Teachers, something you can share with parents: ideas for outdoor learning as a means of preventing the 'summer slide.' Take a look. learninglabfl.com/combating-th...

Last Wednesday, PEI attended the Summer Institute for Teachers hosted by #NisquallyRiverFoundation, ESD 113 and South Sound GREEN to talk about the family engagement event which happened at the Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail in April and the partnership of the Kennedy Creek Core Committee.

A huge congratulations to Lourdes for this well-deserved recognition from our partners at the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife! Last Friday, Lourdes Flores, multicultural engagement coordinator with Pacific Education Institute, was awarded

naaee.org/programs/eew... We recently attended an North American Association for Environmental Education - NAAEE webinar on the challenges of communicating the impact of environmental education. Turns out we're not the only ones who struggle with this!

Sharing this call for proposals for E3 Washington. The E3 conference will be from November 12-14 at Cispus Learning Center. Here is the announcement: Have you grown in the past few years? We'd love for you to share your experiences with others! You could share:

Yesterday we wrapped up a two-day Tribes and Climate Change workshop in collaboration with #ThisisIndianCountry and Washington Wild on Quinault Indian Nation lands. Participating teachers explored the Tribes and Climate Change curriculum, with lessons and Q&A’s related to the challenges

forests.org/washington-s... Congratulations to Washington SFI Implementation Committee (SIC) for this recognition from Sustainable Forestry Initiative for 'promoting forest sector career pathways and fostering forestry literacy among young . . .

Nooksack Head Start teachers used their senses to explore neighborhood trees in preparation for using the Project Learning Tree "Trees and Me: Activities for Early Learners" program with PreK students! They discovered the sounds, smells, and feel of spring, used Sit Spots to get to know a tree,

Another memorable collaborative workshop with the team at Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and NWESD 189. Learn what mud has to do with it in this story from our May newsletter below. pacificeducationinstitute.org/2025/05/teac...

Grades 6-12 teachers in northwest Washington, this one's for you.

The ninth and final session in the Taking Learning Outside series “Engaging Middle and High School Students in Outdoor Learning” took place May 20th at Odyssey Middle School in Camas. Teachers Kerin Motzinger, Robert More, and Jordan Zanmiller shared how they take students . . .

This May, PEI's Multicultural Engagement Coordinator Lourdes Flores has supported outreach efforts within Shelton School District and South Puget Sound Community College to help communities weigh in on ways to improve access to the Kennedy Creek Natural Area.

Pioneer Park in Aberdeen now has 20 freshly mulched saplings, thanks to the collective efforts of PEI, the City of Aberdeen American Forests and #AberdeenHighSchool, with funding from Weyerhaeuser. www.thedailyworld.com/news/improvi...

A hardy group of teachers spent two days learning about forest management with #YakamaNation field foresters, project specialists and policy specialists earlier this month. pacificeducationinstitute.org/2025/05/teac...

Tomorrow is #InternationalDayforBiologicalDiversity. EuroKids International has put together a set of activities that involve little set up and are easy to implement. They also can be used any time, not just when biodiversity is in the spotlight. Take a look! www.eurokidsindia.com/blog/explori...

www.thedailyworld.com/.../aberdeen... Thanks to @TheDailyWorld for this article about a tree planting project happening tomorrow in collaboration with #AberdeenHighSchool Weyerhaeuser and American Forests at #PioneerPark in Aberdeen.

Teachers from Lewis and Thurston counties spent an afternoon with community partners from PEI, Black Hills Audubon Society, and Lewis Conservation District to explore STEM integrated outdoor learning in the school yard (or the lovely little forest near school).

In case you need a little science to back up what you already know, here it is: "Outdoor classrooms not only benefit students but also contribute to the well-being and professional satisfaction of teachers. " outdoorclassrooms.com/blog/transfo...

Okay, #InternationalPlantAppreciationDay was over a month ago, but we couldn't resist. This looks not unlike PEI staff on a walk.

Thanks to #SummitValleySchoolDistrict for inviting PEI to visit and introduce teachers to FieldSTEM. We had a great day thinking about outdoor spaces on campus they could incorporate into learning, considering the benefits of outdoor

What could be more interesting than stink bugs? Especially if you're in say, first or second grade. This math 'performance task' is a fun an engaging way for students to practice counting and grouping while learning algebraic thinking. pacificeducationinstitute.org/resource/too...

#EarthDay turned out to be a sunny and beautiful time to explore forest management for a group of south sound teachers. They spent the day in @CapitolForest learning about forest management, #ChehalisTribe history, and historic and modern uses of fire as a management tool and experiencing

Check out this great opportunity for Washington State educators coming up on Saturday courtesy of Project WET.

Congratulations to Cascade School District on the #GreenRibbon Schools recognition (only the third Green Ribbon School recognition East of the Cascades). We are so proud of the efforts of your team to continually grow and improve in supporting student and staff health, reducing . . .

