Educational Packets On Way To Fifth, Sixth Grade Teachers

Springfield, Ill. -- Educational materials packets are on their way to 700 teachers in Illinois fifth and sixth grade classrooms, in anticipation of the Illinois EPA’s environmental awareness program "Air, Land & Water" for the 1999-2000 school year. The supplementary classroom materials are integrated into the class curriculum by participating teachers.

The 1999-2000 packets focus on "Water: The Liquid of Life" and mark the 13th year for the environmental agency’s educational outreach effort. Originally targeted at fifth graders, the program was expanded to include sixth graders three years ago.

Teachers who chose to participate signed up last fall to get the materials for presentation early next year to their 39,184 pupils.

Participating teachers will incorporate the packet materials into their classroom curricula during January. The packet is being revised to meet the North American Association for Environmental Education Guidelines for Excellence. The revised version will be available by the start of the 2000-2001 school year.

At the end of the focused classroom study, participating pupils may compose a written work or develop a poster to illustrate what they have learned about the importance of clean and plentiful water. After their art works, poems and essays are displayed at the schools, two each in the written and the poster categories will be selected to represent the school in a judging at Springfield

A preliminary judging to determine 50 finalists will be followed by a second evaluation by a different judging panel, to produce six top winners.

The young artists/authors, their families and teachers will be invited to an honors reception at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield next spring, when U.S. savings bonds and ribbons will be presented to the six top-placers. These six will also receive specially-inscribed environmental books for their school libraries. All finalists will receive ribbons.

Following the reception, the posters and written works will remain on display at the State Museum for a month, and will be added to the Illinois EPA’s homepage .

Emphasis in the program rotates in a three-year cycle between protection of air, land and water, reflecting the Illinois EPA’s Bureaus of Air, Land and Water.

Copies of the packet can be obtained from Janet Hawes-Davis, environmental education coordinator for the IEPA at 1021 North Grand Avenue E., P.O. Box 19276, Springfield, Ill. 62794-9276.