Happy EE Week! 

This week, thousands of educators and millions of students across the United States have participated in National Environmental Education Week activities to increase environmental learning and stewardship. Thank you for being a part of this national network dedicated to increasing the environmental literacy of K-12 students!

The 40th anniversary of Earth Day will be celebrated around the world next Thursday, April 22. Our friends at Earth Day Network can help you find Earth Day events and activities around the globe. You can also log your commitment to environmental service through their Billion Acts of Green initiative. Continue reading below to learn about a special curriculum developed for the 40th anniversary.

Next weekend -- April 23-25 -- marks Global Youth Service Day, an annual celebration of the millions of youth who improve their communities through service and service-learning.

These global events provide an ideal opportunity for students to use what they have learned during EE Week to make a difference in their schools and communities. 

EE Week's Annual Photo Blog Contest
Enter your photos and stories for a chance to win great prizes

Do you have an inspiring story of how you and your organization are bringing environmental education to students? National Environmental Education Week would like to hear about it! Simply upload your photos and stories to the EE Week Photo Blog. Your story can be about activities either inside or outside the classroom, before, during or after EE Week.

The EE Week Photo Blog Contest -- which runs from April 1 through May 31 -- is open to individuals affiliated with a school or organization providing K-12 educational programs. Photo Blog Contest applicants must be 18 years of age or older, have a valid email address and be residents of the United States. Read the complete rules.

Each photo blog entry must include a photograph and accompanying blog text no longer than 1,500 characters that clearly describes the environmental education activity showcased in the photo. Release forms are required for each identifiable person in a photo. Entries will be judged on the quality of the photograph and blog, visual appeal, the level of success and creativity that was achieved in bringing environmental education to the students and the photo's inspirational value.

First, second and third place prizes include Ultra Flip Video Camcorders, a magazine subscription to National Geographic Explorer! Magazine and a gift certificate to Acorn Naturalists. And just for entering, we'll send you an environmental education poetry magnet. Learn more

Be Water and Energy Wise! Tip

Plant a rain garden or plants that are native to your region in your yard and on your school grounds. By reducing the watering the landscape needs, you'll also save energy.

Source: River Network

More tips

Teacher Spotlight: Barbara Murphy
Westlawn Middle School, Huntsville, Ala.

Through a partnership with the Alabama Wildlife Federation's Ponds for Kidsprogram, Barbara Murphy's students will build a backyard waterfall, stream and pond on the campus of Westlawn Middle School to celebrate EE Week. Students will work alongside school faculty, parents and community volunteers to create a small aquatic habitat at their school.

Before deciding on a project, Murphy's students surveyed the school community asking students how they would like to see their courtyard beautified and what kind of outdoor activities interest them. Based on the results, the students decided on the aquatic habitat. The students will also be installing three vegetable gardens, one each for the 6th, 7th and 8th grades. Murphy says the gardens and pond will provide an outdoor living laboratory to be studied, developed and enjoyed by the students and their families.

For more information on schoolyard habitats, visit National Wildlife Federation's Schoolyard Habitatsprogram online.

Learn more about educators engaging their students in interesting and exciting activities to promote understanding of the environment by reading our Environmental Education Success Stories.

Featured Resource
Earth Day 40th Anniversary Curriculum Unit

In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day this year, Earth Day Network has developed a free online curriculum unit. These activities and lesson plans introduce a broad history of the environmental movement through a comprehensive online resource. The unit is supported by educational resources including vocabulary, popular works of the time period, videos, graphs, photographs, illustrations and more. Additional learning activities and multimedia resources have been developed to further enhance instruction. Several of the materials are also available in French and Spanish. Access the Earth Day 40th Anniversary Curriculum

World Water Week 2010

World Water Day and World Water Week focus on clean water conservation, access and quality in the United States and around the globe.

NEEF's Web site and program pages this week highlight resources, links and other helpful information on water conservation and quality, from Classroom Earth's water-themed lesson plans for teachers, National Environmental Education Week's school and home water audits for K-12 students and National Public Lands Day's water activity pages for families and volunteers.

Planet Connect Grants

Ten high school students with great ideas and $1,000 will each be undertaking projects including building organic gardens, producing model environmental houses and initiating pilot programs for sustainable lunch trays in their school cafeterias after being selected as this year’s Planet Connect grant winners. Read the press release.