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Upper Thames  


 

 

 AMDSB Environment Resource Site              

To stimulate and support active environmental stewardship in Avon Maitland District School Board

 

 

This website is for AMDSB to:

  • share Ministry documents and other resources on Environment with Cross Curricular connections

  • share Community partners who will support staff, students, school councils in their work,

  • share AMDSB strategic plan/procedures/guidelines that align with Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow Environmental Framework

  • share Board resources to enhance our work in developing Environmental Education/facilities and operations environmental pyou ractices

  • share teacher resources, best practices, special events

 


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EcoSchools Update!

January 31st deadline extended! Input your Initial EcoReview results by February 15th

 

In light of the political climate affecting public school boards across the province, the January 31st deadline has been extended for the 2012-13 school year. For this year only, schools have until February 15th 2013 to input their Initial EcoReview results into their online certification application  by completing questions 2.1-2.9 and 3.1-3.10.  

 

How to complete the Initial EcoReview requirements:

 Schools must input 19 out of 19 questions to be eligible for certification. Use the "EcoReview Tracker" tool found in the top left hand corner of the application to track completion of all 19 questions. An orange checkmark will appear when all 19 questions have been inputted, indicating your school has met the requirements for the deadline. If your school is not participating in one or more of the questions in the EcoReview, click on level 0 to complete all questions. See page 20 of the Certification Guide 2012-13 for more info.  

 

Please note:

The EcoReview represents 19 of the 47 questions in the application. Be sure to input information in answer to all applicable questions for maximum recognition of your school’s achievements by the final deadline, April 30th. The final deadline for the certification application is April 30th and cannot be adjusted due to scheduling and assessment constraints. Please expect the April 30th deadline to remain consistent this year.

 

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Outdoor Education Funding Opportunity

There is a large grant available for outdoor education opportunities.

Please consider an application.

 07 Outdoor Education Funding.pdf .

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some new teacher resources for your information:

 

The Maitland Valley Conservation Authority Fall Newsletter MVCA Education Newsletter_Fall2012_lowres.pdf

 

The Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority Fall Brochure Ed Brochure - Web.pdf

 

 

EcoLeague Youth Forum EcoLeague_Flyer_London 3M - Nov 5 2012.pdf 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first annual EcoStar Awards were held  on Wednesday June 13, 2012. Check out the board website for some great information on the winners and their environmental efforts, as well as a video of the evening's events.

 

http://blog.amdsb.ca/2012/06/19/2012-ecostar-awards/

 

 

http://blog.amdsb.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/EcoStar-Awards-Celebration-2012-Group.jpg

 


 

The results are in, and the following schools achieved certification as EcoSchools! Congratulations to all on your amazing efforts this year.

 

Bedford Public School- Silver

Brookside Public School- Gold

Central Perth - Bronze

Huron Centennial Public School - Silver 

Listowel Central Public School - Silver

Listowel Eastdale Public School - Silver

Seaforth Public School- Gold

 


June's School of the Month...Seaforth Public School 

 

Congratulations to Seaforth Public School on your certification as a gold EcoSchool, and your awards at the EcoStar awards. Here is a summary of the team's work this year...

 

This year, the ecoteam, under the guidance of Ms. Aimee Durand, worked hard to ensure that the school's many environmental initiatives such their recycling, composting, litter-less lunches, and energy reduction programs continued. The Eco team has also taken on the promotion and collection for our Terracycle program. In October Ms. Durand took Gr. 6/7 students to an Eco Conference. Teachers and the Eco Team students, created posters promoting Earth Hour, Earth Day and our recycling programs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

April's School of the Month...

 

 

Congratulations to Brookside Public School

for being selected as one of 10 finalists

nationwide who will be competing to win a

$20 000 outdoor classroom grant.

The voting period begins at March 28, 2012  at 12:01 AM (ET) and closes at 11:59 PM (ET) on May 11, 2012. Please help Brookside win by voting at

http://www.majesta.com !

