[S-C] Fwd: S.F. Green Schoolyards Alliance

[Kevin Shrieve]

----------------------  Forwarded Message:  ---------------------
From:    "Jack Chin" <c200gran@earthlink.net>
Subject: Green Schoolyards - please pass the word
Date:    Fri, 27 Sep 2002 10:16:35 -0700

Dear friends-

As you may know, I have been part of an effort to promote the transformation of
asphalt schoolyards into vibrant green outdoor classrooms.

Toward that end, the San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance (SFGSA) is
co-sponsoring the Growing Greener School Grounds Conference on October 25th and
26th. The San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, San Francisco
Beautiful, and the San Francisco Unified School District are the other
co-sponsors.

We invite you to join us for this exciting line-up of presentations and hands-
on workshops. Get your hands dirty creating a bird and butterfly garden, making
a colorful mosaic, or planting and weaving a willow play structure.  Learn how
to use the sun as a teaching resource or connect your classroom curriculum to
an outdoor learning environment.

Green schoolyards are being constructed all over the world and provide some of
the most effective, hands-on teaching tools available. These cost-effective
outdoor classrooms give schools essential learning resources while beautifying
their adjacent surroundings. They allow teachers to take their students on
"field trips" without ever leaving school grounds. Students, teachers, parents
and community members gain an intimate understanding of the environment and
create a space for experiential learning as they create green schoolyards.

Conference Schedule:

October 25th, Friday (evening):

Events on Friday will introduce the multiple benefits of ecological schoolyards
through lectures and a resource fair. The conference keynote speaker, Cam
Collyer, is the National Manager of Evergreen's Learning Grounds Program in
Canada.  Cam is an internationally recognized leader in the green school
grounds
movement. Sharon Danks of EcoSchool Design will give a slide presentation
illustrating successful case studies of ecological school grounds in the United
States and around the world. A networking and resource fair will provide
information, contacts, and material to use in the classroom and on school
grounds.

Saturday, October 26th  (all day):

On Saturday, three San Francisco public schools (Alice Fong Yu Alternative
school, San Francisco Community School and Ulloa Elementary school) will host a
wide variety of day-long workshops providing hands-on experience, information,
and resources for replicating projects in your own neighborhood or school.
Some
hands-on workshops will construct or create ecological schoolyard projects that
will remain at the school site after the conference to benefit the host
schools.
Other workshops will teach participants how to connect different aspects of
California curriculum requirements to development and stewardship of outdoor
learning environments.

For more complete information on the program, go to
http://sfgreenschools.org/PDF/Greengen2.pdf.

Please join us at this ground-breaking event! Enroll now!  And pass this along
to others who might be interested!

For more information on how to register, visit www.sfgreenschools.com or send
your conference questions to sfgreenschools@hotmail.com.

~*^~*^~*^~*^~*^~*^~*^~*^~*^~*^~*^~*^~*^~*^~*^
Jack Chin, Special Projects Manager
Funders' Forum on Environment and Education (F2E2)
A Project of the Tides Center
200 Granville Way
San Francisco, CA 94127
phone/fax: 415.242.9445
email: jack@f2e2.org