Use outdoor spaces for education
We have a large outdoor classroom that is an amphitheater that seats over 300 students. It is a great gathering space for kicking off school events and giving instruction in a larger setting. We also maintain a rain garden that has numerous native plants and a learning garden that can be used for more intimate courses of instruction. Four 4 x 12 planting rows help our students to roll up their sleeves and create their own green studies.
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ECC Celebration Harvest/Plant fall greens
Our Energy Captains celebrated their years accomplishments with certificate recognition, and tasting our summer harvest. We were hard at work harvesting their spring and summer crops and replacing them with fall greens. Planting edibles helps our students to learning about our seasons and the connection of time and life cycles in our world.
We have harvested and planted:
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Clean-upsClean-ups are an important part of getting out kids and parents involved in being a part of our environment. Our kids spend full workdays on school grounds. We all want the places where we spend our time to be a benificial environment. This allows everyone to have a personal stake in the game. The results bring about pride in where we work, learn and play. Our environment.
Our back to school clean-up kicked us off to a new year with a beautification of the grounds in the upper and lower building. Together we:
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International Walk to School Day: Oct 10, 2018 (from six summits)Mt. Washington Green Committee promoted the Walk to School Day for 2018. Kids and parents and Girl Scout Troupes got to:
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Messaging and Communication
Walk-A-Thon
Green Committee played a role in assisting the Walk-A-Thon October 2017. A PTO fundraiser for the school. Green spaces were updated and monitored by Green Leaders. Energy Captains learned something special about energy transfer.
Together we:
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Energy Captains and Green Leaders made a joint adventure to create and present information at the National Aquarium. Teaming up into pairs, or presenting individually we shared or information to live audiences at the National Aquarium. We gained great feedback on how to polish our presentations and delivery by experts that work there. Each presentation was given only 3 minutes to make their finest presentation. The following seven minutes allowed us to reflect on the information given while improving it with aquatic facts that surrounded us.
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Feeding Mr. Trashwheel Birthday Cake
An elite group of energy captions attended Mr. trash wheels birthday an had loads of fun feeding him his birthday cake. The occasion was also a celebration of the passing of Baltimore's Ban on Polystyrene. We learned how our help on this policy legislation will reduce pollution and give Mr. TrashWheel a slimmer diet of styrofoam. This celebration was shared by youth activists across the city a,nd dignitaries of Baltimore's political legislators. We also learned:
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Botanical Garden Trip Saturday, Apr 11Energy Captains and second grade scholars went to the botanical gardens in Baltimore. We learned about three ecosystems (Tropical, Mediterranean and Desert) and the native plants that call it home. Understanding the different types of leaf, stems, and root structures linked invaluable insight to the climate of each ecosystem. As plants are the main transfer from Solar energy to chemical energy that we use, it was key to see how they adapt over many years to their environments. Together we:
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Student Activism to Ban PolystyreneGreen Leaders and ECC members represented the hopes of our youth at Mount Washington.
Together we:
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Energy and Recycle Audits
Energy captains take regular energy and recycling audits that take note of weekly class winners as well as move recycling product out for collection.
Green Leaders created a recycling audit that includes weight and deductions for non-recyclables. Their recycling method has proved a model for the energy captains. Adopting this framework, the captains have increased their efficiency by measuring the recycling and placing most bins in a larger wheeled recycling receptacle.
Energy audits take place in our lower building every Friday after school to ensure our weekend use of electricity is minimized.
Green Leaders created a recycling audit that includes weight and deductions for non-recyclables. Their recycling method has proved a model for the energy captains. Adopting this framework, the captains have increased their efficiency by measuring the recycling and placing most bins in a larger wheeled recycling receptacle.
Energy audits take place in our lower building every Friday after school to ensure our weekend use of electricity is minimized.
Spring PlantingTogether we rolled up our sleeves and planted our vegetables in our gardens four planting rows.
We plant: Turnips Radishes Lettuce Carrots Tomatoes Beans Cucumbers Yellow Squash Zucchini and helpful flowering plants like marigolds. These veggies are harvested and shared at festivals, celebrations and learning times throughout the year. |
Recycling and composting structuresA tool can save up to 80% while using only 20% of energy. This EC-70 is just one of the recycling robots created by the energy captains to capture and manage waste. Breakfast trays that were previously thrown away became a great game to save. Using this contraption made from recycled material drew the imagination of our kids to recycle their breakfast trays instead of throwing them out.
When our scholars re-thought about tray waste, they furthered the mindset by a tray to share uneaten fruit rather than disposing them. Tools for composting have inspired a place for food scraps. EC-500 robots have given a place to recycle paper cups for water. Proving that some kits are best out of imagination, recycled materials and teamwork. |
Earth Day CelebrationTogether our Green Council Leaders and Energy Captains ran information exhibits and games to share with all the kids of our school. We worked with our partners from Clayworks, Baltimore Energy Challenge and the Mount Washington Preservation Trust to share green knowledge on sustainability, conservation, and our natural world. We shared exhibits and presentations on:
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Making Green at MAEOE
Together we went to MAEOE for sustainable knowledge state wide. Participating in exhibits and green games. we were inspired to share our own. We heard various talks and award ceremonies to gain new ideas and rethink old ones.
After a long day of absorbing info in the sun, we cooled off in the bay for an afternoon picknick.
After a long day of absorbing info in the sun, we cooled off in the bay for an afternoon picknick.
Aqueduct
Green Leaders and Energy Captains created an aqueduct system. To solve the problem of limited water for our plants, we designed and installed a solution. Starting with the collection stage of the water cycle, we found a way to fill our waterbarrels. We installed waterbarrels in 2016, and tried a few small designs to collect water using plastic collars. With more design and teamwork, we created the solution. An aqueduct that takes runoff from the hillside and brings it to our waterbarrels for collection. This is a solution to the green leaders challenge to stop erosion from our hillside.
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