard-to-measure qualities like love of learning.

As Einstein said, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

Thanks, too, for writing about “Crisis in the Kindergarten,” and to all your correspondents.

TGSG Note: If you are a regular-reader of this blog or follow me on Twitter, you know I am an advocate of homework reform and a huge fan of author and blogger, Sara Bennett. Sara an I connected about a year ago, and we have swapped posts and cheered each other on ever since. I am thrilled to have her guest post today at TGSG. I hope all parents and educators will read her book and add her blog to their RSS feeds.  See ya outside! – The Grass Stain Guru

Every time I walk or ride my bicycle through my neighborhood park, I can’t help but notice how few school-age children are outside. I always see plenty of adults running, biking, walking, and dog-walking, and the under-four crowd is having fun in the playgrounds. The twenty-somethings are often kicking around a ball or throwing Frisbees. But the 5-18 year olds, unless they’re participating in an organized sports such as soccer or baseball, seem to be almost nonexistent.

Maybe it’s because I have homework on my mind–after all, I run a project called Stop Homework–but I can’t help but think that homework is to blame for keeping our children inside. After all, at 3:15 every day I see kids as young as five hauling hefty backpacks down the street, and I hear their caregivers asking them about their homework. Eight and nine year olds are begging to play in the school yard while the caregivers shake their heads and sternly insist they go straight home to do homework.

It takes a lot of self discipline for me not to jump in and say, “Let the children play!” I want to stop and reason with them. “Don’t you know that research shows that homework has no value in elementary school? Don’t you know about the new study that says that play is crucial for children’s development? Didn’t you hear about the study showing that a walk in nature improves behavior in children with ADHD?”

But I restrain myself and wonder how best to spread the word. I’ve come to conclude that it’s up to all of us to spread the word. If homework is dominating our children’s time, if it’s interfering with their childhood and keeping them from growing up the way we want them to, it’s time to make changes, starting in our homes. We must make sure our young children have plenty of time to go outside and play, even if that means their homework remains undone. And we must make sure our older children, too, get enough exercise, downtime, and sleep, even if that means that some of their schoolwork isn’t finished.

Bennett's Book - A must-read for parents.

Most of all,  we need to try to change the source of the problem. It’s time we all write notes to the teacher explaining why our children need fresh air and protesting when recess is taken away (which is too often punishment for undone homework). It’s also time to press the issue at a higher level–with our principals, school board members, and those who make education policy.

In the short term, our children will be happier and healthier. In the long term, they’ll also be happier and healthier, and ultimately better educated as well.

Guest Blogger Bio: Sara Bennett, the co-author of The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It, is the founder of Stop Homework, a project affiliated with The Alliance for Childhood. Read more about Sara’s work on her website StopHomework.com.

TGSG Note: I am thrilled to have Glenn Fay, a gifted and dedicated educator guest posting at TGSG today. Active learning is a passion of mine, and I am pleased to share Glenn’s thoughts on the subject with you. Without a doubt, education reform is one of the key components to restoring childhood, which is what this blog is all about. Enjoy the post. I know I did!

See ya outside! – The Grass Stain Guru

Active learning should be at the heart of kids’ learning. Plenty of research over the past 40 years promotes what is known as constructivist learning, where students are doing and thinking, not just passively listening. William Glasser’s Choice Theory showed that with motivated and reluctant learners alike, kids will be actively engaged in learning when they have power, love, belonging, freedom and fun. These don’t sound like words that describe the classrooms that I knew growing up in New England! In fact, they are often very different than the traditional teacher-directed learning that so many of us are familiar with in the public schools.

Another proponent of active learning is Howard Gardner. Gardner’s 8 Multiple Intelligences include using kids’ innate abilities for spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, interpersonal and naturalistic learning. Although these intelligences are not mainstream, perhaps because education systems are slow to change, veteran educators know that kids love activities that value these intelligences, especially since all kids have innate gifts in some of them, that are not often validated in public schools.

