Happy Teacher Appreciation Week and many thanks to all of you for doing the great work that you do!  We loved this observation describing the Spring posted to the online classroom today from Nikolaus at Great River School.  He titled it, There Is Life Among Us.

I'm sitting outside of my apartment building. In the back there is a little enclosed off area kind of hidden in the woods, it is between housing and the golf coarse. It is really nice. I'm just sitting in the sun listening to all of the birds chirping and playing around. I can hear lots of scrapes on the bark of trees as squirrels run up and down trees. The sun is heating up my back and my head while the wind cools off my body. It is very peaceful. When I look around I see wonderful bright green trees that look like they are overexcited that it's springtime. There are still buds on the trees but most of them have turned into rich green leaves. On some of the trees there is even lots of bright pink flowers. I could sit here for days just listening to the leaves swaying in the wind, hearing the birds chirp and hearing the animals play. It is a very nice day.

In other news, the Twin Cities Naturalist, is a great phenology resource for those of you in the Twin Cities Metro Area keeping up with nature as it wakes up this spring and read Minnesota farmer Jack Hedin's reflections on how climate change is impacting agriculture.

Richard Alley's recent article is a fun illustration of how deniers will cherry pick data to support their claims.  Read it here.  As part of Earth: The Operator's Manural, Aley's How to Talk to An Ostrich series of videos are great short videos that give rebuttals to denier arguments. 

Check out TEDtalks new TEDEd!  They have taken TEDtalks, created quizzes and questions to think about so they can be more useful in the classroom.  We especially like the James Balog's Time-lapse proof of extreme ice loss.

Enter the White House's Youth Sustainability Challenge.  Submit Your Videos Today! 

 The first public draft of the Next Generations Science Standards is open for review May 11 – June 1.  This will be an opportunity to influence the future of science education and see where climate change fits in.  There will be focus group meetings across the state to learn about the standards and to provide joint review.  Register for the meetings and receive location information. 

Professional Development
Don't forget to register for the Minnesota Association for Environmental Education's Annual Conference June 21 and 22 at Itasca State Park. 

The Minnesota Department of Education is offering 1 day workshops on Teaching Outside the Box: An Introduction to Integrating Environmental and Outdoor Education in Grades K-12 throughout the summer and fall.  More info

Mark your calendars for August 6, 7:00 PM at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, Cowles Auditorium for an evening with Dr. Eugenie Scott and Will Steger. Dr. Scott, is the Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education (NCSE). For the past 30 years NCSE has primarily focused on defending the teaching of evolution in the classroom. In 2012, in response to complaints from teachers that they were coming under fire for teaching global warming and other climate change concepts, NCSE decided to support the teaching of climate change in addition to evolution.

We are still looking for teachers interested in presenting for 5-10 minutes, August 8, about how they used Minnesota's Changing Climate.  Sign up here or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any questions.

Join the other educators on this map and register today and share with your colleagues this Summer's Institute for Climate Change Education, August 7-8.

Happy Spring! As many of you plan action projects this spring, share your plans with us! As always, feel free to contact us with any questions.

New City School submitted this creative PSA for the Parks Climate Challenge:

Last week, the first White House Summit on Environmental Education was held. Read Richard Louv's reflections on this event and the importance of environmental literacy.

There have been various phenological indicators of this year's early spring in Minnesota such as the early return of loons. There has also been recent writing about examples of phenological changes in Concord, Massachusetts that have been documented thanks to the early phenology records in Thoreau's journals. Bring your students outside to document changes of their own! Another benefit to taking your students outside is the link between physical activity and improved academic performance that is being shown in recent research. As we are enjoying this beautiful spring season, take your students outside to connect with their place and post their observations and journal entries to the Minnesota's Changing Climate online classroom. We love seeing your students' excellent work!

Happy National Park Week-especially to our Parks Climate Challenge cohort!

Kristen and Ann

Featured Resource

Weather Underground launched a great new page on climate change. This site presents climate data in an accessible way and also features local climate data for students to explore.

Professional Development Opportunities

Interested in joining a virtual climate change education book club mostly focused on young adult fiction? Find out more. You will have to register to the ICEE forum if you would like to join the conversation!

Classroom Earth is offering professional development grants for a six week online course on wildlife conservation with the Wildlife Conservation Society. Application Deadline: April 30

The National Environmental Education Foundation is accepting applications for the Richard C. Bartlett Environmental Education Award. The 2012 award will go to an outstanding high school teacher who successfully integrates environmental education into their curriculum and engages students in interdisciplinary solutions to environmental challenges. Nominate a colleague or yourself. Application Deadline: June 8

Apply to the National Science Teachers Assocation's New Science Teacher Academy. Application Deadline: July 1

Exciting news!  The Minnesota's Changing Climate Project- which includes all of the great work you have been doing, has beennominated for a Minnesota Environmental Initiative Award.  Winners will announced at an event on May 24.  More info.

We have confirmed that Eugenie Scott,the Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education(NCSE), will be speaking on Climate Science in Schools: the Next Evolution, at our free public forum held the evening of August 6th at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, Cowles Auditorium, with Will Steger. Moderated by Steve Kelley. 

For the past 30 years NCSE has primarily focused on defending the teaching of evolution in the classroom. In 2012, in response to complaints from teachers that they were coming under fire for teaching global warming and other climate change concepts, NCSE decided to support the teaching of climate change in addition to evolution.  The work of NCSE is clearly important, especially after yesterday's passage of a bill in Tennessee that allows teachers to teach that the science and issue of climate change has "two sides."  More info. 

It is hard not to notice the unusually warm weather that hit Minnesota in the last few weeks, following what we like to call, "the winter that never was."  There has been some pretty
interesting coverage that highlight these anomalies.

Climate Central's interactive map shows how early spring has arrived around the country

Spring is finally upon us! It's a perfect time to get your class outside with their journals and make some observations as Minnesota "wakes up." It is maple syrup time and we wanted to share this video about how the industry is changing that we came upon a few weeks back.