Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
This presentation was given at the 2011 Magnet Schools of America Conference. It details the simple steps to integrating the environment into your school and curriculum.
Citation preview
Going for the Green Light:Putting the Environment into your school
Presented by: Melissa TurnerEnvironmental Science Teacher
Roosevelt Middle Magnet SchoolWest Palm Beach, Florida
Our Course Grades: 6,7,8
Population: 1,198
Free/Reduced Lunch: 75%
Demographics: 5% White
73% Black
13% Hispanic
11% other
52% male
48% female
It’s possible!
Any school can make going green a priority and be successful!
Simple steps will get you there, you just have to take them.
How going green has made us a success!
Top 10 Recycler Palm Beach County School District 2009 & 2010
ParticipationinUniversity of Florida
Research projects on GIS 2009-2010
Arbor Day FNGLA grant 2011
Scott’s MiracleGro Community Garden
Grant 2010
National Environme
ntal Literacy
Assessment Test School 2009
2011
Get Started
Small things = big changesMany changes are low to no
cost Change your way of thinking, NOT your budget!
Get Ready You already have the talent & ideas you
need!
Create a “Green Team” in your school Find interested teachers, staff, administration
and students
Set a meeting time
Ask people what ideas they have
Work with each other and administration to put your ideas to work
Get Revved Implement simple “Green” policies
No paper copies of things that are sent via email
Send out electronic copies of presentations given in meetings
Have a school website where teachers and parents can get important information
What else?
Simple ways to get there…
Here are a few simple ways to be more green that actually SAVE you money.
1. Reuse manila folders – don’t trash them
2. Project school-wide tests -- don’t print them
3. Use paperless methods when possible
4. Shut down electronics over long breaks
This is just one way that our school reduced our carbon footprint using technology…you can too.
We now take attendance electronically…no more Scantrons!
Get Teachers to the Track
Support Eco-friendly Professional Development
Use trainings that already existWork to create your ownInform and Empower your
teachers
Professional Development creates
ChangeFind teachers who are comfortable teaching other teachers
Run training programs at the school, district, state or national level
Put Teachers in the Driver’s Seat
What your teachers are doing now that is “green” Reusing worksheets
Having students take tests electronically
Teaching lessons outside or including the environment in “non-related” subjects
Encourage small adjustments to their way of thinking Double-sided printing
Create ways to use the outdoors or environment in lesson plans
Students use less while Learning MORE
Math teachers can have students work out problems on their desks with Expo markers rather than wasting paper.
Students can create PowerPoint posters rather than using poster board.
Let your Curriculum shift Gears
Just because you teach math doesn’t mean you can’t teach about the environment…
Use the environment to enhance curriculum
Incorporate green thinking into core content and projects
Use outdoor structures or facilities to create new learning opportunities
Playing with your shadow…and learning too!
7th grade math students go outside to learn about proportions using shadows.
“Civilization!-Then and Now”
Two Social Studies teachers worked with their 6th grade classes to create a wall that depicts the evolution of civilization from
the Sumerians to modern times…from waste materials.
Social Studies goes all out
6th grade Social Studies classes create chinampas
8th grade Social Studies teachers are working on a National Park curriculum
for Earth Day
Excerpt from:
A Bird and a Tear
To me, it all started with innocence.
To a man, the death of a bird
There’s no meaning in that word
For birds do live or die
Matters little to the human eye.
To me the death of a bird
Ushers a touch of emotions in that word
A depressed sense of sorrow
Deep in my heart and soul over a sparrow.
-Navita G.
Language Arts gets creative with Nature
These nature-inspired poems were written by Ms. Welch’s students
Nature
As they roam the skies,
They float and sail through the blue.
They are always there,
In the morning and the night.
When the sky is gray
And it begins to rain.
I know it is the clouds.
It comes from the grounds of earth,
It is rough and brown.
It’s branches sway in the wind,
It gives us fresh air.
Being the heart of nature,
All life is from trees.
Nature is our best friend,
But it is dying,
Care for what took care of you.
-Asad H.
Using Literature to discuss the environment
Mrs. Gardner reads The Lorax in honor of Dr. Suess’ birthday to discuss deforestation
Images from The Lorax by Dr. Suess
Language Arts teachers keep it
natural
Figurative Language posters using nature to illustrate the definitions.
Concrete Poems about a natural cycle: the sun feeds the flower which feeds the bee.
Reading the email below, you can see the different ways our elective team collaborated to
create artifacts and drums out of
recycled materials and tie it to their
curriculum
African Drums…Recycled?What do you see?
Get out of the Garage
Best way to expose children to the environment…go outside.
There are many places in your schools that can be used to implement learning
How many lessons can take place outdoors?
Our students use recycled materials to create kites and bottle rockets, just to see how high they will go.
Taking it to the skies…
Creating Archeological Dig Sites in West Palm Beach
Our geometry teacher creates an archeological dig with her students on the baseball field. Once the students dig up their artifacts they use mathematical equations to determine the shape of the original piece.
Along the Roadside
Are there places on campus where you could create a garden? Butterfly gardens are easy and great for building habitat
Vegetables can grow in small areas
Easy to expand it each year
Great learning tools in any class
Use as outdoor classrooms
Update landscaping to native water-friendly plants
Organic Peppers & Tomatoes
Our tomato garden was expanded.
Now it produces a variety of peppers as well as
producing organic tomatoes.
