Cloud News
The Cloud Institute and TerraCycle Launch Materials Cycles Curriculum!
We are excited to announce a new curriculum design project with TerraCycle, the world’s leader in the collection of non-recyclable post-consumer waste. TerraCycle turns waste into new eco-friendly materials and products that are available through major retailers. Information on how to join a TerraCycle collection group (Brigade) and on purchasing TerraCycle products is available here.We havejoined forces to provide new learning experiences for students and teachers that educate for a healthy and sustainable future by exploring in depth the materials cycles.
We have organized these interdisciplinary lessons by grade level range: K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. They meet the McCrel National Standards so that they can be easiy aligned with your State Standards. Each K-12 lesson set is organized around an Education for Sustainability (EfS) Content Standard. There will be three lesson sets in the series each year for the next three years.
This Fall we will complete the first year series with lessons on the materials cycles and "Healthy Commons" as well as the materials cycles and "The Dynamics of Systems and Change". Over time we will add the materials cycles and: "Sustainable Economics", "Responsible Local and Global Citizenship", "A Sense of Place", "Multiple Perspectives", "Cultural Preservation and Transformation" and "Inventing and Affecting the Future".
Our intention in this series is to raise an entire generation of people who understand their role in, and their responsibility to, the materials cycles. Waste is, well, a waste. We have eliminated it from our vocabulary. Materials cycle on this planet. That is what they do. You will learn all about it in this first series in which students study the science of the materials cycles through the Natural Laws and Principles.
All K-12 lesson series will be available to you for free. They will "hang together" around the central theme of the materials cycles and sustainability. We invite you to teach and learn with them, to adapt them and to share your adaptations with all of us through our TerraCycle group on Curriki (also free). We also invite you to give us feedback using the online form. We thrive on critical feedback. It helps us continually improve our practice. Finally, WE WANT STUDENT WORK SAMPLES that were produced as a result of your students experience with these lessons. Please scan them and email them to us at info@cloudinstitute.org.
Access the lessons HERE.
EPA Marks the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day by Recognizing Environmental Achievers
One of these 22 awards, given to those who demonstrate outstanding achievements in protecting the environment, was our very own Steve Ritz at Discovery High School! Steve has mobilized students in the South Bronx to become environmental stewards. He helped students grow over 20,000 pounds of organic vegetables, which they donated to local soup kitchens. Stephen also spearheaded the Walton High School Green Teen Program, which has taken students with an average attendance rate of 40 percent and increased it to 93 percent. Read more about Steve in the Huffington Post or check out a youtube video on his students' edible wall garden. Way to go Steve!
Jaimie Cloud et. al on TEDx
A salon to explore possibilities that emerge when we challenge what education can and should be.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x-independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. We were proud to be surrounded by such brilliant colleagues:
Angela Lee Duckworth, Ph.D-"True Grit"
Chris Wink-"Six Creative Mindsets"
David Rock-"The Provocateur"
Jaimie Cloud-"Sustainability in Schools"
Daniel J. Siegel, M.D.-"Creating Integrated Minds"
Feeling “Blue” About Education Never Seemed So Hopeful: So we can rewire the brain to inspire a generation of creative thinkers and actors, but how do we address the “better world” challenge? As Jaimie Cloud, founder and president of the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education says, “We wouldn’t need to educate for sustainability if there was no such thing as unsustainable.” Read more of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation blog here.
You can also see the video clip on Citizen Global
