Go Green! Keep Our Nation Green! - Student Selected Green School Slogan
Since March of 2011 students and staff have been working on
completing the new Green School points to certify St. Mary as a Michigan Green
School for the 2011-2012 school year.
Students voted to adopt, “Go Green!
Keep our Nation Clean,” as our school’s Green School slogan for this
school year. To obtain Michigan Green
School designation for the 2011-2012 school year, our school must submit an
application and documentation to describe how St. Mary School has performed a
minimum of two activities from each of the categories described below by March
1, 2012. Find out more information about this year's Green School designation points.
Category I-Recycling Category
1. Coordinate a program for recycling at least two items:
Our school continues to recycle paper, cell phones, cloth, plastic, crayons, and metal. Eighth graders collect recycled paper and deliver it to the Abitibi Paper Recycling Bins, fifth graders help Mrs. Zima collect cell phones from the School Recycling Center so she can donate the phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers, and office personnel coordinate the uniform closet where gently used outgrown school uniforms are offered for resale to those needing a uniform. As members of our cafeteria bottle brigade, all students take turns helping recycle plastic bottles which are brought upstairs and picked up by our volunteer Green Parent team for recycling. Kindergarten and First Grade students remake some of the crayons into new shapes to learn about solar energy at Primary Campus’ Ecology Day in the spring.
Our school continues to recycle paper, cell phones, cloth, plastic, crayons, and metal. Eighth graders collect recycled paper and deliver it to the Abitibi Paper Recycling Bins, fifth graders help Mrs. Zima collect cell phones from the School Recycling Center so she can donate the phones to Cell Phones for Soldiers, and office personnel coordinate the uniform closet where gently used outgrown school uniforms are offered for resale to those needing a uniform. As members of our cafeteria bottle brigade, all students take turns helping recycle plastic bottles which are brought upstairs and picked up by our volunteer Green Parent team for recycling. Kindergarten and First Grade students remake some of the crayons into new shapes to learn about solar energy at Primary Campus’ Ecology Day in the spring.
2. Composting food and organic wastes:
Students in preschool through sixth grade have been involved
in composting food and organic waste since March of 2011 using red wiggler
worms. Newspaper is shredded and wet
down for worm bedding and students collect food scraps from lunch to feed the
worms. The worm castings are added to
the Native Plant beds around St. Mary School in the spring. Since October 2011 students in Mrs. Cook’s
preschool, Mrs. Lusch’s first grade and Mr. Anetrini's and Mrs. Madonia's sixth
grades have been feeding the worms and maintaining the worm bins.
3. Conducting a waste-free lunch program:
Students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade are asked to bring a waste-free lunch on “Waste-free Wednesdays.” Students and staff are asked to pack food and drinks in reusable containers with reusable silverware and cloth napkins instead of disposable items each Wednesday. On Wednesday, cafeteria workers, serve hot lunch in biodegradable lunch trays. Class representative members of the Green Team show their classmates how to pack a waste-free lunch.
3. Conducting a waste-free lunch program:
Students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade are asked to bring a waste-free lunch on “Waste-free Wednesdays.” Students and staff are asked to pack food and drinks in reusable containers with reusable silverware and cloth napkins instead of disposable items each Wednesday. On Wednesday, cafeteria workers, serve hot lunch in biodegradable lunch trays. Class representative members of the Green Team show their classmates how to pack a waste-free lunch.
Category II-Energy Category
1. Offer at least one teaching unit on alternative energy:
Mrs. Megge, teaches an extensive energy unit that includes alternative energy to eighth grade students. The energy unit culminates with students researching and demonstrating different alternative energy forms at the energy fair.
2. Implement a school energy saving program:
Since August 2011 principal Maureen Miscavish has saved resources/energy at school by sending teachers and staff digital copies of school documents rather than hard copies. Green Team members conduct energy surveys of their classrooms. They draw and hang index cards in their classrooms to remind teachers and students to turn off the lights and all electronics when not in use. Before Thanksgiving and Winter break classroom teachers are reminded by email to turn off and unplug all electronics in their classrooms to save energy.
