Mill Creek Elementary

UTAH GREEN SCHOOLS PORTFOLIO

GREEN TEAM

Mill Creek Elementary School is striving to reduce our environmental impact. We are working to incorporate sustainable practices into our daily procedures while integrating environmental awareness into our state curriculum instruction. To this end, the student leadership team (Green Team) will start a recycling program and a school-wide educational program. Each week, the Green Team will collect recycling from each room encourage continued recycling. Every two weeks, the Green Team will agree on a green theme. They will update the designated bulletin board to reflect information around that theme. They will write statements to be read during morning announcements to make the entire school aware of the campaign. A group of students from the Green Team will create, film, and edit a newscast that can be shown in each classroom to explain the theme. They will also determine a school-wide competition that will encourage students to be more environmentally aware and friendly under that theme. Participation will be incentivized. Themes will include walking to school, reducing water usage, reducing electricity waste, etc.

MISSION STATEMENT

Mill Creek’s Green Team is comprised of 42 students from grades 4-6. The team is led by Elise Maxwell, 6 th-grade student teacher, and Collette Hayes, 6 th-grade teacher. The team meets every Friday from 10:30-11:00 and after school as necessary. After-school meetings are typically every-other week for 90 minutes.

GREEN TEAM

41 Student Members 32 sixth-grade

students 5 fifth-grade

students 4 fourth-grade

students

Faculty/Staff/Community Members Allison Banks, Principal Thomas Redd, School Computer

Specialist Elise Maxwell, 6 th-grade student

teacher Collette Hayes, 6 th-grade teacher Kailie Nelson, 4 th-grade teacher Amy Koehler, 4 th-grade teacher Amanda Sorensen, 5 th-grade teacher Dean Springmeyer, 5 th/6 th-grade

teacher Kelly Kitchen, 4 th-grade teacher Cheryl Baker, 1 s t-3 rd-grade Utah

School for the Deaf Teacher Megan Rakow, 2nd-6 th-grade Utah

School for the Deaf Teacher Crystal Newman, parent of two Mill

Creek students Joy Jones, school custodian

GREEN TEAM MEMBERS

Date Content1/28/14 Introduction to Environmental

Awareness: Why do we care?2/7/14 Re-evaluating Recycling Program2/21/14 Design Walk to School Bulletin

Board2/24/14 Launch Walk to School

Competition3/7/14 Plan Walk to School

Reward/Reevaluate Publicity3/10/14 Design Water Conservation

Bulletin Board3/14/14 Design Posters for Water

Conservation/Energy Conservation Campaigns

MEETING MINUTES

Pillar 1SUSTAINABLE FACILITIES

Green Team students were asked by the faculty and staff at Mill Creek to help reduce water use in the school bathrooms. The Green Team decided to design and post posters in all the bathrooms to remind students to turn off the water. Our Green Board was also dedicated to the theme of water conservation. Each rain drop has a way to conserve water. The stars have facts about water use in the US.

WATER USE CAMPAIGN

Pillar 2SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES

Our Green Team launched a Walk to School Campaign. We set up a “Green Board” to reflect the current theme. On th is board, each footstep shows an a lternate mode of transportat ion. Each heart shows a reason why we should walk, carpool, or take the bus to school.

Morning announcements included a reminder to walk to school and why i t was important.

We then had a two-week long school -wide competi t ion. Students were asked to record how many of the 10 school days they walked or carpooled to school. Any student who completed more than 5 days (as ver ified by a parent s ignature) was invited to a specia l a fter-school party.

WALK TO SCHOOL CAMPAIGN

Mill Creek has a long-standing tradition of recycling all paper goods. Each classroom has a recycling bin for paper. All upper-grade students take turns collecting recycling weekly. Many students have commented to their teachers that this has made them start recycling at home as well.

SCHOOL-WIDE RECYCLING

Pillar 3COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

The fifth grade was visited by Greg Jensen from Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District. They learned about the life cycle of a mosquito, dangers they pose, illnesses they spread, and the environmental impact of mosquitos and mosquito abatement.

5TH-GRADE: MOSQUITOS

Mill Creek was visited by the Art Truck from UMOCA. This year’s artist, Calder Kamin, focuses on how animals have adapted to live in urban environments. Students learned about the relationship between human developments and animal livelihood. They then created paper decals to help birds from running into the school windows.

UMOCA ART TRUCK

Pillar 4ENVIRONMENTAL CURRICULUM

SCHOOL-WIDE ARBOR DAY POSTER COMPETITION

Students across Mill Creek Elementary were invited to participate in Utah Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands’s Arbor Day Poster Competition. Students created posters with the theme “Trees Are Terrific From Mountain Peaks to Desert Valleys.” These posters are now on display throughout the school.

KindergartenMs. Nichol’s and Mrs. Jenkin’s classes are working on not wasting any paper. They make sure every piece of paper is written on both sides before it’s recycled. They have talked about why it’s important to use paper as much as you can and then recycle it when you’re done.

First GradeMrs. Blachley and Mrs. Graham have been encouraging the entire grade to recycle their used papers. They also planted seeds to have a classroom garden that would give them more oxygen.

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Second GradeMill Creek has three second-grade teachers, Mrs. Lowe, Mrs. Bello, and Mrs. Barrett. We also have a student teacher, Mrs. Nichols. As part of the core, they teach their students about how to be responsible citizens. They include instruction on recycling, conserving water, and not being wasteful in their supply use.

Third GradeOur third-grade teachers, Mrs. Jenson and Ms. Smith, reinforce the second-grade habit of recycling. The state core requires that third-graders learn about habitats and animals. Our teachers integrate learning about the human impact on these habitats and animals in their instruction.

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Fourth Grade Our fourth grade teachers (Mrs. Koehler, Ms. Kitchen, and Mrs. Nelson) have been working hard to make their students environmentally aware. Their students have had several lessons about the human impact on global warming, water sheds, and the importance of recycling. All year, their class has focused on recycling waste in their classroom, conserving and reusing school supplies, turning off the l ights and projectors, turning down their thermostats and encouraging their students to walk or bike to school.

Sixth GradeSixth-grade teachers include Mrs. Hayes and Mr. Springmeyer, as well as a student teacher, Ms. Maxwell. Sixth-grade core has a huge emphasis on ecology. As part of this instruction, the sixth-grade team included student-led discovery of human impact on a variety of environments, with a specific emphasis on plastics.

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION