Washington, D.C. – Project Learning Tree (PLT), the environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation, is holding its 20th International Coordinators’ Conference in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on May 8-12.

Robert Bloxom, Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, welcomes 150 attendees on Monday, May 8. On Tuesday, May 9, Linda Wallinger, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction at the Virginia Department of Education, will give the PLT National Outstanding Educator awards luncheon keynote address, Policy to Practice: Making Watershed Education Meaningful.

Also on Tuesday, pre-school to 8th grade students and their teachers from Virginia Beach’s Star of the Sea Regional Catholic School will share their learning experiences from six PLT activities they have completed this semester in their classrooms. They will provide PLT state coordinators, facilitators, and educators from around the country, and Japan and Mexico, with classroom-tested feedback on PLT’s new PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide.

“It’s the students that really are the keynote speakers at Project Learning Tree’s International Coordinators’ Conference,” said Al Stenstrup, Director of Curriculum for Project Learning Tree. “They are providing educators around the country with valuable classroom-tested feedback on PLT’s new PreK-8 curriculum. Their recommendations will be implemented in thousands of classrooms around the country.”

For 30 years, PLT has been one of the most highly regarded PreK-12 environmental education programs in the U.S. and abroad. A major revision of PLT’s curriculum was completed in late 2005. The new PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide is filled with 96 easy-to-use lessons that can fit into science, language arts, social studies and other areas of the school curriculum. All activities address national and state standards, including Virginia’s Standards of Learning. New topics address today’s environmental issues, such as global climate change, energy demand, and invasive species. New features address 21st century challenges in education, for example, new technology and differentiated instruction. Reading connections stretch students’ imagination, knowledge, and vocabulary.

“PLT helps me teach my curriculum in a fun, hands-on way,” said Brita Hampton, Science Coordinator and middle school science teacher at Star of the Sea Regional Catholic Schools. “The activities are creative and the enrichment ideas provide a great opportunity for independent learning.”

At the conference, students and their teachers from six different grade levels will share their findings. Three- and four-year olds will present Activity #62 To Be a Tree; kindergarteners will share Activity #1 The Shape of Things; 3rd grade students will read poems they have written using Activity #5 Poet-Tree; 6th grade students will discuss what they learned about water conservation in Activity #38 Every Drop Counts; 7th grade students will share their opinions on a new topic in the guide, Activity #84 The Global Climate; and 8th grade students will highlight their use of technology in Activity #82 Resource-Go-Round.

“Project Learning Tree was really fun and interesting,” said 8th grader Rebecca, “I learned a lot of cool facts, like sunglasses can be made from completely recycled materials, so we can save the earth in style.”

“The PLT activity was fun,” said 7th grader Hayden, “I learned a lot about climate change and now I feel it is my job to spread the facts to others so they will know about climate change.”

Project Learning Tree (PLT) is the environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation. PLT uses the forest as a “window on the world” to increase students’ understanding of our complex environment and to help students learn the skills they need to make sound choices about the environment. Developed in 1976, PLT has an international network of more than 500,000 trained educators using six curricula covering the total environment. The American Forest Foundation, a nonprofit organization, works for healthy forests, quality environmental education, and informed decision-making about our communities and our world.