November Meeting Cancelled

The November meeting is cancelled.  There are not any further meetings scheduled at this time.  There will be a survey sent out soon to gauge interest and ideas for the future.  Thanks to all that have been a part of the group so far. 

November Meeting

For the November meeting, it was thought that a return to the original intent of the group should be revisited, which would be collaboration and networking with other teachers.  Please bring a lesson or two that you'd like to share with others that involves sustainability in schools.  Also to be discussed would be anyone's experiences at the "A Case for Sustainability: Local Schools Go Green" event recently.  An interesting idea was brought up at the event to begin discussion on a possible group of teachers that could someday meet with local congressmen to bring ideas and concerns to the state.

Green Classroom Professional Certificate

The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) is currently developing the Green Classroom Professional (GCP) Certificate Program, which will enable preK-12 educators to gain knowledge on maintaining a healthier and sustainable classroom. Armed with a strong understanding of sustainability in educational settings, Green Classroom Professionals create and advocate for healthier environments in which to work and teach. A certificate holder’s classroom can serve as a living laboratory, creating foundational awareness of greener lifestyles, energy savings and environmental health in students.

As the GCP is developed for official launch in 2012, GBCI is seeking preK-12 educators to participate in the Beta test of the program, taking place entirely online from November 7 – 21, 2011. The Beta will consist of taking an online course and an online virtual animated assessment, with a total duration of 2-3 hours over the two week period. In exchange for their participation, the first 150 participants will be able to earn the GCP certificate for free. The Green Classroom Professional Certificate Program will be fully available beginning in 2012.

To sign up for the Beta next month, educators simply need to complete this survey as soon as possible: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22DEWEZJ3C7.  Please share this information with any preK-12 educators in your networks, including teachers, paraprofessionals and administrators, and encourage them to sign up for participation in the Beta test.

Green Schools Happy Hour

Green Schools Happy Hour

¨The Sustainable St. Louis Education Committee invites you to join us for appetizers and networking

¨Thursday September 29, 2011 from 5:00 to 7:00PM at

¨Salt

¨4356 Lindell 

St Louis, MO 63109

¨Cash bar

¨http://ourgreenschools.eventbrite.com

Future Meeting Dates

The next meetings to finish out 2011 will be held on the 3rd Sunday each month.  The meetings will still be held from 7-9pm, at Schlafly Bottleworks, in Maplewood.  The dates we have scheduled are the following:

9/18
10/16
11/20

Hope to see you all there and keep spreading the word.  Suggestions for meeting topics and speakers are always welcome.  Please contact me if you have any ideas.  Thanks.

August Meeting Notes

Another very informative meeting this month.  We focused on pollinators, specifically bees and our gardens.  Thank you to Scott and Jane from Isabees for attending the meeting a sharing a lot of great information with us.  Just some of the simple tips we learned in the meeting:

• Native pollinators are a much easier and cheaper solution that honey bees
• many flowers and fruits from our gardens are not well pollinated by honey bees - cucumbers, squash, tomatoes
• native bees loves herbs
• there are thousands of native bee species out there to attract

Some other bee resources to check out:

• Great Sunflower Project
• Xerces Society
• Book - Honey Bee Democracy 

Other topics that were discussed:

• Missouri Farm to Schools - check out webinars and new info on funding for schools
• Shaw Nature Reserve classes
• Fruit Tree Planting Foundation - orchards donated to schools/organizations

There is not a scheduled date for a September meeting yet, but I will post as soon as I know.  Keep up the good work and spread the word to other teachers.  Thanks.  

Next Meeting 8/14

Hello, the next meeting of the St. Louis Teachers for Sustainability will be this Sunday, 8/14, 7-9pm, at Schlafly Bottleworks.  Just confirmed for the meeting will be members of Isabees and Nativepollinator.com.  This should be a very informative meeting.  Here are their websites if you'd like to take a look:

http://www.isabees.com/index.html
http://nativepollinator.com/

This should be a good meeting right before most of us go back to school, if you haven't already.  Spread the word and hope to see you all there.

July Meeting Notes

Great to see some new faces at the July meeting.  We did not have a speaker this month, but had some great discussion about the Summer Institute, composting, bees, and many other things.  We had a nice brainstorming session for some ideas for future meetings. 

Here are two upcoming events, both involving "Green Schools"

USGBC Green Schools Happy Hour

¨The next USGBC-MGC Green Schools Happy Hour will be focused on Energy Star Benchmarking as well as options for energy efficiently lighting.   The event will take place from 5-7pm on Thur, July 28.  Will you please help to promote this event by passing it along to your school contacts?

¨http://www.usgbc-mogateway.org/2011/07/green-schools-happy-hour-energy-star-benchmarking/

Green Schools Happy Hour

¨The Sustainable St. Louis Education Committee invites you to join us for appetizers and networking

¨Thursday September 29, 2011 from 5:00 to 7:00PM at

¨Salt

¨4356 Lindell 

St Louis, MO 63109

¨Cash bar

¨http://ourgreenschools.eventbrite.com

July Meeting Date Change

The July 10 meeting has been rescheduled for Sunday, July 24.  Still same time and place, 7-9pm at Schlafly Bottleworks.  Hope to see everyone there.  Keep spreading the word and invite anyone you know that would be interested. 

6/12 meeting notes

Great meeting last night with some new faces.  Hope to see more, so keep spreading the word.  Hope to also see people at the Sustainability Institute at the end of the month.

