What Does "Green" Mean at St. Martin's?
Application Cover Letter
March 25, 2015
Ms. Laura Johnson Collard
Executive Director
MAEOE
Dear Ms. Collard,
We are very pleased to submit our reapplication for the Maryland Green School Awards program. We are grateful for your review of our reapplication last year and your encouragement to reapply this year.
Your review last year gave us an opportunity to be more thoughtful, intentional, and inclusive in regard to our environmental activities. In this round, we have fleshed out our documentation and evidence. We have sought to involve our school community—faculty, students, and families—in the many activities involved in being a Green School. We have broadened our network of partners in pursuit of our green school goals. We have empowered our students to take more of a lead in raising environmental awareness, increasing their scientific knowledge, advocating for better practices, and experiencing the outdoors.
St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Episcopal School, in Severna Park, Maryland, is a coed Episcopal school with about 200 students from preschool 3s through 8th grade and 30 faculty members. Established in 1957 as a parish-affiliated nursery school, we have expanded our grades through the years and have graduated an 8th-grade class every year since 2007. We obtained our first Green School reaccreditation in April 2010. We are an AIMS (Association of Independent Maryland and D.C. Schools)-accredited school.
Our school’s environmental motto is: “There is no Planet B”
In our Reaccreditation Application, we responded to your comments on our previous reapplication, with particular attention to these bullet points:
· Objective 1.1: Environment as a context for learning. We asked all our teachers to provide at least one example of a lesson plan that related to environmental instruction and was emblematic of their environmental stewardship curriculum throughout the year. Many provided more than one. All teachers, from preschool through middle school, and all “specials” teachers—including Art, Sacred Studies, Leadership, and others—posted lesson plans. These are not exhaustive; they are extensive. They are meant to give you a sense of integration of environmental education into the life of the school. The format of those plans asked teachers, among other details, to specify the time of year the lesson is give (fall, winter, spring), to identify what the students are able to do, and to cite the subject (math, science, reading) and skills (critical thinking, observation). Please note that some of our grades are combined (3rd and 4th, for example, and 6th and 7th). You’ll now have a much fuller idea of how environmental learning and stewardship is braided throughout the curriculum at all levels and across the disciplines. The lesson plans themselves have all been reviewed by our peers, academic director, and head of school. They are evidence in and of themselves but as well we have provided photographs, screen shots of student work, and collateral (articles, emails, memos).
· Objective 1.2: Professional Development. We have been more aware this past year of the importance of professional development. We have incorporated all-school, divisional-level, and individual training and certification into the environmental professional development of our faculty. We have provided evidence of certification and have noted the initials of those who attended workshops and field trips, which in turn indicates numbers. (We have not provided full names in order to respect the privacy of individual teachers.) A full 100% of our teachers have experienced at least one training session and/or field trip this past year, and high percentages of our prekindergarten, elementary, and middle school teachers have attended two or more. Faculty members have presented at the AIMS Annual Conference in relation to global and environmental teaching practices. In addition, all our faculty at professional in-service days were aware of and participated in our Green School Reaccreditation process. The Green School Reaccreditation Team was composed of myself as head of school, the academic director, the development and admissions director, the school librarian and special projects director, the elementary administrative assistant, and a parent-advisor.
· Objective 1.4: Celebration. We’ve documented our celebrations at St. Martin’s, from preschool lunch every day to our participation in Earth Day for Severna Park and surrounding towns. This year we’ve inaugurated all-school assemblies, and one of the first was on recycling and protecting the environment. Some 3rd and 4th grade students celebrated our Oyster Recovery Program by writing an article that was published in the local paper. You’ll find photographs, articles, and screen shots of posters that celebrate stewardship of the natural world.
· Objective 2: Best Practices (now Student-driven Sustainability Practices). We’ve provided more detailed description and more extensive evidence of the active leadership and involvement of our students in environmental learning. It is a core value of our school to empower students to take on leadership roles (our school slogan is: Learners, Leaders, Friends). You’ll see that students have taken the lead in water conservation and pollution prevention, energy conservation, solid waste reduction, and habitat restoration. They formed a club, collect recycling, make PA announcements, advocate for wildlife conservation in oratorical competitions, measure and document oyster replenishment, and present self-directed science projects, among other activities.
· Objective 3: Community Partnerships. We have both broadened and deepened our partnerships with environmental organizations, educational groups, local small businesses, and global initiatives. We documented these relationships with photographs, memos, emails, and letters. On the local level, we value our ties with the Magothy River Association, Marylanders Grow Oysters, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. On the global level, we value our connection with Paul Salopek’s Out of Eden Walk, sponsored by the National Geographic Society and Project Zero’s Out of Eden Learn. In our Reapplication, you’ll find evidence of our Inspirational Visitors program, which brings exemplary people to the classroom to talk about their work exploring nature or solving environmental problems.
FieldScope will be submitted separately.
Please feel free to call me or Cynthia Barry (410-647-7055, ext 31), one of our Green School Team members, if you have any questions about our reapplication or if we can help you in any way.
I thank you for the good work you are doing on behalf of the environment and education. MAEOE stands for principles that St. Martin’s has a long tradition of endorsing-- outdoors education, environmental literacy, and student empowerment.
Sincerely,
Jamey Hein
Head of School
March 25, 2015
Ms. Laura Johnson Collard
Executive Director
MAEOE
Dear Ms. Collard,
We are very pleased to submit our reapplication for the Maryland Green School Awards program. We are grateful for your review of our reapplication last year and your encouragement to reapply this year.
Your review last year gave us an opportunity to be more thoughtful, intentional, and inclusive in regard to our environmental activities. In this round, we have fleshed out our documentation and evidence. We have sought to involve our school community—faculty, students, and families—in the many activities involved in being a Green School. We have broadened our network of partners in pursuit of our green school goals. We have empowered our students to take more of a lead in raising environmental awareness, increasing their scientific knowledge, advocating for better practices, and experiencing the outdoors.
St. Martin’s-in-the-Field Episcopal School, in Severna Park, Maryland, is a coed Episcopal school with about 200 students from preschool 3s through 8th grade and 30 faculty members. Established in 1957 as a parish-affiliated nursery school, we have expanded our grades through the years and have graduated an 8th-grade class every year since 2007. We obtained our first Green School reaccreditation in April 2010. We are an AIMS (Association of Independent Maryland and D.C. Schools)-accredited school.
Our school’s environmental motto is: “There is no Planet B”
In our Reaccreditation Application, we responded to your comments on our previous reapplication, with particular attention to these bullet points:
· Objective 1.1: Environment as a context for learning. We asked all our teachers to provide at least one example of a lesson plan that related to environmental instruction and was emblematic of their environmental stewardship curriculum throughout the year. Many provided more than one. All teachers, from preschool through middle school, and all “specials” teachers—including Art, Sacred Studies, Leadership, and others—posted lesson plans. These are not exhaustive; they are extensive. They are meant to give you a sense of integration of environmental education into the life of the school. The format of those plans asked teachers, among other details, to specify the time of year the lesson is give (fall, winter, spring), to identify what the students are able to do, and to cite the subject (math, science, reading) and skills (critical thinking, observation). Please note that some of our grades are combined (3rd and 4th, for example, and 6th and 7th). You’ll now have a much fuller idea of how environmental learning and stewardship is braided throughout the curriculum at all levels and across the disciplines. The lesson plans themselves have all been reviewed by our peers, academic director, and head of school. They are evidence in and of themselves but as well we have provided photographs, screen shots of student work, and collateral (articles, emails, memos).
· Objective 1.2: Professional Development. We have been more aware this past year of the importance of professional development. We have incorporated all-school, divisional-level, and individual training and certification into the environmental professional development of our faculty. We have provided evidence of certification and have noted the initials of those who attended workshops and field trips, which in turn indicates numbers. (We have not provided full names in order to respect the privacy of individual teachers.) A full 100% of our teachers have experienced at least one training session and/or field trip this past year, and high percentages of our prekindergarten, elementary, and middle school teachers have attended two or more. Faculty members have presented at the AIMS Annual Conference in relation to global and environmental teaching practices. In addition, all our faculty at professional in-service days were aware of and participated in our Green School Reaccreditation process. The Green School Reaccreditation Team was composed of myself as head of school, the academic director, the development and admissions director, the school librarian and special projects director, the elementary administrative assistant, and a parent-advisor.
· Objective 1.4: Celebration. We’ve documented our celebrations at St. Martin’s, from preschool lunch every day to our participation in Earth Day for Severna Park and surrounding towns. This year we’ve inaugurated all-school assemblies, and one of the first was on recycling and protecting the environment. Some 3rd and 4th grade students celebrated our Oyster Recovery Program by writing an article that was published in the local paper. You’ll find photographs, articles, and screen shots of posters that celebrate stewardship of the natural world.
· Objective 2: Best Practices (now Student-driven Sustainability Practices). We’ve provided more detailed description and more extensive evidence of the active leadership and involvement of our students in environmental learning. It is a core value of our school to empower students to take on leadership roles (our school slogan is: Learners, Leaders, Friends). You’ll see that students have taken the lead in water conservation and pollution prevention, energy conservation, solid waste reduction, and habitat restoration. They formed a club, collect recycling, make PA announcements, advocate for wildlife conservation in oratorical competitions, measure and document oyster replenishment, and present self-directed science projects, among other activities.
· Objective 3: Community Partnerships. We have both broadened and deepened our partnerships with environmental organizations, educational groups, local small businesses, and global initiatives. We documented these relationships with photographs, memos, emails, and letters. On the local level, we value our ties with the Magothy River Association, Marylanders Grow Oysters, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. On the global level, we value our connection with Paul Salopek’s Out of Eden Walk, sponsored by the National Geographic Society and Project Zero’s Out of Eden Learn. In our Reapplication, you’ll find evidence of our Inspirational Visitors program, which brings exemplary people to the classroom to talk about their work exploring nature or solving environmental problems.
FieldScope will be submitted separately.
Please feel free to call me or Cynthia Barry (410-647-7055, ext 31), one of our Green School Team members, if you have any questions about our reapplication or if we can help you in any way.
I thank you for the good work you are doing on behalf of the environment and education. MAEOE stands for principles that St. Martin’s has a long tradition of endorsing-- outdoors education, environmental literacy, and student empowerment.
Sincerely,
Jamey Hein
Head of School
2010 Green School Accreditation flag raising