3. Sponsoring an alternative energy presentation, project, or event:
In the spring of 2011 Sister Sue Sattler, IHM, from the Immaculate Heart of Mary Motherhouse in Monroe, Michigan visited St. Mary School and presented a program entitled, Blue Nuns Go Green, to junior high students at our school. Sister explained how the Motherhouse was renovated with sustainable features including environmentally friendly electrical, plumbing and heating systems, such as gray water recycling and geothermal heating and cooling were utilized. Additionally, Eighth Grade student groups research and design energy projects to exhibit in an Eighth Grade Energy Fair in the spring. As part of a solar energy presentation, students construct two types of solar cookers and cook hot dogs and small pizzas, which are sampled by the eighth grade students.
Category III - Environmental Protection Category
1. Participate in activities promoting the health of the Great Lakes watershed:
Second and third graders participate in Water Conservation Programs provided by MSU Extension. In this program students use visuals, games and hands-on activities to learn about water, the water cycle, how water gets to homes, how water is used and what can be done to conserve it. On May 17, 2011 fourth grade students attended the Lake St. Clair Water Festival and participated in hands-on workshops about water conservation, water recreation, water quality and aquatic ecosystems and learned about the health of the watershed.
2. Establish or maintain a natural Michigan garden project with native plants:
Students in grades two through eight help maintain a natural Michigan garden project with native plants. Throughout the spring and fall in the morning and at lunch student volunteers water two raised beds and six containers to keep native plants alive and thriving at Main Campus. Black-eyed susans, butterfly flowers, purple coneflowers, blue-eyed grass, prairie dropseed, coral bells, coreopsis and blazing stars are native plants that are planted in raised beds and containers around Main Campus. Annual geraniums, pansies and impatience are filled in around the perennial native plants to provide year-round color. Michigan native plants at Primary Campus include sedum and a tamarack tree.
3. Establish or maintain an animal habitat project:
This winter sixth grade students filled the bird houses around Main Campus with sawdust donated by Mr. Aggeler from John’s Lumber Company to provide warmth for small birds that may use the birdhouses as warming huts over the winter. Suet feeders around Main Campus are removed in spring and rehung in the fall by sixth grade volunteers and Green team members. A bird feeder pole is mounted on the east side of Primary Campus The pole was purchased using funds earned with parental support of our spring 2011 Green School Deneweth’s Flower Sale. Seed and suet feeders are filled by students in Mrs. Peterson’s and Mrs. Lusch’s first grades with their help.
4. Participate in a local community environmental issue by activities such as letter-writing, attending public hearings, raising funds or community outreach:
Oakland University Chemistry Professor Newlin addressed sixth graders regarding local community environmental issues including beneficial use impairments of the Clinton River Watershed and invasive species such as zebra mussels and phragmites. Sixth graders choose an issue to investigate further and write letters concerning their chosen area of interest under the direction of their teachers.
Category IV-Miscellaneous Category
1. Adopt an endangered or threatened species and publicize the activity:
On Earth Day, Student Council members organize and distribute a ballot for students to adopt a Michigan endangered species. As a result, a symbolic adoption of a grey wolf from the National Wildlife Federation has been made using funds earned from the Green School Deneweth Flower Sale.
2. Host an environmental or energy speaker, event or field trip:
On September 26th all students and staff attended a rainforest assembly entitled Wildlife Encounters sponsored by the St. Mary School parent group, PAC, where students learned about the importance of rainforests to the global environment. Students learned about conservation and had an opportunity to interact with some of the animals. In addition, first grade students visited Metro Beach Metropark in the fall of 2011 to learn about wildlife habitat. They learned how animals survive during the winter months hiding to stay hidden for safety and about animal tracks. Second grade students also visited Cranbrook’s "Bats of the World" program in November 2011. The children learned how bats help pollinate plants and spread seeds, and that bats are often misunderstood and not the dangerous beasts they are portrayed to be. The second graders came away from the program with a new respect for bats and a better understanding of their important place in the world's eco-system.
3. Establish a student organization that participates in environmental activities:
The Green Team is open to all students in grades two through grade eight. Out of the students that join the Green Team each classroom teacher designates a student to be the Green School representative for his or her class. These representatives report school progress on Green School activities back to their class and bring the concerns of students in their class to the attention of the Green Team. In addition, the junior high members of the Green Team produce video documenting Green School activities to submit with our Green School application. Green Team activities this year have included conducting energy audits, preparing worm composting bins, and working on native plant gardens.
