PEI Funding Crisis
PEI Left Out of Legislative Budget, 65% of Funding Lost
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PEI’s FieldSTEM funding through the state legislature is at zero. PEI has worked closely with OSPI for 10 years to build a systemic approach to integrated, meaningful, place-based learning designed not just to improve student engagement and achievement but also to provide high quality professional learning and STEM and Equity clock hours for teachers. This funding was removed from the budget.
In addition, funding through ClimeTime and the Outdoor Learning Grant programs were also cut to $0 leading to a huge drop in revenue for PEI. As we wait to see if new revenue packages restore some of these cuts and we reach out to new funders to support our work, we are looking for stopgap funding for the next two years. Sadly, we are already in the process of laying off staff and need your help to keep as many of our team as possible. Your support is critical.
How you can help:
Become a monthly donor at any level that makes sense for you, whether that’s $10 a month or $100. We served 4,314 educators last year. Many attended multi-day sessions and were “served” for 2 to 20 hours by our fabulous Coordinators. When you eat at a restaurant and are served for 45 minutes, you leave a tip. Would you be willing to tip the PEI staff, either on your own behalf or on behalf of a teacher? If we have 1,000 donors at $8 per month, this allows us to keep a full-time team member.
If you are a public school teacher or administrator or work for any state agency, you can donate through the state employee Combined Fund Drive (CFD). You can make a one-time donation or allocate a small amount (for example $8) to be deducted from your paycheck each month. To sign up through the CFD, click here, enter ‘Pacific Education Institute’ in the search bar and then click ‘start giving to this charity.’ If 1000 people sign up at $8 per month, this allows us to keep a full-time team member.
If you support this work and want to keep it accessible to teachers throughout our state, please act now.
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Statewide Training
Experiential Learning Connects Teachers at Outdoor School Training
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In many ways, the experience of teachers who attend Outdoor School training mirrors that of their students. They begin the week as slightly reserved individuals and end it as an open, participatory and bonded group.
“The journey of being together is impactful,” says Lauren Troyer, PEI’s South Sound FieldSTEM Coordinator. “I saw it in the feedback. You go away from home, you’re together in this place and at the end, you don’t want to leave.”
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Regional FieldSTEM
Theler Wetland Workshop Reconnects Educators with Community Landmark
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March 8th may have marked a turning point for community involvement with Theler Wetlands. For years, the Theler Wetlands Environmental Education Center served as a resource for educators and visitors in Belfair and surrounding areas. Located on 150 acres of wetlands at the tail end of Hood Canal, the center offered classes, an interpretive center and a classroom for high school students in North Mason School District, which holds the site in trust.
Then things went dormant. The center still existed but lacked volunteers. Teachers would do occasional classes and bring their students to the wetlands for salmon release events, but otherwise, the site remained unused.
But on March 6th and 8th, Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group (HCSEG) and PEI teamed up to offer a two-part workshop reintroducing regional teachers to the wetlands and the former environmental education center.
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Multicultural Programming
Encuentranos en Kennedy Creek: Dual Language Event Introduces Families to Nearby Nature
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What a unique opportunity for a family event at Kennedy Creek! On a beautiful day in between stormy ones, approximately thirteen families totaling forty people got together to discover and enjoy the spring signs of life at the natural area in Kennedy Creek. With ten staff and volunteers available to set up hands-on learning experiences, participants had enough space to distribute children and adults alike to enjoy all the activities.
PEI Multicultural Engagement Coordinator Lourdes Flores partnered with Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Youth Education and Outreach Program manager, Clare Sobetski, to continue their series of events “Encuéntranos en...” which invites school families to participate in outdoor learning with their students in beautiful places near their neighborhoods.
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Climate Science
Civics, Climate Science and Engineering Meet on the Beach at PEI Workshop
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Usually, when teachers talk about holding a ‘professional development’ session at the beach, it’s wishful thinking and involves beverages with miniature umbrellas. For Grays Harbor educators, however, the Pacific Ocean is their backyard and the shoreline in front of Westport by the Sea condominium development is a perfect place to learn about the intersection of climate science, civics and engineering. That’s exactly what one group did at PEI’s Phenomena-Based Teaching with Field Investigations in Coastal Hazards workshop this April.
Phenomena-based teaching is an approach that uses ‘anchoring phenomena’ as a starting point for a unit of instruction to encourage students to ask questions, explore and develop explanations. Engaging students through this process fosters a deeper understanding of scientific concepts. The in-person training at Westport Maritime Museum used PEI’s coastal hazards climate science storyline to introduce anchoring phenomena.
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Statewide Workshop
FieldDesign Brings Relevance and Meaning to Engineering and Design
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Himalayan blackberries are notable for three reasons: they aren’t native to Washington State, they tend to take over whatever landscape they inhabit and, okay, they’re delicious. What to do about them? Teachers from two different schools in separate regions of the state grappled with this question at PEI’s FieldDesign: Engineering Design for Field-Based Applications workshop in February and March. The statewide workshop included smaller sessions broken out by region and grade level band.
Both teachers had blackberries on their school grounds, but they approached the issue differently. “One of them wanted to take the blackberries out and plant something else with their students,” says Emily Newman, PEI’s Lower Columbia FieldSTEM Coordinator, “and the other is planning to train them to stay in one place to add biodiversity and habitat for animals. It was interesting to see the different perspectives of the same problem.”
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Tools & Tips for Teachers
Trees as Habitat and Tree Benefits
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In this adaptable lesson for grades K-2 or 3-5, students explore trees and the area around them, looking for signs that animals and other organisms are inhabiting them. They record their findings and then make a case for why they do or do not believe anyone is living in a particular tree. The lesson also develops understanding of the benefits trees provide as part of an ecosystem.
Source: Project Learning Tree
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Visit our calendar for more information.
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With Gratitude
Thank you April donors and funders!
ClimeTime
Front and Centered
Gail Kramer
Gareth Waugh
Hampton Lumber
Icicle Fund
Fred Meyer Community Rewards Program
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
The Russell Family Foundation
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