Founded in 1997, First Green is the only STEM education and environmental outreach program in the United States and Canada that uses golf courses as learning labs. First Green is a Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) program that pairs golf courses with local schools for unique Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning opportunities. First Green programs can be found in 28 US states, and on April 21st, 2022 Kentucky was the 29th state to host a First Green learning lab.

Shad Lacefield was awarded the First Green grant to cover the cost of the field trip for his 4th grade students. Shad is the 2021 recipient of KSTA's Outstanding Elementary Science Teacher award. See the attachment for full details. Garden Springs Elementary First Green Field Trip.pdf

Two Kentucky schools were named U.S. Department of Education (DOE) Green Ribbon Schools.

Cassidy Elementary School in Lexington and Ascension School in Louisville were named Green Ribbon Schools for their efforts to reduce environmental impact and energy costs, improve health and wellness, and offer effective, sustainable education, according to the DOE.

Lexington’s Cassidy Elementary is in elite company on this Earth Day. It’s been selected as one of 36 schools throughout the nation as a Green Ribbon School, meaning it has consciously taken efforts to reduce waste and energy on its campus.

Teacher Kristi Fehr, KSTA Central Kentucky District Director, has been teaching her class about keeping the planet clean. Her positive environmental contributions can be seen throughout the school grounds. She’s led initiatives on the importance of recycling and clean energy, like building an electric car.

You can read full articles and view news clips below:

Fox Lexington

WKYT News

KSTA's 2021 Outstanding Elementary Science Teacher Shad Lacefield is featured in this episode of Science Connections: The Podcast from Amplify.

“It’s about being engaged with your students and figuring out what are they liking. Every year it’s going to be different…when you have conversations and you build relationships with your kids.”

In this episode, Shad and I tackled the following questions:

• How can educators build meaningful relationships with their students?
• Has classroom engagement shifted after remote learning?
• What can educators do to cultivate the love of learning science content?

Dear science teachers,

I hope you are all doing well. This past week I gained two new students and I realized they were going to be completely lost this upcoming week since we are doing 2 CERs. So I added much more detail into my slides and made a step-by-step guide to writing CERs on the weekly slideshow. One thing I like is that we include the checklists on all of the slides. See attached.

The first CER, about ocean currents, has a scaffolded claim so if you want to see a CER explained from the beginning go to the second CER, slide 29, CER Ocean Density and Salinity. I wrote that lab yesterday so it will probably undergo some revisions after I do it this week. I'm open to suggestions. :) 

Here is our CER rubric that is based on the one NSTA made with additions of colors and other criteria. We just did a major redo on it to spell out things more clearly and sadly, it no longer fits on one page. 

Kind regards,
Rebecca Newburn

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Ms. Rebecca Newburn (she/her/ella)
Science Teacher
RebeccaNewburn.com
2021 National Distinguished School
2019 National School to Watch
Hall Middle School, Larkspur, California

Would you, your students, or someone you know be interested in meeting Astronaut Sian Proctor (https://www.space.com/inspiration4-spacex-mission-sian-proctor-reflection)? Dr. Proctor is the first black woman to pilot a spacecraft and she will be our guest in the Big Astronomy (https://www.bigastronomy.org/) live event on Friday, February 4, 2022. Mark your calendar and sign up to participate today!

WHEN: Friday, February 4^th at 7:00 PM Eastern time (6:00 PM Central, 5:00 PM Mountain, and 4:00 PM Pacific)

WHERE: Live Virtual Event – join via webinar or Facebook

LANGUAGE: English/Spanish

Six Kentucky educators have been selected as state finalists and are now eligible to receive a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) award, the nation’s highest honor for U.S. K–12 science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and/or computer science teachers.

Read more here: 
https://www.kentuckyteacher.org/news/2021/05/kentucky-finalists-chosen-for-presidential-award-for-excellence-in-mathematics-and-science-teaching/

The White House, with leadership from the Office of Science and Technology Policy, should encourage federal agencies, state and local governments, and others to focus resources on increasing the quality and accessibility of science education — from kindergarten through the end of a postsecondary degree (K-16) — says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2021/07/science-education-should-be-national-priority-new-report-calls-on-federal-government-to-encourage-focusing-resources-on-high-quality-science-for-all-students

https://education.ky.gov/curriculum/standards/revision/Pages/meetingsnews.aspx

Each week, PBS NewsHour pauses to remember five Americans lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, and shares memories and highlights from their lives.

Read more and see the video here