Small Middle School aims to become the first National Wildlife Federation Green Flag School in Texas.

Small Middle School aims to become the first National Wildlife Federation Green Flag School in Texas.

The Green Flag Schools program is run through National Wildlife Federation and the Eco Schools USA. Eco Schools USA is a program aimed to increase and embed environmental curriculum into students daily lives. 

Small was tasked with picking three environmental pathways to improve. We decided on the decreasing the school's energy use, decreasing the waste output, and increasing the school grounds gardens. In working towards this goal we have created an Eco-Action Plan, worked with community members, staff, and students, conducted school audits, discussed our work in classes, and have monitored our progress.

If you are interested in aiding our work, or becoming part of our Action Committee, please contact carly.surratt@austinisd.org or nate.rosenberg@austinisd.org. Thanks.

TAKE ACTION! Defend Environmental Education!

While the FY 2013 federal funding process is still unfolding in Congress, the Administration has already begun work on its FY 2014 budget request to Congress.  After three key programs were essentially eliminated in the Administration’s FY 2013 request, our goal is to ensure that the Administration requests funding for the coming year!  We are asking you to consider signing on to this petition of support for environmental education funding. We hope that you will join us in asking the Administration to request funding for EPA, NOAA, NASA and NSF environmental education programs.  

SIGN THE PETITION HERE:  http://online.nwf.org/EnviroEdPetition  

Monumental Project Takes Shape

Collaboration is a wonderful thing.

Having secured a grant from the National Wildlife Federation, Nate Rosenberg, Sylvia Brown, and I attended training on creating an outdoor classroom/wildlife habitat. Mr. Rosenberg took the lead in coordinating the project. His classes chose the site in front of the school. It has several favorable attributes. It is located opposite the purple martin houses, it is close to a water source, it is in highly visible site that becomes muddy in wet weather.

Our Industrial Technologies classes under the supervision of Ronnie Scott built 10 3-person benches.

Preparing the site was a semester long project. Several classes participated: Ms. Brown's and Mr. Brooks's Environmental Science classes, Mr. Rosenbergs's 6th grade Science classes, my Taste of Science and Native Plants and Animals classes (a proto-GreenTech project).

The benches augment the seating capacity for students awaiting parent pick up as well.

Classes remove the bermuda grass, leaving as much of the topsoil as possible. Newspapers and commercial weed barrier cloth came next. Students carted in dozens of wheelbarrow loads of a mix that is heavy in decomposed granite. This adds a lot of minerals to the worn out, clay rich soil, as well as, provides a stable medium for mounding.

Rosenberg's design incorporates a curved berm that mimics the curve of the adjacent sidewalk.

Medina Garden Nursery donated over $200 worth of plants. The salvia greggi, lantana, prairie verbena, and some of the grasses were grown in our campus greenhouse. Parent donations and the remaining grant funds paid for the rest of the plants which we purchased from nearby Emerald Garden Nursery at a super generous discount. AISD helped out with soil and mulch. We also bought a load of GeoGrower's excellent berm mix.

Students worked throughout the day with the goal of getting all the plants in the ground before the 3:30 bell.

Temperatures soared. By the end of school we cracked the century mark.

We got most of the plants in, mulched around their bases and watered them thoroughly.

Click to view photos of the planting frenzy.