Summary of Activities
As a Maryland Green School, Longfellow provides a comprehensive & integrated approach to authentic learning that uses the environment as a context for teaching and learning. Our Green Team represents a broad spectrum of our learning community involving school administrators, teachers, students, PTA members, facility personnel, and community partners. Our entire school community is proud of our Maryland Green School status and very excited about our "green" future! Our school’s application highlights only a small sample of the many wonderful activities and projects our students and staff have embarked upon during our Maryland Green School journey.
"Going green” has become part of our culture here at Longfellow and we have taken intentional steps this school year to follow our Longfellow Pledge and "be the best green school we can be." These intentional efforts are celebrated throughout the school year and during our Annual Green Week which was first celebrated during the 2013- 2014. Our application highlights several green activities that have been in place and ongoing projects that have become routine at our school, but we also have new and exciting activities that will undoubtedly become part of our school culture going forward. There is a great excitement and energy surrounding our Green Team once again this year. We have new staff members who have taken an active role in leading our green initiatives. Their efforts combined with our Green Team members who have been working for years to create a green culture reflect a collaborative effort among teachers, students, administration, parents, and community organizations. Our Green Team focused our efforts upon waste reduction, energy conservation, water conservation, and responsible transportation. Our committee collaborated to design innovative ways to design and implement activities and programs that would have the greatest impact upon our learning community.
The highlight of our waste reduction efforts focused on our overall recycling program in classrooms, the cafeteria, the front office, and the staff lounge. During the 2015-2016 school year our Green Team worked to institutionalize recycling at Longfellow. By working with community partners such as Home Depot we were able to place 56 new recycling bins throughout each and every classroom in our school. We are working to place three stream recycling stations throughout our building to support our in-school and community recycling efforts. Our Recycling Team collects paper recyclables semi-weekly from bins located in each classroom, office, and the staff lounge. We have also have a sustained partnership with TerraCycle to upcycle items such as e-waste, toner cartridges, juice boxes, glue sticks, writing instruments, and other waste into backpacks and public benches. In addition to our paper recycling efforts, our team collects recyclable bottles and cans in our staff lounge. We have been recycling used milk cartons daily for several years now.
To conserve energy, our school was very proud of the creation of our "Watt Watcher Team.” This group of students is responsible for reminding staff to turn off desktop computers and printers, and unplug overhead carts and projectors at the end of the school day, and especially before weekends. Our fifth grade Watt Watchers are working to conserve energy by creating light switch covers for all light switches throughout our school. This effort focuses on creating an improved awareness of energy conservation for our students and staff which will in turn decrease our energy usage and carbon footprint. Each Friday our PM Announcers remind our staff to power down and unplug their electronic devices over the weekend and extended breaks. We have also designated specific Fridays as our Copy-Free Fridays to power down our copiers and save paper.
Longfellow is dedicated to creating an awareness of water conservation. for our students Last Spring our fourth graders began learning about the history of farming in Howard County and explored how farming conservation practices, monitoring water/stream quality, planting of native species vs. exotic species, and composting can preserve and protect the local environment in a field trip entitled Our Environment in Our Hands. After the trip, our students put their knowledge in to practice and plan how they can increase water conservation practices at school and share what they learned with our school community. Additionally, we bought each staff member a reusable Longfellow Water bottle and started a Staff Water Club to reduce the amount of plastic bottles used throughout the school year by our staff. Our Water Conservation Team is doing research on facts and interesting statistics that they could include on their informative posters to promote water conservation awareness throughout our school. Students will spend time creating eye-catching and informative posters that will be placed in every Longfellow bathroom, above every fountain, and next to every classroom sink. Weekly walk throughs of the school will be made to make note of any changes in student and teacher behavior.
As a "walker" school Longfellow knows the importance of responsible transportation. Any student living within a mile of our school does not receive transportation and are zoned to walk to school. We embrace and celebrate our "walker" school designation as many of our students help lessen our carbon footprint each and every day by walking to school. We celebrate walking to school and provide all of our students the opportunity to walk to school twice per year during our Walk to School Celebrations. Each Walk to School Celebration highlights our green school efforts. Our staff facilitates differentiated activities and lessons to highlight responsible transportation with our students t and have really stepped up this year to make responsible transportation a part of our school culture. Our LoES Street Team award our students with Eagle Wings for walking to school in a safe, responsible, and respectful manner monthly.
Our classroom teachers make tremendous efforts to go above and beyond the general curriculums in Science and Social Studies to extend and enhance students’ understanding of environmental issues and current “hot topics.” Teachers spend time planning and creating enriching lessons and activities that would engage students and support our efforts toward going green. Last year, our fourth and fifth grade teams created an elective course that meets bi-weekly to extend Science and Social Studies concepts and design and implement green initiatives throughout our school. Due to our staff's commendable efforts and the support of our fabulous PTA, our Soaring Eagles have gained in-depth knowledge of the environment, which will help them lead a green lifestyle here at school and at home.