Bernice McCarthy offers another slightly different take on how kids learn. McCathy’s Learning Styles focus on different ways kids tend to learn, and classifies kids as innovative, analytic, common sense and dynamic learners. In particular, innovative learners are looking for personal meaning, common sense learners need to try it themselves and dynamic learners are interested in self-directed discovery. All of these very well-respected learning and intelligence theories share a common belief that for many kids, learning needs to be active, and kids are more engaged when they are active participants rather than passive observers in the learning process.

Even though educators compete with the evolving pop culture, hormones, the products du jour, chat, i-products and other sometimes seemingly distracting media, our kids want to be successful. In fact, I never met a student who did not want to be successful. However,  I have known many kids who did not want to be subjected to learning experiences that didn’t match his or her needs, interest or personal learning profile.

What does this mean for parents and educators? First we need to assess how each student learns and what natural intelligences they have. Then we need to allow them to thrive by letting them use their gifted intelligences and  learning styles, give them open-ended learning opportunities and real-life problems and challenges to solve whenever possible. When we do that, we will see more of our  kids who are engaged in learning because they see a connection to their personal attributes and lives. And we will see a higher success rate in our schools and in our society.

Guest Blogger Bio: Glenn Fay, Ed.D. teaches science by day and blogs “green” at his website Oakleigh Vermont during the other 16 hours each day. He is committed to finding ways for all students to learn and become active participants in their world. Follow Glenn on Twitter.

Image Credit: Brass Tacks UK, Flickr

TGSG Note: Today’s guest post comes from Heidi Smith, a creative, talented, and dedicated 2nd grade teacher. I am excited to share her observations on creativity and play with you here. I know I learn something new every time I speak with her, and am excited to be spending time in her classroom in the upcoming weeks as we explore the wonders of butterflies, frogs, and chickens. See ya outside! – The Grass Stain Guru

I have found the perfect job, a place where my “co-workers” are imaginative and thoughtful and always anxious to explore new opportunities. This place is a 2nd grade classroom and my co-workers are my students.

2nd Grade Teacher, Heidi Smith

I teach at a Title 1 school which means that the majority of students are on free or reduced breakfast and lunch. My students do not have many of the “necessities” that other children must have: laptops, video games, soccer teams, and play dates. What my students do have are amazing imaginations that inspire them to explore the world with their eyes wide open. They are bright and excited to learn in the classroom, and thrive through play and free time.

Outside of class time, their perfect day consists of playing at the park, exploring in the woods, and making up imaginary scenarios on the playground. They make walkie-talkies out of notebook paper and pretend to carry-out secret missions. They have dance contests with no music. They collect sticks and rocks and make a fort. They look up at the sky and look for animals in the clouds. They PLAY, without my guidance. Without rules or directions. They create.

Their entertainment, exploration, and learning come from being outside and interacting with their world — not from a box or a video screen. My students are “under-scheduled” and loving life. They are being kids, true seven-year-olds, and exploring their world one day at a time. As an educator, I believe this is the way it should be. They have the time to relax and have fun so they can be ready to learn.

My students remind me every day to take time to be happy that I’m here and able to explore the world with them. I have learned far more from working with them than any of my other traditional learning experiences or jobs. Perhaps we all could learn something from my very wise co-workers.

Guest Blogger Bio: Heidi Smith is a 2nd grade teacher in Virginia, and was recently voted Teacher of the Year. She holds a B.S. in Elementary Education and a M.S. in Educational Instructional Design. She currently has a class of 17 students, who hail from 12 different countries. This fact makes her very, very happy. Her enthusiasm for her job and love for her students is without equal.

Photo by Jo

When people ask me what I write about — what I do — I often get strange looks. It appears that dedicating oneself to unstructured play and connecting children (and adults) with nature can be perceived as a frivolous thing. I get that. I mean, it is play, after all. People tend to associate play and exploration with fun. In turn, they associate fun with anything but serious. But here’s the thing: This subject is anything but frivolous. In fact, I propose it is quite serious.

If you think about it, if you take the issue of today’s childhood — the well-documented and increasing gap between children and nature — and look at it in its entirety, it’s really quite an enormous issue. A societal issue requiring a societal response. Here are just a few lenses we can use to look at the issue. Each of these is a post or series of posts in their own right, so these are simple “thought bubbles” for the moment. Consider:

Public Health: Childhood obesity rates are skyrocketing, as is the medication of children for ADHD. Childhood and adolescent depression are also on the rise. Consider how spending time in nature, being active outdoors, playing, and having fun might impact these health problems and be part of a wellness and disease prevention paradigm.

