ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE INSTRUCTION
The Mount Washington School (MWS) has continued to evolve over the past four years since being distinguished as a Maryland Green School in 2010. MWS has specific instruction of environmental issues which all classes incorporate into their curriculum. All students at The Mount Washington School participate in school-wide initiatives and are offered numerous opportunities to explore in greater depth environmental topics of personal interest. Field trips enhance the environmental objectives and give students a first hand experience with solutions to environmental problems. In addition, there is a "Green Culture" attitude among the students and teachers. The teachers are always presenting new environmental activities and practices and incorporate such activities into the lesson plans.
Kindergarten
Kindergarten has various instruction that educates green sustainable philosophy into tasks. Some curricula are based loosely and some more strengently on green practices. We learn about:
- Healthy Foods to power our fantastic bodies (11/15-11/30) - Our Scholars learn about foods, and identify healthy choices. Using the Food Plate model we identify what our bodies need.
- Lifecycle of a Butterfly (5/6-5/20) - Butterfly kits guide our classroom through the joys of seeing a butterfly cycle from egg to butterfly. We discover the changes and make connections with our natural friends that reflect so much about our own development. We release the butterflies on our nature walk in the Mt. Washington Arboretum.
- Recycled Vehicles (4/12-4/19) - Scholars create their own vehicle models out of recycled materials. A favorite of families and friends; they are displayed at Earth Day Celebration.
- Farm Animals (10/2-10/20) - Our students learn about life on the farm with all it's animals. We made a podcast to share. Listen to the Podcast Here
1st Grade
Our scholars in first grade get a grasp of our world and how special our planet is to contain life. We understand our solar system, planets, moon, and the sun which sources our power.
- Creature Features - Our Scholars explore various aspects of animals. From animal tails,eyes, nose, paws, etc. We explore how these traits help various animals. We even wonder what it would be like if we had some of these extra traits on us. (11/15-11/30).
- Planet Rotation (10/12-11/7) - Exploring Earth's cycles, from day to night, to circling around the sun is fun with us! We learn how gravity keeps us all connected in our solar system, so we can have our seasons and get our energy from the sun. A new exploration every new day.
- Sun which is the source of our power (10/15-11/30) -Our scholars learn how important our sun is. As the source of our power we see different ways that the sun's rays power our earth.
- Wind Power (2/12-2-24) - Scholars learn about the positive and negative impacts of wind power. We learn differing opinions on it and some facts that surround the issue. This gives us clear ideas between facts and opinions, then let's us make our own opinion based on facts that we study.