Structures for Environmental Learning
Riderwood's Green Team has undertaken several structural projects that enhance environmental learning at the school. Below is a summary list followed by additional details:
Riderwood's Green Team has undertaken several structural projects that enhance environmental learning at the school. Below is a summary list followed by additional details:
- "Kinder-garden" Native Plant Nature Trail
- Outdoor Classroom
- Vegetable Gardens Grown by Students
- Interpretive Signs in Schoolyard Habitat
- Interpretive Signs in "Kinder Garden"
"Kinder Garden" Native Plant Nature Trail
Grades: All
Number of Students: Approximately 20 per Garden Workday, entire school community enjoys it!
Date: Installed Spring 2013
The Riderwood Green Team has transformed an overgrown, neglected courtyard in front of the school into a native plant nature trail called the "Kinder Garden." Filled with a variety of native perennial flowers, grasses, and shrubs, the "Kinder Garden" is located in an area where parents and siblings linger to pick up their kindergarteners at dismissal time, so it's enjoyed by families as well as students.
Designed by Green Team parent volunteer Diana Molavi, the garden was installed during two Garden Workdays in the spring of 2013. Students, parents, and teachers spent hours tearing out a thick layer of overgrown liriope and thistle, amended the soil with a truckload of compost, then added native plants and mulch. All plants were donated by local nurseries (see Community Partnerships) and include the following, as recommended by Native Plants for Wildlife and Habitat Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) and naturalists from Cromwell Valley Park:
Shrubs: Buttonbush, Spicebush, Witchhazel
Ferns: Cinnamon Fern, Christmas Fern
Perennials: Black-eyed Susan
Grasses: Bottlebrush, Little Bluestem
The environmental education possibilities are endless: written guides about each plant grouping are posted on the windows, with descriptions of the plants throughout the seasons and information about their benefits to native wildlife. (See Interpretive Signs below.) To ensure the "Kinder Garden" is utilized as a learning tool to its full potential, all teachers will tour the garden with two Green Team members on April 7, 2014, with open discussion about incorporating the garden into current curricula about pollination, botany, insects, water conservation, and other topics. (See Professional Development.) Currently, families maintain the "Kinder Garden" at Garden Workdays during the school year and on a rotating basis over the summers; however, now that the garden is established, homerooms will be able to assume watering duties.
We didn't think to take any pictures when the "Kinder Garden" looked gorgeous in early fall 2013, but it really is an eye-catching statement that Riderwood cares about the environment!
Grades: All
Number of Students: Approximately 20 per Garden Workday, entire school community enjoys it!
Date: Installed Spring 2013
The Riderwood Green Team has transformed an overgrown, neglected courtyard in front of the school into a native plant nature trail called the "Kinder Garden." Filled with a variety of native perennial flowers, grasses, and shrubs, the "Kinder Garden" is located in an area where parents and siblings linger to pick up their kindergarteners at dismissal time, so it's enjoyed by families as well as students.
Designed by Green Team parent volunteer Diana Molavi, the garden was installed during two Garden Workdays in the spring of 2013. Students, parents, and teachers spent hours tearing out a thick layer of overgrown liriope and thistle, amended the soil with a truckload of compost, then added native plants and mulch. All plants were donated by local nurseries (see Community Partnerships) and include the following, as recommended by Native Plants for Wildlife and Habitat Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) and naturalists from Cromwell Valley Park:
Shrubs: Buttonbush, Spicebush, Witchhazel
Ferns: Cinnamon Fern, Christmas Fern
Perennials: Black-eyed Susan
Grasses: Bottlebrush, Little Bluestem
The environmental education possibilities are endless: written guides about each plant grouping are posted on the windows, with descriptions of the plants throughout the seasons and information about their benefits to native wildlife. (See Interpretive Signs below.) To ensure the "Kinder Garden" is utilized as a learning tool to its full potential, all teachers will tour the garden with two Green Team members on April 7, 2014, with open discussion about incorporating the garden into current curricula about pollination, botany, insects, water conservation, and other topics. (See Professional Development.) Currently, families maintain the "Kinder Garden" at Garden Workdays during the school year and on a rotating basis over the summers; however, now that the garden is established, homerooms will be able to assume watering duties.
We didn't think to take any pictures when the "Kinder Garden" looked gorgeous in early fall 2013, but it really is an eye-catching statement that Riderwood cares about the environment!
Outdoor Classroom
Grades: All
Number of Students: 2 helped decide on a design, approximately 20 will help build, entire school will enjoy it!
