Teachers Go Green Ahead of the New School Year

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - The upcoming school year is just days away, and Santa Barbara-area teachers are heading back to class with some fresh ideas for helping students learn about the environment.

Explore Ecology, in partnership with UC Santa Barbara, is giving educators hands-on training designed to bring sustainability into everyday classroom lessons.

Teachers are working directly with recycled, repurposed and eco-friendly materials while learning activities they can recreate with their own students.

One project has educators cutting and assembling paper to create handmade journal books, giving them a chance to experience the lesson much as their students will.

The training goes beyond environmental science. Activities can be incorporated across subjects while encouraging creativity, problem-solving and a closer connection to the natural world.

The workshops also give teachers time to experiment, exchange ideas and prepare projects before students return to their classrooms.

Organizers hope the lessons encourage students to think differently about materials they might otherwise throw away and discover how everyday items can be reused in creative ways.

For participating teachers, the timing offers a chance to head into the new school year with new projects ready to go.

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