2.1 Water Conservation / Pollution Prevention
Fall 2019 - Prep Participates in the Global Climate Strike
Front and back sides of the letter Prep students drafted, signed and brought to the 2019 Climate Strike
In solidarity with the Global Climate Strike led by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, three Green Club members wrote a letter describing what students at Prep are learning about the environment and how they are acting to protect it, and calling for their leaders to do their part. Students across the school, from Pre-K through 5th grade, signed on to the letter.
On September 20, 2019, several students brought the signed letter to City Hall, marching along with hundreds of other student activists and their supporters. Federal Hill Prep is proud to have an IB program, and the teachers and administration were big supporters of this student-led effort to connect their studies to the global community. |
2018 - Prep Raises Awareness to Keep the Bay Clean
As part of Prep's 2018 Volunteer Day, students painted storm drains to help make the community aware that water flows from our neighborhood into the Chesapeake Bay.
2.3 Solid Waste Reduction
Winter 2020 - Raising Student Awareness About Plastic Bags
January 30, 2020: Green Club members hang plastic bags in the Prep cafeteria to raise student awareness of waste reduction. Thirteen students participated in Green Club.
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In support of Baltimore City’s ban on single use plastic check, the Green Club hung plastic bags throughout the school cafeteria, and posted signs with information about how single use plastic bags hurt the environment. The bags and signs informed students about the harm of single use plastic bags and how they are a large portion of plastic pollution that ends up in our trees, streets, parks, drains, harbor, waterways, and oceans. The Green Club students informed the rest of their classmates that banning the use and spread of plastic bags decreases litter, prevents storm drain blockages and reduce our city’s carbon footprint to combat climate change.
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Winter 2020 - Green Club Takes an Ecotour
The Green Club went on an Ecotour of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor where they learned about the green infrastructure projects along the Harbor, including the floating wetlands, oyster gardening, and Mr. Trash Wheel.
Students had intended to put their Ecotour learning into action back on campus by organizing cleanup activities around the school and informing their fellow students about what trash and pollution can do to the harbor, but due to COVID-19 they haven't been back in-person yet. |
February 28, 2020: Green Club students learn about the role of oysters in water filtration
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Spring 2018 - Student Activism Drives City-Wide Styrofoam Ban
Building on their2016- 2017 advocacy for a state-wide styrofoam ban, Federal Hill Preparatory students rallied in 2018 to help ban styrofoam in food service facilities across Baltimore.
Working with local advocates from Bmore Beyond Plastic, nine students attended a February 6 public hearing at City Hall to debate Bill 17-0117, which was proposed for "prohibiting food service facilities from using disposable food service ware made from polystyrene foam". Two students, London Blackston and Gabriella Washington, even went up to the microphone to tell the crowd why we believe in this bill. In April, the mayor signed the bill into law!
Working with local advocates from Bmore Beyond Plastic, nine students attended a February 6 public hearing at City Hall to debate Bill 17-0117, which was proposed for "prohibiting food service facilities from using disposable food service ware made from polystyrene foam". Two students, London Blackston and Gabriella Washington, even went up to the microphone to tell the crowd why we believe in this bill. In April, the mayor signed the bill into law!
2.4 Habitat Restoration
Fall 2019 - Keeping Prep Green with Native Plants
As part of our Green Club activities, the students help to populate the school grounds with native plants both inside and outside the school. This includes adding plants to our Living Wall as needed, and plantings outside of the school. The photos to the left show students planting in November 2019. Our students take great pride in being green!
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Nov. 2019: Green Club members add native plants to Prep's Living Wall. Thirteen students participated in Green Club.
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Spring 2019 - Students Create a Pollinator Garden
April 9, 2019: Photos of Prep's freshly installed Pollinator Garden and the student and volunteer team that cleared and planted it!
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With its 2018-19 Green Healthy Smart Challenge Grant, the Prep Green Club built a Pollinator Garden! A natural extension of learning about the lifecycles of plants and insects and their symbiotic relationship, the pollinator garden at Prep also affords robust educational opportunities as the garden attracts native butterflies, bees, and insects.
The Garden was installed on Green Schools Volunteer Day, April 9, 2019, with the help of volunteers from Constellation Energy. Ongoing care of the garden will provide our student Green Team (and future Green Team members) ample chance to get their hands dirty, to learn about native plants, and the role of pollinators in ecology. In the initial planting of the garden we utilized dead leaves, compost and organic matter from the school grounds. |
2.5 Structures for Environmental Learning
Fall 2019 - Students Turn an Unused Plot Into a Sensory Garden
October 2019: Before, during and after photos of Prep's Sensory Garden, built by students in all grades with help from parent volunteers.
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In 2019, through grant funding received from a Lowes Toolbox Grant and the Green Healthy Smart Challenge, the Prep Green Club with help from parent and teacher volunteers built a sensory garden in an underused but substantial enclosed plot next to our blacktop playground. The idea for the sensory garden was to appeal to the sense of sight, smell, sound, and touch, and feature interactive elements for both teacher-led and self-led play and learning. This outdoor learning oasis invites children to slow down, look closely, and pay attention to their environment and surroundings. It includes native and non-invasive plants of various sizes and textures; chimes and outdoor musical instruments including some repurposed items, made by the Green Club; fragrant herbs and flowers; and an outdoor library.
The sensory garden appeals to all of our students but is especially meaningful to those with sensory processing disorders and our early learners. The initial work on the garden began on our annual Fall Clean-up Day on October 13, 2019 with approximately 25 families, Green Club members, and students in all grades involved in weeding, digging, planting, and mulching. |
A unique feature of the Sensory Garden is the wind chimes, made by Green Club members out of materials that would otherwise have gone in the trash. The chimes were hung in trees located inside the Sensory Garden. The purpose of the chimes were two-fold, add a sensory item to the garden, and remind fellow students that everyday items that could end up in a landfill can be reused and repurposed. The items used included used cds decorated by the students, used fishing line, and used coffee containers.
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2.6 Responsible Transportation
Biking and Walking to School and Field Trips
Federal Hill Preparatory School is fortunate enough to be located in the middle of a bustling city. Before COVID-19 hit, we took advantage of being able to walk, bike, or scoot to school, and to walk for field trips to parks, the Inner Harbor, the Science Center, the Enoch Pratt Library , and the Aquarium. This saves us money on buses and saves the environment on caustic fumes from the buses that we don't have to take.
Live Baltimore posted this "Mornings in Motion" video celebrating Prep families biking to school on August 30, 2017
As the above video attests, many of our students bike, scoot or walk to school every day, weather permitting. We also participate every year in National Bike to School Day and National Walk to School Day. These events encourage students to bike or walk while teaching them about the health and environmental benefits of biking and walking. It also helps raise community awareness about the importance of bicycle and pedestrian safety education, safe routes to school, well-maintained walkways, and traffic calming in neighborhoods around schools.