Environmental Education Tool Kits

Hennepin County has worked with former Community POWER grant recipients to develop tool kits that educate and actively engage Hennepin County residents in environmental education. The tool kits contain background information and activity ideas for youth, teens and adults on the following topics: Reducing waste, recycling, toxicity reduction, energy conservation and climate change, and protecting water resources. Hennepin County has created customized tool kits for different community networks such as faith-based communities, Early Child Family Education groups, and community groups.

Community POWER Networks

Hennepin County offers funding, technical support and training to help organizations, within Hennepin County, in different community sectors implement the toolkit ideas and activities in their communities.

Learn more about grants and program support available through Community POWER Networks at www.hennepin.us/communitypower.

State, County, and Rethink Recycling Resources

Community and Neighborhood Groups

This tool kit provides information, resources and activities that groups of any size, age or composition can use to take meaningful actions that are good for the environment.

Congregation Toolkit

This tool kit serves as a comprehensive resource for congregations who wish to actively respond to environmental issues that currently affect our families and communities. The tool kit contains information on which religious groups can focus their environmental education and action.
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Early Childhood Family Education Toolkit

The Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) Toolkit incorporates waste and toxicity reduction information into programs. The tool kit includes:

* Background and preparation information for educators about waste and toxicity reduction
* Lesson ideas for parent-child interaction activities and adults.
* Resources to support teaching waste and toxicity reduction concepts including handouts, websites, learning trunks and presenters.

Camp Fire USA Youth Curriculum Tool Kit

In 2009-2010, Camp Fire USA staff revised their Wise Old Willie K-8 curriculum for after school programs to include topics of waste reduction. The revised Wise Old Willie youth curriculum is a fun and engaging compilation of activities covering topics of natural resources, reducing and reusing waste, recycling, and household hazardous waste.
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Carver County Library Storytime Lessons

Carver County Library staff created these 10 storytime lessons as part of their 2009-2010 grant project. Each storytime lesson includes book suggestions, songs and fingerplays, and ideas for creative project ideas. Geared toward early childhood age children.
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Go Green Girl! Tool Kit and Patch Program

The staff at the Girl Scouts of Wisconsin and Minnesota River Valleys created a tool kit and patch program can be used to learn how to reduce waste, improve recycling and reduce toxicity to make this world a betterplace. The tool kit is geared to 4th - 12th grade.
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Wise About Waste Currriculum

Wise About Waste is a curriculum for 3rd and 4th grade and based on a two-week school residency partnership developed by Minnesota Children's Museum and Glacier Hills Elementary School of Arts and Science (Eagan, MN).
* Students are able to see the relationships between aspects of environmental stewardship, which aids in the retention and application of knowledge.
* Lessons meet student needs, interests and learning styles through a variety of activities, from using mechanical skills, to connecting an electrical circuit, to using creative skills to construct a robot.
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