The Environment In Our Schools
Schools are very important to the City of Falls Church, and there are several environmental programs that help teach our children the importance of protecting our natural resources, as well as ensuring that our school provides a safe environment for our children. The links below describe the environmental programs currently in City schools and some possibilities for the future.
Education Task Group Programs
"Green" Schools
Virginia Standards of Learning
Other Programs / Possibilities for the Future
Links to More Information
Education Task Group Programs
The Education Task Group of the City of Falls Church Environmental Services Council is tasked with designing, facilitating, and administering several community-based environmental programs. Currently, the programs include:
- Operation EarthWatch - An environmental action program for Mt. Daniel and Thomas Jefferson Elementary Schools (K-5th grade) and St. James School (K-6th grade). This program, now in its 11th year, engages children in everyday activities that can be performed at home that help the environment. Operation EarthWatch receives financial support from several Falls Church area businesses.
- Ecology Club - An after-school club at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School. This club takes on projects that encourage children to care for the environment around them. Recent projects completed by the Ecology Club include rain gardens along Tripps Run near the school, as well as a butterfly garden near the school's parking lot. The gardens are incorporated into the curriculum of many classes at the school.
- Outdoor Classrooms - The Mt. Daniel Outdoor Classroom provides an outdoor learning space that teachers use to observe the natural areas around the school. There are also planting beds in which students complete planting projects. The Education Task Group is also exploring the possibilities of an Outdoor Classroom at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School. Examples of what can be achieved with an outdoor classroom is Arlington's Tuckahoe Elementary School Discovery Schoolyard and Roots and Shoots (Lexington, Virginia). These types of project are achievable in the City of Falls Church, with support and involvement from parents, administrators, and teachers. Contact us for information on how you can get involved with outdoor classrooms and schoolyard habitats in the City's schools.
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"Green" Schools
The City is almost finished building its first new school in 50 years. A new school was the City's opportunity to join the hundreds of other school districts across the country to design and build a school that is environmentally responsible and safe for our children. In January 2003, a Green Schools Committee was formed to study ways that the new school could become a "Certified Green" school. The committee worked with the School Board and City Council to determine the Green School possibilities. Although the School Board did not decide to pursue Certified Green status in the building of the new school, there will be several "green" features of the new school.
Whether or not the new middle school is "Certified Green", it's clear that our schools need to provide safe, healthy environments for students. A national non-profit organization based in Falls Church, called the
Center for Health, Environment, and Justice (CHEJ), administers a program called
Green Flag Schools. This program provides a certification program that engages students, parents, teachers, and school maintenance supervisors in ensuring that a school is environmentally safe in several areas. See the
Green Flag Schools website for more information on the program and to learn the steps for initiating the program at a school. If you need help getting started, feel free to
contact us or, of course, CHEJ's
Green Flag Schools coordinator.
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Clean School Bus Initiative in Falls Church City?
Ecxcessive and/or unnecessary idling of diesel school buses is one of the things that clean school bus programs by the
Center for Health, Environment
and Justice, the
Union of Concerned Scientists, and other groups are trying to stop.
When a school bus is idling, the kids sitting in the back get all the fumes, which is not good, especially for kids with
asthma. Also, buses idling close to the school building or close to the HVAC system can cause fumes to enter buildings. Many school systems have
"no idling" policies that bus drivers must adhere to. Falls Church City Schools
does not currently have an anti-idling
policy for school buses.
Here are some links where you can read more about the national campaign for clean school buses:
EPA Clean School Bus Initiative
EPA Sample Anti-Idling Policy for Schools
Union of Concerned Scientists Clean School Buses, Healthy Kids
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Childhood Development and Toxins
Read about
Childhood Development and Toxins provided by City of Falls Church parent and child development specialist Rebecca Weissman.
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Other School Programs / Future Possibilities
There are many other ways that City schools incorporate the environment into the daily curriculum. To start, there could be formal Schoolyard Habitats at each of our schools -- including the middle and high schools. The Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) include specific requirements in areas such as natural life cycles and the environment. Parents, teachers, and administrators around the country have already discovered the use of outdoor learning spaces as effective tools for teaching these standards.
Several field trips already highlight the importance of the environment (for example, the first grade field trip to the Fairfax County Transfer Station), and teachers take children on nature walks. Thomas Jefferson Elementary's proximity to Tripps Run provides excellent opportunities for water quality monitoring projects.
Don't forget to visit local
nature centers regularly! There are several excellent ones in Northern Virginia, with programs for all age groups!
Links to More Information / Further Reading
Websites:
National Wildlife Federation Schoolyard Habitat Program
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Schoolyard Habitat Program
Stratford Landing ES Study of Northern Virginia Ecology
kidsgardening.com
Journey North
Classroom Feeder Watch
Monarch Watch
Learning Through Landscapes
Virginia Standards of Learning
Books:
book one
book two
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