Elementary Students Will ‘Think Earth’

A pilot program to teach children about pollution and the environment will be tested at two Ventura County schools.

The program, known as “Think Earth,” was developed by a regionwide consortium of school districts and businesses, including the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, the county superintendent of schools and school districts and businesses in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties, said Dick Baldwin, county air pollution control officer.

Teachers at the Barbara Webster School in Santa Paula and Los Nogales School in Camarillo will test the four-day curriculum on kindergartners through third-grade students from May 29 to June 1, Baldwin said. The program will be tested simultaneously at schools in the other participating counties, he said.

The curriculum will teach students about sources of air and water pollution and solid waste and how to reduce them, Baldwin said. Teachers will critique the curriculum and their recommendations will be incorporated into the final curriculum, Baldwin said.

Officials hope to expand the program for fourth- through sixth-grade students next year, he said. The final curriculum will include a video as well as printed material.

James Medina, Webster’s principal, said his school would need a Spanish-language version of the curriculum because 65% of the students are limited-English speakers.

“It’s a great program for our school because we’re a magnet science school,” Medina said. “Anything we can do to enhance the science program here, we look into it.”