I began asking her questions: How exactly do you teach kindergarteners green principles before they even know how to count? Do they only learn how to spell words that relate to the environment? Are they allowed to have textbooks? I was somewhat joking around but somewhat serious. It just seemed like a lot of money to go into a private school for such young children who don't even understand basic principles yet. She explained that the cafeteria serves healthier and organic food and that most lessons must pertain to the environment or the green movement in some way.
So I finally came around to researching the Green Schools initiative. The best introduction can be found here: http://www.greenschools.net/section.php?id=11
After investigating the site a bit further, I realized that this idea for a school is actually a very good idea. It is somewhat a place rich mommies can send their rich babies, but these schools also have a lot to teach the average public school. There is no reason why all schools shouldn't serve less junk or fast food and no soda; in my high school they began removing these items my senior year. Schools should always recycle, include environmental education, and promote green playgrounds. Overall, I think these 'green schools' are just doing what every school already should, or maybe are trying to do. These schools are just making a greater attemple and have more money in order to succeed in these specific aspects.
Does anyone know anything else about these schools?
In my principles of environmental education class I learned that we should start environmental education at the pre school level. You may think this is ridiculously young, but there is a particular sequence that environmental education follows. The first focus of environmental education is awareness. Awareness is a concept that is easy to work on with very young children. What do you hear, see, smell, touch? The final stage in EE is action, and in between we focus on knowledge, values, and some other elements that I don't remember right now. In high school, most EE should focus on knowledge and action. When I was teaching EE I worked mainly with 5th and 6th graders, but also did some work with younger children, and it's important to start young.
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