West Michigan Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative Grant
The WMGLSI focuses on service learning and place based education using the Earth Force process and environmental education. I attended a week long professional development during the summer of 2014 which qualified my school for this grant. Upon returning to school in the fall we sparked the interest of 3 additional teachers to join our Earth Force team. The four of us had $4,500 for the school year to use for environmental education through service learning.
September
At the beginning of the school year we talked about what healthy communities looked like. We studied how humans impact their communities health both positively and negatively and began to wonder how healthy the White Lake community was. We used maps, books, and did a 'Freddy the Fish' activity to learn more about what to look for in our community.
September
At the beginning of the school year we talked about what healthy communities looked like. We studied how humans impact their communities health both positively and negatively and began to wonder how healthy the White Lake community was. We used maps, books, and did a 'Freddy the Fish' activity to learn more about what to look for in our community.
October
We took a walking tour of our community. We visited the White Lake shoreline at four different locations and looked for strengths and weaknesses in the area. We noticed that our community had several strengths however, there were many areas we could improve. We took special notice of the invasive species, lack of garbage cans or recycling stations, and found minimal natural habitats for living organisms.
November - December
We began to research the weaknesses we found in our community. We found out what invasive species were and how to get rid of them. We looked into the native plants of our area and looked for areas where we could plant them. We researched the endangered species in our community and investigated how to preserve or create habitats for them. We researched how we could conserve water, recycle, and grow food locally in our area. We wanted to make a difference ourselves and inspire and educate others to make a change as well.
We took a walking tour of our community. We visited the White Lake shoreline at four different locations and looked for strengths and weaknesses in the area. We noticed that our community had several strengths however, there were many areas we could improve. We took special notice of the invasive species, lack of garbage cans or recycling stations, and found minimal natural habitats for living organisms.
November - December
We began to research the weaknesses we found in our community. We found out what invasive species were and how to get rid of them. We looked into the native plants of our area and looked for areas where we could plant them. We researched the endangered species in our community and investigated how to preserve or create habitats for them. We researched how we could conserve water, recycle, and grow food locally in our area. We wanted to make a difference ourselves and inspire and educate others to make a change as well.
March
Tanya Cabala and Mike Mack from the White Lake Area Sustainability Network visited our class. They shared their concerns with our community’s health and taught us about sustainability. They shared ideas about what we could do to help White Lake. Their presentations gave us ideas for changes we could make.
April
We formed groups and selected an environmental topic of interest. We did research, became experts, and took action. We decided to hold a Green School community night to share our knowledge with others. We wanted to teach others about small changes they could make that would have a large impact.
May
We created presentations on our topics, planted a butterfly garden, started water bottle recycling at our school, began tray less lunch days to reduce Styrofoam waste, set up rain barrels, created informational stickers for our city garbage cans, and visited the White Lake Assisted Living Center. The residents at the living center helped us make final changes before our Green School event.
Our Future
At the beginning of June we are going to do a Garlic Mustard pull near our town sledding hill. We will continue to share what we have learned about sustainability and building a healthy community for the rest of our lives. We are hopeful that we will be examples for others and that our movement to love our earth will slowly spread across the entire globe.