STEAM Professional Learning Series

ExCEL STEAM Professional Learning Calendar 26/27

SFUSD STEAM Outdoor Learning Resource Hub Explore lessons and units by theme and grade level to design your outdoor learning STEAM adventures with your students. Also included is a suggested materials list for your site's STEAM materials budget.

EcoRise Learning Hub Explore lessons and units by theme and grade level provided by EcoRise.

Your site is invited to ALL of these meetings. Please be sure to send a minimum of one staff representative per site to the following STEAM sessions: at least 3 of 5 in-person STEAM sessions and at least 2 of 4 virtual STEAM sessions. Thank you!

Session Theme	Date & Time	Location	RSVP
Session #1: EcoRise - Public Spaces: Connecting People & Places with Zakhia Grant	September 24, 2026 10AM - 12PM	Crissy Field Center	RSVP closed.
Session #2: Outdoor Learning with Carolyn Gencarella - Sit Spots & Seeds, Wonder Walks & Worms	October 22, 2026 10AM - 12PM	College Hill Learning Garden	RSVP HERE by October 19th, 2026
Session #3: Why I Love Water with EcoRise Participants head outside on a water hunt. They use their senses to find where water shows up across the schoolyard -- from drains and puddles to planters and trees -- and they talk about why water matters to people, plants, and animals. Facilitators practice using the school's own green features as teaching tools and pick up simple strategies for managing a group outdoors. For older students, Precious Water goes further: students explore why so little of Earth's water is available for people to use and track how they use water each day.	November 19, 2026 10AM - 12P	Virtual - Zoom Link	RSVP HERE by November 16th, 2026
Session #4: What It Takes – A Day in Resources with EcoRise Participants try a personal eco-audit: an EcoRise investigation in which students track the water, waste, or energy behind a single day. Rather than asking, "How can I use less?", the session asks "What does it take?" EcoRise's personal eco-audits are written for grades 7–8, so this session shows how to adapt them for K–5: picture tallies for younger students, data tables for older ones, and audits of the shared program space rather than students' homes. Participants also see how an audit can widen from one person to a whole program or school, and how it links back to October's environmental justice session through the question of who lives closest to the landfill or the power plant.	December 17, 2026 10AM - 12PM	Virtual - Zoom Link	RSVP HERE by December 14th, 2026
Session #5: Eco-Guardians in Action with EcoRise Building on September's Public Space Guardians lesson, participants spot a small environmental problem at their site, such as litter, wasted water, or lights left on. They then sketch a kid-sized solution and pitch it to the group. This session shows how students can move from noticing a problem to taking action, and it gives facilitators an easy way to wrap up the year with a project their students can lead.	January 28, 2026 10AM - 12PM	Virtual - Zoom Link	RSVP HERE by January 25th, 2027
Session #6: EcoRise	February 25, 2027 10AM - 12PM	Virtual - Zoom Link	RSVP HERE by February 22nd, 2027
Session #7: EcoRise	March 25, 2027 10AM - 12PM	EcoCenter @ Heron’s Head Park	RSVP HERE by March 22nd, 2027
Session #8: Outdoor Learning with Carolyn Gencarella - Birds & Bubbles, Solar Ovens & Shadows	April 22, 2027 10AM - 12PM	EcoCenter @ Heron’s Head Park	RSVP HERE by April 19th, 2027
Session #9: Outdoor Learning with Carolyn Gencarella - Bringing Art Outdoors	May 27, 2027 10AM - 12PM	Crissy Field Center	RSVP HERE by May 24th, 2026

STEAM Professional Learning Series

Hub Calendar Link to this section

Check out the HUB calendar for all of ExCEL's professional learning and deadlines.

ExCEL STEAM Sessions Link to this section

ExCEL STEAM Sessions SY26-27 Link to this section

Hub Calendar Link to this section

Check out the HUB calendar for all of ExCEL's professional learning and deadlines.

ExCEL STEAM Sessions
Link to this section