Educator Programs
CBEI workshops feature diverse and exciting presentations by local experts on topics such as current events, water quality, fish and wildlife, lake history, and field explorations/monitoring. Since 1992, more than 650 educators have participated in CBEI workshops and forums. Learn more about CBEI at WatershED Matters, a website devoted to watershed education in the Lake Champlain Basin and beyond, or contact Colleen Hickey.
The Champlain Basin Education Initiative partners host a World Water Day celebration annually to feature the efforts of teachers and students to improve waterways and understand the pollution issues they face. The event includes a contest where awards are given for several categories of creative arts. Entries can be as simple as photographs about raising salmon or trout in their classroom to poems or journal entries about water, or highlighting a community project focused on water. The involvement of art, music, history, science or technology teachers allows many forms of student work to be featured. The student gallery will be featured March 22, 2025 at the World Water Day event at the Champlain Centre Mall in Plattsburgh, NY. Check out the Art and Clean Water page for some inspiration!
Here’s What You Need to Know!
- Entries must be received no later than 4:00 PM on Wednesday, March 12, 2025
- Open to all students in grades K-12 within the Lake Champlain watershed.
- No purchase required to enter or to receive recognition.
- Your class or group may submit a maximum of 3 entries.
- All entries must include a brief artist statement or author’s note.
- Please contact us if you are unsure if your entry fits into a category or presentation format.
Click here for the World Water Day contest flyer
“Watershed for Every Classroom” (WEC) 2024/2025 Educator Graduate-Level course
Read more about the July 2024 kick-off week here.
The LCBP is a key partner in this year-long, supported professional development program for interdisciplinary teams of K-12 teachers in the Lake Champlain Basin of New York, Vermont, and Quebec. The program offers teachers inspiration, knowledge and skills to frame exciting place-based curriculum. A new session runs every other year, and course sessions are held in July, October, January, March, and May.
Explore the stories of the Lake Champlain Basin as shared by its people, places, and things. Learn how these stories offer multiple ways to teach all subjects; engage students in learning in and about their community; and build their sense of belonging to their home place.
The program is best suited for educators working with grades 4-9, but is applicable to all subject areas and grades.
Program Overview
2024–25 gathering dates
- July 16–19, 2024
- October 4–5, 2024
- January 31, 2025
- April 11–12, 2025
You should be willing to:
- Participate in all sessions. Personal transportation will be needed to study sites around Vermont and New York.
- Complete readings and written reflections and participate in collegial planning and dialogue.
- Develop a watershed-based teaching unit that integrates the local landscape. The unit will meet the goals of your district’s curriculum and exemplify best practices of place-based education and service learning.
- Provide a letter of support from your administrator if accepted; this is important to ensure you’ll be giving time during the academic year to join all retreats.
View a sample Watershed for Every Classroom syllabus.
- Program fee: $500, includes housing and meals for single overnights happening in July, October, and May. Needs-based scholarships are available once accepted.
- Educators receive $100 for classroom resources to advance personal watershed learning after the summer retreat. Apply for an additional $200 school mini-grant at the end of the program.
- Lake Champlain Sea Grant is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s Office of Teaching Initiatives as an approved sponsor of CTLE for Professional Classroom Teachers, School Leaders, and Level III Teaching Assistants. CTLE certificates of completion will be offered for educators in attendance for the full duration of the program.
- Optional graduate credits for an additional fee: 3- and 6-credit options are available from Castleton University. 3 credits are available for the summer only portion and 6 credits for the full year.
World Water Day
Each year the LCBP and the CBEI partners host an annual celebration of World Water Day in March. The event brings together artwork, writing, photography, and videography submitted by classrooms throughout the Basin. Awards are presented for student submissions in several categories, including Spreading the Word, Citizen Science & Civic Action, and Act Locally-Think Globally. The event includes an expert keynote speaker and is open to the public.
International World Water Day was designated by the United Nations in 1992 and is held annually on March 22nd as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
Watch this video about one school project that was incorporated into World Water Day:
Visit the WatershED Matters website to see more student work submitted for World Water Day events →