Check out the other great things happening with Brookside's green team:

http://greenspaceamdsb.pbworks.com/w/page/23759118/Brookside

 

 


School of the Month - March

 

Listowel Central

This year, our Ecco Team has the support of the entire school community!  Our school goal is to become certified as a bronze level Ecoschool. This means that we need to obtain between 50 and 65 points. Points are earned for teamwork and leadership, energy conservation, waste minimization, school ground greening, curriculum, and environmental stewardship. To learn about the process, Michelle McDonald and I  attended an Ontario EcoSchools workshop, which provided information about ways to implement the program. Our first steps are to establish an EcoTeam and conduct an EcoReview. This consists of two school audits, one for waste and one for energy. Depending on the outcome of these reviews, we will determine our next steps and develop an action plan

 

 November 14th   First meeting of the new Listowel Central Eco Team.  All grade 1 to grade 8 classes sent two representatives to the team.   A quick check of classrooms lights and monitors discovered that we a doing a good job at remembering to turn of lights, but will need to focus on getting people to turn off monitors.

 

November 21st   Using a Kill A Watt Power Monitor the  Listowel Central Eco Team discovered that we would save 50 watts by turning off the monitors.  Plans were made to continue checking lights and monitors with checklist being distributed to every class.  The Listowel Central Eco Team representatives talked to their classes to kick off the Monitors Off Campaign.

                                                                                                  

                                                                                  Kill A Watt Power Monitor 

 

This our tool for finding equipment that is wasting energy and  "phantom load".This our tool for finding equipment that is wasting energy and  "phantom load".

 


 

 

Congratulations to Brookside Public School on winning a $3000 grant for their school grounds greening project.

We look forward to seeing what they do with their funds! 

 


 

 

Here is some information for you from the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority on their outdoor programs. 

 

 



http://www.abca.on.ca/downloads/Winter_flyer_2012_Reminder.pdf  

 

 

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Congratulations to the following six schools who have completed the

first step towards Ecoschool Certification:

 

                        • Bedford Public School
                        • Brookside Public School
                        • Central Perth Elementary School
                        • Huron Centennial Public School
                        • Listowel Central Public School
                        • Seaforth Public School

January's Green School of the Month... Exeter Public School!

 

Waste Reduction Week 2011 at Exeter PS

Students, parents and staff joined forces to create a wonderful week focusing on Waste reduction.

 

Environment Night October 19, 2011

The EPS ECOteam made up of students, parents and staff created a wonderful evening of student presentations, displays, activities and prizes. The evening began in the gym with 'The Story of Stuff" video, followed by a "Pollution Parade" student presentation. This fashion show featured student stars such as Miss Carlotta Can Can and Miss Polly Phosphate. It highlighted some major causes of pollution and what we can do to help. Students and their parents were then given passports to visit activities, crafts and displays throughout the school.They learned about items that can and can't be recycled at the Bluewater Recycling activity. They learned about water pollution at protecting our lands at the Ausable Bayfield Conservation display. Families returned to the gym at the end of the evening to trade in their passports for a chance to win an ECO prize.  Families who attended enjoyed a fun and educational night and many left with prizes to make their homes more ECO friendly.  

 

Waste Free Lunch Challenge October 17-21, 2011

Each day began with Grade 5-6 students giving some important ECO tips and information on our daily announcements.  All classes were encouraged to bring litterless lunches for the week. Each day, students who brought a litterless lunch earned a ticket to win an Eco prize (reusable shopping bag, energy saving light bulb, reusable waterbottle . Several classes weighed their garbage, reyclables and compost to track improvements in waste reduction over the week. Most of our school waste comes from our lunches. With daily litterless lunch days, our students, staff and parents worked hard to reduce our waste. We were able to reduce our total daily garbage by an average of 3 kg per day. We also reduced our recycling by 3kg per day, as many students were bringing snacks in reusable containers rather than packages. This is great news! Thanks to all students, staff and parents who helped by packing litterless lunches. Many classes are choosing to continue this trend with Waste Free Wednesdays.

 

Exeter PS is a green school!

            

Exeter Public School is working hard to maintain their Gold ECO School status.

Here are some of our green activities:

* ECO Council with 2 student representatives from each grade 1-8

* ECO team made up of staff, students, parents

* Compost Crew- This group of students empties and washes our school and class compost containers

* Nature Garden- home of our composters, native wildflowers and many happy bugs!

