NORTH HAWAII — The Hawaii Center for Food Safety (HCFS) is excited to share a helpful new resource for school garden teachers. The Hawaii Pollinators and School Garden Toolkit — a free resource for teachers to integrate into their school garden curriculum — is live and ready for download.
Kimiko LaHaela Walter recently presented the toolkit to teachers at the Ku Aina Pa summer intensives on Hawaii Island and Oahu. It can be accessed online at http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/1881/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=11314.
HCFS has built upon an existing set of educational resources created by the national CFS Pollinator Program to specifically reflect the native and endemic pollinator species and habitats unique to Hawaii. Taking inspiration from existing school garden curricula in Hawaii, the toolkit is designed to foster integrated learning — creating links between the classroom, school garden and cafeteria. The materials are intended to help educate students on the critical role pollinators play to our food system and ecosystem at large, and provide tangible opportunities for how they can help support pollinator populations.
CFS is also working to develop an innovative mobile app called Wild Bee ID, designed to educate and inspire users about Hawaii’s thousands of species of native bees and what can be done to help conserve the essential pollinators.