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Special Feature

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GreenKids is a grant-funded educational outreach program of the Audubon Naturalist Society. GreenKids provides participating public schools with two years of free resources and field experiences to foster watershed stewardship and environmental literacy while meeting established curriculum goals. GreenKids operates in partnership with Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland and Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia. The GreenKids Network provides continuing support to alumni schools upon completion of the two-year GreenKids partnership.

- Benefits of Participation
- List of GreenKids Schools
- How to Apply to GreenKids
- Information for GreenKids Lead Teachers

GreenKids Lesson Plans & Activities

Core Lessons for Schools

Reducing Waste

- Vermicomposting with Garbage-Eating Wonder Worms

- Make Your Own Recycled Paper

- Garbology

Improving Energy Efficiency

- Watt's Up: Classroom Energy Audit

- Building Temperature & Lighting Surveys

- Three Green Things

Preventing Water Pollution

- Stream Science

- EnviroScape Model

- Green Cleaners

- Soap Sillies & Clean the Stream

- Erosion in a Bottle

Protecting Schoolyard Habitat

- Value of a Schoolyard Tree

- Schoolyard Nature Investigations

- Litter Removal Service Projects

Creating School Gardens

- Native Plant Gardens

- Salad Science! Growing Edibles in Container Gardens

Other Lessons & Activities

- Butterfly Cards: Native Butterflies

- Growing Sunflowers in Biodegradable Pots

- Historical Uses of Trees

- Watershed in a Pan

- Growing Native! Fall Tree Seed Collections

- Trash-Free School Lunches

- Ideas for School Earth Day Celebrations

- Whole School Activity: Labeling Light Switches

- Green Teams: Tips for Energy Conservation & Solid Waste Reduction

Create a school garden! Visit the MCPS School Garden website
for ideas, garden templates, plant lists, and more.

MCPS has unveiled its Edible Container Garden website!
Visit this site for excellent resources to help you plan & plant
an edibles garden. Learn more

GreenKids Network of Alumni Schools
- Welcome to the GreenKids Network
- GreenKids Student Scientists in Action
- GreenKids Teachers' Resource Exchange

GreenKids in the News
- Outdoor Classrooms Open in LCPS at Emerick & Hillsboro Elementary Schools
- Fresh Greens Used for Colorful Lunch, Class Project at Harmony Hills
- The Greens that First Graders Grew
- Edible Container Gardening Comes to MCPS
- New Hampshire Estates Kindergarten Prescription: 20 Seconds! Each Day
- Arcola Elementary Gets a Butterfly Garden of Their Own
- B-CC Students & Staff Collaborate to Increase School Recycling
- GreenKids Receives "Distinguished Service to Public Education" Award
- Stream Studies Carry Local Elementary Students Closer to Science
- Forest Knolls Elementary School Hits a 'Green' Milestone
- Nine More GreenKids Schools Earn Maryland Green School Certification
- College Garden ES Students Hold a Press Conference for Healthy Food
- Rocky Hill Middle School Students Raise & Release Rainbow Trout
- Green Groups Team Up With Two Schools in Loudoun County
- Westbrook Students Honor Earth Week
- Third-Graders Learn As They Create Plant-Themed Tiles
- Tomorrow's Trees Today: Gathering Seeds for Growing Native
- GreenKids: Turning a Sense of Wonder into a Sense of Empowerment
- Making Butterfly Dreams Come True: A Cross-Generational Partnership
- For Students, Environmental Change Starts at School
- American Plant Garden Center & Nursery Donates Plants to Schools
- GreenKids News Archive

Resources for Educators

Maryland Green School Program
- MAEOE Maryland Green School Certification Program
- Useful Tips for Completing a Green School Certification Application
- GreenKids Schools that have been certified as Maryland Green Schools

Virginia Green School Resources
- Virginia Naturally Schools
- LCPS Energy Education Team
- Loudoun County, Virginia Recycling & Waste Management
- LCPS Policies for the Use of School Facilities

Other Resources
- 10 Ways to Green Up Your Elementary Classroom
- 10 Ways to Green Up Your Middle & High School Classroom
- EE Week 'Be Water Wise' School Water Audit
- EE Week Carbon Footprint Calculator
- Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy's Checklist of Butterflies
- Food Web Game Created by Clarksburg ES Teacher Karen Earp
- Teacher Whitney Russell's Daily 20-Second Nature Observations
- MCPS Recycling Activities & Resources
- We All Live Downstream
- The Sun, the Greenhouse Effect, the Carbon Cycle & Global Warming Theater

Partners and Helpful Links
- Bethesda Green
- Earth Day Network
- Earth Hour
- Friends of Rock Creek Environment
- Friends of Sligo Creek
- Grow It Eat It
- Growing Native
- International Walk to School Day
- Jennifer Keats Curtis - Children's Author
- Journey North
- Little Falls Watershed Alliance
- Maryland Association for Environmental & Outdoor Education (MAEOE)
- MCPS/GreenKids School Gardens Website
- MCPS School Energy & Recycling Team (SERT)
- Monarch Sister Schools Program
- Montgomery County Dept of Environmental Protection
- Montgomery County Master Gardeners
- National Environmental Education Week
- NWF Schoolyard Habitat
- Pennies for the Planet! National Audubon Society
- TerraCycle Brigades
- TogetherGreen
- Tree-Mendous Maryland
- Trout in the Classroom
- University of Maryland Extension

Contact GreenKids

GreenKids Program Director: Diane Lill
GreenKids@audubonnaturalist.org

GreenKids Staff

Photo by James Kegley

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