Happy #TeacherAppreciationWeek from PEI! We celebrate the thousands of teachers who join us each year to get outdoors, try new approaches and deepen their teaching practice, all for the benefit of students. You are the reason we do this work.

Did you know that the Battle Ground Public Schools has a half-day STEM program for high school students that integrates biological, environmental and agricultural sciences with English language arts? pacificeducationinstitute.org/2025/04/fiel...

pacificeducationinstitute.org/2025/04/civi... this month a group of Grays Harbor teachers spent a day at the Westport Maritime Museum and the beach for an immersive exploration of PEI's coastal hazards climate

Great work from #PioneerMiddleSchool students and their teacher Tim Smith. These students are engaging in authentic scientific inquiry, testing and adapting their ideas and considering real-world issues related to our local ecosystems. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lHF...

Spokane teachers and partners, this one's for you. If you weren't able to get outdoors and into the community on #EarthDay, here are two upcoming events courtesy of our friends at The Lands Council. The first is a celebration, the second is a tree planting work party. Spread the word!

Celebrating Earth Week? The @earthdaynetwork Education Resource Library offers lesson plans, tool kits, reading lists and much more! topics include climate science, microplastics pollution, air quality, pollinators and garden planning. Take a look: www.earthday.org/education-re...

Resource alert! "Problems with Problems" from #NextGenerationScienceStandards outlines a different approach to engineering and design, emphasizing real-world situations grounded in compelling issues that students care about rather than

pacificeducationinstitute.org/2025/03/paci... Teachers in Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group's Salmon Outside cohort got a surprise during a recent in-person workshop at La Salle High School: a juvenile Pacific lamprey.

Earth Day is rapidly approaching and Project Learning Tree has no shortage of ideas for citizen science projects to help students make an impact while celebrating our planet. Take a look: www.plt.org/educator-tip...

PEI was out in full force at Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail on Wednesday for a family engagement interpretive walk in Spanish and English co-hosted by Washington State Department of Natural Resources. Visitors:

www.southsoundbiz.com/news/washing... Thanks to Siri Nelson of LOTT Clean Water Alliance, Grant Gilmore of the City of Tumwater, WA - Government Kevin Hoffman of #OnalaskaHighSchool and Clare Sobetski of

pacificeducationinstitute.org/2025/03/mapp... PEI's resident GIS wizards Daniel Cuevas and Chelsea Trout led a GIS training workshop for teachers last month with two key results: Daniel fell in love with Wenatchee and teachers got proficient with ArcGIS, Survey 123 and other mapping

Resource Monday: This one is courtesy of Project Learning Tree: Together, the #USDAForestService and The Nature of Cities produced an immersive sound experience called Reverberations.

Resource alert! Teachers, take a look at these free ideas and activities from North American Association for Environmental Education - NAAEE to help you get students outside, whether it's for a moment or much longer.

Resource alert! Teachers, take a look at these free ideas and activities from North American Association for Environmental Education - NAAEE to help you get students outside, whether it's for a moment or much longer.

How does a group of sailing instructors respond when a torrential downpour begins just as they step outside for a field experience? "Their response was, 'Oh well, it looks like we're going to get wet,'" says Amy Keiper-Gowan, PEI's Northwest FieldSTEM Coordinator. "And we did."

More from Outdoor School last week. Community bonding and practicing/growing SEL within cabin groups was a highlight every day of the training. Featured here: the Mountain Chickadee cabin group!

Team PEI and friends at #OutdoorSchoolWashington spring training last week, preparing for the 'Time on the Trail' learning session.

For Seattle area teachers, take a look at the outdoors-based STEM programming at Oxbow Farm & Conservation Center in Carnation.

Without further ado, here are the winners of the Conservation Club KidWind Competition at Tulalip Heritage High School PEI's Amy Keiper-Gowan volunteered as a judge. Great to see engineering and design starting early!

During STEM night at Evergreen Elementary School in the Shelton School District, PEI's Lauren Troyer and Lourdes Flores interacted with dozens of students and their families. Young scientists explored the schoolyard and observed bugs, birds, trees and plants as part of a treasure hunt. !

From PEI's Northwest FieldSTEM Coordinator @AmyKeiper-Gowan: "I had a great day volunteering with Conservation Club KidWind Competition,  a hands-on design competition where student teams showcase their small-scale wind turbines and solar structure designs.

Southwest Washington teachers, here is an opportunity for student artists: Lower Columbia Fish Enhancement Group is holding an art/poetry contest to design their new #SeedstoSalmon logo. Spread the word!

Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership (LCEP) and Frontier Middle School Students continued their work of learning about and engaging in Restoration Ecology by planting native trees and shrubs at #SalmonCreek on 2/18 + 2/19.

pacificeducationinstitute.org/resource/rai... The spring equinox is nearly upon us and nature is living up to its reputation for spring showers. This makes it a great time for a Rainfall Field Investigation! This 3rd through 5th-grade resource asks students to consider the question: