Grade-Level: All Grades Activity Title: Composting Subject: Waste Reduction Teacher(s): All Staff When: Spring 2022 Number of Students: 350+ Description: All members of the school community will sign up to go outside and learn about composting. We will set up a composting system and compost at least 20 percent of the schools compostable waste. They will be spaced out and will have social distancing requirements met. They will use the composted material to add nutrients to the garden and other opportunities. We are waiting for our order of 10 Subpods to be delivered. Please visit https://subpod.com/ for more information prior to installation in May 2022.
Arlington Clean-Up: Spring 2021
Grade-Level: All Grades Activity Title: Spring Grounds Clean-Up Subject: Waste Reduction Teacher(s): All Staff When: April 12th-April 16th Number of Students: 200 Description: All members of the school community will sign up to go outside and clean up areas of the school grounds on a schedule. They will be spaced out and will have social distancing requirements met. They will clean up different areas of the school and by doing so, the entire school grounds will get cleaned up.
School Year 2019-2020 & Prior
Notes of Encouragement
Grade-Level: 4th Grade Activity Title: Paul's Place and Maryland Food Bank Subject: Notes of Encouragement Teacher(s): Thompson When: February- May 2020 Number of Students: 8 Description: Students in the Gifted and Advanced Learners (GAL) program have developed action plans to reach out to organizations in need. They want to volunteer their time and help homeless or in-need patrons. To do this during the school day would take away from important instruction. We looked for different ways to be able to do this without taking the students out of school. Luckily, both organizations (see above) have Notes of Encouragement activities for volunteers. Our students wrote notes for kids who get food and clothing sent home from these organizations. Not only that, they did it on recycled paper and decorated with recycled materials. They are completing this as part of a larger action plan which will be update here as well. These notes not only encourage children in tough situations, but also provide an outlet for individuals to know that they are not alone in this fight.
Running on Recycles: January 2, 2020
Grade-Level: All Activity Title: Running on Recycles Subject: Recycling Teacher(s): Thompson When: November 14, 2019 3:30-4:30 after school Number of Students: 10 Description: Shoes are donated to the school in good to excellent condition for students to repurpose. Most students are reusing shoes as just what they are: shoes. This keeps shoes out of our landfills and on the feet of those who need them. This program started because my students love to run. They also sometimes struggled to get the proper footwear for outdoor activities. One of my students said her mom had a pair of shoes to donate to someone at the school. We brainstormed different ways to make this work and came up with "Running on Recycles". Each pair of shoes donated goes back into a bin for students to browse.
Recycled Decorations
Grade-Level: All Activity Title: Recycled Holiday Decorations Subject: Recycling Teacher(s): Thompson When: December 19, 2019 Number of Students: 8 Description: Students in grades 1-5 created ornaments for the holidays made out of paper that was collected during our usual recycling collection on Tuesdays. Students assessed a need for this activity based on the amount of colorful paper that was being thrown out around the holidays. Student not only collected it from teachers, but they researched different re-purposing methods to make decorations and spent a few mornings the week before the holidays creating these decorations.
Recycling Video/Poster Contest: December 15, 2019
Grade-Level: All Activity Title: Recycled Video/ Poster Contest Subject: Green Teacher(s): Thompson When: November 14, 2019 3:30-4:30 after school Number of Students: 10 Description: Students in grades 4 and 5 are creating recycling videos to compete in a National Contest. They are currently being filmed and are set to be produced in our studio soon. Update: Students made posters for the event as they were too shy to work on a video. We are currently working on our media productions team to enable students to work in the studio with ease. Below are some examples of these posters.
Recycled Art Contest: November 14, 2019
Grade-Level: All Activity Title: Recycled Art Contest Subject: Recycling Teacher(s): Thompson When: November 14, 2019 3:30-4:30 after school Number of Students: 10 Description: The students were given two months to design and create art projects that were specifically made out of recycled materials. The turn out was amazing and had representatives as young as first grade. The students created themed projects for the holidays and winter season. It was a great experience for the students and an opportunity for them be creative with a science focus.
Recycle Tuesdays
Grade-Level: 4,5 collection; whole school participation Activity Title: Eco-Squad Members Subject: Planning, Organizing and Implementing Recycling Collection for the school Teacher(s): Thompson When: Tuesday Mornings 7:30-8:30 before school Number of Students: 6 students (whole school participation Description: Members of the Eco-squad meet every Tuesday to collect recycling for the school. The students meet before school in the library and get gloves. They then retrieve the large wheeled recycle bins from the ground floor and use the elevator to collect recycling from yellow bins on four floors. Teachers place their classroom bins out into the hallway the previous day. We have had a couple challenges that I hope will resolve in the next month. The first being three teachers forgetting to put out their recycling the day before and missing recycling pick up. This causes a back up of materials. We also have had challenges with recycling of paper towels. We will need to discuss this with our younger students. Finally, DPW has missed our recycling in previous weeks. We have discussed this with them and are in the middle of working through this issue. We recycle so much that missing one day produces over flow. We will continue to work through these issues.
School Year 2018-2019 & Prior
Recycling Program
Grade-Level: All Staff Activity Title: Recycling Program Subject: Recycle and Reuse Teacher(s): All Staff; All Students When: Recurring every Tuesday at 2:00 pm Description: There are five recycling bins around the school and every Tuesday two students empty the bins into a bigger bin. People pick up the recycling that's in the big bin. This program saves money and recycling items do not go to waste. This program helps our waste amount stay small, meaning we do not waste anything. This also helps us prove we are a green school. Students attend information sessions provided by some of our stakeholders such as Bmore Beyond Plastic to learn about different types of materials. Students also keep track of how much we are recycling.
Arlington Clean-Ups
Grade-Level: All Staff Activity Title: Grounds Clean-up Subject: Removal of Liter and Leaf Litter Teacher(s): Woolson, West, Thompson, Yorkshire, Tutt, Thomas, Hamele When: Recurring Number of Teachers: 23 Regular Staff and additional Educational Associates. Description: One day out of the month, staff and students participate in Arlington Clean-Up. This activity is when staff and students clean the schools outside and inside. This activity makes the school environmentally safer and cleaner. We use green cleaning products as well to make it safer for staff and students. This activity is also good for when we have visitors.
Styrofoam Advocacy
Grade-Level: All Staff Activity Title: Styrofoam Advocacy Subject: Removal of Styrofoam from schools Stakeholders: Cafeteria Employees, Parents, Students, Teachers When: 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years Description: Our school system replaced our Styrofoam plates with plates that we can recycle when they are clean and dry. We use plastic sporks so we can recycle them and be made into something else. Every lunch period when students are done with their lunch, a staff member empties their tray and recycles it. Students traveled to Annapolis, MD, Baltimore City Hall, and multiple advocacy events sponsored by Bmore Beyond Plastic to help with the removal of Styrofoam from our cafeterias. We now use a degradable cardboard material plate. No more Styrofoam or overuse of other supplies.