4. Observe Earth Day by participating in an Earth Day event in April:
The Ecology Club, students and staff are currently making plans to celebrate Earth Day 2012. We plan on celebrating Earth awareness week April 16-April 20. Plans for Earth awareness week include voting for an endangered species to adopt for the school year 2012-2013, celebrating Ecology Day at Primary Campus, and reading Eco books. Recycling, energy and environmental protection questions will be submitted by students and teachers. They will be posted around school for students to ponder and discuss by the Green Team.
5. Update the school’s media center environmental materials:
Our Librarian, Sister Sean, updates environmental books in our school library using funds acquired from Scholastic book fairs. Mrs. Miscavish renews periodical subscriptions yearly and Mrs. Newlin updates environmental dvds using funds acquired during our Deneweth’s flower sales.
6. Visit internet sites that educate about the environment and support endangered ecosystems:
Fifth grade students visited www.harcourtschool.com/activity/food/food_menu.html and worked in groups to organize three different food webs: the forest, the ocean, and the desert. They identified the producers, the first, second and third order consumers, the decomposers and the top of each energy pyramid and showed the path of energy. They also visited www.gould.edu.au/foodwebs/kids_web.htm and http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/foodchaingame.htm.
Category V-Propose Your Own Point
St. Mary School has received permission to count the following two activities as Green School points.
1. St. Mary School recycles batteries at Battery Giant:
Students place batteries in designated bins at both campuses. When the bins are full custodians and junior high students carry the battery bins to staff cars. The batteries are dropped off at Battery Giant, 20761 Hall Rd., Macomb Township.
2. Spring concert features Earth Day theme:
At the spring concert students in grades 3-7 featured a song about our earth. The songs are from Music K-8's collection of songs titled "Sing for Earth Day." The songs encourage students to take care of the world and choose carefully so that they have a healthy planet in the future.
1. Offer at least one teaching unit on alternative energy:
Mrs. Megge, teaches an extensive energy unit that includes alternative energy to eighth grade students. The energy unit culminates with students researching and demonstrating different alternative energy forms at the energy fair.
2. Implement a school energy saving program:
Since August 2011 principal Maureen Miscavish has saved resources/energy at school by sending teachers and staff digital copies of school documents rather than hard copies. Green Team members conduct energy surveys of their classrooms. They draw and hang index cards in their classrooms to remind teachers and students to turn off the lights and all electronics when not in use. Before Thanksgiving and Winter break classroom teachers are reminded by email to turn off and unplug all electronics in their classrooms to save energy.
3. Sponsoring an alternative energy presentation, project, or event:
In the spring of 2011 Sister Sue Sattler, IHM, from the Immaculate Heart of Mary Motherhouse in Monroe, Michigan visited St. Mary School and presented a program entitled, Blue Nuns Go Green, to junior high students at our school. Sister explained how the Motherhouse was renovated with sustainable features including environmentally friendly electrical, plumbing and heating systems, such as gray water recycling and geothermal heating and cooling were utilized. Additionally, Eighth Grade student groups research and design energy projects to exhibit in an Eighth Grade Energy Fair in the spring. As part of a solar energy presentation, students construct two types of solar cookers and cook hot dogs and small pizzas, which are sampled by the eighth grade students.
Category III - Environmental Protection Category
1. Participate in activities promoting the health of the Great Lakes watershed:
Second and third graders participate in Water Conservation Programs provided by MSU Extension. In this program students use visuals, games and hands-on activities to learn about water, the water cycle, how water gets to homes, how water is used and what can be done to conserve it. On May 17, 2011 fourth grade students attended the Lake St. Clair Water Festival and participated in hands-on workshops about water conservation, water recreation, water quality and aquatic ecosystems and learned about the health of the watershed.
2. Establish or maintain a natural Michigan garden project with native plants:
Students in grades two through eight help maintain a natural Michigan garden project with native plants. Throughout the spring and fall in the morning and at lunch student volunteers water two raised beds and six containers to keep native plants alive and thriving at Main Campus. Black-eyed susans, butterfly flowers, purple coneflowers, blue-eyed grass, prairie dropseed, coral bells, coreopsis and blazing stars are native plants that are planted in raised beds and containers around Main Campus. Annual geraniums, pansies and impatience are filled in around the perennial native plants to provide year-round color. Michigan native plants at Primary Campus include sedum and a tamarack tree.