Date: Spring 2014
To add even more opportunities for outside environmental education, the Green Team submitted a proposal to construct an outdoor classroom near the school yard habitat. The proposal has been approved by the principal and assistant superintendent and we are now awaiting final sign-off from the County Office of Physical Facilities. We anticpate constructing the classroom in April or May 2014.
Click below for a copy of the proposal:
/uploads/1/8/1/3/18132917/gs_install_outdoor_classroom.doc
Designed by Green Team parent volunteers Rameen and Diana Molavi and Greg Hines of Monocacy Builders, the classroom will consist of 2 rows of 3 benches each, set at a diagonal with a walking path between. A teacher's podium will face the benches, which will accommodate approximately 40 children.
The design is based on the outdoor classrooms at Pot Spring, Pinewood, and Padonia Elementary schools. Two Green Team parents and two students toured four other schools, took pictures, and discussed which design would work best for Riderwood's location. Student input was essential, especially when considering the height and comfort of various benches!
We will build the classroom on a weekend Garden Work Day, to which all students and families will be invited. Mr. Hines, the parent of a kindergartener, is donating all the materials for the podium and will assemble the pieces with the kindergarten class. The Green Team raised some of the money necessary for the classroom materials through their Sponsor-a-Split-Rail fundraiser (see Community Partnerships), with the rest being generously provided by the PTA.
From the benches, students will look out over our restored schoolyard habitat which contains a monarch waystation and Baltimore checkerspot habitat, and will be surrounded by a row of native trees including white ash, viburnum, cherry, pin oak, and bradford pear. Researching and labeling these trees could be a future project for a class. Or maybe a study on soil erosion in the area. Or perhaps an examination of insect and bird life in the habitat compared to the grass to show the benefits of native plants. Or writing in nature journals. Or sketching for art class. There are so many possibilities across all subject areas, and many teachers have approached the Green Team to say how excited they are about this classroom!
Grades: All
Number of Students: 2 helped decide on a design, approximately 20 will help build, entire school will enjoy it!
Date: Spring 2014
To add even more opportunities for outside environmental education, the Green Team submitted a proposal to construct an outdoor classroom near the school yard habitat. The proposal has been approved by the principal and assistant superintendent and we are now awaiting final sign-off from the County Office of Physical Facilities. We anticpate constructing the classroom in April or May 2014.
Click below for a copy of the proposal:
/uploads/1/8/1/3/18132917/gs_install_outdoor_classroom.doc
Designed by Green Team parent volunteers Rameen and Diana Molavi and Greg Hines of Monocacy Builders, the classroom will consist of 2 rows of 3 benches each, set at a diagonal with a walking path between. A teacher's podium will face the benches, which will accommodate approximately 40 children.
The design is based on the outdoor classrooms at Pot Spring, Pinewood, and Padonia Elementary schools. Two Green Team parents and two students toured four other schools, took pictures, and discussed which design would work best for Riderwood's location. Student input was essential, especially when considering the height and comfort of various benches!
We will build the classroom on a weekend Garden Work Day, to which all students and families will be invited. Mr. Hines, the parent of a kindergartener, is donating all the materials for the podium and will assemble the pieces with the kindergarten class. The Green Team raised some of the money necessary for the classroom materials through their Sponsor-a-Split-Rail fundraiser (see Community Partnerships), with the rest being generously provided by the PTA.
From the benches, students will look out over our restored schoolyard habitat which contains a monarch waystation and Baltimore checkerspot habitat, and will be surrounded by a row of native trees including white ash, viburnum, cherry, pin oak, and bradford pear. Researching and labeling these trees could be a future project for a class. Or maybe a study on soil erosion in the area. Or perhaps an examination of insect and bird life in the habitat compared to the grass to show the benefits of native plants. Or writing in nature journals. Or sketching for art class. There are so many possibilities across all subject areas, and many teachers have approached the Green Team to say how excited they are about this classroom!
Vegetable Gardens Grown by Students
Grades: Kindergarten and 1st grade
Number of Students: 125
Dates: Spring 2013 for one first grade class, annually for all kindergarten classes starting in spring 2014
Who knew that so many first graders would love lettuce and spinach? Growing it themselves was the key, as shown by an activity at Mrs. Mays' 1st grade spring party.
Parent volunteers Sue Spencer and Anne Wedgeworth split the class into four groups and each planted a window box with red lettuce, green lettuce or spinach seeds. Before planting, the students learned about soil composition, what the seeds, seedlings and mature plants look like, and proper watering techniques. Once the seeds sprouted, Mrs. Mays' students were taught to use spray bottles to mist the fragile seedlings, and the parent volunteers assisted with thinning the plants. The window boxes were kept outside the classroom doors in front of the building so the whole school could watch the progress of the growing vegetables.
