Mar 9
Bringing Nature To Schools
Leave No Child Inside – Greater Cincinnati is expanding our support of Cincinnati Public Schools to encourage a closer, more customized relationship between schools and nature organizations via the Nature Partner Program. Advantages to this are many – closer alignment with academics at the school, closer relationships with teachers and students, and in many, cases, added services like outdoor classrooms and free field trips. Learn more by clicking here.
Aug 1
2nd Annual Child-Friendly Backyard Contest
We know that unstructured outdoor play leads to happier, healthier and smarter children! Leave No Child Inside wants to encourage a return to the joyful, creative outdoor play activities that should be the birthright of all children. The Child-Friendly Backyard contest is a fun way to encourage parents to allocate space for these safe, unstructured play areas. The measure of success for a Child-Friendly Backyard is that it will be a place your children and their friends will want to spend time playing, imagining and learning for many years to come! Judging is based upon your use of space, not…
Jul 26
New Fact Sheet Summarizes Benefits of Gardening for Children
Gardening provides different forms of engagement for children, including designing, planting, and maintaining gardens; harvesting, preparing, and sharing food; working cooperatively in groups; learning about science and nutrition; and creating art and stories inspired by gardens. Click here to read more about this report from the Children, Youth and Environments Center for Research and Design.
Jun 27
Fifth Quarter Project a Success
Cincinnati Public Schools Fifth Quarter Program Includes EarthSmart Institute Jim Shelton meets with Fifth Quarter Planners and CPS Parents. Jim Shelton meets with Fifth Quarter Planners and CPS Parents In an innovative program designed to stem the loss of learning that takes place during the summer for many students, Cincinnati Public Schools offered a Fifth Quarter, targeting grades K-7 at thirteen* schools. The voluntary program included enrichment opportunities intended to close the achievement gap between low-income and more economically advantaged students. A recent Johns Hopkins University study found that 65 percent of the achievement gap between poor and more advantaged…
Jun 26
Early Childhood Conference Focuses on Children and Nature
On Saturday, May 2, 2009, over 120 child care professionals gathered at the Oasis Conference Center for 4C for Children?s "Bringing the Outdoors Back In" conference. Keynote speaker Ken Finch discussed the importance of unstructured play in nature to the physical, emotional, social and cognitive development of children and how it can be brought into the child care setting. Workshops on topics such as "Facilitating Inquiry and Unstructured Play in the Outdoor Environment", "Natural Playscapes", and "Way to Grow! Promoting Healthy Weights in Child Care Settings" provided participants with new ways of looking at outdoor play and how to use…
May 25
Obama aide lauds CPS program
An emissary from the Obama administration today praised Cincinnati Public Schools' expanded summer-school program as a creative way to keep kids in class longer, a major administration priority. During a tour of Pleasant Hill Academy in College Hill, where students were finishing their last day of Fifth Quarter summer school, Jim Shelton credited CPS for finding a good use for increased federal aid included in February's economic stimulus package. "We're trying to get different districts and schools to think about different ways to increase learning time," said Shelton, assistant deputy education secretary for innovation. "And they seem to be really…
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