Resources
Reviewers: Jessica Culverhouse, Kristen Ferguson, Tim Grant, Jonathan Hayes, Gail Jardine, Elizabeth Johnson, Jennifer Kobylecky, Gail Littlejohn, Phyllis McKenzie, Barbara McMillan, Terry Tomasek
Nature’s
Playground With Nature’s Playground: Activities, Crafts, and Games to Encourage Children to Get Outdoors, UK
environmental educator Fiona Danks aims to encourage “adults and children to appreciate and enjoy wild places together and, above all, to have fun in the freedom of the great outdoors.” She offers useful general tips for selecting a destination and making preparations, but the heart of the book is over 50 activities designated for spring, sum- mer, autumn, winter, all year round and after dark. Many are explorations or nature crafts that require no materials other than natural objects (e.g., straw dolls, ice mobiles, mud sculptures), and all seem designed to encourage imagi- nation and aesthetic and sensory appre- ciation of the colors, textures, sounds and smells of nature. Jo Schofield’s beautiful photographs of children play- ing, exploring and creating in nature are perfect complements to the text. The book is rounded out with an index, resource list and advice on outdoor conduct and safety (North American readers will note that the advice to walk quietly is inappropriate in areas with bears and cougars, and in some areas night walks cannot be assumed to be safe). Overall, this is a wonderful book — full of activities that teachers can easily incorporate into their sci- ence, art, health and physical education programs and that parents and other adults can enjoy doing with children. – (GJ/GL)
Chicago Review Press, 2005, ISBN 978-1- 55652-723-4, 192 pp., US$16.95/C$21.95 from Independent Publishers Group, (800) 888-4741, .
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The Sustain- able High
Schools Kit The Sustainable High Schools Kit provides a framework to engage students, staff and other stakeholders in
assessing and improving the health and well-being of their school commu- nity. From setting up a Sustainability Advisory Committee to assessing the use of chemical-free cleaning products, this free downloadable kit goes well beyond programs that simply have students perform school energy or waste audits. Beginning with their vision of a sustainable high school, students design and perform assessments to determine the current health of their school using ecological indicators in 10 topic areas, including Health and Well-Being, Knowledge, Governance, Energy and Land. Stu- dents then work with members of their advisory committee to develop a plan for achieving their vision over time, set benchmarks and report progress to the larger school community. The Sustainable High Schools Kit engages students in critical thinking while dealing with real world situations as they embark on a journey to make their high school community sustain- able and healthy. Developed in British Columbia, the materials are easily adaptable throughout Canada and the United States. – (PM)
Sierra Club BC, 2008, 74 pp., available as a free three-part download from .
Journey of Community Change Since 1989, the nonprofit Search Institute has been surveying young people in grades 6-12 about their behavior, beliefs and experiences of school, family and community. From this research, they have identified 40 “developmental assets” that help young people become healthy, caring and responsible adults — from caring neighborhoods and positive peer influ- ences to creative activities and a sense of purpose. The institute’s The Journey
GREEN TEACHER 89
of Community Change: A How-to Guide for Healthy Communities– Healthy Youth Initiatives, by Jennifer Griffin-Wiesner, is a guidebook filled with positive strategies, systems and essential questions to help evolve initiatives that improve communities for youth. It places heavy emphasis on, and provides structures for, engaging youth in all aspects of a developmental asset-building initiative, including visioning, planning, implementing, evaluating and celebrating. Along with case studies of long-running initiatives and checklists such as “Identifying Community Asset-Building Strengths and
Challenges,” the guide provides sug- gestions and cautions for developing an initiator group, creating vision state- ments, using focus groups, handling negative publicity and encouraging adults to work with other peoples’ kids. The Journey of Community Change will be beneficial for leaders and organizations involved in many kinds of youth-oriented initiatives in their communities. – (PM)
Search Institute, 2005, ISBN 1-57482-861- 4 (pb), 146 pp., US$39.95 from Search Institute, (800) 888-7828, .
Aquatic
Habitats For students, it can be an awe-inspiring experience to assemble a desktop pond and investigate aquatic food
webs, adaptations, life cycles and ecological concepts. However, deliver- ing this learning experience can be daunting for many teachers. Katherine Barrett and Carolyn Willard’s Aquatic Habitats: Exploring Desktop Ponds guides teachers with detailed instruc- tions for turning simple aquariums into complex model ecosystems. From
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