EcoSchools Section 1: Question 1.1   

Looking for a way to focus attention on what you need to complete before your audit in May or June? The Mid-Year Progress Checklist can help. It summarizes the EcoReview questions you will answer online--providing a quick way to review the requirements for certification and remind you about areas that an auditor may ask about during her/his visit. Originally developed for those platinum applicants who did not have a mid-year audit, this checklist can help all EcoTeams pinpoint where they need to take action.  

As you focus on instruction, curriculum documents provide many opportunities for you to make environmental education part of your classroom curriculum. The Ecoliteracy Tips (for elementary and secondary) are drawn from real-life recommendations that appear on many interim platinum audits. They are organized in terms of education in, about and for the environment and include lots of useful web links to tried-and-true resources. Check them out--they may be closely related to what you are already doing in class, or perhaps provide some ideas for uncovering the ecoliteracy dimension of your work!

Earth Hour in our schools allows students to fulfill EcoSchools expectations and help to educate their community about conserving resources. What an empowering feeling that is--even the youngest student can be part of it! In some schools, students have taken the lead in organizing the campaign.  

The underlying goal remains raising awareness about the link between climate change and the unthinking use of resources. Have you tried some of the fine teaching resources and classroom activities? An Earth Hour Electricity Walk using the EcoSchools lesson plan and PowerPoint presentation is available at ecoschools.ca>Earth Hour 2013. EcoSystems Jenga and the Recycling Calendar Scavenger Hunt are two other Earth Hour activities created by teachers for our schools.

Caretakers play an essential role by shutting off central lights and fans. It reminds us of their important and often unseen work in reducing a school's ecological footprint. All caretakers have been sent a communiqué with details about steps they can take during the in-school Earth Hour, and also over the Earth Hour weekend.

The global Earth Hour occurs on Saturday, March 23rd, 8:30-9:30 pm. 

Check out WWF Canada's Earth Hour site  to download this year's official playbook for schools. It's full of activities and events to run during and beyond Earth Hour.

In last year's March newsletter we brought you some Earth Hour videos from around the world. Creative and thought-provoking, these videos provide engaging content that reminds us all that Earth Hour is a global event.  

Here are just a few that we love:    

Earth Hour 2013, Indonesia - 1:04   

Earth Hour 2013, global - 1:00  

Earth Hour 2011, Australia - 1:00  

Earth Hour 2010, global - 30 sec   

Earth Hour 2010,  Belgium 41 seconds  

Earth Hour 2010, Houston you have a problem - 39 sec   

If 100 schools each send us a photo of a school-wide Earth Hour eco-action, we'll produce a celebratory Earth Hour slideshow of the collection. AND Deborah Moffett, our newest EcoSchools team member, will lead the dance on Sunday, April 21st (the day before Earth Day). All who dare to join her for any part of the dance journey will be welcome--rain, shine or snow. (Who can say? It's a climate-changed world.) Are you up for it?  

EcoSchools Section 3: Question 3.4; Section 4: Questions 4.2, 4.4, 4.5; Section 5: Question 5.5 

Our February 2012 newsletter article about food gardens got a great response. Here's a continuation of that conversation. Our School Grounds  Design Consultant Gail Bornstein writes:  

"Winter is a perfect time to prepare for garden activities. Think of a school food garden as an outdoor classroom. You need a plan for the garden itself just as you need a plan for any interactive learning space. Curriculum resources to accompany learning in the garden classroom can be particularly inspiring. These writers bring a passion for gardening as a unique way to engage children in learning about some of nature's work and nature's wonders. Imagine having the garden plan, the lessons that grow out of the garden, and the watering and weeding schedule all laid out in advance. Then getting started with the actual garden in the spring can be like entering the classroom with all your lesson plans already prepared. What could be better than that?"

Evergreen in partnership with the TDSB has just released the second edition of Landscape and Child Development: A Design Guide for Early Years--Kindergarten Play-Learning Environments. The resource describes best practices for many audiences, including designers and construction staff.  

Principals and teachers will appreciate learning about

If you are at a school interested in re-imagining your FDK play space, start by reviewing this new book.  

