Bring Environmental Education Program to Ecuador

Our online curriculum continued these past months with two fun stories and one event! 

In October, we read "The Sheep who Came for Dinner" and discussed the effect of eating meat on the environment. We challenged the students to prepare a vegetarian meal and reduce their consumption of meat weekly. Here you see Kyara, our prize winner, preparing her vegetarian ceviche! 

In November, we were blessed with collaboration from the Clara Luna Foundation, another local organization dedicated to literacy and a love of reading. Paola Martinez read "The Giant Clementin," about a giant whose family's garbage was so heavy that he cried every time he had to take it to the corner. He learned from 3 wizards how to reduce, reuse and recycle to make his garbage pile smaller. Students then made a short video about what they learned. 

Finally in December, we had our annual Flea Market and discussed how environmentally friendly it is to buy used clothes instead of new clothes. Many families took advantage and bought from the market. It was a nice fundraiser for the teachers as well! 

In January we are planning to plant trees with the seventh graders (outside and masks required!). The trees will be planted next to a soccer field in the middle of a neighborhood where our students can continue to see their trees and remember this experience for years to come. 

Thank you so much for your support in this endeavor! Althought this year has been particularly challenging and we have canceled most of our hands-on activities, we feel sure that our environmental message is still getting through, even online! Your contributions have kept our teachers employed and motivated to continue teaching the importance of caring for the environment. Thank you! 

This is Hanney's home garden project! Hanney is in fifth grade. She is an incredibly bright scholarship student who loves folkloric dance and English class. Her family has very limited space to make their home garden but they have found new and recycled materials to plant their vegetables in and I can imagine the excitement on Hanney's face when she first tastes her home grown cucumbers! Cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes grow really easily here and our students are learning to save their seeds from the vegetables they consume. 

The home garden is one of the new activites we have included into our Environmental Education Program. We've had to change our plans completely, and they continue to change as the year goes on. This hands-on learning project opens up exciting discussion about organic vs. not organic, the importance of being sustainable or buying local, and the natural science of plant growth. What I especially love about this project is that each family as made the home garden work, no matter what the size of their yard! 

The other new activity will be a series of livestream story-time with environment-themed books. I will be reading our first story, "La Pelota Azul" on September 22 at 11:30 AM (Ecuador time) to celebrate World Car Free Day. The students will then be encouraged to participate in a drawing contest expressing what they learned from the story and the winner will receive a prize donated by a local family in Quito. Please join us on our Facebook Page (link below) to hear the story and see fun comments from our families! 

Links:

• Facebook Page--James Dean Bryd Foundation
• Foundation Website