Willis Lane Elementary Greenprint 2014-2015

By:

 

Health and Fitness

 

Brain Breaks: Fitness and Physical Education

 

Math workout: In this activity students in first grade are taught to count by 2, 3, 5, and 10 while doing jumping jacks. It is a fun way to teach them (kinesthetically) and to get some extra exercise. Date completed: Friday, Oct. 17, 2014. Pictures were taken. No budget.

 

Physical Activity in the Classroom: Since physical activity helps students overall performance, we will give brain breaks in between lessons or activities.  One brain break we do as a class is called, “Numerator, Denominator”.  The teacher calls out the words numerator (the students stand up, because the numerator is the top number of a fraction) and denominator (the students squat down because the denominator is the bottom number of a fraction.  We start to say the words faster and faster and sometimes say the same word twice in a row.  If the students squat when they should be standing, or vice versa they are eliminated. The last student standing wins. The game takes 5 minutes or less.  It is a great way to get the students moving and helps with reinforcing math vocabulary. To be completed June 2015. No budget necessary. Pictures will be taken.

 

Gonoodle.com: Each Kindergarten class will create accounts on gonoodle.com and do fitness activities as brain breaks. When the class completes an activity, they log it in, and the avatar they created for their class grows. The visual will motivate students to help their avatar grow.  By doing the fitness activities they are helping their avatar be healthy and also themselves. This activity will be completed by June of 2015 and requires no budget. Photos will be taken of students doing activities.

 

STEP – Take the First Step Together: Health Education

 

Schoolwide students and families will be invited to take the challenge of creating a healthy lifestyle through the following activities: 

 

ExerciSe – 1^st week is the Exercise Challenge with the Family Bingo card.  Exercise daily on the morning announcements and in the gym before school starts.

 

NuTrition – Give the Five A Day Challenge – eat one from each of the five categories each day – fruits and veggie – white, yellow, green, blue/purple, red.

 

WatEr – focus on water consumption and the amount we should be drinking daily.

 

Positive Life – Importance of living a positive life and how STEP will help you do this.

 

Families will turn in their Family Bingo Cards at the end of 4 weeks to measure how much STEP they accomplished.  This is a campus wide activity and is the springboard of a yearlong emphasis on healthy living. Budget - $0 (bingo cards were provided). Activities will Sept. 15 – Oct. 10, 2014.

 

Million Mile: Healthy Lifestyles

 

As a school community, we will participate in the Million Mile month in April 2015.  Each family and staff member will track the activity that they are doing in the month of April.  The goal is to track as much activity as possible. Our school goal is 25,000 miles logged in the month of April. No budget is necessary for this activity as all reminders will be sent via email. Photos will taken and totals documented to see if goal was met.

 

 

 

Nature Adventure

 

Outdoor Geological Observations: Nature Spaces

 

Students will spend time in the WOLF (Willis Outdoor Learning Facility) looking at the rocks and soil. In class they will be given various types of rocks to sort by size and shape and also bring in their own rocks for other students to look at the properties. Students will observe, describe, compare, and sort rocks by size, shape, color, and texture. Projected completion – Jan. 25 – Feb. 14. No budget is needed.

 

Light/Shadows Outdoor Activity: Nature Spaces

 

Students in First grade are taught that light is an energy source, and how sunlight creates shadows. We take the students outside on a sunny day, and have students trace their partners shadow.  We then go out later in the day to show them how their shadow will be different due to the sun being at a different position at that time. Date to be completed: Oct. 2014. Pictures will be taken to document this activity.

 

Weather and Graphing: Nature Spaces

 

To promote awareness of our environment as well as graphing skills to help organize information, our third graders go outside every day, look at the thermometer and record the temperature.  This allows them to graph the temperature and be more aware of how our weather is changing on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.  It also gives them a chance to step out of the classroom and record real data rather than just reading about it in a text book. Date to be completed – June 1, 2015. No budget needed. Photos will be taken.

