For more information and a list of contacts at each participating green school, please email schools@arlingtonenvironment.org.

Energy conservation: Arlington Traditional, Henry, Tuckahoe

Recycling and solid waste reduction: Abingdon, Arlington Science Focus, Arlington Traditional, Ashlawn, Barcroft, Drew, Henry, Key, McKinley, Nottingham, Randolph, Taylor, Tuckahoe

Schoolyard habitats, gardening, and outdoor learning: Abingdon, Arlington Science Focus, Arlington Traditional, Drew, Henry, Key, McKinley, Nottingham, Randolph, Tuckahoe

Stewardship and community projects : Arlington Traditional, Henry, Key, Nottingham, Randolph, Taylor, Tuckahoe

Water quality protection and water conservation: McKinley, Nottingham, Randolph

Abingdon Elementary School

• Composting
• Themed gardens (Peter Rabbit, Native American, Colonial)
• Pop-top collection and recycling to support Ronald McDonald House in Richmond (for families with children receiving cancer treatment)
• Yes Club (4th and 5th graders) paper-recycling contest

Arlington Science Focus School

• Opt in for paper notices to students
• Recycling center for eyeglasses, printer cartridges, cell phones, DVDs and videos, plastics #1-7, plastic bags, batteries, soccer cleats, crocs, small electronics
• Paper recycling in every classroom
• Weekly green tips for the electronic Friday Folder, including announcements of local environmental events
• Plants in Atrium to improve air quality
• Waste free lunch day
• Plan to "green the lunch room," including composting and reduce/reuse/recycle
• Planting vegetables for local good banks
• "Greening" of large events
• Review of energy consumption to find ways to improve efficiency
• Environmental bookmark contest with top 10 suggestions
• Growing grasses for the Chesapeake Bay
• Annual Habitat Day

Arlington Traditional Elementary School

• Paper recycling throughout the building
• Turning out lights in rooms, using daylight, and powering off computers at end of day
• “Trash” items used to make artistic sculptures and engineering models (like rockets, cars, robots) in conjunction with engineering week
• Recycled objects used to create sculptures and other art projects
• Paperless day
• Outdoor environments (butterfly garden, colonial garden, Uganda garden) maintained by students
• PTA sale of environmental light bulbs
• Tree planting at public parks
• Science and Tech Night features environmental experiments, exhibits on wildlife, the Outdoor Lab, LED lightbulbs, and garden partnerships
• Scout troop energy conservation project

Ashlawn Elementary School

• Composting
• Earth Day celebration
• Adoption of Earth Charter

Barcroft Elementary School

• Green Fair plus Earth Week activities
• Battery recycling program
• Recycled art mosaic of the Earth using collecting bottle cap
• Composting of food waste and yard waste and worm composting

Drew Model School

• Students and families plant flowers to beautify the grounds
• School-wide grounds cleanup
• Plan to implement a school-wide recycling program
• Recycling logo using dragon mascot
• Each classroom has a 10' x 4' outdoor planter for classroom gardening

Henry Elementary School

• Reduce, reuse, recycle program
• First graders created bird feeders from milk jugs
• Food and garden waste composted in schoolyard habitat
• Student-led paper and mixed recycling at school
• Students taught "recycle" in sign language
• First grade Energy Patrol
• Waste-free lunch week and walk/carpool to school day for Earth Week
• Second graders planted "tomato garden for the hungry"

Key Elementary School

• Bird houses made by a 3rd grade cub scout troop
• Garden theme projects from kindergarten through 4th grade (vegetables/herbs, colonial Virginia)
• Perennial art garden for inspiration
• Schoolyard family work days (three per year)
• Compost tumbler added to garden area
• Trash to Treasure drive (with Arlington Science Focus)

McKinley Elementary School

• Recycling center for ink cartridges, batteries, and bottle caps
• Paper recycling throughout the school
• Greening of school-wide events
• Recycling logo using the Cardinal Mascot
• Built an outdoor classroom - planning to power a future sound system for its amphitheater using alternative energy (solar and wind)
• Installed a rain garden to solve sidewalk flooding and provide a learning opportunity for students as well as a habitat for good bugs

Nottingham Elementary School

• Stream cleanups of Little Pimmit Run in Rock Spring Park
• Kindergarteners care for planter beds, including butterfly habitat, vegetables, and flowering plants
• Created a flower garden of hardy native perennials outside the art classroom to provide inspiration
• Enviroscape demonstrations to illustrate watershed protection
• Recycling at school-sponsored events, including posters and PTA-staffed recycling bins
• Reduced waste lunch education

Randolph Elementary School

• Storm Drain Team students keep litter out of storm drains
• Community Service Club promoted recycling throughout the school
• Students support local stream cleanups
• Gardening club maintains outdoor schoolyard habitat
• Schoolyard habitat cleanup day for students, families, staff, and community to mulch, weed and plant
• Plant swap for individuals to buy or trade plants

Taylor Elementary School

• School yard nesting boxes monitored by students
• Life cycles observed in insect and butterfly gardens
• Composting
• Shad fish, wood frogs, and monarch butterflies raised and released
• Trash-to-Treasure Drive to collect reusable material to donate to local organizations
• Waste-free lunch program cut lunch waste by 8 tons per year

Tuckahoe Elementary School

• School-wide outdoor learning program
• Ongoing development, use, and stewardship of The Discovery Schoolyard (9 outdoor classrooms) by students, staff, and the PTA Discovery Schoolyard Committee
• School-wide classroom-based recycling for plastic and paper led by students acting as Recycling Rangers
• Greening of school events and creating environmental awareness programs through PTA Environmental Stewardship Committee
• Recycling household items, including toner and ink cartridges, cell phones, and compact discs
• Promoting walking, biking, and riding the bus to and from school

Learn more on our Resources page.

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