The Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District, in partnership with the Environmental Learning Center at Clackamas Community College, is bringing soil health education to K-8 teachers, school garden volunteers, community gardeners, and others in a position to educate others about soil health.
Special Guest Speaker, Author Kaci Rae Christopher
Kaci Rae Christopher, author of The School Garden Curriculum
This fall, we are excited to welcome our special guest speaker, Kaci Rae Christopher. A former school garden educator at Springwater Environmental Sciences School in Clackamas County, Kaci Rae focuses on life skills training for young adults and children. She is passionate about fostering a healthy land ethic and environmental literacy for all students, drawing on all of the senses, math, science, reading, and more.
Her new book, The School Garden Curriculum, offers over 200 lessons tied to Next Generation Science Standards. This book will be presented to participants who attend the workshop as a valuable teaching tool by the Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District. Space is limited, so please register today!
Why Does Soil Health Matter?
The soil food web includes our friends the worms plus billions of other organisms. Yes, billions!
Healthy soils produce better quality plants. They also help to protect many of our natural resources, including maintaining animal and plant biodiversity, contributing to water quality, and storing carbon, which can help slow climate change.
Poor soil health contributes to poor plant health, increased weed production, and diminished nutritional content of vegetation. It also leads to compaction, runoff, erosion, and loss of organic matter in soils.
School and community gardens provide living laboratories for investigation-based learning. Working with soils gets kids outside and engaged in learning by doing. Teaching about soil prepares our students to better understand their world and to conserve natural resources throughout their lives. And now, teachers have access to a soil and school garden curriculum that meets Next Generation Science Standards that makes soil health lessons exciting and appropriate for teachers and their students!
What Are We Doing About It?
Soil health lessons are hands-on and engaging!
This October, Clackamas SWCD is delivering valuable soil health information to our teachers and community garden managers. Our upcoming workshop covers the soil health and school garden curriculum that can be used year-round, offers hand-on activity demonstrations, and provides useful materials for student investigation.
Soil Health and School Garden Curriculum: A FREE Soil Health Workshop for School & Community Garden Educators
- Saturday, October 5, 2019
- 8:00 a.m. – noon
- Clackamas Community College, Oregon City
- Snacks, continuing education credits, and book provided
For more information or to register for this workshop, please contact Cathy McQueeney at cmcqueeney@conservationdistrict.org or at 503-210-6012.