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Greetings John,

Just over one week to go! We are so excited to be gathering with you soon!

Here is an UPDATED list of things to help you prepare for the 2018 SGSO Institute:

  1. Pre-Institute Homework

  2. Updated Institute Agenda

  3. List of What to Pack

  4. Local Area and Conference Center Information

  5. Airport Transportation and Retreat Location Address

  6. Institute Roster

 

  1. Pre-Institute Homework: To make the most of our gathering we’d like you to take the time to do the following before we meet:

  • Prepare a Short Organizational Bio: Come to the Institute prepared to give a 2-3 minute verbal presentation (no Powerpoint) on how your organization supports garden-based learning in schools. We’d like you to share:

    • Where you work and total number of school garden support staff

    • How many schools your organization supports

    • How your organization supports the delivery of garden based education (e.g. “We have staff that teach weekly science lessons to K-2 students, we train teachers and build gardens, we run garden-based education programs, or we provide grants, training and networking opportunities to schools in our region, etc.”)

  • Review 5 SGSO Key Activities: As part of our institute we will discussing the following School Garden Support Organization Key Activities. Come prepared to share your best practices and favorite resources on our 5 SGSO Key Activities (web links or sample hard copies welcome)! You do not need to create anything new to bring to this event. The list below is just a suggestion of what you should bring to share if you happen to already have it developed. The Key Activities we’ll focus on were determined by organization applications and are listed below. We have included links to relevant Webinars and Best Practices documents that were created at the 2016 SGSO Institute for your reference.

  • Gather Resources to Share! We will all be sharing our most useful tools with one another. If you have any of the following, please bring them to show and share with others! If you have digital resources to share with others consider uploading to the appropriate category found on our PUBLIC DOCUMENTS 2018 SGSO Institute Google Folders

    • Designing Programs for Maximum Impact: Sample Evaluations, Sample Logic Models, Sample Mission Statements, etc.

    • Sustaining and Institutionalizing this Work: School Garden Budgets, Funding Models, Agreements with Partner Schools, etc.

    • Networking: Newsletters or platforms you use for e-communications, etc.

    • Lessons: Lesson Sequences, Lesson Plan Templates, etc.

    • Leading Professional Development: Sample Workshop Agendas, Sample Workshop Evaluations, etc.

    • Resources Related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Garden Education, such as hiring practices, statements of organizational philosophy, rubrics for assessing cultural relevance of curriculum, etc.

  • (For those who signed up) Prepare Your SGSO Short: On Thursday, 1/25 many participants will be presenting SGSO Shorts, which will be 25-minute presentations on any topic related to SGSOs.

    • If you signed up, you are currently listed on Thursday in the Participant Agenda. We tried to capture information out of our Survey and add it here, but we’re still missing some details. Please take a look and let us know if we should update your session title, presenter names, or anything else ASAP.

    • We will have chart paper and markers available. We only have 2 projectors, so please let us know if you’ll need one and consider ways you might be able to present without if possible.

    • If you would like to share digital resources or your presentation slide deck with your group via a shared folder, you can add them to this SGSO Shorts - Resources to Share folder. Please label them clearly. (These won’t be printed, but everyone at the Institute will have access to them via this shared Drive folder.)

  • Social Media If you’re on social media, get your accounts ready! Tell your peeps you are coming to California with #sgso2018. See what already awaits you at www.instagram.com/explore/tags/sgso2018/

  • Share Some Program Photos Who doesn’t like cute kids and carrots? Consider sharing some nice program photos of your gardens and photo released students on the Google Photo Album 2018 SGSO Org Program Shots. We will share these shots via slide shows at various times during our institute to bring the feel of your work to our institute. Click the Join button on the left side of album page to add photos. Share up to 10 shots.


 

2. Updated Institute Agenda - We seem to tweak this a bit every day, but here’s the link to see what it looks like today. :) We will also have a printed agenda for you upon arrival. If you are arriving early we have included suggestions of what to do in the area on the agenda.

  • Special note to Jeanine, Beth, Dylan, Lorraine, and Jenna: You mentioned that you could share activities like hiking, yoga, etc. We have written you into the agenda! Please take a look for your name when reviewing the agenda and let us know if this works for you. It’s optional, so feel free to let us know if not (especially if it’s too early! :)).

 

3. Items to Pack:

  • Attire for changing weather, including a raincoat and good shoes for the rain and mud. At this time of year, we often have daytime temps in the 50s or low 60s and evenings in the low 40s. Check the forecast before you come. We could have lots of rain.

  • Sun hat and good walking shoes for the garden and forest

  • Sunscreen

  • Water bottle

  • Laptop computer, if you have one - We will be sharing files using Google Docs (Wifi will be available in some areas of the conference center)

  • Appropriate chargers for your devices

  • Note-taking supplies

  • Personal toiletries
     

4. Local Area Information: Learn more about Santa Cruz. We will be staying at Mission Springs Conference Center which is 15 minutes outside of Santa Cruz in the mountains. View their Guest Information Brochure. Head’s up that we’ll be sharing the site this year with a kids’ outdoor education group, and also another adult group.

 

5. Airport Transportation and Retreat Location Address

All of you have submitted your flight/driving itineraries to us. Thank you! You should now have received an email from Sandy Lansdale admin@lifelab.org regarding carpool arrangements to get you from the airport to Mission Springs. If for some reason you have not heard about being in a carpool and need one, please let Sandy know right away. Also, if you are not a driver, but you would be willing to drive later in the week, please sign up as a second driver on your car. Each car can have 2 drivers signed up. This will give us more flexibility when we go on field trips during the week. On Sunday, January 21, if you have any trouble finding your group or need support, please call Sandy at 831-750-7115. Thanks!


6. Roster and Room Assignments: Wanna see who’s gonna be at the institute? Wanna see who your roommate is? View the roster! Also, please let us know if you see any errors on there or anything we may have missed in making room assignments. Thank you!

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