By George Spencer and Maria Durana
We kicked off 2021 by supporting SEI’s Climate Corps Education Outside (CCEO) program in assembling and distributing 9,700 garden science kits to K-5 Bay Area students. The kits consisted of soil, biodegradable pots, fava bean and pea seeds, science notebooks, and magnifying glasses.
In partnership with SF Rec & Park and the San Francisco Botanical Garden, the team was able to distribute these materials to 18 SFUSD schools, whose CCEO educators will be using the kits as part of their instructional plan for the Spring.
CCEO fellows will be using the garden kit materials to bring the school garden home, leading experiments in food growing, soil science, and decomposition. Check out the activities that they will lead with their students.
Environmental Literacy in Schools
Climate Corps Education Outside Fellows lead hands-on, inquiry based STEM and ecoliteracy lessons in school gardens. During COVID, educators have pivoted to provide over 3,000 synchronous virtual sessions to over 10,000 students in the Bay Area and have developed a full suite of online educational resources such as:
- Introduction to gardening
- Turning household items into planters
- Soil Science
- Decomposition
- Waste Systems
- Plant Anatomy
The at-home learning video library is available for FREE to support education programs.
Meet some of the CCEO Fellows here.
Supporting nature connection @ home
Through our SF Children & Nature partners, we have collectively distributed over 14,000 garden kits to San Francisco youth since the start of the pandemic.
Last year, 1,100 garden kits were distributed to five schools by SFUSD. The effort was enthusiastically led by FoodCorps service members who are providing virtual instruction, supported by videos and print materials. Students are excited to see their radish and snap pea seeds sprouting and growing!
Additionally, 3,352 trilingual seed kits along with books, sidewalk chalk, and other educational materials, went out to families of early childhood centers, family childcare homes, and emergency childcare sites in partnership with SFSU’s EDvance program and First 5 San Francisco.