* Energy conservation- turning off lights and computer monitors, using natural lighting from windows

* Litterless Lunch days

* Maintaining recent tree plantings

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Stuff

 

 

Say hello to Avon Maitland's new student

 

inspired 'Sustainability' Logo!

 

 

Both stickers and certificates will be sent out to schools for teachers to use in their class/school by the end of November.

See your school Eco-Lead!

 

Q: How can I use the new logo in my class/school?

A: Teachers can use this new logo to recognize any student effort related to sustainability.

 

     e.g. This can be a significant as taking on the role and responsibility as an Eco-team member or as a simple acknowledgement of innovative thinking or insight in student classwork that involves new approaches related to the environment. In other words use the sticker when any of the six "Rs" related to sustainability are demonstrated:

 

Reduce

Reuse

Recycle

Reflect

Rethink

Respond

 

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Green Play Spaces

 

 

 

 

"Natural Playgrounds should be the standard for all our playgrounds.

They truly connect children with nature through play and are a

sort of classroom for the next generation of environmental stewards."
~Dr. David S
uzuki

 

Here is a link to an article about natural playgrounds:  http://www.edutopia.org/sustainable-schoolyard-design. The movement towards playgrounds composed of natural materials like rocks and trees seems to be gaining acceptance across North America. 

A google search reveals many private companies that specialize in natural playground design, and many interesting images that help us visualize what a natural play space might look like.

 

East Wawanosh East Wawanosh East Wawanosh

photo source: The Natural Playgrounds company

 

 

 


Link to Evergreen School Grounds Greening initiative funding information.

http://www.evergreen.ca/en/funding/grants/telg.sn .

This page provides information on how to apply for a school grounds greening grant. Schools that are successful in their application for the grants will receive between $500 and $3500.

 


 

 

Eco-Schools update

 

Four AMDSB schools ( Brookside PS, Listowel Central, Huron Centennial, and Central Perth) attended a one day workshop in Waterloo on Nov. 2 that clearly laid out the steps a school need to address in order to become Eco-School certified. The process is not difficult, but it does require a commitment on the part of school administration, staff, and students in order to be successful.

 

We have four other schools who have indicated their willingness to become certified this year adding to this recent, rich tradition in Avon Maitland.

 

If you have questions please contact Laura Allan at lauralla@fc.amdsb.ca

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FROM THE DESK OF JENN ROSS-HOLTON

What I learned this summer.....

When viewing a display at Science North on energy conservation, I was surprised to learn that turning off a fluorescent light ONLY saves energy IF that light won't be turned back on for at least one hour.  Also, here is a NY Times article on energy conservation in US schools:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/education/15energy.html?_r=1&ref=education

J. Ross Holton

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Congratulations!

 

Four AMDSB schools achieve Eco-School Certification!

 

Northwestern SS           Gold

  

Seaforth PS                   Gold

 

Listowel Eastdale PS     Silver

 

Bedford PS                    Bronze                                         

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C.L.AY. (Celebrate, Learn, Act, Youth) SUMMIT : a  H.U.G.E. (Honest, Uplifting, Goal-centred, Environmentally-focused) success! 

 

On May 26, 2011 two dozen students representing secondary schools from across Avon Maitland (and their teachers) met in St Marys at the Westover Inn to do four things:

 

Celebrate what has happened already in our schools this past year;

 

Learn from each other through sharing what can be done in schools both from one another and from our great guest speaker Steve Boles from kuzuka.com;

 

Act by planning ahead for next year by committing to trying to move people and insipre initiatives in our schools from leading by example to getting our peers involved;

 

Youth power!

 

The students who attended have also made a facebook page to support each other and stay in contact ... stay tuned for the link!

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CHSS conducted an energy reduction week from May 24th to the 27th.  By simply turning off lights, computers and unplugging equipment, we reduced our energy consumption by an average of 17%!  In dollars and cents terms, those savings on a daily basis would add up to over $10000 across a whole year!

 

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Click the link below and check out what Listowel District SS and FE Madill did recently to make energy conservation  a focus at their schools! 

  

www.biggestenergyloser.pbworks.com 

 

 

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www.climatechallenge.ca  - FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS ... CHECK IT OUT!

 

If interested, see the Environment Folder on FC for more info!

 

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