My cover photo shows Jamestown School yesterday. The Weeping Cherry Tree and Vegetable Beds are still under their blanket of snow! In the background, you see the big Willow Oak tree that is at the heart of the school's courtyard, and creates a wonderful shady place for classes to gather on hot summer days!
Green STEM Learning Report Year 2015 by Mary Van Dyke from Mary Van Dyke
This spring and summer at Jamestown School, I'll work on some of the projects highlighted in the report. While the snow is melting, it's a good time for me to meet with teachers to plan the vegetable gardens, native gardens and student outdoor projects.
And for Meridian Homeschool Club this spring, I'll continue working with the older students on their year-long Earth Force/Caring for Our Watershed civic engagement project. A couple of weeks ago, we went outside and measured the trees at the church where we meet. Then we calculated the ecosystem services the trees provide with i-Tree Design. We also identified the invasive plants on the property: there's lots of English Ivy and Bush Honeysuckle. Next stage, the students are making a video for the church congregation and our partner schools in NM and PA. I don't yet know what the students will come up with as a solution to the issues they are finding, as the project is student-directed and we have a few months to go!
Other projects for 2016, include my continued volunteer advocacy for enhancing sustainability and outdoor learning coordination within the Arlington Public Schools.
Want to help with advocacy in the meantime?
Mary Van Dyke, works part-time for Jamestown Elementary School PTA
This spring and summer at Jamestown School, I'll work on some of the projects highlighted in the report. While the snow is melting, it's a good time for me to meet with teachers to plan the vegetable gardens, native gardens and student outdoor projects.
And for Meridian Homeschool Club this spring, I'll continue working with the older students on their year-long Earth Force/Caring for Our Watershed civic engagement project. A couple of weeks ago, we went outside and measured the trees at the church where we meet. Then we calculated the ecosystem services the trees provide with i-Tree Design. We also identified the invasive plants on the property: there's lots of English Ivy and Bush Honeysuckle. Next stage, the students are making a video for the church congregation and our partner schools in NM and PA. I don't yet know what the students will come up with as a solution to the issues they are finding, as the project is student-directed and we have a few months to go!
Other projects for 2016, include my continued volunteer advocacy for enhancing sustainability and outdoor learning coordination within the Arlington Public Schools.
- Why not invite the APS School Board to fund an Environmental Literacy Coordinator position? I spent a couple of snow days this week making an aspirational pitch deck for the job - as if the School Board had funded the position. So stay tuned!
Want to help with advocacy in the meantime?
- Please do write to the APS School Board school.board@apsva.us with your comments in support of the APS Science Advisory Committee recommendations that include for cultivating integrative learning and also funding a Sustainability and Outdoor Learning Coordinator position.
- A Sustainability and Outdoor Learning Coordinator (aka an Environmental Literacy Coordinator) as recommended by the Science Advisory Committee could help to more effectively evaluate programs, and share standards-aligned curricula and best practices through a collaborative and integrative approach that facilitates more creative problem-solving opportunities for students outdoors!
- There's other priorities for the School Board, including the capacity issues and needing more seats for students.
- So now's the time to ask for a balanced budget to include for this sustainability and outdoor learning coordinator position.
Mary Van Dyke, works part-time for Jamestown Elementary School PTA
as Visiting Horticulturalist, and as a volunteer she has interests in coordinating outdoor learning for schools in Arlington.
Mary serves on the APS Science Advisory Committee,
the APS Superintendent's Advisory Committee on Sustainability
and the Advisory Committee of NoVA Outside,
a regional alliance of environmental educators.
All opinions expressed in this article are the author's own.
the APS Superintendent's Advisory Committee on Sustainability
and the Advisory Committee of NoVA Outside,
a regional alliance of environmental educators.
All opinions expressed in this article are the author's own.
