Project Learning Tree (PLT)
Minnesota PLT Educator Updates
The Minnesota PLT program sends periodic PLT Educator Updates to educators who have attended a PLT workshop in Minnesota. The updates include current PLT news, info about grants and money, tips for teaching PLT activities, info about DNR resources for teachers, and upcoming workshops.
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Press release article
The new Exploring Environmental Issues: Focus on Forests module is now complete! Press release
Virginia School District Teacher Earns State Recognition- (January 25, 2011) 
Roosevelt Elementary School teacher, Chris Holmes, recently was awarded the 2010 Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts Teacher Award. This statewide award was presented recently at the 74th annual MASWCD convention in St. Paul. More
PLT Activities That Teach About the 2010 Gulf Oil Blowout
It could be the "science" news event of the year – and is surely a teachable moment. The environmental and social effects of the Gulf Oil Blowout will draw the attention of educators for years to come as we discover the oil's short- and long-term effects.
PLT has assembled a list of activities 
from the PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide, Energy and Society (middle school), Forests of the World, and Focus on Risk (for grades 9-12), including links to websites with information on the Gulf Oil Blowout.
Scientists will continue to learn more about The Deepwater Horizon blowout and its impacts over time. As scientists learn more about the blowout and its impacts, PLT will add them.
Minnesota Conservation Volunteer
This popular Minnesota DNR magazine has several kid-friendly Young Naturalists stories introduce young readers to Minnesota's natural treasures-from agates to zooplankton. Stories explore the universe underfoot, the northern lights, and everything in between. Teachers guides are available for stories marked with an apple.
Environmental Education Gaining Support as a National Priority
Record levels of new funding for environmental education was proposed in a bill called "No Child Left Inside Act of 2009" that was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate on Earth Day. Read more
Articles
States Pushing Green Education in the Classroom
Can learning about the environment improve students? lives? State education leaders hope so. In fact, 47 states are in varying stages of developing ?environmental literacy plans? that they say could improve student engagement and achievement, and even help lower childhood obesity rates. The plans provide guidelines for teaching students about the environment and the effects humans have on it.
The Greening of Environmental Ed : Teachers focus on complexity, evidence, and letting students draw their own conclusions
By Lucy Hood (For the Harvard Education Letter)
Getting an Early Start: -Eco-education doesn't have to be expensive.
The September 15, 2008 Newsweek published an article about how using nature based curriculum improves student learning. The article focuses on Project Learning Tree (PLT) as an example of a low-cost way to do so. The Minnesota DNR supports PLT, as well as Project WILD, Project WET, and the School Forest Program.
Related Publications
The Branch: The National Newsletter of Project Learning Tree
Get national PLT and environmental education news, info on grants, and more.