Blog
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This month's Natural Start Alliance Newsletter focuses on how nature-based educators are navigating the new normal of distance learning in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Browse resources from Natural Start's archives, learn how Alliance members are approaching nature preschool from home, and sign…
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[Resources updated April 7] COVID-19: Events are being canceled. People are physically distancing. Confirmed cases are increasing. These are unprecedented times. Hopefully, this list of resources will help. I will continue to update it as time permits.
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In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, here are 5 lessons and tips from the frontlines about how to turn students of any age into activists.
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This ee360 Fellow is rebuilding lives and transforming neighborhoods from Chicago to Detroit!
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The Nature-Based Preschool Professional Practice Guidebook is now available! Dive into this new resource from Natural Start Alliance to learn how nature-based educators offer programs that are safe, effective, and inclusive. The Guidebook is organized into four areas of practice: teaching…
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A variety of scouting programs across the country offer unique opportunities for youth-driven, informal environmental education.
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Learn how nature-based learning in early elementary school gained support from two veteran outdoor educators. Check out the spotlight on Brooklyn Park Nature Preschool’s equity and inclusion efforts. Start preparing for the 2020 Nature-Based Early Learning Conference. Read about the release of…
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Elizabeth Spike is an environmentalist, scientist, and educator in northern Virginia who is taking on issues of urban air quality and getting students engaged in the process. Learn more about her work and why it matters.
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This segment provides important perspectives for educators, parents and anyone who works with young people who are growing up, working for governmental action, and coming to grips with our warming planet.
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It's Take A Child Outside Week! Get ready with this handy checklist: How to Prepare for a Day in Nature with Children.
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The July Natural Start Alliance Newsletter is loaded with ideas for increasing access to nature-based early learning in a variety of settings! Read the July Member Spotlight, featuring Dondero Elementary School, a public school in New Hampshire with a robust outdoor education program. For even more…
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The May Natural Start Newsletter includes great stories and resources you don’t want to miss! Learn about Mass Audubon, a leader in the nature preschool movement. Stay up to date with the latest research by reading the spring issue of the International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental…
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Communities across the globe are rethinking how we approach plastic use in our daily lives. Opportunities for recycling large portions of our plastics are diminishing, and communities are being forced to cancel parts of their recycling programs. What are communities, cities, and even countries…
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There are two more opportunities to participate in the Chicago Zoological Society's Nature Start program this year. This professional development program trains informal educators along with other professionals who interact with young children and families to develop and facilitate early childhood…
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Get advice on how to plan and build an outdoor learning environment at your school. Fnd out how to register for the 2019 Natural Start Conference. Browse curated resources on nature preschools, nature-based early learning in public schools, advocacy, and more!
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On Earth Day 4/22/19, NPR released the results of their poll about climate change education – and there’s plenty of good news in the results!
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Register for the 2019 Natural Start Conference in historic Manchester, NH, July 31-August 3, to connect with an international community of nature-based early learning professionals. This is the nation’s largest professional event for teaching, administration, research, and advocacy in nature-based…
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On April 24, the Spring 2019 Drawdown EcoChallenge ended, and the 1,054 teams that participated (including an NAAEE Team) saved about 344,704 pounds of CO2 !!! For me, that's an astounding measure of what a collective, concerted effort can accomplish in Drawing Down our impacts ! If you missed this…
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Not all kids are born loving the great outdoors. For some, “nature” is synonymous with dirty, scary, and unpleasant. How can we help these children change their associations with the natural world and learn to see it as an exciting, fun, and comforting place?
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A website that embraces data, storytelling, science, history, journaling, digital literacy, and much more.
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Learn how children’s connections to the natural world can happen anywhere. Get tips for incorporating a range of books into your nature-based early learning program. Read about an urban nature preschool providing children with daily access to nature in a concrete jungle. And don't forget to submit…
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The Utah Society for Environmental Education (USEE) embarked on a Strategic Planning process during the summer of 2018. To ensure they were supporting the needs all of our environmental education communities here in Utah, USEE convened focus groups (called them mini-summits) in 5 distinct regions of…
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Each year, children are endowed with a Nature Name that is theirs for the year. The animal chooses them, and not the other way around. There is a very special reason that the animal chose them, and it is the child's job to determine why they were chosen by that particular animal. But what happens…
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Inaugural Youth Poet Laureate of the United States Amanda Gorman read her poem "Earthrise" from stage at the Los Angeles Climate Reality Leadership Corps Training on Tuesday, August 28, 2018.
