Welcome to Mount View's Green Website!
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The Butterflies Have Arrived!
#1: August 20, 2017: Female: Name TBD DID YOU KNOW? Monarch butterflies migrate from Central Mexico to as far north as Canada, stopping in Maryland during one of their migratory routes. While monarchs can nectar (feed) on any flowering plant, they can ONLY lay their eggs on milkweed. The popular butterfly bush sold in many stories IS NOT butterfly weed. Butterfly bush is a great plant for butterflies to nectar on, but it does not help them lay their eggs! We need gardeners to plant butterfly weed and bring back the Monarch butterfly’s breeding grounds. Did you buy milkweed at our spring sale? Did butterflies visit your plant(s)? If so, send a picture to Mrs. Mako at susan_mako@hcpss.org. |
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Welcome to the 2017-2018 school year! The goals for our Green School Program this year are:
- to formalize our partnership with ORP and incorporate the data from our program into 6th grade science lessons
- to finish designing and planting our educational native plant garden
- to improve our recycling efforts in the cafeteria
- to develop the Clothing To Cash program as a way to minimize waste and raise money for our PTA
What Makes Mount View A Green School?
In April of 2011, Mount View became a Certified Maryland Green School! This extensive application process requires schools to integrate environmental lessons into current curriculum, to establish environmental management practices on school grounds, and to coordinate (and celebrate!) efforts with the entire community. We are very proud of our certification and of all of the environmental efforts of Mount View's students. You can learn about our application HERE and you can learn more about the Maryland Green School program HERE.
The 2011-2012 school year was an exciting one for us as we ensured the sustainability of our initiatives and expanded our programs. We built a new CORE Green Team to plan and run environmental initiatives, we established our Green School website, we published monthly GreenPoint newsletters, we co-planned a successful Eco Fest with Marriotts Ridge High School, we created a morning store for the sale of eco pencils and lead, we sponsored our first school-wide Green Field Day (with our first slime event), and we organized our 1234 Fundraiser to purchase benches and planters made with recycled content. It was a busy year!
The 2012-2013 school year we received a grant from NCTAF (The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future) to engage our students in collaborative scientific explorations that answer the question, “What is the connection between human activity and the health of the environment?” Throughout the year, all students answered this banner question by conducting scientific experiments guided by NASA scientists and by engaging in inquiry-based learning projects in the classroom.
Beyond this exciting endeavor, our green programs were in a year of transition as we adapted our initiatives to fit within the new middle school schedule. We expanded our Green Field Day into a school-wide charity event, our environmental club added a new native plant garden, and our Green Seminar added 2 green walls to our cafeteria.
The 2013-2014 school year brought us a chance to solidify new traditions and partnerships. We designed and implemented a full week of activities for America Recycles Day in November, expanded our Nike Reuse a Shoe program to a year round program, created an upcycling craft event for the holidays, and expanded our Falcon Time Green Team to include more recycling and preparation for school celebrations. Our NCTAF grant continued with visits from NASA scientists, an assembly about climate change, and new research projects conducted by students. Finally, our Green Field Day student committee created our very successful BOB (Bringin' Oysters Back) campaign which brought oyster lessons to all students and raised $5300 for The Oyster Recovery Partnership!
In the 2014-2015 school year , we were pleased to be re-certified as a Maryland Green School! Our student Eco Leadership Team audited our school's environmental footprint and did a wonderful job preparing our MD Green School re-certification application. Click HERE to see it! Our newly restructured Green Team and Environmental Club continued to sponsor school traditions like eco-crafting and America Recycles Day. They also created a school REstore that is open twice a week for students to get free school supplies salvaged during locker cleanouts, sponsored a recycling Q and A with Howard County's Recycling Department, and prepared a successful strawberry plant give away for Earth Day, among many other things! Service learning projects also contained environmental initiatives. Our 6th graders created new forestland on our school grounds through the Students Branching Out Program, our 7th graders raised $1300 for the Coral Restoration Foundation and ran educational games about coral reefs at the West Friendship Elementary School Spring Carnival, and our 8th graders advocated for everyone to save energy. It was a busy year!
In the 2015-2016 school year, we added more opportunities for our students and their families to participate in "citizen scientist" projects. French and Spanish classes began a new program to raise and release monarch butterflies, and our Green Team offered a school-wide sale of milkweed plants thanks to the help of Sun Nurseries. We also expanded our relationship with ORP by developing a new Oyster Gardening program that allows our families and staff to help raise oysters at the Annapolis Maritime Museum. And our Green clubs and staff committee successfully incorporated green STEM activities into our school's Falcon Days, creating murals, all natural lip balm, honeybee trivia games, and eco friendly crafts.
