Independence School Local 1 -
The New "Greeneration"
Independence School Local 1 is a unique charter high in Baltimore City. Our school’s academic program embodies three principles: authentic learning through the real world; dealing with children one mind at a time; and providing a forum in which students form a strong social identity with respect to their history and their surroundings The school sits on six acres, with an upper field in back and sizable land around the school with a large parking lot in front. Our curriculum features experiential learning where students regularly travel about the city and into the wilderness to better grasp historical, economic, geographic, scientific and political perspective about the world around them.
We are wholly committed to connecting students with their environment. This commitment is reflected in our founding charter and the activities we pursue on a daily basis. Every Tuesday, students participate in field work activities which range from gardening, to researching the urban water cycle, to local improvement projects. As a school, we are developing and implementing a curriculum to use storm water management facilities as an integrative instructional tool. Our school has been an integral part of the Pathways to Environmental Science Literacy Math Science Partnership Project funded by the National Science Foundation (taking place at the Baltimore Ecosystem Study and three other Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites around the nation).
Our coordinated and cohesive environmental curriculum connects every student at every grade level to the green space by way of maintaining the gardens, studying how parts of Hampden have an effect on the urban water cycle, and using our outdoors to study the microcosm of the larger environment.
We are wholly committed to connecting students with their environment. This commitment is reflected in our founding charter and the activities we pursue on a daily basis. Every Tuesday, students participate in field work activities which range from gardening, to researching the urban water cycle, to local improvement projects. As a school, we are developing and implementing a curriculum to use storm water management facilities as an integrative instructional tool. Our school has been an integral part of the Pathways to Environmental Science Literacy Math Science Partnership Project funded by the National Science Foundation (taking place at the Baltimore Ecosystem Study and three other Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites around the nation).
Our coordinated and cohesive environmental curriculum connects every student at every grade level to the green space by way of maintaining the gardens, studying how parts of Hampden have an effect on the urban water cycle, and using our outdoors to study the microcosm of the larger environment.
Independence School Green Team
The Green Team (composed of parents, teachers, administrators, students, and community members) plays a major role in the sustainability of this project. The Independence School Green Team has three main goals and corresponding sub-committees which ensure sustainability of the program:
The Student Green Team meets Tuesdays after school, and are supervised by 1-3 teachers. Students join together to learn more about the environment, tend to the grounds and garden, and advocate for a better, greener world. Student Green Team activities include:
- Running the school wide recycling program
- Creating school wide awareness around issues such as recycling, saving energy, and food awareness
- Baltimore Energy Challenge – student energy patrol
- Planting seeds, maintaining the vegetable garden and memorial gardens
- Green Apple Day of Service Annual Fall Clean Up
- Greenscape – city-wide showcase of student activities
- Neighborhood canvassing campaign to raise awareness on energy saving practices, colony collapse disorder, impact of consumer choice, and more
The documentation file below contains:
Sample Student Green Team sign in sheets
Third Trimester of Student Green Team Events
Letters of support for the Baltimore Bag Bill
- Curriculum: To improve the current environmental science curriculum by integrating pertinent aspects of environmental science into tenth grade biology , and by adapting environmental or green chemistry in the 9th and 11th grade. Additionally, all students will benefit from using the outdoors classroom and engaging in the stewardship of our living space.
- Grounds: To ensure that students /advisory groups design, develop and maintain the gardens, fruit trees, and open space surrounding our school.
- Facilities: To research reasonable sustainable environmental practices used in public places, and then design and commit to environmentally sustainable practices in school and at home.
The Student Green Team meets Tuesdays after school, and are supervised by 1-3 teachers. Students join together to learn more about the environment, tend to the grounds and garden, and advocate for a better, greener world. Student Green Team activities include:
- Running the school wide recycling program
- Creating school wide awareness around issues such as recycling, saving energy, and food awareness
- Baltimore Energy Challenge – student energy patrol
- Planting seeds, maintaining the vegetable garden and memorial gardens
- Green Apple Day of Service Annual Fall Clean Up
- Greenscape – city-wide showcase of student activities
- Neighborhood canvassing campaign to raise awareness on energy saving practices, colony collapse disorder, impact of consumer choice, and more
The documentation file below contains:
Sample Student Green Team sign in sheets
Third Trimester of Student Green Team Events
Letters of support for the Baltimore Bag Bill
sample_student_green_team_sign_in_sheets.pdf | |
File Size: | 91 kb |
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calendar_student_green_team_third_trimester_2014.doc | |
File Size: | 47 kb |
File Type: | doc |
bag_bill_letters.pdf | |
File Size: | 107 kb |
File Type: |
Our top five accomplishments in the past two years are:
1. Partnership with Baltimore Eco-Systems- Two of our teachers have been past Cary Institute scholars. Independence has been working with Baltimore Eco-Systems both to field test curriculum (Ms. Virtudes), implement tried and true curriculum (Mr. Hand and Ms. Mullen), and to use students to gather data for the program.