 

Weathering and Erosion Science Lab: Field Investigation

 

The 4^th grade students will participate in a weathering and erosion lab.  The students will have an opportunity to learn about how rain, hail, sleet, snow and ice impact our earth.  The students will use this information as they tour the grounds of Willis Lane elementary and observe weathering, erosion and deposition (especially on the hill by the playground).  They will use their observations and discuss ways to slow down this process. The purpose of this activity is to promote an awareness of Earth’s processes and how natural elements impact our school. Since this is an outdoor science lab, we will be recording observations and ideas into science journals and taking pictures throughout the lesson. There is no need for a budget because the students will be observing their surroundings on Willis Lane property. This activity will be completed in Feb 2015. Photos will be taken to document activity.

 

 

 

Natural Classrooms

 

Animal Study: Nature Curricula

 

In this activity, a speaker from the Trinity River Audubon Center will help the students complete an animal study.  Students will learn about animals with regards to where they live, how an animal's movement helps it to function in its habitat, and will discover how animals are adapted for their specific environment with regards to what it eats. In the activity each student be assigned an animal. They will be asked to move like that particular animal as they search around the room for a picture of what the animal eats. As a group, students will discuss their choices and what makes each food item good for their animal with regards to where it lives. Date to be completed – April 2015. Presenter is a parent, so there will be not cost for this activity. Photos will be taken.

 

Energy Study: Stewardship

 

We have invited the High Touch scientists to come to our school and conduct a lesson/hands on experiment with our 3^rd graders (about 110 students).  The lesson is an extension of content we have already taught, in this case, energy. The students will get to create light, heat and electricity while learning the importance of all three and the value of conserving them. The cost of this program is covered by the district. Photos will be collected.

 

Growing and Releasing Butterflies: Nature Curricula

 

During the insect unit the kindergarten students will grow butterflies.  They will observe the changes occurring as the butterflies grow.  They will record their observation and relate it to their study of the basic needs of insects.  Once the butterflies are grown, the kindergarten students will release them in the Willis Outdoor Learning Facility, WOLF. Project will be completed April 13-27. Price is approximately $30 to purchase caterpillars.

 

Owl Pellet Lab: Nature Curricula

 

The 4^th grade students will be studying food chains and food webs in their science classes.  At the end of this unit, students will have the opportunity to dissect an owl pellet. The purpose of this study is to allow students to understand the process of food chains and food webs, and to experience nature in the science classroom.. This project will take place in May of 2015. Price of project is $2 per student.

 

Growing and Releasing Butterflies: Nature Curricula

 

During the insect unit the kindergarten students will grow butterflies.  They will observe the changes occurring as the butterflies grow.  They will record their observation and relate it to their study of the basic needs of insects.  Once the butterflies are grown, the kindergarten students will release them in the Willis Outdoor Learning Facility, WOLF. Project will be completed April 13-27. Caterpillars will be purchased for $30.

 

Save electricity/Turn off lights: Nature Curricula

 

First graders learn about how communication and transportation has changed over the years, as well as no electricity, which affects many things we do today.  We turned off the lights, and used the sunlight through the windows, while learning how to write a friendly letter. We then went outside with our 3^rd gr. Buddies and read pages in our Social Studies book about how times have changed, and again, used the sunlight instead of electricity! Date completed: Oct. 17, 2014. Pictures were taken to document this activity.

 

Earth Week: Stewardship

 

In observation of Earth Day 2015, the staff and students of Willis Lane will participate in week long activities that promote awareness of Earth and the opportunities to sustain and protect the environment through grass root activities. A schedule of activities would need to be discussed and agreed upon. Several suggestions would be to plant trees around campus, plastic bag decorations, campus trash pick-up, scavenger hunts around campus, e-waste collection and other recycling activities. There will be no budget for these activities and will be completed in April, 2015.

