National Parks Trust Hosts a “Kids to Parks Day” School Contest

February 18th, 2013 by Sarah

In October 2012, Mrs. Hill’s third grade class from Brent Elementary School in Washington, DC canoed on the Anacostia River and stopped off at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.

National Parks are an excellent resource for formal and informal educators alike.  Here in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, we are lucky enough to have access to over 50 National Parks that offer opportunities for students to get out of the classroom and explore the region’s unique history, culture, geology, ecology, environment and more.

How can you get your students to a park? This year, the National Parks Trust (NPT) is once again hosting the Kids to Parks Day School Contest! The purpose of the contest is to help teachers engage their students with their local parks.  Past winners include over 20 classes from Chesapeake Bay watershed states and Washington, DC that have implemented some truly impressive projects in parks.

This national contest is open to all schools across the country and in the U.S. territories.  Students can submit proposals for a Kids to Parks event at a park in their community. These events are a great opportunity for participation in service learning projects.  As an educator, you can help your students develop their ideas, but should allow them to complete the proposal in their own words.  Students are encouraged to be creative when submitting the entry form. Videos, pictures and drawings are encouraged to supplement the proposal.

NPT will award scholarships up to the amount of $1,000 to winning entries for each class.  These scholarships will be used by the winners to implement their Kids to Parks event during the week leading up to May 18th.  The scholarship funds can be used to costs associated transportation, healthy snacks and refreshments, park experience related fees, stewardship project supplies, and more.

The deadline entry submission is Friday, March 1st. Winners will be announced on Monday, March 18th.

Learn more about the Kids to Parks Day School Contest, or use the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Explorer App to find a national park near your school!

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Sarah Brzezinski works for the Chesapeake Research Consortium as the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship and Education Workgroup Team Staffer. She also serves as the content manager of Bay Backpack.

Green Strides Webinar: November Series

October 29th, 2012 by Sarah

The Green Strides Webinar Series is designed to connect school communities and state and local education officials to existing federal resources that support the three pillars identified in the U.S. Department of Education (US ED) Green Ribbon Schools recognition award program: (1) Reduced Environmental Impact and Costs, (2) Improved Health and Wellness, and (3) Effective Environmental and Sustainability Education. The series is hosted by the U.S. Department of Education, in conjunction with numerous other federal agencies. This November, the Green Strides Webinar Series will be conducted on:

Chesapeake Exploration: Accessing and Using NOAA Data in the Classroom (NOAA)
November 1, 2012 from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has collected and made available vast amounts of environmental data.  Learn how to access this data, use innovative on-line tools, and integrate this data into your educational programming.  During this session we will be exploring sources of climate, weather and water quality data.

Register here!
Integrated School Health Tools for Districts (EPA)
November 7, 2012 from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Learn how your school or district can implement a sustainable and comprehensive environmental health program that addresses cleaning practices, mold, chemical management, ventilation, and pest control. The webinar will also highlight resources that are available to help establish a school environmental health program.

Register here!
Train Like an Astronaut (NASA)
November 14, 2012 from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Train Like an Astronaut activities are a physical and inquiry based approach to human health and fitness on Earth and in space.  Students can participate in physical activities modeled after the real-life physical requirements of humans traveling in space and experience hands-on science that relates the needs of our bodies here on Earth!

Register here!
Hands on the Land (DOI)
November 28, 2012 from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

America’s national forests, national parks, national wildlife refuges, waterways, and other public and private lands offer unique teaching and learning opportunities. Hands on the Land, a national network of field classrooms, connects students, teachers, families, and volunteers to these special places all across America through hands-on experiences.

Register here!
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Sarah Brzezinski works for the Chesapeake Research Consortium as the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship and Education Workgroup Team Staffer. She also serves as the content manager of Bay Backpack.

Funding Fun: Fall 2012 Environmental Education Grants, Part I

September 3rd, 2012 by Sarah

Target Field Trip Grants support learning outside of the classroom.

It is early September in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, and that means if you are a teacher you are either already back to school or are getting ready to go back.  With lesson plans to create and new students to work with, this is a very busy time of year for you.

As you get back into the swing of things this fall, be sure to keep funding in mind! To save you some time and to help support your Chesapeake Bay, environmental, and outdoor education-related activities and projects, we have assembled a list of grants with application deadlines in September and early October. Check them out below, and good luck with your applications!

America’s Great Outdoors: Connecting Youth to the Outdoors 2012 Grants

President Obama launched the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative on April 16, 2010. One of the overarching themes of this initiative is to offer opportunities to engage young people with the outdoors. In support of these goals, the National Environmental Education Foundation, in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, U.S. Forest Service and The Bureau of Land Management are launching this grants program to catalyze efforts to increase the number of youth who build a connection with public lands as places for recreating, learning and volunteering. Approximately $243,000 in funding is available to support grant awards in the range of $2,500 to $20,000. Proposed projects should maximize hands-on outdoor engagement opportunities on public lands, and focus on education, recreation, and/or environmental stewardship. Application Deadline: September 19, 2012

Green Thumb Challenge

The Green Education Foundation and Gardener’s Supply Company have teamed up on an exciting funding opportunity for established youth garden projects nationwide! The organizations are calling on schools and youth groups to submit chronicles of their garden projects in a race to win a $5,000 prize. The award is designed to support the continued sustainability of an exceptional youth garden program that has demonstrated success, and has impacted the lives of kids and their community. Application Deadline: September 20, 2012