In the 2016-2017 school year, we increased participation in our Oyster Gardening program, adding 3 more cages to the dock at Annapolis Maritime Museum, sponsoring educational BOB events (Bringin' Oysters Back) for students, and helping ORP launch their first trivia night in Howard County. Our monarch butterfly program continued to grow, and we were able to establish a Clothing To Cash bin to reduce our waste. Our Environmental Leadership Team successfully ran events for America Recycles Day, Earth Hour, and Earth day, including a fair-trade chocolate tasting, honeybee trivia event, and a strawberry plant give away. We revived our native plant gardens thanks to free plants and money from the National Wildlife Federation and the Subaru Loves The Earth Campaign. And we had our first group of students participate in the G/T Environmental Film seminar and its film festival in Silver Spring.
The 2011-2012 school year was an exciting one for us as we ensured the sustainability of our initiatives and expanded our programs. We built a new CORE Green Team to plan and run environmental initiatives, we established our Green School website, we published monthly GreenPoint newsletters, we co-planned a successful Eco Fest with Marriotts Ridge High School, we created a morning store for the sale of eco pencils and lead, we sponsored our first school-wide Green Field Day (with our first slime event), and we organized our 1234 Fundraiser to purchase benches and planters made with recycled content. It was a busy year!
The 2012-2013 school year we received a grant from NCTAF (The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future) to engage our students in collaborative scientific explorations that answer the question, “What is the connection between human activity and the health of the environment?” Throughout the year, all students answered this banner question by conducting scientific experiments guided by NASA scientists and by engaging in inquiry-based learning projects in the classroom.
Beyond this exciting endeavor, our green programs were in a year of transition as we adapted our initiatives to fit within the new middle school schedule. We expanded our Green Field Day into a school-wide charity event, our environmental club added a new native plant garden, and our Green Seminar added 2 green walls to our cafeteria.
The 2013-2014 school year brought us a chance to solidify new traditions and partnerships. We designed and implemented a full week of activities for America Recycles Day in November, expanded our Nike Reuse a Shoe program to a year round program, created an upcycling craft event for the holidays, and expanded our Falcon Time Green Team to include more recycling and preparation for school celebrations. Our NCTAF grant continued with visits from NASA scientists, an assembly about climate change, and new research projects conducted by students. Finally, our Green Field Day student committee created our very successful BOB (Bringin' Oysters Back) campaign which brought oyster lessons to all students and raised $5300 for The Oyster Recovery Partnership!
In the 2014-2015 school year , we were pleased to be re-certified as a Maryland Green School! Our student Eco Leadership Team audited our school's environmental footprint and did a wonderful job preparing our MD Green School re-certification application. Click HERE to see it! Our newly restructured Green Team and Environmental Club continued to sponsor school traditions like eco-crafting and America Recycles Day. They also created a school REstore that is open twice a week for students to get free school supplies salvaged during locker cleanouts, sponsored a recycling Q and A with Howard County's Recycling Department, and prepared a successful strawberry plant give away for Earth Day, among many other things! Service learning projects also contained environmental initiatives. Our 6th graders created new forestland on our school grounds through the Students Branching Out Program, our 7th graders raised $1300 for the Coral Restoration Foundation and ran educational games about coral reefs at the West Friendship Elementary School Spring Carnival, and our 8th graders advocated for everyone to save energy. It was a busy year!
In the 2015-2016 school year, we added more opportunities for our students and their families to participate in "citizen scientist" projects. French and Spanish classes began a new program to raise and release monarch butterflies, and our Green Team offered a school-wide sale of milkweed plants thanks to the help of Sun Nurseries. We also expanded our relationship with ORP by developing a new Oyster Gardening program that allows our families and staff to help raise oysters at the Annapolis Maritime Museum. And our Green clubs and staff committee successfully incorporated green STEM activities into our school's Falcon Days, creating murals, all natural lip balm, honeybee trivia games, and eco friendly crafts.
In the 2016-2017 school year, we increased participation in our Oyster Gardening program, adding 3 more cages to the dock at Annapolis Maritime Museum, sponsoring educational BOB events (Bringin' Oysters Back) for students, and helping ORP launch their first trivia night in Howard County. Our monarch butterfly program continued to grow, and we were able to establish a Clothing To Cash bin to reduce our waste. Our Environmental Leadership Team successfully ran events for America Recycles Day, Earth Hour, and Earth day, including a fair-trade chocolate tasting, honeybee trivia event, and a strawberry plant give away. We revived our native plant gardens thanks to free plants and money from the National Wildlife Federation and the Subaru Loves The Earth Campaign. And we had our first group of students participate in the G/T Environmental Film seminar and its film festival in Silver Spring.
