Teacher Resources
Dear Educators,
The 2 Steps a Month Project is a great project for students and their families to do together. I am a middle school science teacher and we have been doing this project as part of sixth grade Earth science unit on severe weather and climate change since 2009. The project also fits in with the NGSS Earth history in eighth grade. I created a page on my school website with the resources for the program for ease of access. You are welcome to link here or cut and paste the content onto your own site. When I first start the project each year I send an email to all parents explaining the project.
Before starting the unit, students do a pre-assessment on how prepared their families are for a disaster. The survey was created with Google forms. If you'd like to use it make a copy of the file for your own students. You may also want to add some science content questions to the assessment or add questions to reflect disasters that are more likely in your region.
At the beginning of month, I assign the month’s 2 steps and provide a hard copy of the checklist. It is also emailed to parents at the beginning of the month with a mid-month reminder. The 2 steps are due the last school day of each month. To find the month’s 2 steps click on the "Month-by-Month" tab. For each month there is a checklist, a tip of the month, a video (hosted on YouTube), a "Do Now!" list, community organizing tips, teacher resources and additional resources. I am using this program on my block, with my women’s group, colleagues and students. The students list is in the "Teachers' Notes" section at the bottom of each month's page. I have also included suggestions on how to set up the program each month in the “Teachers' Notes” section. Feel free to adapt the program and make it work for you, your students and community.
Since some months require items to be purchased or collected, I provide tips on how to keep the cost to a minimum. The basic requirement is to get the checklist signed indicating that the family did the best that they could with the full understanding that this will vary from family to family and from month to month. I explain to the kids that the main thing is that they get started creating an emergency plan, consider possible scenarios and how to respond to them, and to do the best that they can to plan. Full credit is given for all months that the checklist is turned in and signed by a parent or guardian indicating that the assignment is done to the best of their ability. In a letter to parents, I explain that full credit is given for a signature (and calculations where needed) and it is my hope that their family has a discussion and takes the two steps each month or makes a plan to do them when time and resources are available.
I encourage you to share this program with the staff at your school and any other communities you belong to. Together we can create a more resilient community. When our needs are taken care of, then we are more available to be of service to others.
Your feedback on how to improve this program or what worked well is greatly appreciated. I am re-creating this program this year so some of the months have not been completed yet. Your comments about the project and additions will benefit us all. Correspondence can be sent to me at [email protected].
You may also be interested in another program I created, the Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library. People can come to the public library and “borrow” seeds for free. We provide free education on seed saving. The basic idea is people plant the seeds they borrow, let some go to maturity and return some of the next generation of seeds for others to borrow. The program was created as one that can be easily replicated by other communities using our “Create a library” page. There are now over 200 seed lending libraries. Teaching people seed saving has great connections to biology, ecology, environmental science and to our communities, heritage and souls. We also have seed saving integrated into our school garden and have educational signs explaining how different seeds are saved. Creating a seed lending library is easy enough that even a group of my 6th graders created one for our middle school library as part of our environmental science unit.
Yours in resilience,
Rebecca Newburn
Math & Science Teacher
Hall Middle School
Larkspur, California
Websites
The 2 Steps a Month Project is a great project for students and their families to do together. I am a middle school science teacher and we have been doing this project as part of sixth grade Earth science unit on severe weather and climate change since 2009. The project also fits in with the NGSS Earth history in eighth grade. I created a page on my school website with the resources for the program for ease of access. You are welcome to link here or cut and paste the content onto your own site. When I first start the project each year I send an email to all parents explaining the project.
Before starting the unit, students do a pre-assessment on how prepared their families are for a disaster. The survey was created with Google forms. If you'd like to use it make a copy of the file for your own students. You may also want to add some science content questions to the assessment or add questions to reflect disasters that are more likely in your region.
At the beginning of month, I assign the month’s 2 steps and provide a hard copy of the checklist. It is also emailed to parents at the beginning of the month with a mid-month reminder. The 2 steps are due the last school day of each month. To find the month’s 2 steps click on the "Month-by-Month" tab. For each month there is a checklist, a tip of the month, a video (hosted on YouTube), a "Do Now!" list, community organizing tips, teacher resources and additional resources. I am using this program on my block, with my women’s group, colleagues and students. The students list is in the "Teachers' Notes" section at the bottom of each month's page. I have also included suggestions on how to set up the program each month in the “Teachers' Notes” section. Feel free to adapt the program and make it work for you, your students and community.
Since some months require items to be purchased or collected, I provide tips on how to keep the cost to a minimum. The basic requirement is to get the checklist signed indicating that the family did the best that they could with the full understanding that this will vary from family to family and from month to month. I explain to the kids that the main thing is that they get started creating an emergency plan, consider possible scenarios and how to respond to them, and to do the best that they can to plan. Full credit is given for all months that the checklist is turned in and signed by a parent or guardian indicating that the assignment is done to the best of their ability. In a letter to parents, I explain that full credit is given for a signature (and calculations where needed) and it is my hope that their family has a discussion and takes the two steps each month or makes a plan to do them when time and resources are available.
I encourage you to share this program with the staff at your school and any other communities you belong to. Together we can create a more resilient community. When our needs are taken care of, then we are more available to be of service to others.
Your feedback on how to improve this program or what worked well is greatly appreciated. I am re-creating this program this year so some of the months have not been completed yet. Your comments about the project and additions will benefit us all. Correspondence can be sent to me at [email protected].
You may also be interested in another program I created, the Richmond Grows Seed Lending Library. People can come to the public library and “borrow” seeds for free. We provide free education on seed saving. The basic idea is people plant the seeds they borrow, let some go to maturity and return some of the next generation of seeds for others to borrow. The program was created as one that can be easily replicated by other communities using our “Create a library” page. There are now over 200 seed lending libraries. Teaching people seed saving has great connections to biology, ecology, environmental science and to our communities, heritage and souls. We also have seed saving integrated into our school garden and have educational signs explaining how different seeds are saved. Creating a seed lending library is easy enough that even a group of my 6th graders created one for our middle school library as part of our environmental science unit.
Yours in resilience,
Rebecca Newburn
Math & Science Teacher
Hall Middle School
Larkspur, California
Websites
- Know the Facts – FEMA preparedness for kids
- CalEMA (California Emergency Management Agency) – resources for schools
