In math class, students fueled virtual vehicles and used math to calculate the environmental impact of various modes of transportation based upon the gas they used, distance they traveled, and the number of passengers they transported.

In science classes, students learned about renewable and non-renewable energy sources and the importance of using natural resources wisely. Students then researched one energy source, presented their research to each other, and took notes on each others' presentations. Students received Smart Energy Kits to take home and parents were sent information about how to use the kits with their child.

Each year, 6th grade students travel to a local environmental center to participate in environmental education activities.

19-20: Students went to Sandy Hill in North East, MD in October 2019

20-21: no camp due to virtual learning

21-22: Students went to Piney Run Park in Sykesville, MD in May 2022

22-23: Students went to Robinson Nature Center in Columbia, MD

No matter the year or the venue, students participate in a rotation of environmentally themed activities including:

--lesson on UV rays --live animal show --hike --predator/prey game

As part of their study of contemporary issues in Asia, students learn about the history of the Three Gorges Dam in China, examine how dams can help and hurt the environment, and write an argumentative essay that either supports or opposes the construction of future dams.

7th grade students participated in the Students Branching Out program to plant trees on school property and create reforestation zones.

Before the planting, students learned the value of native trees to the ecosystem, the value of trees for air quality, and how to correctly plant trees.

For their service learning project, all 7th grade students learned about the value of native plants for the ecosystem and, in particular, for birds. Students then learned how to identify straight run native plants, nativars, and cultivars.

After the lessons, student went out to school gardens to weed and plant plants purchased with a grant from Audubon Society of Central Maryland.

As part of the science fiction unit in 8th grade English, students conducted research on an environmental topic of their choosing and wrote an argumentative essay on the issue. Topics included deforestation, conservation of energy, the ozone layer, and fast fashion. They then used specific evidence from credible sources to support a claim, in order to answer a question of what could be done to deal to take action on the issue.

Students in the Oyster Gardening program attend field trips and complete online lessons to learn about the biology of the oyster and the important role that oysters play in the health and ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay. Students use this knowledge to raise 4 cages of oyster spat on the docks of the Annapolis Maritime Museum in Annapolis. They count and measure the spat in October and again in May, when they complete their studies and attend a CBF field trip to add their spat to an oyster sanctuary in the Chesapeake Bay. Along the way, families take turns visiting the cages each week to test the water quality and to keep the cages free from sediment.

In addition, students visit the Annapolis Maritime museum each year for lessons ranging from oyster dissection to the history of the oystering tools. Because some students will choose to participate in Oyster Gardening for three years, the field experiences are different each year to ensure that there are always new lessons available.

In addition, students and their families watch educational videos and take quizzes to assess their knowledge through an online educational platform. ​

At a faculty meeting, students from the GT Enivronmental Studies course presented the Green School initiatives in place.

7th grade team leader and Green Committee Member, Brian Walsh, led a meeting with 7th grade teachers to plan and implement the grade level lesson on Gardening With Birds as part of our Green School application.

The staff Green Committee surveyed the full staff to learn their comfort level integrating environmental literacy in their classes and what environmental habits they have.

The knowledge from this survey will be used for future PD.

During MVMS Earth Hour, all of the teachers are encouraged to turn off their classroom lights between 8:30 am and 9:30 am to replicate the real International Earth Hour. Students all wear black clothes to school to get into the spirit, and there are announcements and videos about Earth Hour.

of student organizers: 15-20 each year

of students participating: whole school (900 students)

one week each year in March during morning TV show and lunch shifts 8:30 to 9:30 am on the last Friday of March

After 2 years of being cancelled (2020 and 2021), we are excited that our annual Earth Week (Earth Day) celebration is back!

Each April, Mount View has special activities to celebrate Earth Day (Earth Week).

Colorful "stained glass" murals go in the cafeteria, there are Earth Day themed TV shows, and students sign up to take home plants in our annual giveaway!

One staff member undertook the training to become a Park Ranger at Patapsco Valley State Park!

2 staff members attended 3 summer PD book talks sponsored by the Howard County Conservancy to read and discuss The Future We Choose: The Stubborn Optimist's Guide To The Climate Crisis.

Then, Mount View became the first school to use the Conservancy's new Traveling PD Book Talk School Kit. The kit provided 10 copies of the book, book talk questions to be used during the discussions, and a tabbed guide book with discussion points.

2 staff members attended a workshop on permaculture practices led by Eric Lewis of Plant Path Nursery. The workshop included a garden tour to see the practices in action.

The staff members learned of this event by attending a webinar sponsored by the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in spring of 2021 where the permaculture workshop organizers were featured speakers.

30 students in the MVMS Kindness Club did an assessment of areas where our school building could be improved. They noticed that March winds were causing more litter than usual and decided to spend one of their meetings doing a litter pickup.

During virtual learning, 6 students in the GT Environmental Studies Seminar created a virtual bingo event that taught classmates about the impact that trash has on our watershed. Then, 24 students played litter bingo with bingo cards made by the students that featured the most common types of litter found in parks and in oceans. At the end, students were encouraged to pick up litter at their local parks.

7 students in GT Environmental Stewardship conducted a trash audit in the cafeteria and found that chip bags and snack wrappers were two of the most thrown away items. To repurpose this waste stream, they joined with students in GT Environmental Studies to create specialized recycling bins. The bins are emptied each week by a student crew and the chip bags and snack wrappers are now used for upcycled art projects in our school MakerSpace. We collect an average of 77 bags per week.

A 6th grade student researched types of composting and decided to start a tumbler composter at Mount View. 17 students are piloting the use of the composter right now, and an average of 20 food items per week are being added to the bin.

8 students in GT Environmental Studies decided to educate students about how to use less wrapping paper during the holiday season and how to correctly recycle the paper they do use. They created Minute It To Win It games that challenged students to toss various types of gift wrap materials into bins for reusing, recycling, or trash and the games were shown on the morning TV show.

After the games, students and families were able to sign a pledge to support Mount View's efforts to "be green" by making eco friendly wrapping choices.

Students have multiple opportunities to maintain our native plant gardens.

1. More than 40 students each year work in the garden through the GT Environmental Studies program. They visit our native plant gardens once a week in the fall and spring to remove invasive species like Canada thistle, record the animals we see, and document the flowers in bloom for our Instagram page.

2. Students volunteer during recess to work in our gardens. They clean up trash, add new plants, and record the butterflies they find. Depending upon the weather, there are 1-3 gardening days offered each week in September and May.

7 students in GT Environmental Stewardship Council decided to restore our school's monarch waystation for their class capstone project.

They researched what was needed for the garden to be certified, mapped out the plants currently in the garden, harvested seeds from our milkweed, removed plants that weren't native, trimmed back the overgrown native plants, winter sowed the milkweed seeds they harvested, and began growing zinnia and marigold to add to the garden.

Mount View received a letter from the USDA stating that the Spotted Lanternfly had been seen on our school campus. 15 students in GT Environmental Studies decided to alert students by creating posters, announcements, and a scavenger hunt for students to play at lunch time. For the game, 6 photos of the spotted lanternfly (each with a different letter of b -a -d -b -u -g) were hidden on the recess grounds. Students who found all of the letters and unscrambled them to spell Bad Bug were entered in a drawing to win lunch in the outdoor classroom.

The campaign was a success and spotted lanternflies are regularly identified and trapped by students, particularly during outside activities in PE classes or during recess. We are happy to report that we have not seen a full infestation on campus!!

During the 20-21 school year, a student in GT Research decided to learn about beneficial bugs and the value of native praying mantises. After meeting with Dr. Mike Raupp of UMD Entomology, he created a plan for Mount View to raise and release native Carolina mantises into our garden.

During the 21-22 school year, 35 students in GT Environmental Studies raised and released the mantises. They created announcements to share with the whole school when the mantises were released in our school gardens.

