January News
Funding Sources and Upcoming Deadlines
In The News
Partner Updates and Resources
Your Virginia
Assorted Items of Professional Interest
Funding sources and upcoming deadlines
Toyota Tapestry Grants
Deadline: January 19
Sponsored by Toyota and administered by National Science Teachers Association, Toyota TAPESTRY provides 50 grants of up to $10,000 each to K-12 science teachers, as well as 20 mini-grants of up to $2,500 each for projects smaller in scope. These grants are awarded for creative, innovative classroom projects in the fields of environmental education, physical science, and literacy and science education. www.toyota.com/about/community/education/tapestry.html
15th International Painting Competition on the Environment
Deadline: January 20
Children all over the world are invited to express their hopes and fears about the future of the world’s deserts and the issue of desertification in general in this year’s 15 th International Painting Competition on the Environment. The www.unep.org/tunza/paintcomp15 website states rules and information on how to submit paintings.
Environmental Literacy Grant
Deadline: January 25
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Education (OEd) is requesting applications for environmental literacy projects. Approximately $3 million is available to fund roughly 5-10 projects in 2006. Funded projects will be between 1 and 5 years in duration and will further the use and incorporation of the Ocean Literacy Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts in formal and informal education and/or measure ocean literacy among the public; or strengthen the capacity to develop a workforce knowledgeable about weather and climate. All projects shall employ the strategies articulated in the NOAA Education Plan and involve NOAA entities as partners. Two important dates to note: Letters of interest are REQUIRED and are due Wednesday, January 25, 2006 . Full proposals are due Wednesday, March 1, 2006 . Visit http://www.oesd.noaa.gov/funding_opps.html for the full announcement and additional information.
Classroom Grants
Deadline: February 1
Any class, school or school division is encouraged to apply for a grant of $500, $750 or $1,000 for the purpose of conducting meaningful outdoor experiences with their students. Activities that are eligible for funding include restoration, enhancement, protection and monitoring projects and investigative or experimental design activities that foster academic success, reinforce responsible citizenship, and give children the tools they need to contribute to a healthy and enduring environment. www.vanaturally.com/classroomgrants.html
13th Annual Youth Writing Competition
Deadline: February 3
The Virginia Outdoor Writer's Association, Inc. (VOWA) announces its 13th Annual Youth Writing Competition for 2005-2006. The goal of the contest is to reward young people for excellence in communicating their personal experiences in and of the outdoors. The competition is open to all Virginia students in grades 9 through 12. Home-schooled students are welcome. The theme of this year's contest is "My Most Memorable Outdoor Experience." Contest guidelines and submission info can be found at www.vowa.org/youth.html
Governor - Elect Tim Kaine Appoints Secretary of Natural Resources
Preston Bryant will serve as Secretary of Natural Resources in his cabinet. Bryant, a 10-year member of the House of Delegates, has served on the Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee and was the chief pat ron of the 2000 Virginia Nontidal Wetlands Protections Act, the 2004 Stormwater Management – Streamlined Program and the 2005 Nutrient Credit Trading Program. Kaine noted Bryant’s commitment to sound policy development in the area of natural resources, as well as his professional familiarity with land use planning. Full press release can be read at: www.govelect.virginia.gov/NewsReleases/index.cfm
Welcome New Partners
- Friends of Accotink
- Greenbrier Intermediate School (VaN Exemplary School)
- Northumberland Association for Progressive Stewardship (NAPS)
- Ocean Encounters, Inc.
- Staunton River State Park
- Virginia Association of Independent Schools (VAIS)
- Virginia Society of Naturalists
- The Watershed Assistance Program at the Chesapeake Bay Program Office
Virginia 4-H Natural Resources Weekend Register by January 9
Holiday Lake 4-H Center
The 2006 4-H Natural Resources Weekend will be held on January 27-29at Holiday Lake 4-H Center. This program is open to youth ages 9-19 and adult 4-H Volunteers who are interested in forestry, wildlife, soils, aquatics, and other natural resources topics. Registration begins at 4:00 pm on Friday and the program will end after lunch on Sunday. The cost is $78.00 per person. The full fee must be paid regardless of your arrival time or departure time. All youth attending must be accompanied by adult supervision. If you have any questions, contact Jennifer Mercer at jamercer@vt.edu or 540-245-5750.