In late May, it was time to harvest! The students learned how to pick the outer leaves so the plants would continue to produce. Everyone sampled both varieties of lettuce and the spinach and, hands down, spinach was the favorite.
This gardening activity was such a success and so easy that the Green Team will help the kindergarten teachers repeat it in their classrooms this spring!
Grades: Kindergarten and 1st grade
Number of Students: 125
Dates: Spring 2013 for one first grade class, annually for all kindergarten classes starting in spring 2014
Who knew that so many first graders would love lettuce and spinach? Growing it themselves was the key, as shown by an activity at Mrs. Mays' 1st grade spring party.
Parent volunteers Sue Spencer and Anne Wedgeworth split the class into four groups and each planted a window box with red lettuce, green lettuce or spinach seeds. Before planting, the students learned about soil composition, what the seeds, seedlings and mature plants look like, and proper watering techniques. Once the seeds sprouted, Mrs. Mays' students were taught to use spray bottles to mist the fragile seedlings, and the parent volunteers assisted with thinning the plants. The window boxes were kept outside the classroom doors in front of the building so the whole school could watch the progress of the growing vegetables.
In late May, it was time to harvest! The students learned how to pick the outer leaves so the plants would continue to produce. Everyone sampled both varieties of lettuce and the spinach and, hands down, spinach was the favorite.
This gardening activity was such a success and so easy that the Green Team will help the kindergarten teachers repeat it in their classrooms this spring!
Interpretive Signs in Schoolyard Habitat
Grades: All
Number of Students: Entire school reads them
Date: Installed Fall 2013
Members of the Green Team posted laminated signs in the schoolyard habitat, highlighting the monarch waystation, Baltimore Checkerspot habitat, and ways that families can get involved with Green School projects. In addition, all the plants in the butterfly habitats are identified with slate labels, thanks to staff at Cromwell Valley Park. (See Community Partnerships.) The signs explain to students and other visitors how simple it is to plant a few native plants in their own yards to help support native insects faced with increasingly scarce habitats. The signs are very helpful to students as they learn about the particular host and nectar plants enjoyed by our native caterpillars and butterflies.
In addition, as teachers and students become more familiar with the schoolyard habitat, they are finding other trees, shrubs and features of the habitat that can be enhanced with educational signs that they can add on their own. These Green Team signs are just the start!
Grades: All
Number of Students: Entire school reads them
Date: Installed Fall 2013
Members of the Green Team posted laminated signs in the schoolyard habitat, highlighting the monarch waystation, Baltimore Checkerspot habitat, and ways that families can get involved with Green School projects. In addition, all the plants in the butterfly habitats are identified with slate labels, thanks to staff at Cromwell Valley Park. (See Community Partnerships.) The signs explain to students and other visitors how simple it is to plant a few native plants in their own yards to help support native insects faced with increasingly scarce habitats. The signs are very helpful to students as they learn about the particular host and nectar plants enjoyed by our native caterpillars and butterflies.
In addition, as teachers and students become more familiar with the schoolyard habitat, they are finding other trees, shrubs and features of the habitat that can be enhanced with educational signs that they can add on their own. These Green Team signs are just the start!
Interpretive Signs in "Kinder Garden"
Grades: All
Number of Students: Entire school reads them
Date: Installed Spring 2013
As mentioned above, information about all the plants in the "Kinder Garden" is posted on the inside windows next to the garden. Each plant group is marked with a numbered wooden post corresponding to a numbered guide on the window. Included are descriptions of the plants throughout the seasons and information about their benefits to native wildlife, so students and visitors can learn and be inspired as they wander around the garden. One set of guides even has QR codes so parents waiting to pick up their kindergarteners can use their smart phones to read more about the native plants.
These Green Team signs provide a wonderful foundation upon which teachers can build lessons and activities at all grade levels. The signs are posted at eye-level for kids, so it's easy for them to find the information they need to identify plants and insects they find in the "Kinder Garden."
Grades: All
Number of Students: Entire school reads them
Date: Installed Spring 2013
As mentioned above, information about all the plants in the "Kinder Garden" is posted on the inside windows next to the garden. Each plant group is marked with a numbered wooden post corresponding to a numbered guide on the window. Included are descriptions of the plants throughout the seasons and information about their benefits to native wildlife, so students and visitors can learn and be inspired as they wander around the garden. One set of guides even has QR codes so parents waiting to pick up their kindergarteners can use their smart phones to read more about the native plants.
These Green Team signs provide a wonderful foundation upon which teachers can build lessons and activities at all grade levels. The signs are posted at eye-level for kids, so it's easy for them to find the information they need to identify plants and insects they find in the "Kinder Garden."