More than 10 years ago, 4 students researched the value of indoor plants for healthy air and mental wellness before getting permission to install 2 living walls in our cafeteria. The walls have been maintained by students since they were installed, and along the way it was decided that they should be moved to the front foyer of the school so that students could reach them easier for watering and so that we could feature our Green School program with a new sign!

Each school year, more than 30 students in GT Environmental Studies and GT Environmental Stewardship propagate plants from cuttings from our living wall. They clip the plants, put the clippings into bottles or buckets, monitor root growth, and then plant the cuttings once they have enough roots.

During the last 4 years, they have grown and potted more than 70 plants. They plants are taken home by students, added to our green wall, given to teachers, or given to other students as prizes for eco activities.

Each year, members of the Mount View TV Crew sponsor multiple photo challenges that ask students to get outside and explore nature. From spring flowers, to autumn leaves, to summer fun... each challenge emphasizes students being outside in nature.

We partner with Annapolis Maritime Museum to take care of 4 cages of oyster spat hanging from their docks.

Prior to the pandemic, our students also visited the museum each fall and spring to learn more about oyster reefs and the Chesapeake Bay. Our last field trip was in the fall of 2019; however, during virtual we were able to collaborate on curricular projects and finally organize a private opportunity for Mount View families to have a lesson aboard the museum's restored skipjack in the spring of 2022.

Now, we are working to revisit our MOU for our partnership and to set new goals for the upcoming years.

https://amaritime.org/

During virtual and hybrid learning, we opened our school gardens on the weekends for families to help us weed and mulch. Elementary, middle, and high school students worked in the garden each week. We also invited community members to paint rocks for the garden.

It was such a success that students are currently researching how to build these opportunities into a sustainable program so that the gardens are used by more than just students.

Students heard about a state bill to create school grants for composting in cafeterias. The bill needed to be funded by the governor, so 10 students in GT Environmental Studies organized a school campaign to create postcards that would encourage funding. More than 60 students wrote postcards that were sent to Annapolis.

MVMS has participated in MAEOE's Virtual Youth Summit twice, and we are excited to participate again this year!

In 2021, we prepared a slideshow of our activities that showed our virtual meetings and live web meets which took place at our oyster docks in Annapolis, at local nature centers, and at our partner business: Sun Nurseries.

In 2022, our video was selected to be part of the MAEOE Youth Summit virtual ceremony! Students planned, recorded, and edited the video on their own to showcase a summary of our entire year. 8th grader, Sana, was the lead on the project.

For 2023, students are once again making a video. It will be highlighting our Green School application and our top 5 accomplishments. Mary will be the lead for this year's video.

Sun Nurseries has partnered with us for our gardens and habitat restoration projects. They have provided important information concerning native plants and garden planning for our native plant educational garden. In addition, they help us run community milkweed sales to increase monarch habitat in our school community.

www.sunnurseries.com ​Woodbine, MD

ClearShark H20 works with our school's Oyster Gardening program and has expanded its partnership with MVMS to include presentations to all 7th grade science students. They have helped with our oyster cages, presented virtual lessons from the dock, and presented a classroom lesson to demonstrate how the Chesapeake Bay has become polluted over the years by human activity.

Howard Conservancy offered an opportunity for 6th grade students in Howard County to engage in a Climate Change Education summer program. MVMS had so many students interested that the Conservancy offered a special club just at MVMS during the school year so that they could accommodate students who were not selected for the summer program.

MVMS received a $500 grant from the Audubon Society of Central Maryland (ASCM) to add more native plants to our school gardens thus providing food and shelter for wildlife, including backyard birds.

Staff member, Susan Mako, was awarded a 2022 Green Apple award for Secondary Environmental Education by Live Green Howard and The Howard County Conservancy.

Two MVMS 8th graders were selected as top 20 international finalists for their research and design of an app to prevent food wastage. The competition asked students to become "social good innovators" who create a solution aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.