Are you ready for GREAT LAKES DAY 2010?
TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2010
Celebrate What's Great about the Great Lakes!
USE OUR LESSON IDEAS --- see Resources Link
An effort is underway to initiate an International Great Lakes Day which encourages children, families, and communities to deepen their understanding of and commitment to this amazing, one-of-a-kind resource. We are in our second year and some exciting progress is being made to establish a day, similar to Earth Day or Arbor Day, during which the spotlight is on our Great Lakes - a “big tent” event to help unify the efforts of multiple stakeholders. Let’s teach, empower, and mobilize the next generation of Great Lakes caretakers today!
Building on the success of our pilot year in 2009, we continue to harness the power of the internet to blanket schools throughout the Great Lakes region, asking K-12 educators to explore our lesson resources, teach a lesson about the Great Lakes, then enlist students in decorating promotional banners about Great Lakes Day. The students then deliver their banners for display at city offices, libraries, local stores, restaurants, and other public areas. Imagine the buzz – citizens anywhere in the world, in all Great Lakes states and provinces or around the globe, seeing these posters throughout their towns and talking about the Great Lakes!!
Last year's banner (sample available to view on the "Resources" page with download info provided) “Celebrate What’s Great About Our Great Lakes!” pictured the Lake Sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens. It's often called a living fossil, grows upwards of five feet, and is found in all of the Great Lakes – a very eye-popping and imagination-grabbing 'mascot'. Working collaboratively on this project was the jumping off point for further educational endeavors in a classroom: teaching students civic engagement; opening the door for members of scientific, non-profit, or research organizations to visit classes; providing a platform for government leaders to weigh in and visit schools or host school children in their offices; and for great PR with news organizations at the local, national, and international level! (see stories in Faces and Places section).
The banner design this year is in the works: a 7 foot lighthouse to be decorated by students and displayed vertically in schools and across communities.
We want to celebrate and protect our Great Lakes by harnessing the power education has to work in profound and collaborative ways, and we have eight states and two provinces that border the lakes to join in on the effort! We've selected the third Tuesday in May for celebrating our Great Lakes annually - when the weather is getting warm enough to head outdoors to enjoy the lakes but well before summer break and school dismissal. So May 18, 2010 is the second year for an International Great Lakes Day!
If you would like to join in supporting this initiative, get your students started on Great Lakes lessons. Visit this site regularly in the days ahead for more ideas and teaching resources. Additional information continues to be added, directing educators to resources that will help them teach about the ecologic, economic, historic, and recreational aspects of our Great Lakes and offer ideas for service learning connections for children of all ages. Share news of Great Lakes Day with your colleagues across the region. Also, we would be pleased to add you to our list of contacts; we can be reached at greatlakesday@gmail.com Send us photos of your classes, jot down stories of your lessons, share your successes with us! By partnering with other stakeholders across the Great Lakes Basin, we can raise awareness and shine the national and international spotlight on the Great Lakes every year!!