Just outside your classroom
Adding Native Plants increases habitat space on
campus
Our Hydroponic Garden is Producing…
And Our Students and Staff are Taking it Home.
Leave the Track
Find environmental field trips in your county Most have materials to meet curriculum requirements
Support integrated curriculum
Visit a Botanical Gardens for inspiration in Language Arts Class
Go to a museum and learn about how your local environment has changed throughout its history
Are there any parks near your campus? Many of these provide environmental opportunities
Several are easily walked to, saving on transportation costs and pollution
We Love Going off Campus…
Grassy Water
s
Loxahatchee River
Palm Beach Zoo
Busch Wildlif
e
Walking to deliver gifts saves gas…
and promotes good health!
Student Council makes their annual trip to a local nursing
home to deliver gifts and good cheer during the holiday
season.
Let Your Students Steer
Implement student run recycling programs at school See local recycling facilities for help to set up your program
You can have a club for recycling or have certain classes responsible
Students design, plant, and maintain gardens
Students can create bulletin boards on environmental topics to keep the entire school informed about what is going on.
Have school clean-ups where students pick up litter on campus; this helps them be aware of the problem and modify their own behavior.
Our Students Teach Each Other
Bulletin boards that teach about environmental themes, PowerPoint presentations about National Parks, creating “green cities” and leading lectures about environmental laws are just some of the things that our Environmental Science students are doing to increase awareness.
Filling it up and taking it out…the 6th and 7th graders of the environmental science magnet are in charge of picking up the paper recycling everyday throughout the school. The 8th graders are responsible for taking down the electronic recycling on pick-up days.
Community Partners are fuel for your Program
Nature centers
Recycling plants
Water treatment centers
Electrical company
Urban planners
Environmental Artists
Check for local resources that are available to your school
Resource Depot features RMS
Civilization Wall at ArtiGras
Community Partnerships make field trips possible
Our students learn from local experts about wetland ecosystems and organisms during our field trips to Loxahatchee River, Busch Wildlife,
and Grassy Waters.
Celebrate your Planet
Host an Environmental Event Earth Fair
Earth Day Events
Outdoor plant show
Vegetable sale
Your Green Team & Students can run the event
Turn it into a fundraiser for your school
It raises community awareness & involvement
April 25-29th, 2011Recycling CollectionDaily Trivia with prizesRecycled Art ContestEarth Protector Walk/Run with
Resource DepotAuthor Visit: Harvey OyerWear Green Day
Earth Week is Back!
Our administration and the R.M.S. Green Team is working together on our 2nd Annual Earth Week Celebration.
Make Changes at Home and then your neighborhood
Have Campus Clean-ups
Have neighborhood clean-ups
Make environmental changes to improve local lives
Teach students & community members a “green way” to live
Roosevelt students work together to keep our campus clean on events like “Green
Day” & “Earth Week”
It starts at home and grows from there
Students Working Against Tobacco clean up Gaines Park, a
favorite place for our students to go after school and on field trips.
Roosevelt Middle students create a garden to help
Habitat for Humanity’s efforts in West Palm Beach.
Let them try to change the world…
Be a Techno-Geek
Incorporate technology to reduce waste. Create blogs to replace school or classroom
newsletters
Wiimotes & Smart Boards increase learning & teacher efficiency
Email reduces paper waste
Send important notices electronically
No need to send student information through mailboxes that anyone can see into
Email can also help you connect better with your students and parents
The New Devil Press is an ongoing blog run by Mrs. Gardner’s journalism students. The Environmental Science Magnet has its own page in the paper and contributes current
event stories on the environment. Our Media Center uses their blog to share information, run surveys, and reward students.
Be Creative If you are in an older school, clean out
storage closets in classrooms and offices. This year we found a Slushie maker for
fundraising, a functional wind tunnel, and supplies for our new arts and crafts club.
This helps save your school money and is a great way to reduce waste.
Try to find what your school needs and think of “green” ways to solve the problem
Arts and Crafts Club is all about Reusing and Recycling
Our new Arts and Crafts Club uses found materials to create beautiful things.
Cigar boxes become beautiful keepsake holders.
Masks are made with materials found in our old art room.
2-liter bottles become Easter baskets filled with grass created by painting old newspaper green and shredding it.
Bring the Outdoors In
Pets teach students about habitats, adaptations, and ecology through exposure.
Finding the Green
Going green can be used to raise green for your school
Environmentally conscious fundraisers available for schools Sell eco-friendly products
Recycle old technology
Recycle packaging from products your students use
Look for Grant possibilities
Online and some examples are provided in the brochure.
Recycling Efforts can bring in the cash and help people at the same
time
Left: Shoes for the Cure recycling container
Middle: Aluminum can crusher for the teacher lounge
Above: Dade Recycling Program for ink cartridges and old cell phones
Long-Term Planning Saves the Planet
Allows you to make future decisions more green
Gives time to collect fundsMakes “non-environmental”
projects more eco-friendlyImpacts your entire school
culture
Outdoor Classroom
Emails are flying between the Landscape Architect, Artist, and
Faculty.
The proposed area for the new outdoor classroom.
Lights, sinks, and hand dryers are all automated in the sixth grade building.
Internet Resources
Curriculum Resources North American Association for Environmental
Education
Earth Day Network
Captain Planet Foundation
USGBC: Green School Buildings
Kids for Saving the Earth
Fundraisers and Grants Terracycle
National Gardening Association
Environmental Protection Agency
