Highlights from the Green “fabric” woven into the tapestry of life at St. Andrew’s Day School.
Our extensive teaching gardens, wonderful greenhouse, and small goat and chicken barns, provide St. Andrew’s Day School students with a rich variety of learning opportunities in this “outdoor classroom” throughout the academic year. From third graders planting “three sisters” gardens while studying Native American history, to “sock gardens” planted by middle school students, as a way of understanding gardening practices in third world countries, our students can be found in the gardens almost daily. All students, from preschool through eighth grade, take pride in weeding, watering, pruning and propagating, especially when they see the fruits of their labor and through this hands-on work, come to understand the delicate balance of our earth. Chickens roam freely across campus during the day, and our dwarf Nigerian and Nubian goats provide an endless source of learning and entertainment, much to the delight of students and teachers alike.
On the border between our playing fields and wooded areas lies the perfect habitat for bluebirds, and our Bluebird Trail was established five years ago to provide a safe haven for this species. The lower school science curriculum includes the study of bluebirds, along with other birds, and all students know how to tell the difference between a bluebird nest and the nests of any other birds. Building bluebird houses both to take home and to install on our trail, keeps our lower school students happily learning about and caring for these Maryland birds.
Our AquaEcosystem is also five years old, and was started with a grant from the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Like the teaching gardens, the AquaEcosystem building and surrounding site provides our middle school students with the opportunity to understand how to protect and care for the critical wetland areas and life in the Chesapeake Bay. Students actively participate in the restoration of damaged habitat by raising bay grasses for replanting in critical areas of the Bay and raising rockfish and perch for release into its waters. The AquaEcosystem building was constructed by middle school students using recycled materials. The saltwater plant nursery and 210 gallon aquaculture system form a closed loop, so that waste generated by the fish fertilizes the bay grasses, which in turn filter the water before it is returned to the fish. Throughout the year students are actively engaged in the collection and analyzation of scientific date for the AquaEcosystem. Fifth grade students prepare for stepping up to AquaEcosystem responsibilities by raising a Maryland Terrapin in their classroom, also in cooperation with the National Aquarium.
At St. Andrew’s Day School, recycling has been a part of everyday life for over fifteen years, even preceding the recycling efforts of Anne Arundel County. Students in all grades sort paper, cardboard, plastic and aluminum, along with a variety of other materials, into the many recycling containers located throughout the campus. Collected materials are also repurposed for everything from art projects to science experiments to gardening projects – if we can think of a way to use it, we will!
This year marks our fifth annual celebration of Earth Day at St. Andrew’s. Each year, local companies, organizations, and government agencies are invited to our school to participate in the event. These companies are directly related to efforts in making our world a “green” place to live. They may sell solar panels, build electric cars, or put their efforts into sustainable forestry. Others may be non-profit organizations that work daily on the Chesapeake Bay or local tributaries to clean up the area and bring back its natural beauty. Government agencies that come to this event have a hand in creating laws or mandates about policies such as waste management, wildlife refuges, or pollution control. Each participant is asked to speak with students about how their organization contributes to the “green” effort and how students can make a difference as well. In addition to speaking with the students, participants coordinate hands-on activities or demonstrations in order to make the information more meaningful to the students. Students and participants alike look forward to our Earth Day Exposition each year. It is truly an engaging and meaningful event for all involved. Students leave the school that day thinking “How can I make a difference in the health of our world?”