2.1 Water Conservation/Pollution Prevention
Students in the green club initiated and planned a Water conservation poster contest. The art teachers agreed to have the students in the intermediate students (grades 3-5) work on their posters during art class in groups of three to four students. The students developed a scoring rubric for each poster. The requirements for the posters included a slogan highlighting why it is important to conserve water and the use visuals that illustrate their point. The students in the Green Club judged and selected the top three posters during their after school club meeting and the best poster was then displayed in our hallways. The students in the club also created recycled awards for the winning students. (January 2015- March 2015)
Students created signage to hang above the water fountains in our school in order to encourage students and staff to remember to conserve water. (November 2014)
The students in the Green Club wanted to purchase rain barrels for our school in order to help water the grass and our maintain our garden, as well as water our plants located in each classroom. The students placed the rain barrel in strategic locations on our school grounds in order to ensure the water would help the plants. After a rainy day, a few students would go outside to empty the water from the barrel. (March 2015)
Students in the green club researched water facts in order to create "Water Trivia" questions to ask the students and staff members in our school. One morning a week for the months of April and May a student read/will read a trivia question on the announcements and each class voted/will vote on an answer to submit to the office. At the end of the day, the students in the club randomly pulled/will pull an answer out of a hat and if the answer was correct that class won a "green" poster to hang in their classroom. (April and May 2015)
2.2 Energy Conservation
Students created light switch covers promoting energy conservation. The students hung their switch plates in each classroom and throughout our building. (February 2015)
Before winter break this year (2014), students walked around the school and performed energy audits in each classroom. They then created a list of good energy practices and recommendations for the teachers to implement. They also sent out an emails with various energy saving tips. (December 2014 - February 2015)
Students performs classroom jobs that require conserving energy. Some of these job titles include "Green Supervisor" and "Energy Patrol." The duties of this job include turning out the lights, turning off computers, and making sure the ELMO/projector light is off when not in use. (all year every year)
The students in the green club researched magazines articles in order to "tweet" facts about recycling. The top three tweets were selected. They each described methods to conserve energy. The student's tweets were posted on our school twitter page for the students, teachers, and parents to view. (January 2015)
The students in the green club and teachers on the Green Committee initiated a school wide "Energy Conductors" program. Students were pulled by our School Counselor during non-instructional time to monitor the classrooms to make sure they were being energy efficient. The students then either posted penalty tickets or rewards tickets on the classrooms doors. The tickets are called "Power Failure" and the students circle the reason the classroom received the ticket. The rewards are called "Energy Efficient" and were given to the classrooms with minimal lighting or no lights when the class is not in the room. The staff is aware that the Energy Conductors may randomly come around the school twice a week, however they are not privy to the exact day and time. This helps the students and staff increase their awareness of conserving energy in their classroom. (February- June 2015)
2.3 Solid Waste Reduction
Chapel Hill participates in the Terracycle Program. The students recycle juice pouches and glue sticks in order to have their products upcycled into new objects. Some students were even on Anna Renaults radio station show and were interviewed about the Terracycle project. In the future, Chapel Hill hopes to add more objects to our Terracycle program such as scotch tape rolls, ink cartridges, and toothpaste containers. (2014)
Terracycle Interview: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/anna-renault/2014/06/09/terracycle--saving-the-environment-and-supporting-non-profits
Clean Green 15 Litter Challenge was a litter challenge Chapel Hill students and community members participated in last year (2013-2014). The challenge required students to clean up their school yard and community by picking up trash in order to prevent it from going to the bay. The students collected trash for about 2 months almost everyday for 15 minutes. The students then weighed the trash collected each day and submitted it to the challenge website. Community clubs and sports were also involved the Clean Green 15 challenge and helped greatly. Chapel Hill won 2nd place among all the elementary schools in Baltimore County that participated in the challenge. Also, we anticipate participating in future green school related challenges. The students in the green club are committed to continuing efforts to keep our schoolyard clean. (2014)
Chapel Hill has a school recycling plan that the students are solely responsible for completing. Each classroom has a cardboard box for recycling paper and a blue recycle bin for plastics and bottles. Students labeled the box and bin in order to help remind everyone which items belong. The students remind each other to recycle those items and students regularly check the bins to make sure only those items are present. Our cafeteria also recently moved to recyclable trays this year (2014-2015). The students are very helpful with carrying out the effort to be a green school. One students even had a suggestion for the lunch manager. A fifth grader wrote a letter to the principal and lunch manager asking if instead of sending out paper flyers as reminder for overdue lunch money, they could send out electronic letters. The student's request is still in the works to make happen, however was noted as a great idea.
This year Chapel Hill began dumping extra liquids from drinks in order to have empty water bottles and milk cartons to recycle. The students even had the idea to dump the extra water outside to recycle it back into the environment.
2.7 Healthy School Environment
Our school has a running club called "Running with the Mustangs." The students in the club practice running and create goals for themselves. The students compete with other schools in the fall and spring. The students created goals for themselves for the spring season. The students use a website called mightymilers.org to track the miles they run. They also promote the healthy benefits of running by posting signs around our school.
The students wrote letters to Delegate Lafferty in order to get him to support The Poultry Fair Share Act. Their goal is to create a healthier living environment. The students support the research that states something needs to be done to help save the Bay from pollution.
Each teacher has a plant in their classroom for better air quality. The students water and care for the plants using the water from our rain barrels. The goal is for the students to lead discussions on creating a healthy classroom environment.
Future Plans ... 2.6 Habitat Restoration
The students in the green club are in the process of planning and creating a rain garden for Chapel Hill next year. The students researched different types of native plants that would fit best in our school yard as well as plant nurseries. The students then wrote emails to the different organizations asking for native plant donations. Some students even called some plant nurseries asking for certain types of native plants.