Environmental themes, concepts and green school projects are at the core of how staff and administration think about curriculum and building operations.

Examples:

Examples

1. Teachers are encouraged to attend green school workshops and training, including those that focus on environmental education, school gardens, STEM, renewable energy, etc.
2. Schools support teachers’ passions by paying for substitutes and registration fees for green school related PD conferences.
3. Some school-wide training is offered on topics supporting green school projects.
4. Teachers are strongly encouraged to develop their own personal green school strategies through attending professional development programs. 
5. Staff attends workshops that enhance their knowledge of green initiatives, community building and other green school topics.
6. Training to prepare and support teachers for green school projects is provided and coordinated at the whole school level.

Resources

• What is Education for Sustainability? webinar series by The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education
• Center for Ecoliteracy: Essential principles and practical tools for lasting positive change
• National Park Service Workshops for Teachers 

Schoolyard enhancements maximize the students’ opportunity to interact with nature and to understand the wonder and science within the world around them.

Examples:

1. A third grade class plays a recycling relay race,
2. One or more teachers use outdoor school areas several times a year as part of the curriculum.
3. Faculty and students implement ongoing instruction using the school grounds.
4. Schools regularly employ out door classrooms as additional learning spaces.
5. The playground contains activities that engage the students with the natural landscape.
6. Students take an active role in the design and maintenance of school grounds. 
7. The school has a nature path that provides a learning opportunity for students.

Resources:

• Teacher Resources Cradle of Forestry Interpretive Association 
• NCSU Natural Learning Initiative Publications
• Moving the Classroom Outdoors– Herb Broda
• Take a Child Outside Activities – NC Museum of Natural Sciences
• Playgrounds with nature in mind: Enhancement and Design (in Asheville): Mary Weber, Landscape Architect

Gardens and farming relationships are developed to connect students with an understanding of and appreciation for where food and flowers comes from. 

Examples:

1. Curriculum includes information about where food comes from and engages students in growing plants within at least one classroom. 
2. Students are engaged in growing plants from seed.
3. Students create mini greenhouses to learn about seed development.
4. Students learn about the local food economy.
5. Students create posters or other art projects about the life cycles of plants.
6. One or more classrooms integrate food lifecycle curriculum and engage students in growing plants from seed for themselves and the community. 
7. Students grow plants to sell at a “plant sale” fundraiser or to take home.
8. Students interview their older relatives and community members to learn more about traditional connections with gardening and food production.
9. One or more classrooms join together to create a school garden that engages multiple areas of the curriculum.
10. Students create art for the garden from recycled items or from the plants themselves, i.e. sunflower tepee.
11. Students map their local food shed to better understand where the food they eat comes from.
12. School curriculum actively engages students the  design, creation and maintenance of the school gardens and shares the fruits of their knowledge with the community.
13. Students collaborate with staff and community to design a school garden where they grow food for the local food bank.
14. Students operate a booth at the local farmer’s market where they sell produce from their school garden.
15. Students engage with local farmers in service learning projects.

Garden and Farm Connection Curriculum

• Make a mini-greenhouse -grade level K-3- Center for Ecoliteracy (CoE)
• Curriculum for Growing Minds
• Searchable curriculum resources from the Edible School Yard

Garden and Farm Connection Resources and Tools

• Growing Minds Farm to Schools Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP)
• Appalachian Food Story Bank– Slow Foods
• Edible School Yard Project
• Tips to Gardening with Students – ASAP
• Keyhole Garden Design
• Bag Garden Designs 
• WCPSS Edible School Garden Resources

Learn Schoolyard Ecology Workshop Materials from 7/18/16 Learning Event:

• Shannon Carroll’s Schoolyard Ecology powerpoint
• Schoolyard Ecology Resources (PDF attached)
• Lettuce Learn garden stations

The indoor air quality of the school is an important factor in the health and well-being of all occupants.

Developing good habits of nutrition is a fundamental life skill that schools can help build and support.

Examples:

1. Teacher invites a local chef to prepare a dish for and with the students.
2. Students are exposed to new foods and fresh produce through food tasting and projects.
3. Your school’s wellness policy sets guidelines on the foods and drinks that students bring from home.
4. Foods from outside food establishments are limited or prevented unless it is a classroom event or celebration.
5. Healthy snack and lunch ideas are provided to parents with handouts and in the school publications.
6. Students explore nutritional values of food and nutrition lost in processing as an integrated STEM project.
7. The school has a policy that no carbonated drinks we be allowed on campus except for events or celebrations.
8. Food related classroom rewards are limited or prohibited.
9. The students participate in developing a Healthy Lunch Day or event.
10. Field trips to local farms, small food producers and farmer markets are a regular part of the school programming.
11. Students are engaged in food production as a regular part of the curriculum
12. Students prepare a meal from local foods for a school celebration and for community partners.
13. A food fair where students share multi-disciplinary projects they’ve created about food is held and open to the community.

Whole Nutrition Curriculum

• Food Inc, Discussion Guide and materials – Center for Eco-literacy
• Nourish: Food and Community Middle School Curriculum

Whole Nutrition Resources and Tools

• North Carolina Action for Healthy Kids offers a variety of resources to support whole nutrition in schools
• Every Tray Counts – Working towards a sustainable lunchroom

High standards for nutrition, fitness and outdoor quality time have a positive impact on the health of the students.

Energy conservation behaviors related specifically to electricity use are relatively easy practices to implement and have an enormous impact on the environment.

Examples: 

1. Administration reviews school energy practices to determine areas for energy conservation.
2. Energy conservation goals are set at a school level.
3. Energy management is an integral part of the school’s planning policies.
4. School energy use and associated costs savings are bench marked, analyzed, and documented presented to school community on a regular basis.

Resources:

Energy Curriculum and Educational Resources

• US Green Building Council Center for Green Schools, NC Chapter Environmental Stewardship Challenge – receive seed money and a mentor and participate in one or more categories to make your school more sustainable! (Mentors available in most counties)
• Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Kids Home Page  Grades 6-8
• Build a Solar Oven – NASA (7th-9th grade)
• Dept of Energy searchable K-12 Energy Curriculum Site
• Energy Star Kids Interactive Website
• DOE Open Energy Information Wiki
• DOE Energy Basics site
• What you need to Know about Energy from the National Academies
• Appalachian State University Energy Center (K-12)

Energy Efficiency Support

• High Performance Schools Guidelines NC Dept of Public Instruction
• DOE Guide to Operating EnergySmart Schools
• EPA Guidelines for Energy Management Overview
• DOE Wind for Schools Project
• DOE Facility Energy Decision System

Carla Ramsdell’s Renewable Energy Workshop PowerPoints from 7/18/16 Learning Event:

• Electricity- Climate- Renewables
• Solar Cooking

Innovations will be open-ended and will allow schools to document what new initiatives the school is trying to go above and beyond in becoming a EnviroSmart School. 

Don’t miss out on these grants for teachers and schools!

• Funding opportunities aggregated by the NC Office of Environmental Education

• Caldwell Green Commission Green Scholars Program