Friends' Volunteers of the Year Announcement
The Friends of Chesterfield's Riverfront is pleased to announce two group recipients for the organization's 2005 volunteer of the year award. The Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs and Luck Stone will be recognized at the annual meeting to be held on Tuesday, January 17, 2006 . Read about the group award recipients at www.vanaturally.com/volunteer.html
Southside VA Environmental Education (EE) Meeting Meeting January 20 Staunton River State Park
Community Educators in the Southside Region are invited to attend an informal planning meeting from 10 am to noon to discuss program and funding opportunities, delivery obstacles, potential partnerships, and volunteer assistance. Our hope is to enhance working relationships between our schools, non formal education sites and volunteer groups to meet the environmental educational needs of this area. Please bring any information you might like to share. Call Josh Ellington at (434) 572-4623 if you plan to attend.
Pledge to Participate
Pledges Due by January 31
The Virginia Recycling Association (VRA) invites localities and organizations to partici pate in Electronics Awareness Month in April, 2006. The purpose of this initiative is to educate people about the hazards that discarded electronics pose to the environment. To partici pate, localities and organizations are asked to plan electronics collection events. Visit www.vrarecycles.org for more information. Pledges to partici pate are due to the VRA by January 31, 2006. VRA and VA Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will be promoting Earth Month electronics recycling events as part of Earth Day plans. Carrie Dorsey of the Computer Recycling Initiative is working with the VRA on compiling a list of state-wide electronic recycling events during April.
South Central Environmental Education (EE) Meeting
Meeting February 16 at the Holiday Lake 4-H Center
Community Educators in the South Central Region are invited to attend an informal planning meeting from 10 am to noon to discuss program and funding opportunities, delivery obstacles, potential partnerships, and volunteer assistance. Our hope is to enhance working relationships between our schools, non formal education sites and volunteer groups to meet the environmental educational needs of this area. Please bring any information you might like to share. Call the Holiday Lake 4-H Center at 434-248-5444 if you plan to attend.
Ole' Timey Tanning Workshop February 19- 22
Holiday Lake 4-H Center
Learn to tan your own hides using materials from woods and home! Learn methods of bark & brain tanning, and for preparing rawhide, furs, leather, buckskin, snake skins. Call 434-248-5444 to register or visit the web site http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/holiday/adultprograms.html
Back Bay Forum March 16th
Virginia Beach TCC Campus (The Advanced Technology Center )
Back Bay Restoration Foundation (BBRF) invites you to attend the 5 th Back Bay Forum. Presentations will be conducted throughout the day ( 8:30 am to 5 pm ) on research within the Back Bay watershed , on the state of the Back Bay , and on what people can do to improve water quality. There will be an opportunity for all participants to identify action needed for the health of the Back Bay system. Lunch will be available on site. For those wishing to make a presentation, topics and papers should be submitted by Monday, February 6, 2006 . A complete agenda for the day will be released soon. To register or for more information, please call the BBRF office at (757) 721-7666 or email bbrf@infionline.net
Growing Communities Workshop March 17 - 18
Richmond, VA
Join the American Community Gardening Association (ACGA) and The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay for an in-depth, hands-on workshop based on the ACGA’s curriculum for leadership development, “Growing Communities: Community Building and Organizational Development through Community Gardening.” Learn proven strategies that community organizers use to develop dynamic leaders and create strong communities through a participatory approach to community building. You will learn the principles and practices of community building, and how to pass these techniques on to others by conducting your own workshops. Urban forestry topics and how to integrate trees into urban greening projects as well as maintenance. Visit www.acb-online.org/event.cfm?EVENT_ID=624 Contact: Hadley Milliken, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay at hmilliken@acb-online.org or (804) 775-0951 to register.
Environment Virginia 2006 Conference April 18-20
Virginia Military Institute, Lexington , VA
The theme for the 17 th Annual Environment Virginia Symposium is Linking Economical andEnvironmental Health: It’s Everyone’s Business. Registration available at www.environmentva.org
Earth Day 2006
Community Festival April 22
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
Sign up your organization to join VaNaturally and others on April 22 from 10 am - 2 pm at the Children’s Garden located within Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden April 5, 2006his is a premier community based educational opportunity to spotlight your environmental focus by providing hands-on educational opportunities for young visitors and their adult caregivers. Spaces are limited! Volunteers to assist at the event are welcome! Call Kelly Riley at 804-262-9887 x.336 to reserve a spot.
“Good Green Fun” EE Instructors Needed
Series offered monthly
The Earth Day celebration is also the kick-off for “ Good Green Fun,” an ongoing environmental education series at the Children’s Garden. One Saturday a month, from April through October, environmental education and advocacy groups from the Greater Richmond community are invited to the Children’s Garden to engage visitors in activities that relate directly to nature, the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and Virginia ’s environment. Children’s Garden provides an excellent “outdoor classroom” for young visitors to cultivate their interest in nature and learn about environmental stewardship. Through hands-on demonstrations, crafts, and activities children discover that they can make a positive difference at home, in their communities, and in the world.
