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Utah Green Schools Portfolio. Mill Creek Elementary. Green Team. Mission Statement.
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Utah Green Schools Portfolio Mill Creek Elementary
Mission Statement 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.
Green Team Mill Creek’s Green Team is comprised of 42 students from grades 4-6. The team is led by Elise Maxwell, 6th-grade student teacher, and Collette Hayes, 6th-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 members • Faculty/Staff/Community Members • Allison Banks, Principal • Thomas Redd, School Computer Specialist • Elise Maxwell, 6th-grade student teacher • Collette Hayes, 6th-grade teacher • Kailie Nelson, 4th-grade teacher • Amy Koehler, 4th-grade teacher • Amanda Sorensen, 5th-grade teacher • Dean Springmeyer, 5th/6th-grade teacher • Kelly Kitchen, 4th-grade teacher • Cheryl Baker, 1st-3rd-grade Utah School for the Deaf Teacher • Megan Rakow, 2nd-6th-grade Utah School for the Deaf Teacher • Crystal Newman, parent of two Mill Creek students • Joy Jones, school custodian • 41 Student Members • 32 sixth-grade students • 5 fifth-grade students • 4 fourth-grade students
Sustainable Facilities Pillar 1
Water Use Campaign 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.
Sustainable Practices Pillar 2
Walk to School Campaign • Our Green Team launched a Walk to School Campaign. We set up a “Green Board” to reflect the current theme. On this board, each footstep shows an alternate mode of transportation. 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 it was important. • We then had a two-week long school-wide competition. 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 verified by a parent signature) was invited to a special after-school party.
School-Wide Recycling 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.
Community Involvement Pillar 3
5th-Grade: Mosquitos 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.
UMOCA Art Truck • 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.
Environmental Curriculum Pillar 4
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.
Environmental education Kindergarten First Grade Mrs. 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. Ms. 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.
Environmental education Second Grade Third Grade Our 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. Mill 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.
Environmental education Fourth Grade Sixth Grade Sixth-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. 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 lights and projectors, turning down their thermostats and encouraging their students to walk or bike to school.
