Announcements from NGA
April
is National Garden Month!®
Celebrate with your students! NGA's National Garden Month
site offers loads of ideas for events and activities that express the great benefits
of gardens and green spaces. If you host a public event, please list it on our
online calendar. Visit
the National Garden Month Web site
Transforming
School Food
What if school meals, nutrition education, and classroom curriculum
were merged? The Teachers' Room Feature on Kidsgardening.com is
packed with success stories about schools where students grow, cook,
taste,
and
make
decisions about fresh food. It makes a remarkable difference in
kids' acceptance of new, healthful foods and gives them real-life
applications
for skills across disciplines -- and that's just for starters.
Check out the Teachers’
Room for inspiration and ideas
for how to make it happen in your school!
Winners
of the 2006 "Remember Me" Rose School Garden Awards Announced
Twenty school and youth garden programs have been selected to receive
this award, which promotes conflict resolution, peaceful solutions,
and remembrance of the events of September 11, 2001. View
winner list
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Conferences
Ag
in the Classroom
National Conference ~
June 21-24, 2006
Join educators from across the nation in Atlantic City, New Jersey,
to "Unlock the Treasures of the Garden State" and celebrate
AITC's 25th Anniversary. Workshops will help you introduce
agriculture concepts to your
students and cover topics from crops and cows to
biotechnology and biofuels. For a complete workshop and
tour
schedule
and registration
information, visit the AITC
Web site. (Early bird registrations due by April 15th!)
2006
National Children & Youth Garden Symposium ~ July 27-29,
2006
Presented by the American Horticultural Society and hosted by The
Missouri Botanical Garden, the theme of this year’s Symposium
is “Cultivating a Sense of Place: A Youth Gardening Adventure." Workshops,
tours, and networking opportunities are capped by the keynote address
by Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our
Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. Learn more at the AHS
Web site.
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Resources for Educators
New
Middle School Environmental History Curriculum
Speaking
of history, the Forest History Society announces If Trees Could Talk,
an 8-module middle
school curriculum offering downloadable social studies activities
based upon archival materials. The centerpiece of each module
is a compilation of primary
resources
— documents, maps, newspaper articles, oral histories,
or photographs — from which students are asked to gather, examine,
and analyze
information, and synthesize insights. For full details, visit
the Web site.
Register for Free Earth Day Resources
Teachers of all grade levels and subject
areas who register their Earth Day Event on the Earth Day
Educator's Network will receive online educational resources, a
free Environmental
Jeopardy poster, and Teachers Guide. For full details and to register,
visit the Earth
Day Web site.
Keep
America Beautiful’s Great American Clean Up ~ March 1- May
31
Each spring, Keep America Beautiful coordinates volunteers across
the nation in projects to create community environments that are
healthy, safe, clean, and beautiful. Find
volunteer opportunities in your area
National & Global
Youth Service Day 2006 ~ April 21-23
National Youth
Service Day is the largest service event in the world. Plan now
for projects and events in your community so your students
can be a part of this global initiative. Visit the Youth
Service America Web site for more information.
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Funding
Opportunities
There's
Still Time to Apply to Win Dutch Bulbs ~ April 1st Deadline!
Spring-flowering bulbs are a great, easy way to brighten up a schoolyard
and invite lots of curriculum connections. The Kids Growing with
Dutch Bulbs Awards allow for lots of student participation because
each
award
package
includes
200
bulbs; you also receive a booklet of bulb-related lessons for grades
K-12. There
are 500 awards to distribute; the application is simple and succinct,
and the rewards large! Application deadline: April 1,
2006. Learn
more here.
2006
Mantis Awards ~ Apply today for March 31 Deadline!
Mantis proudly announces its expanded
2006 award program in support of charitable and educational garden
programs that enhance the quality of life in their host communities.
In partnership with Mantis, NGA will select 25 gardens to receive
a prize: 20 will each receive a Mantis Tiller/Cultivator, and
five will receive a ComposT-Twin composting system. We welcome
applications from all nonprofits; past winners include community
gardens, schools, ministries, colleges, master gardening groups,
and hospices. Learn
more here.
Healthy
Sprouts Awards
These awards support school garden
programs that use the garden to teach about nutrition and the
issue of
hunger in the United States. Sponsored by Gardener’s Supply Company.
In this grant cycle we will present awards to 25 schools or organizations.
Each will receive a $200 gift certificate to Gardener's Supply
Company and a curriculum package from NGA. Apply by October
15, 2006. To learn more or download
an application, visit
here.
2006 Hooked on Hydroponics Awards
The National Gardening Association joins the Hydroponic Merchants
Association and leading hydroponic gardening suppliers in presenting
this 2nd annual award. Classroom hydroponics offers eager students
loads of opportunities to explore concepts across the curriculum,
from biology to economics. Twelve educational programs will each
receive a compact hydroponics package that includes everything
required grow plants successfully indoors. Application deadline:
September 30, 2006. Learn
more here
Grant
Wrangler Funding Directory
Grant
Wrangler is a free grants listing service that makes it easy for teachers
to find funding. To
see the full list of funding opportunities, and to subscribe to the
monthly e-newsletter, visit the Grant
Wrangler Web site.
