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Nature-Wise: Environmental Programs for School, After-School, and Home
Nature-Wise: Explore the environment, our place in it,
and our power to protect all living things
Youth Engagement Programs for School, After-School, and Home
with Children’s Book Author, Literacy and the Environment Consultant Caroline Brewer
www.carolinebrewerbooks.com * caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com

Nature-Wise helps children and teens understand and practice, on creative levels, that human beings are included in the definition of the environment. Protecting it is protecting us. We can’t protect what we don’t know or understand. The good news is that from our earliest days, we practice literacy and that opens a world of wondrous possibilities and opportunities to explore all the literacies — reading, writing, speaking, seeing, hearing, visual arts, music, dance, games, and so many more – as we dig deeper into the natural world, our place in it, and our power to be climate activists and better protect all living things.

With the Nature-wise Student Engagement Program, students will be treated to at least one of the following opportunities based on a series of presentations:
- Explore human and wildlife literacies, the environment as a love story and a reason to say their names
- Engage with books that share paths for how to tap into our gifts, super-powers, and “somebodiness” as Dr. King explained, to explore our place in the natural world
- Engage with books that help students get hooked on reading and writing and the exploration of a variety of literacies
- Introduction to children’s literature on the environment and artistic responses to stories
- Explore and respond to stories of “belonging” in nature
- Explore the power of poetry to articulate feelings and observations about the environment
- Meet local, national, and global environmental champions through books and online resources
- Explore and evaluate wildlife (colors, shapes, patterns, textures, and behaviors of plants, animals, waterways, and humans) in our school and home neighborhoods; Create a neighborhood nature encyclopedia
- Address fears about being outside and about various forms of wildlife
- Create and play vocabulary games based on books and other literature
- Write class and individual letters to authors and environmental champions
- Create interview questions for environmental champions and authors
- Create artwork inspired by stories and the work of environmental champions
*Professional Development Trainings for educators are also available. Email caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com or Click here: https://demo.carolinebrewerbooks.com/carolines-blog/nature-wise-reading-writing-probing-and-playing-in-the-outdoor-classroom/

NOTE: All photos in the graphic, except the Ghanaian child pointing to the garden egg in the garden, are images from the FREE e-book, Belonging: African Americans in Nature Photography Project, created by Nature Forward in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program.
April 6, 2023
Taking Nature Black Came Back Strong, as We Said Their Names!
It’s been three years since we were able to gather in person for a Nature Forward Taking Nature Black Conference, so this year was bound to be special, extra-special! And it was. With two virtual days, and two in person days, I gathered with hundreds of environmentalists from around the region to share in uplifting our stories of Belonging – the conference’s theme.

I was grateful to provide a welcome on Friday and moderate the panel, Belonging: What Healing and Wholeness Might Look Like. I also was honored to give a keynote Thursday evening titled: The Environment: A Love Story and a Reason to Say Their Names. My speech was peppered with spoken word, traditional poems, and snippets of songs. An opening excerpt laid the foundation for the connection between what’s traditionally thought of as the environment and what scientists, Indigenous people and healers have come to understand is the real environment — all of us, humans, plants, animals, insects, waterways, air, and land. We’re all elements of nature and the environment, and, as such, and how we treat each other morally manifests materially, so we’d be wise to treat nature, which includes us, imperially, serially.

And this is where Say Their Names comes in. Say Their Names, on its face, is about 7-year-old Aliya’s quest to create a love-inspired movement in response to the George Floyd murder and protests. And with that, we’re surely blessed, the child met the test. Yet with a closer look, I must confess. Aliya reveals the 5 things we need to change the game not only to save lives from police and racial violence. She gives us the blueprint to save lives in the so-called natural world and helps us understand, like the scientists, how they/we are inextricably tied.

Aliya’s Blueprint includes these 5 Elements:
1. Recognize that we’re in a love story – Give Mother Nature the glory.
2. Gather our gifts – such as courage, hope, truth, and let it be swift. Gather our gifts of friends, family, community. Peace, grace, and unity.
3. Tap into the one super-power that can change the game at any hour – LOVE.
4. Become peerless when it comes to being fearless.
5. Fight – All day, all night, harder and smarter until we get it right
I’ve created an entire professional development training and strategic campaigns training that delve deeply into how we can use the blueprint in Say Their Names to accelerate victories in campaigns for social, environmental, and climate justice. Email: caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com for details.

Photo: That’s me at the Conference with U.S. Forest Service Sponsor Beattra Wilson, in the middle, and Singer, Storyteller, and Cultural Historian Karen Wilson Ama-‘Echefu, who spoke (and sang a bit) on the Belonging panel and provided outstanding support during my book signing.
March 14, 2023
Nature-wise – Reading, Writing, Probing And Playing In The Outdoor Classroom

INTRODUCING Nature-Wise! Well, sort of.