Education (and reform): Mandatory recess. Establishing reasonable and thoughtful homework policies that impact not only the lives of students, but of educators, parents, and families. Protecting play-based learning in Kindergarten. On and on. We cannot expect kids to get outside and play if we do not provide opportunities for them to do so, or value those opportunities in the learning readiness of all students. Additionally, environmental education is a vital, viable win-win educational opportunity to enrich the school environment. Its hands-on, real-world approach is a powerful tool for engaging all learning styles.

Urban Planning: Planning community green-spaces, nature trails and community-connecting bike and walking paths. Creating safe walking routes to school. Sidewalks in neighborhoods. Traffic patterns. You name it — urban planners have a great power to create and refit healthy communities that foster time outdoors.

Social Justice: How are poor areas impacted in greater ways? Is it safe to go outside some places? What can be done about that?  In areas heavily populated by recent immigrants with a different, and often more deep connection to the land, how are we engaging them in programs and efforts? What could we do better? What do they need?

Conservation: Without a connection to nature, what will the next generation do? One cannot protect what they do not know. Who will take the jobs of the people retiring  in the conservation field, if kids grow up with no interest or connection? Who will vote to protect land, species, etc.? Who will become members and donors of NGOs that work on conservation issues?

Quality of Life: This one is key. Time outdoors. Unplugged time. Time to make connections to the land, ourselves, our families, and our communities in more meaningful ways. Time to recharge our batteries. Time to simply be. Time for children to play, which is how they restore. This time — this magic time of unplugging and connecting — is a powerful way to be a happier, healthier person. Doing so can help you be a better parent or mentor, a better employee or employer. A better you. How can society not be served by better versions of us all, young and old alike?

Steeped in awe and wonder, time spent playing and exploring the outdoors is indeed, quite fun. It is also a very important issue, and quite serious. It requires all of us to work together — professionals from a variety of disciplines, parents and grandparents, educators and caregivers, and concerned citizens.  I hope you will join me. We have lots of work to do. But luckily, much of this worthy work is, as it turns out, PLAY!

See you outside! – The Grass Stain Guru

Photo by hoyasmeg via flickr

Today’s Washington Post features a great article on school gardens and the No Child Left Inside Act, a piece of legislation we discussed last week here at TGSG. The Post article talks about several DC area schools using school gardens as outdoor classrooms, and how children and educators alike are benefiting from the experience.

I have been involved with the school gardening movement for 10 years, and even had the pleasure of working with some of the schools mentioned in the article, including adding on to the Peace Garden with teachers and students at Carodozo High School. I have seen first-hand students flourish by planning, planting, and learning in a garden — elbow-deep in soil, sun on small backs — minds, imaginations and bodies fully engaged.

School gardens have been shown to help improve test scores, as well reduce behavior issues in the classroom. The hands-on, real-world learning these spaces provide help students grasp concepts in a meaningful way, while the physical act of being outdoors and working and exploring in a garden offers an outlet for excess energy. I have seen students that struggle in traditional classrooms really make great learning strides in a school garden. They truly are living classrooms.

While it’s simple to see uses for a school garden in teaching science and and environmental studies, they are also great places to teach literacy, math, art, and social studies. The integration of a variety of subjects makes a garden an amazing, cost effective way to teach many lessons and engage students with different learning styles. With funds increasingly limited for field trips, gardens offer a much needed break from the classroom walls, without ever having to board a school bus. No permission slips necessary!

School gardens are also a great place to teach character development skills, like teamwork, communication skills, responsibility, and more. They are also a way to help children learn about nutrition and a tie to other health education issues. For older students, gardens offer a place to explore potential careers, such as landscape architecture, soil science, botany, and more. One enterprising high school class I worked with set up a stand at a local farmers’ market and sold part of their harvest. They learned a lot about financial management, business development, and marketing in the process.

