Sprout Up UCSB Brings Environmental Learning to Santa Barbara Elementary Schools

In elementary classrooms across Santa Barbara, 1st and 2nd grade students are engaging in environmental education taught by UCSB student leaders and volunteers from the Santa Barbara Sprout Up chapter.

A national organization which was originally founded at UCSB in 2009 as part of Environmental Education for the Next Generation (EENG), Sprout Up currently has seven chapters across California universities and two in New York. Over the course of eight weeks each quarter, UCSB student volunteers in Sprout Up go to elementary school classes to teach different topics across environmental science and sustainability through pre-planned lessons that include a mix of teaching and hands-on activity.

Peyton Stoller is a second year Environmental Studies and Geography double major who currently serves as the Co-Chapter Director of the UCSB chapter and manages all things outreach, engagement, and work with students. She explained that UCSB has the largest Sprout Up chapter and has committed to bringing free and engaging environmental education to Title I elementary schools in the Santa Barbara area.

“These schools typically do not have access to environmental education, and a lack of access to that is an environmental justice issue,” Stoller pointed out. This past fall quarter, Sprout Up UCSB went to 14 classrooms across different Title I elementary schools in the Santa Barbara area. They’re looking to expand to 4th grade in April.

“We really prioritize fostering environmental stewardship,” Stoller explained. “We want these kids to feel connected to nature, to love it and value it and appreciate it. So that way they’re more inclined to want to protect it.” Building a close relationship with the elementary students over the course of eight weeks is incredibly important to fostering an uplifting community within the classroom as well as establish a strong connection with Sprout Up as a whole.

Each quarter, volunteers are organized into small groups and assigned to an elementary classroom for those eight weeks. Each group has a lead instructor, also a Sprout Up student, who takes most charge in initiating time in the classroom and directing the lesson. Stoller also pointed out that when creating groups, they try to ensure that each group has at least one Spanish-speaking volunteer. It’s especially helpful because many of the lesson plans include a short activity on learning words in Spanish associated with that week’s lesson.

In the classrooms, the elementary school students are then broken up into “nature groups” for the activities and to work with the other Sprout Up volunteers. Lessons range from topics in environmental justice to sustainability in the community.

Stoller’s favorite lesson is on water conservation. It includes a lesson plan about the topic, reading the picture book We Are Water Protectors, and a hands-on activity where students get to create their own posters advocating for water conservation and sustainability. But other lesson plans bring students outdoors for activities such as plant potting. All the materials for the lesson plans are provided by the Sprout Up organization, allowing for the UCSB student volunteers to focus on engaging the students in the learning.

For Stoller, being a part of Sprout Up and eventually stepping up to become Co-Chapter Director at the start of her second year has been one of the best experiences during her time as a UCSB student.

“I’m learning through the kids, and I’m constantly inspired through them. It’s like my serotonin for the week, it brings me so much joy,” Stoller said. Her time working with the organization has already inspired her to begin writing her own environmental children’s book.

Students looking to get involved with the Santa Barbara Sprout Up chapter go through a simple process. Every quarter, Sprout Up will host drop-in interviews where anyone can learn more about Sprout Up but also start the process of becoming a volunteer. Chosen volunteers attend weekly meetings that go over each week’s lesson by acting out the lesson plan and gathering the necessary materials for the students.

For more information about Sprout Up’s work as a national organization, visit sproutup.org.

Information about the Santa Barbara chapter can be found on Instagram through @sproutupucsb