Call Kelly Riley at 804-262-9887 x.336 to reserve a date for your organization to participate.
New Oyster Gardening Guide Available
Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program
Whether you are planning to grow oysters for your own consumption, for donation to sanctuary oyster reefs or for some other reason, your efforts can help in improving water quality and biodiversity along our coast. Virginia Coastal Zone Management staff along with partners developed and printed an Oyster Gardening guide specific to Virginia . Limited print copies are available by contacting Virginia Witmer 804-698-4320 or the publication can be downloaded at www.deq.virginia.gov/coastal
Speakers Needed for Brown Bag Lunch Series
Keep Norfolk Beautiful (KNB) is interested in hosting a series of brown bag lunches; where attendees bring their own lunches (during the week) and listen to special guests on current environmental topics, such as green building, light pollution, etc. The lunches would take place at the Environmental Action Center in Norfolk . www.norfolkbeautiful.org We are looking for partners to help engage speakers and for topic ideas. If you have any speaker suggestions, topic ideas, or are interested in partnering on one or more lunches, please contact Holly Carson at holly.carson@norfolk.gov
A WINTERTIME PROJECT: Build a Bat House
Are you interested in enriching your local habitat to make it more welcoming to wildlife? Here’s an idea from the National Wildlife Federation that will help out the only mammal that truly flies: the bat. Bats don’t always live in caves. In spring they look for sheltering spaces where they can rear their young. You can help a bat find a suitable nesting site by building a “bat house.” Use the instructions provided online from the Backyard Wildlife Habitat pages of the NWF website and make your school or back yard more hospitable to wildlife.
Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR)
Whether it’s making an arrowhead or constructing a Capitol, much of what people create lasts long after they’ve departed. In this way, their creations become today’s historic resources. When it comes to the environment, we are so accustomed to thinking about the resources we derive from nature—from minerals, forests, rivers, the land and the ocean—that we too easily overlook our historic cultural resources. The things we derive from history. Our history.
The Department of Historic Resources, however, keeps an eye on these things, since it is the state agency charged with documenting, preserving, conserving, and protecting Virginia’s 15,000 years of accumulated historic treasures. In summary, the mission of DHR is to put Virginia’s history to work for Virginians. We achieve this goal primarily through the administration of four core programs that rely on the voluntary partici pation of private citizens, local governments, as well as private historical and preservation organizations throughout the Commonwealth. The four programs entail (1) nominating and listing historic properties (which covers historic districts) in the Virginia Landmarks Register and National Register of Historic Places (www.dhr.virginia.gov/registers/register.htm); (2) working with property owners on the rehabilitation of their historic buildings using state and federal tax credits (www.dhr.virginia.gov/tax_credits/tax_credit.htm); (3) managing preservation easements donated to the Commonwealth by way of DHR (www.dhr.virginia.gov/easement/easement.htm); and (4) the creation of new historical highway markers (www.dhr.virginia.gov/hiway_markers/hwmarker_info.htm).
DHR also has other programs and services, including many publications and a number of educational resources, gauged to a wide range of ages, professional and general audiences and interests, and serving the diverse needs of Virginians. A great place to start learning about the Commonwealth’s historic resources and DHR’s many preservation programs is through its Website (www.dhr.virginia.gov). Also, a Web-based newsletter can be found on the “What’s New & News” page on the site, which also provides a link to “Q’s Clippings,” a regularly updated service highlighting preservation news around the state and nation.
Virginia Education Network
The Virginia Education Network http://www.ven.state.va.us/ is designed to provide citizens of the Commonwealth with access to all education related resources located within state government . It provides links to the most requested education-related information in the Commonwealth.
Virginia Natural Resource Agency News
For the latest information about VA’s seven natural resource agencies visit www.naturalresources.virginia.gov/Agencies/agency.cfm and click on the agency link you need.
