The mission of the Litzsinger Road Ecology Center (LREC) Teacher Partnership Program is to equip teachers to be effective outdoor place-based educators; using outdoor spaces to achieve curriculum goals, improve the environment and engage with their community. The program consists of three year-long training courses in outdoor teaching strategies, each with a summer workshop and school year expectations.
This program is offered at no cost to participants or your teaching institution.

Teachers who complete the program will:

• use outdoor teaching strategies to achieve curriculum goals
• make effective educational use of the schoolyard and surrounding community
• provide students with opportunities to engage with and improve the local environment
• participate in a school community place-based education team
• become an active participant in a dynamic community of outdoor place-based educators

The entry point for educators new to LREC:
Effective Outdoor Learning: June 12–13 and July 17–18, 2018
2-day summer workshop and school year expectations.
Teachers will become familiar with their schoolyard and how to use it a as a rich learning environment with their students. Teachers who complete this course will continue to have access to LREC resources. If you wish to register for this summer, do so soon. Enrollment is limited. An optional third day (June 11 or July 16) is offered for training in a Discover Nature Schools (DNS) curriculum unit developed and managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation. For information and registration go to Effective Outdoor Learning Registration.
For current LREC Teacher Partners:
Register for Sustainable Schoolyards 1, June 25–29, 2018
5-day summer workshop and school year expectations.
Teachers will use principles of Effective Outdoor Learning to develop an interdisciplinary unit of study during which students will plan and begin developing a schoolyard natural habitat. LREC will provide staff support, lesson plans and resources as participants create and implement a plan for the 2018–19 school year.

If you have completed the Sustainable Schoolyards 1 training, a second year of training, Sustainable Schoolyards 2, is available; it focuses on management and ongoing educational use of your schoolyard habitat (Summer training: July 9–10, 2018). If you wish to register for either of these programs, go to Sustainable Schoolyards Registration.

Current LREC Teacher Partners may also register for one-day Discover Nature Schools training (see above).
Questions? Give your LREC staff contact a call.