Helping Kids to be Green: 4th Grade Gardeners

I teach at an elementary school in suburban Washington, D.C., and have worked as both an educational consultant and a volunteer at the Smithsonian. There I have learned a great deal about “being green” and climate change. Every day I spend at the Smithsonian, I learn something new from interacting directly with curatorial staff (which this online conference makes possible for thousands of people) and from exhibitions like the Sant Ocean Hall or Doug Owsley's Written in Bone. From that exhibition and working with Doug, I found out how anthropologists use information from burial sites and human remains to understand environmental conditions that existed in the Chesapeake Bay region during the 17th century. I’ve also learned about declining bird populations and other environmental impacts that, as an educator, I want to address.

At my school, the adults have found several ways to model and encourage green practices and behaviors. Kids care about their world, and with a little guidance and support, they can make an impact on its health. Three years ago the 4th graders used a tool from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation called "Schoolyard Survey," to identify the areas on the school grounds that are trouble spots for erosion and runoff. My school is just uphill from Rock Creek, a tributary of the Potomac River. The kids identified some areas around our portable classrooms where erosion had created gullies and where rainwater runoff was causing water to sheet across a staff parking lot, pick up pollutants, and dump the contaminated water into a storm drain that is connected to Rock Creek. The kids talked about possible solutions for these problems and decided to (with the help of staff from the Woodend Nature Sanctuary's Audubon Society GreenKids program) install a 900-square-foot native plants garden and three rain barrels to drain and collect water from the portable classroom rooftops. The children also labeled storm drain openings with Do Not Dump signs. The garden is cared for by the current “crop” of 4th graders and by the 3rd and 4th grade Garden Club members.

Native plants garden created by 4th grade students in Montgomery County, Maryland
(Photo by Jackie Moore)