Latest Review
Seeing and hearing young children connect with their environment and realize the importance of it is gratifying. It is fun to be that volunteer and to observe this. The EV reach over 10,000 students in the San Mateo and Santa Clara School Districts each year - with volunteer docents who hel...
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Mission
Environmental Volunteers’ mission is to promote the understanding of and responsibility for the environment, through hands-on science education.
Environmental Volunteers promotes understanding of and responsibility for the environment through hands-on science education. We train volunteers to teach natural science to children in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties through classroom lessons, day camps, nature walks and field trips that nurture a connection to nature and spark interest in lifelong discovery and learning. Our programs help schools meet state-mandated education standards and provide unique science education resources for teachers and parents.
Environmental Volunteers by the Numbers:
12,000 children learn from and have fun participating in our programs each year
60 schools in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties receive annual services
350 teachers benefit from classroom programs throughout the school year
100 trained volunteers provide lively, hands-on learning opportunities for students
9 natural sciences subject areas come alive in hands-on lessons on topics such as Baylands Ecology, Earthquake Geology, Energy and Natural Resources, Nature in Your Neighborhood, and more
500 services delivered annually – 400 classroom programs and 150 field trips
38 years of serving Bay Area children since our founding in 1972
Key Facts
Description
The Environmental Volunteers teaches kids to love nature and to become stewards of our shared environment.
Programs
Our signature program, Kids-In-Nature, includes classroom and fieldtrip activities for K-8th graders. Teachers choose from 9 subject areas: Baylands Ecology; Foothill Ecology; Marine Ecology; Earthquake Geology; Early California Indians: an Environmental Perspective; Water Science and Conservation; All About Birds; and Nature in Your Neighborhood; and Energy and Natural Resources.
Teams of volunteers go into classrooms and set up hands-on learning stations that create multi-sensory natural science learning experiences. The EV has created more than 125 hands-on teaching kits. Some students also participate in a related field trip to local preserves where they become nature detectives.
The EV runs a Califronia State University accredited docent training program. We have volunteers who have been active docents with the EV for 10, 20, or even 30 years, and continually recruit and train new volunteers who share the wonders of the natural world with students.
The EV conducts summer camps for 1st to 5th graders. A new camp for middle school ages, starts this summer with two areas of focus: Explore! Energy on the Move, culminating in a race of vehicles that youngsters will make of recycled materials and power by renewable energy; and Explore! Bay, Sea & Slough, with daily excursions to local water ecosystems and marine science centers for exploration and research.
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