Target Field Trip Grants

Learning opportunities extend far beyond the classroom. But schools are finding it more and more difficult to bring students to museums, historical sites and cultural organizations. Field Trip Grants help give children these unique, firsthand learning experiences. As part of the program, each Target store will award three Target Field Trip Grants to K—12 schools nationwide—enabling one in 25 schools throughout the U.S. to send a classroom on a field trip. Each grant is valued up to $700. Application Deadline: September 30, 2012

Captain Planet Foundation Grants

These grants are intended to promote and support high-quality educational programs that enable children and youth to understand and appreciate our world through learning experiences that engage them in active, hands-on projects to improve the environment in their schools and communities. Funding will be awarded to non-profits, schools, and community-based environmental and educational organizations, and preferential consideration is given to requests seeking funding of $500 or less and to applicants who have secured at least 50% matching or in-kind funding for their projects. On occasion, grants of up to $2,500 may be awarded.  Application Deadline: September 30, 2012.

Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund Advisory Committee Grants (Virginia Only)

The Chesapeake Bay Restoration Advisory Committee accepts grant applications to conduct Chesapeake Bay-related education and restoration activities. This year under the subjects of environmental education, applicants are encouraged to submit proposals related to (1) supplementing and enhancing environmental training for educators; (2) expanding environmental educational opportunities and the use of existing educational resources (curricula, publications, field studies) in schools and community programs for students, teachers and adults; (3) increasing the involvement of students and the public in Bay restoration activities; or (4) increasing public support for Chesapeake Bay restoration by purchase of Chesapeake Bay license plates. Preferences will be given to environmental education and action-oriented conservation and restoration projects within Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay watershed. These grants are funded with monies from the sale of the special Chesapeake Bay license plate, Friend of the Chesapeake. This year $371,841 in grant monies will be awarded to eligible applicants. Application Deadline: October 1, 2012 by 5:00 pm EST

Toshiba Grants for Grades K-5

Do you teach in an elementary school classroom? Do you have an idea for improving math or science instruction in your classroom?  K-5 grade teachers are invited to use Toshiba America Foundation’s short application form to describe a set of lessons or a hands-on project they would like to introduce in their own classrooms. Any K-5 teacher in a public or private (not-for-profit) school is eligible for a grant to support science or math education up to $1,000 for project materials only.  Application Deadline: October 1st, each year.

Funding Fun: Fall 2012 Environmental Education Grants, Part II

Looking for more funding opportunities?  Take a look at this shortlist of funding sources that have deadlines this October and November!

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Sarah Brzezinski works for the Chesapeake Research Consortium as the Chesapeake Bay Program's Fostering Stewardship and Education Workgroup Team Staffer. She also serves as the content manager of Bay Backpack.

“You are the Chesapeake Bay what???”

July 11th, 2011 by Kristin

The Chesapeake Bay Trust supports environmental education and field trips for Maryland students and teachers. Image courtesy of the Chesapeake Bay Trust.

Yea, I get that a lot. With so many organizations in the watershed created to help restore the Chesapeake Bay, I am not surprised when I meet people who have no idea what the Trust is. The funny thing is, they probably have heard of us and just don’t know it exactly what we do.

The Chesapeake Bay Trust was created in 1985, and is the only non-profit grantmaking organization in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. What does that mean? Basically we take the donations we receive and put them toward funding for projects related to restoration, community engagement, urban greening and environmental education. In 2010 alone, we funded grants that engaged 97,803 students and 5,098 teachers through our programs and granted $380,000 for environmental field trips.

We have two grant programs that are designed specifically to help teachers find the funding they need to allow their students to have meaningful watershed experiences in the Chesapeake Bay, and now to help fulfill the new Environmental Literacy requirement.

Our Mini grants are the most popular for teachers to apply for, and grants have ranged from $25 to $5,000. Most of this funding is applied to individual class field trips or schoolyard habitat installations, and have ranged from activities like native plantings to stormwater stenciling. We also have an Environmental Education grant which has three areas of focus. Environmental literacy, meaningful watershed experiences, and green schools are all funded by our education grants, and tend to be larger and are applied to whole schools or counties.

How are we able to do all of this? With help from people like you. How many people know what a Bay Plate is? You know those attractive looking license plates with the blue heron? Well when you purchase a Bay Plate for your car, you are donating directly to the Chesapeake Bay Trust and our grant programs. We also receive donations from the Chesapeake Bay and Endangered Species tax form check off, partnerships with businesses and corporations, and from individual donors like you. W are proud to say that 90% of all donations we receive go directly back into restoration and education for the Chesapeake Bay.

So yes, you probably have heard of us if you have purchased a Bay Plate or your child has gone on an environmental field trip in Maryland.  We just work behind-the-scenes to ensure the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort continues and that the Bay is around for people to enjoy for years to come.

If you would like to help support environmental education in the Chesapeake Bay, please visit our Causes page.

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Kristin Foringer is the Communications and Development Associate at the Chesapeake Bay Trust. She can be reached at 410-974-2941, ext. 113 or at kforinger@cbtrust.org. Kristin is also a former Environmental Management Staffer at the Chesapeake Bay Program.