SUSTAINABILITY AT EVERY LEVEL OF THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

Laura Zimmerman, Sixth Grade Science Teacher, Middle School Sustainability Coordinator

Sustainable practices at the Middle School are taught, modeled, and reinforced throughout the entire community. Our youngest learners in fouth grade are in charge of paper recycling throughout the building. They also make their own recycled paper to learn about the process, repurpose materials for STEAM challenges, and begin to learn about climate change.

In fifth grade, students read the book Seedfolks in Language Arts, which focuses on the power of gardening and community, and then they plant and tend seeds and plants in the garden boxes located outside their science classroom. The fifth grade also visits the Newark Conservancy’s garden and farm spaces to learn about sustainable agriculture and help the farmers with a variety of tasks from moving mulch to painting fences. In sixth grade science, students study the science and societal impacts of climate change. They create a climate action project to address the climate crisis at home, at school, or in the larger community. Projects have included writing letters about putting solar panels on our buildings to presentations to promote Meatless Mondays. In seventh grade, students study the foundations of biology and ecology. This year for the first time there will be a MS Sustainability-focused trip to Costa Rica in the summer.

Many of these connections to sustainability have started in the science department but have become connected cross-curricularly throughout the last few years. For the last two years, eighth-grade students have watched and discussed the recent film, The Sacrifice Zone, which is a movie about a group of environmental justice fighters in Newark, NJ. Specifically, the film addresses local air pollution caused by the trash incinerator in the neighborhood. This is relevant to our MKA community because of its geographic proximity, and also because our garbage is sent to this incinerator. Last year, eighth-grade students taught about the concept of environmental justice to the sixth-graders through a hands-on lesson modeling a similar situation. In the activity, students represented different community groups and culminated in a vote about where to place a toxic waste site and discussed and reflected on these challenges. Through this advisory activity, older eighth-grade student leaders were able to teach their younger peers about social injustice and environmental discrimination. In addition, other eighth-grade volunteers led historical advisory lessons about the Newark Uprising and how to raise awareness of these local issues in the larger community.

Many opportunities to learn and lead in green practices are available outside of the classroom as well. Students are allowed to choose and lead “FLEX” or optional courses, several of which focus on the concept of sustainability, and they have the opportunity to participate in the Walk in the Woods Flex in which they explore Mills Reservation to walk the trails and visit the nearby Hawk Watch. The Middle School Green Group provides students leadership opportunities to drive student-based sustainability changes at our school. Therefore, this group makes presentations to the school community, plans events, and helps collect data about how we are doing in terms of our waste and recycling. These students have also visited the Green Roof at the Upper School and are helping set up and take care of a Hydroponic Garden Tower growing produce inside the school. Each year around Earth Day, students lead and participate in a variety of hands-on activities to learn more about their impact and what they can do to help improve the environment.

Green academic practices are woven into the fabric of the culture at MKA, and it is evident that every student experiences meaningful, engaging activities about being good stewards of the planet on a daily basis.