3. Establish or maintain an animal habitat project:
This winter sixth grade students filled the bird houses around Main Campus with sawdust donated by Mr. Aggeler from John’s Lumber Company to provide warmth for small birds that may use the birdhouses as warming huts over the winter. Suet feeders around Main Campus are removed in spring and rehung in the fall by sixth grade volunteers and Green team members. A bird feeder pole is mounted on the east side of Primary Campus The pole was purchased using funds earned with parental support of our spring 2011 Green School Deneweth’s Flower Sale. Seed and suet feeders are filled by students in Mrs. Peterson’s and Mrs. Lusch’s first grades with their help.
4. Participate in a local community environmental issue by activities such as letter-writing, attending public hearings, raising funds or community outreach:
Oakland University Chemistry Professor Newlin addressed sixth graders regarding local community environmental issues including beneficial use impairments of the Clinton River Watershed and invasive species such as zebra mussels and phragmites. Sixth graders choose an issue to investigate further and write letters concerning their chosen area of interest under the direction of their teachers.
Category IV-Miscellaneous Category
1. Adopt an endangered or threatened species and publicize the activity:
On Earth Day, Student Council members organize and distribute a ballot for students to adopt a Michigan endangered species. As a result, a symbolic adoption of a grey wolf from the National Wildlife Federation has been made using funds earned from the Green School Deneweth Flower Sale.
2. Host an environmental or energy speaker, event or field trip:
On September 26th all students and staff attended a rainforest assembly entitled Wildlife Encounters sponsored by the St. Mary School parent group, PAC, where students learned about the importance of rainforests to the global environment. Students learned about conservation and had an opportunity to interact with some of the animals. In addition, first grade students visited Metro Beach Metropark in the fall of 2011 to learn about wildlife habitat. They learned how animals survive during the winter months hiding to stay hidden for safety and about animal tracks. Second grade students also visited Cranbrook’s "Bats of the World" program in November 2011. The children learned how bats help pollinate plants and spread seeds, and that bats are often misunderstood and not the dangerous beasts they are portrayed to be. The second graders came away from the program with a new respect for bats and a better understanding of their important place in the world's eco-system.
3. Establish a student organization that participates in environmental activities:
The Green Team is open to all students in grades two through grade eight. Out of the students that join the Green Team each classroom teacher designates a student to be the Green School representative for his or her class. These representatives report school progress on Green School activities back to their class and bring the concerns of students in their class to the attention of the Green Team. In addition, the junior high members of the Green Team produce video documenting Green School activities to submit with our Green School application. Green Team activities this year have included conducting energy audits, preparing worm composting bins, and working on native plant gardens.
4. Observe Earth Day by participating in an Earth Day event in April:
The Ecology Club, students and staff are currently making plans to celebrate Earth Day 2012. We plan on celebrating Earth awareness week April 16-April 20. Plans for Earth awareness week include voting for an endangered species to adopt for the school year 2012-2013, celebrating Ecology Day at Primary Campus, and reading Eco books. Recycling, energy and environmental protection questions will be submitted by students and teachers. They will be posted around school for students to ponder and discuss by the Green Team.
5. Update the school’s media center environmental materials:
Our Librarian, Sister Sean, updates environmental books in our school library using funds acquired from Scholastic book fairs. Mrs. Miscavish renews periodical subscriptions yearly and Mrs. Newlin updates environmental dvds using funds acquired during our Deneweth’s flower sales.
6. Visit internet sites that educate about the environment and support endangered ecosystems:
Fifth grade students visited www.harcourtschool.com/activity/food/food_menu.html and worked in groups to organize three different food webs: the forest, the ocean, and the desert. They identified the producers, the first, second and third order consumers, the decomposers and the top of each energy pyramid and showed the path of energy. They also visited www.gould.edu.au/foodwebs/kids_web.htm and http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/games/foodchaingame.htm.
Category V-Propose Your Own Point
St. Mary School has received permission to count the following two activities as Green School points.
1. St. Mary School recycles batteries at Battery Giant:
Students place batteries in designated bins at both campuses. When the bins are full custodians and junior high students carry the battery bins to staff cars. The batteries are dropped off at Battery Giant, 20761 Hall Rd., Macomb Township.
2. Spring concert features Earth Day theme:
At the spring concert students in grades 3-7 featured a song about our earth. The songs are from Music K-8's collection of songs titled "Sing for Earth Day." The songs encourage students to take care of the world and choose carefully so that they have a healthy planet in the future.