Now, it must be said that school gardens are also a lot of work. I have seen just as many go back to seed or get mowed over as I have seen flourish. It takes more than the commitment of an excited and dedicated teacher — much more. Gardens need support of the administration, the grounds keepers, and the parents to truly work — and this commitment has to be renewed each year. Just like the seasons, school communities change, and a garden’s maintenance and support plan needs to change along with it.

From preschool to high school, school gardens provide a place to learn, explore, and have fun right on the school grounds. With the proper support, they offer a school community a way to engage in exciting hands-on learning while adding a level of beauty to the landscape that can be enjoyed by everyone, including neighbors and the community at large.

For more information on school gardens, including lesson plans, grant information, and a Parents’ Primer on gardening, visit the great folks at The American Gardening Associaiton. The Junior Master Gardener’s Program also has a lot of useful information, including the Growing Good Kids – Excellence in Children’s Literature Book Awards Program.

See ya outside! – The Grass Stain Guru

For those who follow me on Twitter, you will not be surprised to see me dedicate this post to Sir Ken Robinson, who is one of my heroes. I figure it is less painful, expensive, and borderline obsessive than getting the Ken Robinson tattoo I have been contemplating. Although, I haven’t totally ruled it out yet.

Robinson is one of the leading authorities on creativity and innovation, and is passionate about education reform. His latest book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, is a great read. He has written numerous articles and books, and his capacity for divergent thinking is perhaps only surpassed by his ability to inspire it in others. Now THAT my friends, is an educator!

The notion of creativity has come up several times since I started this blog two short weeks ago — either in the writings themselves, or in the thoughtful comments of TGSG readers. It is a theme that cannot be separated from discussions on play, education, and learning. Frankly, it should be an underlying theme in whatever topics are being discussed — economics, health care, or sustainability. Regardless of what the issue or problem, creativity is key to thoroughly engaging people in the process of understanding and discussing it, as well as bringing about the most effective solutions.

In yesterday’s post on kindergarten we talked about how that, in spite of the call for creativity as the future of our workforce, the current education system is designed to limit creativity, and has sadly put the once-untouched Kindergarten classroom in peril. Now, it is a secret to nobody that the United States in in desperate need of K-12 education reform. No Child Left Behind, while well-intentioned, has left an already-cumbersome and flawed system basically on life support. Schools are failing, teachers are over-burdened and bogged down with paperwork, children are learning to take tests, but what they are retaining, including their love of learning and their ability to actually apply that knowledge, is in question.

As the new administration looks at education reform, I sincerely hope that they do so with creative minds and divergent thinking. I hope that they realize that this is not a race. That the testing madness that is the current model is not the answer, and that raising the bar without changing the methodologies will get them nowhere. I hope that they recognize that the way children are educated in the early years has a lasting affect, and that every child is creative and special and has something to offer society. If we help them love to learn and nurture their inherent abilities now, that every aspect of society will be better off in the future, including the much sought after STEM Race (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).

Sir Ken Robinson calls for education reform to take place at three levels: Curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy — and for all three to be rooted in creativity. I couldn’t agree with him more.

Below is the TED speech given by Robinson on the topic of education and creativity. Regardless of your interest area, I think you will benefit from spending some time in the creative world of Sir Ken Robinson. Even if you have heard him speak before, it is always a treat. He is as charming and funny as he is intelligent and thought-provoking. I hope that Education Secretary Arne Duncan and friends are taking notes. Just sayin’.

So, enjoy a little screen-time and then go outside and play.

See ya outside! – The Grass Stain Guru

No doubt you have heard of No Child Left Behind, but have you heard of the  No Child Left Inside (NCLI) legislation?

Last year, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the No Child Left Inside Act, which is about to be reintroduced in the Senate and House. If passed, and signed by President Obama, No Child Left Inside will bring environmental education to K-12 grades in America’s public school system. Among the items included in the bill are requirements for increased teacher training, as well as funding to help schools pay for outdoor education.

Led by The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the NCLI coalition has over 1,100 member organizations. Learn more about NCLI here. Interested in learning more about environmental education? Visit the North American Association of Environmental Education.

See ya outside! – The Grass Stain Guru