Center for Young Children (CYC)

The Maryland Green School Awards Program is a holistic, integrated approach to authentic learning that incorporates local environmental issue investigation and professional development with environmental best management practices and community stewardship. All Maryland schools pre K-12, public and private are eligible. Applications are non-competitive and are accepted each year in the spring. Newly recognized Maryland Green Schools and Maryland Green Centers are announced in late spring." from the MAEOE green schools web page. 

2019 Application Cover Sheet for Maryland Green School Award
through the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education

Summary

The  Center for Young Children (CYC) as an academic unit in the College of Education, is a  full day lab preschool and kindergarten program for  children ages 3 – 6 whose  parents are primarily students, staff or faculty located at the University of  Maryland, College Park campus.   From our demographic profile, CYC has an  international student body representing over 25 different countries. For current  children and families we wish to pass on our goals,  ideas, and methods supporting sustainability to  future generations.

It is the policy of the classrooms at  the CYC to have two outside play times every day if the weather permits. Each  playtime lasts around an hour. Children go out to explore, rain, snow or shine.  

Playing outside in the fresh air  gives  children  an opportunity to run, move and enjoy the gardens and environment. Nature has so much to offer. Children observe plants and wildlife in a naturalistic setting. Parents are asked to provide necessary clothing appropriate for the weather.

Our curriculum is based on project work  where children do in-depth studies of a topic in the "here and now". All domains are covered within the study topic. Throughout the years many of these topics are nature based or environmental in content, such as trees, birds, seeds and recycling. Each study  typically runs six to eight weeks.

As is stated  In the University of  Maryland’s strategic plan, The  University  wants to take  “responsibility for the future” and so does CYC.  The  University of Maryland strategic plan states,” We will be a  campus that is a   model for the sustainability of its environment and we will be  a  university  that seeks solutions to the world’s most challenging and vexing problems”. The  CYC has been moving forward to become a model “Green” school  as members of the  University of Maryland community. We work to assess our usage  of water, paper,  and  food disposal, purchase and replace wasteful equipment and strive to behave  in an Eco-friendly way.  For the Center for Young Children one of our goals  is  to have the youngest “Terps” attend a green school and  develop  lifelong  conservation behaviors.

Top Five Accomplishments

1-Recertifying as a Green Flag NWF EcoSchool  2012, 2015, 2019 - Only one more to go to become a Sustainable School.

An audit is conducted with the children helping check for things like drafts around the windows, cracks in the foundation, and weighing trash, compost, and recyclables.

2-Earning the UMD's Platinum Office Award

January 2019- The CYC became the first office on campus to earn the Platinum level Green Office Award.

 

3- Recycling through Crayola ColorCycle

2019 - The  Kindergarten class collected all the markers and then estimated how many there were. The final count before sending them to ColorCycle was 266!

 

4- Trash-Free Tuesdays

The CYC has had a long going tradition of Trash Free Tuesday and the children weigh and graph the landfill trash made each week. Even when policy changed due to Covid and families were required to bring disposable lunchs, parents conserted to come up with compostable products to put their child's lunch in. They did this through a FaceBook parent group. 

5- The Many Gardens around the CYC

In addition to a vegetable garden each classroom has a garden outside of their backdoor.

 

6- Continuing our green initiative during the covid-19 quarantine with weekly CyberGreen activities for families. 

 

Objective 1: Systemic Sustainability
Curriculum and Instruction, Professional Development, Sustainable Schools, and Celebration

1.1 Curriculum and Instruction: Environmental Issue Instruction 
The CYC has six classroom that correspond with the colors of the rainbow (Red, Orange, Yellow, etc) The Blue Room is the only kindergarten room all others are preschool rooms ages 3 - 4. The curriculum is based on project work where children spend at least two months on a a worthwhile topic. Below you will see examples of environmental education from each of the six classrooms.

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Red Room - At the beginning of each school year the Red Room and other classrooms, teach the children how to sort their trash. Children helped make these reminder signs as sorting trash can get confusing. Compost is picked up daily by the University. Before Covid, children were encouraged to bring trash free lunches. Trash was collected and weighed to show the improvement. Children were very proud of their trash free lunches. During Covid many parents work to pack a compostable lunch since reusable lunches are prohibited. 

 

Orange Room - March 2020- The Orange Room begin a new study on trees. Children brainstorm what they already know and draw observational drawing of trees. When Covid -19 hit the class went on-line with the study. See more pictures of the children and trees inspired by this study. When the UMD Arboretum asked for participation in their virtual Arbor Day celebration, other classes contributated with images and drawings to share on their FaceBook page. 

 

Y

ellow room - November 2019 - the learns about bees. Eric Malcolm, a dad and entomologist from the UMD, brought in a bee hive and other equipment that shows how honey is harvested. Afterward the children were able to taste some of the honey from his hives.

Eric also gifted UMD honey to many of the teachers. This is also an excellent example of parent involvement. More Images

 

Green Room - November 2019 As part of a baking study the Green room children walked to the UMD Farmers Market to select locally grown apples to make into apple pie. Each child selected an apple and they were weighed as they watched. Afterwards, they voted on what to make with the apples and the whole class helped to cook and apple pie!