As a Maryland Green School, Longfellow provides a comprehensive & integrated approach to authentic learning that uses the environment as a context for teaching and learning. Our Green Team represents a broad spectrum of our learning community involving school administrators, teachers, students, PTA members, facility personnel, and community partners. Our entire school community is proud of our Maryland Green School status and very excited about our "green" future! Our school’s application highlights only a small sample of the many wonderful activities and projects our students and staff have embarked upon during our Maryland Green School journey.
"Going green” has become part of our culture here at Longfellow and we have taken intentional steps this school year to follow our Longfellow Pledge and "be the best green school we can be." These intentional efforts are celebrated throughout the school year and during our Annual Green Week which was first celebrated during the 2013- 2014. Our application highlights several green activities that have been in place and ongoing projects that have become routine at our school, but we also have new and exciting activities that will undoubtedly become part of our school culture going forward. There is a great excitement and energy surrounding our Green Team once again this year. We have new staff members who have taken an active role in leading our green initiatives. Their efforts combined with our Green Team members who have been working for years to create a green culture reflect a collaborative effort among teachers, students, administration, parents, and community organizations. Our Green Team focused our efforts upon waste reduction, energy conservation, water conservation, and responsible transportation. Our committee collaborated to design innovative ways to design and implement activities and programs that would have the greatest impact upon our learning community.
The highlight of our waste reduction efforts focused on our overall recycling program in classrooms, the cafeteria, the front office, and the staff lounge. During the 2015-2016 school year our Green Team worked to institutionalize recycling at Longfellow. By working with community partners such as Home Depot we were able to place 56 new recycling bins throughout each and every classroom in our school. We are working to place three stream recycling stations throughout our building to support our in-school and community recycling efforts. Our Recycling Team collects paper recyclables semi-weekly from bins located in each classroom, office, and the staff lounge. We have also have a sustained partnership with TerraCycle to upcycle items such as e-waste, toner cartridges, juice boxes, glue sticks, writing instruments, and other waste into backpacks and public benches. In addition to our paper recycling efforts, our team collects recyclable bottles and cans in our staff lounge. We have been recycling used milk cartons daily for several years now.
To conserve energy, our school was very proud of the creation of our "Watt Watcher Team.” This group of students is responsible for reminding staff to turn off desktop computers and printers, and unplug overhead carts and projectors at the end of the school day, and especially before weekends. Our fifth grade Watt Watchers are working to conserve energy by creating light switch covers for all light switches throughout our school. This effort focuses on creating an improved awareness of energy conservation for our students and staff which will in turn decrease our energy usage and carbon footprint. Each Friday our PM Announcers remind our staff to power down and unplug their electronic devices over the weekend and extended breaks. We have also designated specific Fridays as our Copy-Free Fridays to power down our copiers and save paper.
Longfellow is dedicated to creating an awareness of water conservation. for our students Last Spring our fourth graders began learning about the history of farming in Howard County and explored how farming conservation practices, monitoring water/stream quality, planting of native species vs. exotic species, and composting can preserve and protect the local environment in a field trip entitled Our Environment in Our Hands. After the trip, our students put their knowledge in to practice and plan how they can increase water conservation practices at school and share what they learned with our school community. Additionally, we bought each staff member a reusable Longfellow Water bottle and started a Staff Water Club to reduce the amount of plastic bottles used throughout the school year by our staff. Our Water Conservation Team is doing research on facts and interesting statistics that they could include on their informative posters to promote water conservation awareness throughout our school. Students will spend time creating eye-catching and informative posters that will be placed in every Longfellow bathroom, above every fountain, and next to every classroom sink. Weekly walk throughs of the school will be made to make note of any changes in student and teacher behavior.
As a "walker" school Longfellow knows the importance of responsible transportation. Any student living within a mile of our school does not receive transportation and are zoned to walk to school. We embrace and celebrate our "walker" school designation as many of our students help lessen our carbon footprint each and every day by walking to school. We celebrate walking to school and provide all of our students the opportunity to walk to school twice per year during our Walk to School Celebrations. Each Walk to School Celebration highlights our green school efforts. Our staff facilitates differentiated activities and lessons to highlight responsible transportation with our students t and have really stepped up this year to make responsible transportation a part of our school culture. Our LoES Street Team award our students with Eagle Wings for walking to school in a safe, responsible, and respectful manner monthly.
Our classroom teachers make tremendous efforts to go above and beyond the general curriculums in Science and Social Studies to extend and enhance students’ understanding of environmental issues and current “hot topics.” Teachers spend time planning and creating enriching lessons and activities that would engage students and support our efforts toward going green. Last year, our fourth and fifth grade teams created an elective course that meets bi-weekly to extend Science and Social Studies concepts and design and implement green initiatives throughout our school. Due to our staff's commendable efforts and the support of our fabulous PTA, our Soaring Eagles have gained in-depth knowledge of the environment, which will help them lead a green lifestyle here at school and at home.