 

Green Team: Leadership

 

This year will start a student group called the green team. Students will take turns assisting with our popular recycling program, learn to turn compost and analyze the decomposition process, and broaden their knowledge with hands-on learning in the WOLF garden. We will also meet once a month at to discuss areas of interest to the students and possible projects. The topics of these meeting will be student-led with adults providing support, encouragement, and suggestions on implementation of their ideas. The Green Team will be open to 3rd and 4rd grades students who fill out an application. We will have an orientation meeting in October, a meeting before school once a month, and will be scheduled once twice a month to help with after school recycling collection and sorting. They will also help with a tree planting in October. Budget will be approximately $200 for supplies which will be covered by funds raised through the Terracycle Recycling program. Meetings will be ongoing through the end of the school year.

 

 

 

ECO Friendly Campus

 

W.O.L.F. Monarch Way Station Installation: Green Spaces

 

Partnered with the Willis Lane PTA, the Green Team will create a Monarch Butterfly Way Station within the W.O.L.F.  Each fall, hundreds of millions of monarch butterflies migrate from the United States and Canada to areas in the Southwest where they wait out the winter until conditions favor a return flight in the spring. The monarch migration is truly one of the world's greatest natural wonders, yet it is threatened by habitat loss in North America. This Way Station will give the students K-4 the opportunity to observe the lifecycle of the Monarch Butterfly. The requirements for a Monarch Way Station are several. The areas of the greatest concern are size; it is recommended that a minimum of 100 square feet for the way station; 6 hours minimum sunlight; and a variety of Milkweeds and Milk plants as well as a management system in place. You should have a plan to sustain a Monarch Way Station, some general examples include mulching, thinning, fertilizing, amending the soil, removing dead stalks, watering, eliminating insecticide use, removing invasive plant species, and incorporating additional features are an ongoing concern that will be attended to by both the Green Team Committee and the student version Green Team. Budget: Milkweed Plants (8) paid for through PTA W.O.L.F. budget (approximately $50) and Monarch Way Station Certification $45.00 Science department budget. Completion – June 2015.

 

Composting Program: Recycle/Waste

 

On September 15th we began our new Compost Program by collecting fresh fruit and vegetable scraps in the cafeteria. The scraps are collected daily by students during lunch and cafeteria staff. Parent Volunteers take the food scraps to the he compost bins which were built by a local Boy Scout Troop 170 in the Willis Lane Outdoor Learning Facility (WOLF). Our goal is to turn food waste from the cafeteria into healthy compost for the WOLF in time for spring planting. The cost of this program will be approximately $300 for supplies (cart, buckets to collect composting, and tarps). Photos will be taken of students collecting scraps and set up of compost bins. Project will be ongoing through the end of May, 2014.

 

Rain Water Harvesting and Drip Irrigation Installation: Water  

 

In November, we will have a 300 gallon rain water harvesting system and 500 ft. of drip tubing installed in our Willis Lane Outdoor Learning Facility (WOLF). We obtained a quote from Texas A&M Agrilife for the installation of both. It will cost $513.10 for the rainwater harvesting and $218 for the drip irrigation materials and installation. Willis Lane families will be encouraged to participate in the installation and staff from Agrilife will educate them on how both the rain water harvesting and drip irrigation works and how to maintain. Rainwater will be used to water plants in the WOLF. Funding for the installation will come partially from plant sale profits and recycling program. Photos and videos will be captured from the installation.

 

Recycling Program: Recycle/Waste

 

We will continue to educate students on the importance of recycling in the school. All students will be trained on recycling in their classroom and in the cafeteria. They will learn about the items collected in the cafeteria, including cheese wrappers, lunch kits, drink pouches, healthy snack pouches, granola/protein bar wrappers, and regular recycling (i.e. aluminum, plastic, paper) through our program called “We CAN recycle” in which students place all their recyclables in a can and someone from the table sorts into the appropriate recycling bins. We will also start a classroom recycling program to help them sort regular recycling (paper, plastic, aluminum) from our SUPER recycling like writing instruments, glue sticks/bottles, tape cores, and certain snack wrappers/pouches. All recycling, except for regular recycling, will be shipped to Terracycle throughout the year, which earns money for the school. Finally we will hold a recycling contest which will run from Nov to Dec and prizes will be awarded for the top three classrooms that collect the most SUPER recycling from home. Minimal budget of $50 for tape and paper supplies. Photos will be taken of program and winners from contest.