Virginia ’s Science and Nature Museums
Virginia 's Science and Nature Museums invite visitors to explore the impact of science on our lives. With ever-changing, hands-on exhibits that explain astronomy to zoology, prepare yourself for exciting times ahead! Virginia has some of the nation's most spectacular museums as well as some unusual, relatively unknown treasures. www.virginia.org/site/features.asp?FeatureID=216
Assorted items of professional interest
Grant Proposal Writing I
January 17- 19
VCU, Richmond, VA
This intensive three-day grant proposal workshop is geared for: 1) those who wish to strengthen their grant writing skills and 2) beginners who wish to acquire and master the techniques of preparing, writing and winning proposals from various funding agencies. The center of attention will be on how to effectively tell the story that leads to funding, be it for the researcher, educator or the non-profit professional. By focusing on one topic per session, participants receive in-depth training that relates to their specific grant needs. The ultimate goal of the workshop is for each participant to successfully begin researching and writing his/her grant. Workshop fee: $595.00, including tuition, materials, certificate of completion, and continental breakfasts. Rebate of $50.00 per person is given for two or more registrants from the same organization. www.grantrainingcenter.com
Science Ambassador Program Applications by March 1
For Middle and High School Science Teachers
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)has well-documented scientific issues that can provide excellent educational opportunities for teachers and students. While the CDC has the scientific expertise, teachers have the educational training needed to develop effective lesson plans and activities that can bring this information into the classroom. To provide a bridge between CDC scientists and teachers, CDC is sponsoring the Science Ambassador Program. In this program, CDC scientists work with science teachers to educate them about interesting and challenging scientific public health issues. For detailed information about the program, including expectations and requirements visit www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/folicacid/ScienceAmbassador.htm
54 th National Conference on Science Education April 6-9, 2006, Anaheim, CANational Science Teacher Association Conference and Professional Development Institute
In its third year, in conjunction with the national conference in Anaheim , NSTA’s 2006 Professional Development Institutes (PDI) offers in-depth learning opportunities www.nsta.org/conventionsupport&record_id=123&Meeting_Code=2006ANA
For entire conference visit www.nsta.org/conventiondetail&Meeting_Code=2006ANA
National Geographic Society Professional Development
National Geographic Society’s Education Outreach program develops educator professional-development programs and geography-related curricula both for classrooms and for nonformal education sites. The program strives to effectively improve geographic literacy in students and to increase awareness in the general community. Workshop opportunities can be found at: www.nationalgeographic.com/education/professional_development/index.html#workshops
Forensics in the Classroom (FIC) Online Curriculum
Court TV is pleased to bring forensics to high school science classrooms nationwide. This FREE, exciting new program conforms to nationally recognized standards and with the American Academy of Forensic Sciences . New for this year are two units - one for middle school, the other for high school - developed in collaboration with the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). By incorporating key scientific concepts and lab experiments into creative, forensic-based mysteries and activities, FIC provides a way to engage and teach students about the expanding and fascinating world of forensic science. www.courttv.com/forensics_curriculum/
Any educator who tries one of the curriculum units can complete a short online survey and be entered to win a $1,000 educational grant. www.courttv.com/forensics_curriculum/grant.html
Environmental Literacy Council’s Environmental Science Toolkit
These resources have been developed by environmental science teachers, including members of the Environmental Literacy Council (ELC) educator advisory group, or collected by ELC staff. www.enviroliteracy.org/subcategory.php/38.html Please send us your feedback on these materials. If you have additional resources that you would like to add to the collection, please contact us at info@enviroliteracy.org
Educational Discovery Kit on Nonpoint Source Pollution
A new online educational product, The Nonpoint Source Pollution Discovery Kit, is now available. The kit explains the history of pollution, the differences between point and nonpoint source pollution, types of pollutants, and how scientists monitor, assess and control nonpoint source pollution. Designed for the high school level, but can be easily adapted for middle school and even college undergraduate levels. Pollution Discovery Kit is available at: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/pollution/welcome.html.
NOAA's Geophysical Data Center - Geomagnetic Data Resource
For those of you using or teaching with topographic maps, check out this handy tool from NOAA www.ngdc.noaa.gov/seg/geomag/jsp/struts/declZip to calculate the magnetic declination of any location. Since magnetic north is shifting annually you can calculate precise measurements.
National Wildlife Foundation Green Hour Forum
NWF Green Hour Forum looks at a few of the ways adults are contributing to kids hardly getting outdoors anymore. Without kids spending a modicum of outdoor time, the chances for developing any real connection to nature (and future conservation spirit) are fairly negligible. To read more visit www.nwf.org/greenhour
Green Teacher Seeks New Team
After 15 years, Green Teacher editors Gail Littlejohn and Tim Grant are seeking a new team to take over the publication of Green Teacher magazine and the day-to-day operations of the non-profit organization, beginning in the spring of 2006. The chosen team will demonstrate that they have the right combination of skills and are capable of managing a bi-national publication. www.greenteacher.com/newteam