Green Team

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The Green Team was created with the goal of teaching our children sustainability at a young age and encouraging thoughtfulness in their actions so they grow up with a connection to nature and a belief that they can make the world a better place.

Third and fourth grade students were invited to participate and filled out an application expressing their interest. Nearly fifty students met after school once a week with three parent volunteers to work on our recycling, composting, and W.O.L.F. garden (Willis Outdoor Learning Facility) programs. They also brainstormed ideas for special green projects throughout the year. 

In our first year we:

* Learned how to separate super recycling from regular recycling so it can be shipped to Terra Cycle to earn money for our school. We sometimes made this a game had the kids sort recycling in relay races.

* Learned how to compost food scraps and yard waste and how the finished compost helps our soil and plants

* Planted a red shumard oak tree in the front of our school

* Conducted a letter writing campaign to Elmer’s asking them to sponsor the glue stick brigade

* Conducted a letter writing campaign to Kraft asking them to sponsor the cheese wrapper brigade

* Coordinated with the high school AV team to film “Recycling is Awesome!” video to demonstrate our recycling and composting programs. It can be viewed at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0vGkrG6zXcwWDFpbEJ4NTZUNlk/view?usp=sharing

* Built a bug habitat in the WOLF garden to encourage beneficial bugs

* Designed a Green Team logo

* Initiated an Idle-Free campaign for Willis Lane encouraging everyone to turn off their engines when parked at the school. Collected pledges from parents school-wide and made posters to raise awareness about the dangers of air pollution, especially for young children.

* Wrote thank you cards to Boy Scout Troop 170, who built our compost bins, and Ryan Haines & the KHS Audio Visual team, who filmed and edited our video

* Planted a red bud tree in honor of Earth Month