Nature-Wise kicked off virtually during the spring of 2022 with my friends at the Maryland Association of Environmental and Outdoor Education. We held our first in-person training in early February in Ocean City. I’m now expanding the training nationally with Conservation Nation on March 29 virtually. This first session with CN is for DC Public Schools teachers only and all are FREE to teachers. Click here to register.

But wait! I’m inviting schools and youth organizations across the country to book trainings for the spring, summer and fall 2023 – right now. Simply Email: caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com for more information.

What is Nature-wise? Nature-wise is a professional development training for educators and youth leaders designed to help children and teens understand and practice, on creative levels, that human beings are included in the definition of the environment. We, too, are nature and from our earliest days, we practice literacy. And that opens a world of wondrous possibilities and opportunities to explore all the literacies — reading, writing, speaking, seeing, hearing, visual arts, music, dance, games, and so many more – as we explore the natural world, our place in it, and our power to be climate activists and better protect all living things.

Teachers will enjoy opportunities to introduce students to children’s literature on the environment; Help students tap into the power of poetry to articulate feelings and observations about the environment; Bring local, national, and global environmental champions into students’ lives through picture books and online resources; Lead students on fascinating nature exploration journeys outdoors; Help students evaluate wildlife (colors, shapes, patterns, textures, and behaviors) in their school and home neighborhoods and create a neighborhood nature encyclopedia — and have fun!

Teachers will have opportunities to address fears about being outside and about various forms of wildlife; Create and play vocabulary games based on books and other literature; Help students write class and individual letters to authors and environmental champions; Help students create interview questions for environmental champions and authors; Help students create artwork inspired by stories and the work of environmental champions.

Email: caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com for more information about how to bring Nature-Wise to your school or organization.

WHAT TEACHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT NATURE-WISE!
Dear Caroline
Just a note to thank you for your workshop last week. I had the most wonderful time and got so many great ideas. I’m a new-ish teacher (switched from journalism mid-career) and am always looking for ways to better my craft. Thanks to your ideas, I’m now using rhythmic poems every day and putting lyrics up on the board for my learners to read. They love it! I’m also halfway through your HTHS manual and am putting more of those ideas into practice. Thank you so much for doing what you do and for inspiring so many of us. It is helping countless numbers of children! All the best.

March 14, 2023
Celebrating MLK Day with Rarely Seen Martin Luther King, Jr. Speech to Philly Students

On the 40th Anniversary of the MLK Jr. Holiday, I am delighted to share RARELY seen footage of Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking to students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on October 26, 1967. There, he delivered his powerful, thoughtful, heartfelt speech, “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?” I strongly urge you to view in its entirety. Below are a few excerpts.

“Number 1 in your life’s blueprint should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your own worth, and your own somebodiness. Don’t allow anybody to make you feel that you are nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth. And always feel that your life has ultimate significance.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

CLICK HERE to watch the entire video. Thanks to Beacon Press and the Philadelphia School District for making this video available. Photo credit to Stephen F. Somerstein—Getty Images.

January 16, 2023
Children are Embracing Priceless Gifts in SAY THEIR NAMES

Media Opportunities December 6 & 7

Immediate Release – December 5, 2022

Contact Caroline Brewer, caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com for more information

Washington, D.C. – When Children’s Book Author Caroline Brewer speaks to children about her new picture book, Say Their Names, she brings priceless gifts. Some are on the backs of a bookmark, or a special card, inside a gift bag printed on paper, or made of sparkly icing emblazoned on a sugar cookie. The gifts are words, such as hope, courage, peace, love, and light – representing some of the 30+ “gifts” readers can find inside the story of Say Their Names. The new picture book by Reycraft Books features the fictional 7-year-old Aliya on her quest to lead a love-inspired Black lives movement. Aliya’s gifts, Brewer says, are the elements of a positive identity, which researchers say can lead to smoother transition to adulthood. “A positive identity is what Say Their Names is all about, and it’s a gift that couldn’t be more appropriate given the challenges our children face today,” she added.

Children, parents, and educators agree.

“And what I really like about it is how you put a little kid on there and you made (Aliya) strong and brave and independent to do what she got to do and she’s wonderful,” Andreya, a 5th grader at Simon Elementary in D.C., wrote after Brewer’s author visit in November.

” Teaching the value and dignity of all is at the heart of our school’s mission and this book says to our scholars that their lives matter and that they, even in their youth, are powerful and can transform the world,” said Nicole Peltier Lewis M.Ed, Principal of Annunciation.

Brewer, a DC resident and literacy consultant, will visit two schools this week to offer gifts that children can make their own:

9:30 – 10:30 a.m. – Tuesday, December 6, 2022 – Annunciation Catholic School, 3810 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington D.C. 20016

1:00 – 1:45 p.m. – Wednesday, December 7, 2022 – Truesdell Elementary, 800 Ingraham St. NW Washington, D.C. 20011 (Pen-Faulkner Author Visit)

December 5, 2022