Questions? Contact Gail Bornstein, EcoSchools School Grounds Design Consultant.

EcoSchools Section 1: Question 1.1; Section 4: Question 4.2   

A re-configured play space can help to make the full day experience irresistible to small children--as well as being a boon to teachers with its expanded learning opportunities. The newly published Landscape and Child Development mentioned above is bursting with expert knowledge on this subject. But as is often the case, we learn that some teachers have already begun to address these needs through simple and thoughtful home-grown re-design.

Blaydon Public School kindergarten teacher Maria Crowther passionately believes in the power of learning outdoors to help engage kindergarten students, and sees it as especially important for a high quality full-day learning experience. With strong support from her principal, Crowther led the project of redesigning the play space in collaboration with fellow teachers, students, and parents. Together the Blaydon community created an outdoor kindergarten space that inspires and stimulates imaginative play, encourages interactions with nature, and provides places for a wide variety of learning opportunities as well as quiet reflection. It was done with a lot of enthusiasm and a very modest budget.   

EcoSchools Section 4: Questions 4.3, 4.4, 4.5

Making Connections is Ontario EcoSchool's updated version of the TDSB's Celebrating EcoSchools. You can find it on their website. Our thanks for their good work!

EcoSchools Section 4: Questions 4.4, 4.5, 4.6 and 4.7 

World Water Day focuses attention on the importance of fresh water and advocating its sustainable management. This year's focus is the International Year of Water Cooperation. 

For more information and campaign materials click here.

Also check out Learning for a Sustainable Future's  Resources for Rethinking classroom resource database. Bring World Water Day into your classroom with their top picks: Quest for Clean Shorelines, Water for All and Give Water a Hand  

EcoSchools Section 4: Question 4.4   

In our first round of offering mushroom-growing kits for your tree thoughts we had an immediate response from teachers, a principal, and two students even though we put the call out on December 18. We were thrilled! We still have some kits left, and this time we want to hear from students on behalf of their school (kits are to remain in the student's classroom or club). Could it be an in-class writing assignment?

Trees benefit all of us for generations--for all the wonders they provide, the shade and cooling, the magic on our school grounds, places to find solace in, beautiful living memorials--and long after school days are past, precious childhood memories. We'd like to add some student thoughts about trees on school grounds to the collection we gathered in round one,  Why we love trees. 

To enter: Have your students--individually or as a class--Send us a couple of sentences (or more!) about a tree or trees and school grounds...real or imagined, past or present. Please title your message "Mushroom kit draw: my thoughts on trees in school grounds" and have students include their name, grade, and school. With help from an adult, even the youngest child can enter. We will add your thoughts to our collection. Pictures welcome too!

Deadline: March 27th 

Draw will take place on March 28th.

This 4:49 video captures B.C. high school student Sam Harrison's presentation to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project Joint Review Panel hearing in Vancouver at the end of January. It is filmed secretly so the quality is not great. We can let Sam speak for himself. However, the first few words are muffled, so here they are in print: "From other people's

When school resumes on March 18th, Earth Hour in our schools will be just five days away!!!! We hope that the simplicity of this global awareness campaign will allow schools to participate, perhaps with students seizing the opportunity to take charge and hone their environmental citizenship skills. No action is too small--and we can't know where it might lead. Perhaps the 16-year-old Sam Harrison (click on riveting speech above) was first inspired to become an environmental champion because of a school Earth Hour or Earth Day campaign. Think of that!

Ogden Nash declared that "Indoors or out, no one relaxes in March/That month of wind and taxes." If he'd been an Ontario teacher he'd know that March is a time for relaxing built right into the school year. Here at our office, the usual feelings of exuberance (or sometimes, relief!) at the approach of March Break are muted. We aren't on the front lines like so many of you are, but not a day goes by that we don't think about the difficult position teachers are in. We hope that the perspective that comes with time away from school, even just for a week, will help to clarify what happens next regarding out-of-class activities. Whatever follows, on behalf of the whole central EcoSchools team, we wish you a relaxing and restorative March Break, both indoors and out!

Very best wishes

The EcoSchools Communication Team
Eleanor Dudar, Jenn Vetter, and Diana Suzuki