Backpack Lesson Project

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Prairie Crossing Charter School partners with National Lewis University to ensure that their pre-service teachers gain exposure to environmental education and green schools.  Working in small groups, pre-service teachers get paired up with a veteran PCCS teacher, who serves as their mentor.  They create and pilot an outdoor, hands-on, environment-based lesson that is aligned to standards and is contained in a grab-and-go backpack.  Both Prairie Crossing and NLU keep copies of the backpacks... teachers can check the lessons out of our ever-expanding library to use with their classrooms.  This project has been a great partnership model because PCCS gains through the addition of easy-to-use environmental lessons for our teachers, and NLU's program is stronger because their teachers get to work in the field, putting environmental education into practice.