Learning Science in 3 Dimensions

A Workshop for Pre-service and 1st and 2nd year Teachers

October 9
Noon to 5 p.m.
Science Center of Iowa in Des Moines

Join us for an afternoon of learning, building your practice and meeting other teachers new to the profession. Collaborate with and learn from experienced science educators. 

Register at the Iowa Academy of Science webpage. Sponsored by the Iowa Science Teaching Section of the Iowa Academy of Science and SCIowa.

BirdSleuth School Garden Grant

Cornell Lab of Ornithology is seeking 10 dedicated teachers who strive to bring STEM and healthy living from the garden to the classroom. These teachers will receive a $500-$2,000 grant, gardening supplies, and BirdSleuth’s Habitat Connections kit. 

Funds may be used to support the building or revitalization of school gardens. In addition to food gardens, preference will be given to bird, pollinator, native habitat, rain and other natural projects.

School gardens provide the context for lessons across subjects and offer a wonderful opportunity to engage students in hands-on, project-based learning. Students who engage in school gardening are likely to experience academic, physical, emotional, social, and even behavioral benefits.

Application Process & Eligibility
The application is open to all K-12 schools, public and private, within the United States. The online application process opens closes October 3, 2016 at 11:59pm ET. Email birdsleuth@cornell.edu with any questions.

Celebrate the Monarch’s journey at Blank Park Zoo Festival

Come celebrate the monarch’s journey from Canada, through Iowa, to Mexico at the 2016 Monarch Festival on Sunday, September 18 from 12-4 p.m. at Blank Park Zoo, in Des Moines.

Monarch Festival Activities:

• Come dressed as your favorite insect for the 3rd Annual Children’s Bug Parade. Wear your wings, your orange and black, antennae or make your costume at the Zoo. There will be special prizes for First and Second place Best Costumes.
• Polk County Conservation will lead Insect Hunts and a Monarch Tagging event. Learn how to safely catch monarch butterflies to attach a tag. If these special monarchs are found in Mexico, they can help scientists track the migration.
• Numerous Plant.Grow.Fly. partners will offer hands-on activities, demonstrations and crafts for the whole family.
• Los Ninos del Tepeyac - Danza Folklorica, a group dedicated to learning and teaching about the Mexican culture through dance, will perform.
• Explore our Butterfly Garden and experience traditional Mexican music by Mariachi Azteca.
• Families and kids of all ages are encouraged to take part in an interactive performance workshop called Follow That Monarch by Carol Taylor's Patchwork Puppets.  
• Create your own butterfly oasis in your yard with free milkweed seeds provided by Blank Park Zoo and Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge (limited supply).
• Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie and Nevada Mayor Lynn Lathrop will be recognized for signing the Mayors for Monarchs Pledge.

Apply for a GreenWorks! Environmental Improvement Grant

Project Learning Tree offers grants up to $1,000 to schools and youth organizations for environmental service-learning projects that link classroom learning to the real world. Students implement an action project they help design to green their school or to improve an aspect of their neighborhood’s environment.
The projects partner students with their whole school, local businesses and/or community organizations, and provide opportunities for student leadership. The funds can be used by students to implement recycling programs at their school, conserve water and energy, establish school gardens and outdoor classrooms, improve a forest, or restore a natural habitat, for example.

Submit your completed application and W-9 online. Login or create an account, click “Apply for a Grant,” then follow the prompts to complete your submission. You will receive an automatic confirmation email through this system.  The deadline to apply is September 30, 2016 -- Funding will be distributed in December 2016.

Grant Requirements

• Applicants must have attended a Project Learning Tree training either online or in person.
• The proposed project must involve service-learning.
• The proposed project must demonstrate student voice.
• The proposed project must involve at least one community partner.
• The proposed project must secure at least 50% matched funds (in-kind acceptable).
• Grants must be completed in one year