I was able to present some info on LEED Accreditation for teachers.  There could be a study session for LEED Associate this August if we had interest.  There will be teacher specific accreditation rolling out this year perhaps.  I, personally, think I would wait to see what this is going to be about.  As soon as I get more information I can pass it along.

There is going to be a Green Schools event sponsored by the Missouri Chapter of the USGBC this Oct. or Nov.  I will sent out info on this in an email.  Let me know if you would like this info if I happen you miss you.

We had a very informative meeting about waste, composting, and recycling with St. Louis Composting (Patrick Geraty - President) and Waste Management (Angie Ingenthron - Public Sector-Education).  Patrick was able to provide some great insight and tips on getting started with composting at school.  Angie provided lots of information regarding waste and recycling.  She has some good programs for recycling things such as ink and toner for schools.  Let me know if you'd like to know anything further from what we learned tonight.

The next meeting is Sunday 7/10, 7pm at Schlafly Bottleworks.

Next Meeting 6/12

This is the 3rd meeting of the St. Louis Teachers for Sustainability, Sunday 6/12, 7-9pm.  Join us at Schlafly Bottleworks for some networking with teachers and discussion on school composting.  Confirmed to be there will be Blue Skies recycling with other organizations in the works.  Hope to see you there.

5/8 Meeting Notes

St. Louis Teachers for Sustainability

Teachers promoting education for sustainability in the PK-12 setting.

That's our new mission statement of sorts.  That is what we will be and do as a group.

Don't forget about the Sustainability Institute this June:

EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY PK-12 comes to St. Louis!
We are happy to announce that Webster University, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the St Louis Zoo are hosting the first annual Education for Sustainability Institute for PK-12 educators this summer, June 29, 30, & July 1. We hope that you will look at the website (link below) and pass the information along to your colleagues, board members, and teachers. The fee for the conference is only $100, with an option to apply for graduate credit through Webster University for an additional fee.
We recommend that attendees come with partners or teams, but individuals are welcome. Thank you for helping the Bi-State Region learn about educating for a sustainable future! http://www.webster.edu/msei

Steve Eigsti - Youth Program Coordinator at Gateway Greening

Steve came in on very short notice and gave a great little presentation on Gateway Greening and had a nice ideas for school gardens.  I'm sure he'd be happy to talk to any teacher in the area to be a resource for you and your gardens.

http://www.gatewaygreening.org/

Next Meeting.....

We're going to look into several composting resources to come in and speak.  Hopefully that turns out, as it should be very informative.

Next Meeting 5/8

The next meeting for us will be on Sunday, 5/8, 7pm at Schlafly Bottleworks.  On the agenda is a planned meet and greet time, open discussion, and a speaker from Gateway Greening to speak about school gardens and rain barrels.  Make sure to keep spreading the word as we continue to meet all summer. 

Meetings will be held the second Sunday of every month.

First meeting was a success!

Notes from first meeting – 4/10

·      Creating a mission for the group – something about promoting sustainability and taking action in St. Louis schools

·      There is some interest in exploring the LEED Associate accreditation for a teacher.  Interest in a study group, what would it mean for a teacher?  Teachers could be a resource for their districts when it comes to design and health, etc. in their schools.

·      Looking to create a list of sorts, a place to compile resources for teachers in St. Louis to utilize.  We can put this on the blog.

·      Information was shared about battery recycling.

·      Meetings are confirmed to be held monthly, the second Sunday each month at Schlafly Bottleworks.  We are planned through August:

o   5/8

o   6/12

o   7/10

o   8/14

·      Meetings will be help basically in two parts, open forum and speakers.

·      We created a list of topics we’re interested in learning more about in meetings or as topics for speakers:

o   YouTube – make a page for us

o   St. Louis composting

o   LEED associate

o   Recycling

o   Gardening – MOBOT, gateway greening

o   MSD

o   MOBOT – house tour

o   MOBOT in general

o   Litzsinger ecology

o   Trailnet

o   AMEREN

o   River thing – honey suckle (we couldn’t remember the name)

o   Stlouisgreen.com

·      Let me know if anything was left out.

Sustainability Institute for St. Louis Area Teachers

EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY PK-12 comes to St. Louis!

We are happy to announce that Webster University, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the St Louis Zoo are hosting the first annual Education for Sustainability Institute for PK-12 educators this summer, June 29, 30, & July 1. We hope that you will look at the website (link below) and pass the information along to your colleagues, board members, and teachers. The fee for the conference is only $100, with an option to apply for graduate credit through Webster University for an additional fee. 

We recommend that attendees come with partners or teams, but individuals are welcome. Thank you for helping the Bi-State Region learn about educating for a sustainable future! http://www.webster.edu/msei

First meeting of the St. Louis Teachers for Sustainability

Hello, we have our first meeting planned - Sunday 4/10, 7pm at Schlafly Bottleworks - Crown Room.  Any St. Louis area teachers interested in networking and collaborating for sustainability in education are welcome to come on out.  Bring your ideas and any teachers you know and join us for a few drinks and some planning.  Since this will be the first ever meeting, it will be fairly open.  Hope to see some great people there.

 Directions to Schlafly Bottleworks

Sustainability Degree for Teachers at Webster University

If you are interested in getting a new degree, Webster University is one of only a handful school in the nation that offers a degree involving sustainability for teachers.  Check it out. 

Webster University M.A. in Education and Innovation

Welcome to St. Louis Teachers for Sustainability

Hello, just a first post here.  Check out the Facebook page too.  Spread the word and lets try and meet up before school lets out for the summer.