This list serves as a record of our 2012 - 2013 checkpoints, a springboard for future years, and as a resource for other schools who may be beginning their green school journey. The live links are to blog posts that give more detail and pictures of that particular checkpoint.
1. The school/students reduce use of resources: The office uses weekly
parent emails and monthly electronic newsletters to communicate with parents in
place of paper announcements. The teachers and office staff are encouraged to
use double-sided printing to reduce the usage of paper. Re-enrollment forms are
sent to families as email attachments, rather than paper fliers, and electronic
actions are encouraged rather than printing forms.
2. The school/students coordinate a recycling program for:
Office Paper
Metal/Cans
Newspaper/Magazines
Fabric/Clothing
3. A project (designed by school): The Kindergarten and Art classes readily reuse magazines and newspapers for classroom projects, including shape, letter, and number activities.
4. A project (designed by school): Cell Phone Recycle Event: The Green Team is excited to report that the South Arbor Community donated 147 cell phones, 36 power cords, and 49 other random
electronic devices during our Cell Phone Collection Event. We partnered with
Re-Cellular and donated these items to the Cell Phones for Soldiers project. Not
only were the phones traded for calling cards to help the soldiers call home,
but they were recycled properly and kept out of landfills. The Green Team
collected phones during the morning drop-off. Then, around dismissal time, we
circulated the lanes of traffic again. This not only expedited collection but
raised awareness of an important recycling cause.
5. A project (designed by school): Bottle Cap Repurposing Project: The Green Team hosted a Bottle Cap and Lid Collection Competition, which resulted in over 1500 bottle caps and lids. These
were cleaned and counted, and will be used to make a hallway mural. The purpose
is to raise awareness about repurposing in general as well as give another use
to bottle caps and lids that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
6. The school (at least one teacher) teaches a unit on alternative energy. The
8th grade studies an entire unit on energy from a variety of sources, including
sun, wind, and coal. The students build a motor, a windmill, and a solar oven,
and evaluate the effectiveness of each. They discuss hydro electric energy as
well. The 6th grade also tackles the energy discussion by evaluating energy
sources in terms of advantages and disadvantages (e.g. cost, environmental
consequences, sustainability).
7. The school implements an energy savings program and may track the results.
The school conducts a “Lights-Off Initiative,” which is a school-wide
campaign to raise awareness of wasted electricity and to encourage all lights to
be turned off when not in use. A team of students checks classrooms, offices,
and restrooms, leaving ‘good job’ notes for lights that are turned off. The
school plans to run this initiative during the 1st quarter of every year to
remind the school community the importance of responsible usage of electrical
lights.
8. The school has a butterfly garden project. Late in September, four South Arbor families gathered to get their hands dirty and plant 29 butterfly-friendly perennials in front of the
school. After consulting two nursery owners, a stack of library books, and
plain old common sense, the list of perennials included lavender, aster, sedum,
butterfly bush, butterfly weed (asclepias), butterfly flower (tuberosa), and
coneflower. After only an hour, we had ourselves a proper garden and just days
later we received our first report of an actual butterfly fluttering about.
Then in October came the plant identification labels. One wood-burning tool, one
creative family, a box of wood scraps, and a pile of wire hangers adds up to
some charming zero-waste ID tags. We're hopeful that the spring will bring more
winged beauties to South Arbor's Butterfly Garden!
9. School has a wild/domestic animal habitat project. Specifically, eight boys from Scout Pack 495 met at the Ypsilanti District Library one evening and researched birds that are native to our area, what food is available to local birds, and what type of bird houses they prefer. The boys
also considered a spot to eventually mount the birdhouses - near the open field
of the schoolyard. The boys discussed their findings and settled on a bluebird
house. At their next meeting, the boys gathered in one of the parent’s garages
and constructed two birdhouses for swallows and blue birds, using wood and power
tools. The boys incorporated some math skills along the way (measuring and
adding up the cost of the materials). They will install them in the schoolyard
in the spring of 2013.
10. The school/students have adopted an endagered species and inform others. The
primary hall is pleased to announce the addition of a dolphin to the South Arbor
Family! During presidential election time, the primary hall students exercised
their voting rights by choosing an endangered species to adopt. The Wildlife
Adoption Center helped the students choose and adopt a dolphin family. They
learned that dolphins not only use tools, but also pass knowledge on to their
young. The Green Team reported about this on their South Arbor Goes Green blog
and linked it to the PTO website as well.
11. The school/students host an environmental or energy speaker, event, field
trip, etc. The Middle School Hall and the Intermediate Hall is hosting an assembly by an animal conservationist (Animal Magic) who presents his endangered
species. This increases wonder for the natural world and presents career
awareness for those who love animals.
12. The school/students have an active club participating in environmental
activities. A group of students called The Green Team meets on Thursdays after
school to collect, clean, and send the Terra-cycling items. They also create
and hang posters around the school to raise awareness of environmental concerns.
These students also participated in the Cell Phone Recycle event, and helped to
plan and execute the Earth Day Paper Renewal Project.
13. The school demonstrates preparation for an Earth Day event. The Green Team
is developing an idea that would raise awareness of paper as a renewable resource, gather data about our school's paper usage, and make a donation to an
organization that replants a corresponding number of trees in an area that has
suffered deforestation (www.replanttrees.org). We have writing prompts, a plan
for bulletin boards, and even a short assembly presentation for Earth Day, April
22. The donation will be funded by a Dollar Jeans Day on March 22, 2013.
14. The school/students establish and eco-reading program. The 7th grade students
are paired up with 2nd graders as reading buddies. The books they share are age-
appropriate ways to learn about the wonders of our earth, including animal adaptations,the power of the sun, and the need for conservation.
15. TerraCycle: In order to conserve materials and aide the environment, our school has
undergone a system of terra-cycling. At lunch, students are encouraged to recycle their
chip bags, candy wrappers, and other foil-lined bags. Each day, this system produces
two boxes of materials that would have otherwise gone to the landfill. At the end of
each week, our school ships these materials to the TerraCycling program to be made
into other goods, such as backpacks. As you can see, this will accumulate a massive
amount of waste over the school year. Our school is quite involved in the process and
we hope it will aid the world in its struggle for good. (this checkpoint was written by
student members of the Green Team)
16. Posters: The culminating activity for the STRIVE lesson was to create awareness signs
that are displayed throughout the school. Think Green and Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
are definitely the motto for South Arbor this year!
17. Guest Author: Local author Keri Middaugh visited all the Kindergarten classrooms,
reading her children’s book, My Detroit Garden. She engaged the students in a
discussion about urban gardening, shared a seed-planting activity, and introduced the
terms “seedling” and “compost.”
18. Environmental Engineers visit: The 3rd grade welcomed a team of guest speakers
who work as environmental engineers at Arcadis in Novi. They helped the students
simulate an oil spill in a bowl of tinted water with plastic fish and seaweed. The students
observed the oil and its effects on the water, plants, and animals, and tested ways of
cleaning up the spill.
Checkpoint ideas that our school has not yet implemented include:
Waste-free lunches
Composting kitchen scraps
Writing letters to our legislators about environmental concerns
Adopting a policy of sourcing our lunches locally
Using alternative energy and renewable fuels
Students performing home energy audits
Conducting a fuel efficiency event and implementing a Fresh Air Zone (no idling in parking lot)
Sponsoring an alternative energy event, such as a solar cookout
Participate in an activity that promotes the health of the Great Lakes Watershed
Teaching a unit on environmental issues facing Michigan (does the 6th grade camp address this?)
Install bat houses and educate the school community about the importance of bats
Install of vegetable garden and share the skill of growing one's own food
Other ideas?
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