2. Expansion of Recycling Program - Our school-wide recycling program has grown from paper only to also include glass/plastic, computer parts/batteries (Funding Factory), cloth (for Fashion Club's Recycled Fashion Show), and an outdoor and indoor compost bin. We will continue to expand on this program, looking to the day when 100% of the students compost their lunch leftovers, and reap the rewards of the rich soil they will create.
3. Sustainability - We are excited about the ways we are teaching our students, and ourselves to recycle and re-use. From our senior sustainable housing independent research, to our recycled fashion shows, to our newly painted blackboard wall, we are trying our best to inspire students to recognize that PERSONAL CHOICES MATTER!
4. Expansion/Renewal of Structures for Outdoor Learning- While we have had our Memorial Garden since 2007, and our Vegetable Garden since 2010, we are proud of our efforts to re-invigorate the Memorial Garden by planting annuals and updating the mosaic bench, and of our experimentation with new techniques (e.g. straw bale gardening) in the Vegetable Garden. Additionally, our partnership with GWWO and the Boy Scouts has provided us with additional outdoor seating for outdoor instruction and the outdoor stage.
5. Indoor Plant Lab- We celebrate our Environmental Education instructor's (Mathew Hand) diligence in pursuing the grants that have enabled us to expand our indoor seedling and plant lab. The lab has been used both by classroom students, and the Student Green Team to learn more through hands on experience.
1. Partnership with Baltimore Eco-Systems- Two of our teachers have been past Cary Institute scholars. Independence has been working with Baltimore Eco-Systems both to field test curriculum (Ms. Virtudes), implement tried and true curriculum (Mr. Hand and Ms. Mullen), and to use students to gather data for the program.
2. Expansion of Recycling Program - Our school-wide recycling program has grown from paper only to also include glass/plastic, computer parts/batteries (Funding Factory), cloth (for Fashion Club's Recycled Fashion Show), and an outdoor and indoor compost bin. We will continue to expand on this program, looking to the day when 100% of the students compost their lunch leftovers, and reap the rewards of the rich soil they will create.
3. Sustainability - We are excited about the ways we are teaching our students, and ourselves to recycle and re-use. From our senior sustainable housing independent research, to our recycled fashion shows, to our newly painted blackboard wall, we are trying our best to inspire students to recognize that PERSONAL CHOICES MATTER!
4. Expansion/Renewal of Structures for Outdoor Learning- While we have had our Memorial Garden since 2007, and our Vegetable Garden since 2010, we are proud of our efforts to re-invigorate the Memorial Garden by planting annuals and updating the mosaic bench, and of our experimentation with new techniques (e.g. straw bale gardening) in the Vegetable Garden. Additionally, our partnership with GWWO and the Boy Scouts has provided us with additional outdoor seating for outdoor instruction and the outdoor stage.
5. Indoor Plant Lab- We celebrate our Environmental Education instructor's (Mathew Hand) diligence in pursuing the grants that have enabled us to expand our indoor seedling and plant lab. The lab has been used both by classroom students, and the Student Green Team to learn more through hands on experience.
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Independence becomes MAOEE Green School
Students , teachers, and community partners who have worked with us for years (Baltimore City Office of Sustainability, Baltimore Eco Systems., etc.) would say that we have been a "Green School" forever! Hands on learning, wilderness trips, and interaction with the environment is foundational to our Charter. In the spring of 2013, Abbey Cocke from the Office of Sustainability made a presentation to the entire staff about the Green Schools Program. This year (2013-2014 SY), we applied for official Maryland Green School status from the Maryland Association of Outdoor and Environmental Education. We are thrilled to announce that were officially granted the status of a Maryland Green School in April of 2014! |