What do eighth-grade students who have lived through a pandemic and Douglas fir trees have in common? Resilience. That was the message Lamont School District Superintendent Charles Pierce shared with the graduating class of 2023. On Arbor Day, students and staff gathered to plant a Douglas fir on
Here’s a question you’ve probably never considered: can a pinecone be played like a harmonica? The answer is not really, but it sure is fun trying, as one teacher at a Trees & Me: Early Childhood Outdoor Learning workshop discovered in May. Over 40 educators and educators-in-training from
PEI’s workshops are typically well attended, but what happened in May was exceptional. Over one hundred people registered for a Phenomena Based Learning: Solutions Oriented Storylines workshop and of those who attended, nearly all completed the course requirements. “We ended up awarding STEM clock hours and stipends to
By Cindy Hall, Art Teacher, Olympia Middle School I have an avid interest in the concept of food waste as it has bothered me personally for my whole life. The lessons and information provided through the SOLS class has provided me with some great talking points and lessons
In May, 45 educators from 22 different K-12 schools and 11 community partner organizations came together for a week at Camp Reed north of Spokane to learn how to develop overnight outdoor school programming for 5th and 6th grade students by participating in the 2023 Outdoor School Washington
Julie Tennis approached her first meeting with Denise Buck with trepidation. It was 2015 and Buck had just been hired as PEI’s new Operations and Program Director. As one of a handful of PEI staff, Tennis would be working closely with her to develop programming in the coastal
Typically, Career and Technical Education (CTE) frameworks are written at a local level for use by a specific school or district. That approach has both strengths and challenges, according to PEI Project Specialist Michelle Townshend. “The frameworks are locally relevant,” she explains, “but the problem is that nobody outside
Between December and May 487 teachers from 63 school districts attended one of PEI’s eight introductory FieldSTEM courses. It was the second year PEI has offered the series and attendance increased in 2023. Each two-hour session covered an aspect of PEI’s tools and resources and the FieldSTEM model’s
The national Project Learning Tree (PLT) conference in March was a busy time for PEI staff. Many of our statewide team were on hand to lead breakout sessions, participate in panel discussions and both give and receive awards throughout the week. More than 100 PLT coordinators from around
In the years that PEI has been working with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), many memorable moments have occurred. One that stands out for PEI Program Director Denise Buck occurred during a site visit on the Olympic Peninsula in preparation for a teacher workshop. “Our coastal coordinator was
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