More Images

Blue Room- December 2019 -  During an art study the children learned about Angela Haseltine Pozzi, a sculpture who uses trash washed up from the beach for her creations. They watched a video and were inspired to create sculptures using recycled materials from their own collections. For a culmination the children created sculptures of themselves using more recycled materials. More Images

 

 

Purple Room - October 2020 - Music is held outside weather permitting, with seasonal and environmental songs sung by Mr. M. Yoga is also presented weekly for body and mind.

 

 

 

Covid-19 Quarantine Instruction

During the Covid-19 school closings, the CYC continued to instruct children in environmental studies. The CyberCYC website had a special Eco-School page to offer lessons and activities in a variety of areas particularly nature oriented. Family participation was encouraged.

 

1.2 Professional Development

October 19, 2019 As part of the Maryland State Family Child Care Association's Annual Conference, six teachers took a two hour workshop called, "Mother Nature's Classroom: A Seasonal Curriculum" by Monica French and Steve Rohde. This workshop talked about nature based learning and focused on the accessibility to nature as each child's right. Some take-aways from the talk included using stones for story telling, making a geo board with tree slices, taking lots of walks, and just getting the children out in nature as much as possible. Sara Person, Katie McAllister, Danielle Miller, Toni Smalls, Amy Laakso, and Michelle Slough all attended and shared with the rest of the staff some of the things they thought would work in our program. 

 

March - June 2020 - Webinars taken during Covid-19 lock down.

Environmental Education PD - Danielle Miller, Vera Wiest, Mona Leigh Guha, Sara Person, Laura Damron, Bernadette DalyAdventure Play, Water Conservation, Green Cleaning, more certificates.

 

 

1.3 Sustainable Schools

1.3.1 School-Wide Environmental Behavior Changes

The staff at the CYC have committed to be environmentally friendly. They have earned the highest award in the University of Maryland's Green Office program. To do this they go out of their way to have waste free meetings and events, they compost and even take plastic bags back to the store to be recycled. Staff carpools when appropriate and offers a salad bar Monday on the first Monday of every month. Teachers use both sides of the paper and turn off electronics when they are not in the room. More actions can be viewed on the Green Office website.

1.3.2 Systemic Partnership

Demonstrate one partnership within the school system that supports an aspect of the Maryland Green School Program. This partnership needs to reach beyond your individual school to the “higher” or Central Office level. 

Within the University of Maryland we work closely with the Office of Sustainability. We participate with their Green Office program and they offer advice and resources to us. They also installed a water bottle filling station. See email invitation to join our Green Committee.

CYC PTP - The Parent Teacher Partnership is also very involved in our Green endeavors. They have bought Ranger Rick for the classrooms in response to families bringing their own reusable dishes to the annual picnic. The PTP also works to eliminate waste at meetings by using compostable plates, napkins, cups, etc. 

 

 

 

1.4 Celebration 

October 26, 2019 - At the CYC annual fall picnic families were encouraged by the kindergarten children to bring their own dishes to eat from. Since more than 25 people did it the PTP bought a subscription to Ranger Rick Magazine for each room! 

 

 

Global Handwashing Day - October 2019- SPH Scholars came to teach children the impotance of hand washing. They also checked before and after children washed with a special soap and light that showed the germs. Children learned a song to go along with the activity. See the video of the college students teaching the handwashing song. This is the 5th time the Scholars have done this.

Earth Day  - April 22, 2020

Due to Covid-19, Earth day became virtually. The kindergarten Green Committee made journal entries to answer the question, "How do you take care of the Earth? You can see a slide show of their entries at the bottom of Week 5 and 6 of Green CYC.

 

 

Arbor Day - April 24, 2020

Children teamed up with the Umd Arboretum and submitted drawings of trees that were placed as a slideshow on Facebook. This also became an extension of the Orange Room's Tree Study. See the pictures.

 

 

 

Denton Green Fest 2019-  This is an annual event the CYC has participated in for the past five years. See objective 3, The School is active in the community, for more information.

Maryland Day 2019-  This is an annual event the CYC participates in each year. See objective 3, The School is active in the community, for more information.

Objective 2: Student-driven Sustainability Practices

2.1. Water Conservation/Pollution Prevention

A- Rain Barrel - All classes, Everyday

The CYC has a rain barrel that the children use to water gardens and anything else that is green on the playgroud. This along with some watering cans are available to the students anytime they play on the playground.

B- Rain Garden - All classes, Everyday

The CYC has a rain garden with many native plants that attract insects and other wildlife. The rain garden also keeps portions of the playground from flooding. The children help maintain it by building a fence in the spring to keep people from walking on the newly emerging plants. They also water the garden when needed 

 

2.2. Energy Conservation

A - Lights Out Lunch- Red, Green, and Yellow, classes Tuesdays

Mostly on Tuesdays, 50% of the classrooms turn off their lights during lunch not only does it save energy but it has a calming effect on the classroom.

 

 

 

 

B -Turn Off the Lights - Kindergarten class November 2020

Children made turn off the lights signage as a reminder after talking about saving electricity. They came up with lots of ideas for when to turn off the lights such as, when you go outside, when you eat lunch, and when you nap. The children also learned about energy vampires and how to check for leaks around the door and windows to see if the AC or heat was escaping. 

 

 

 

 

2.3. Solid Waste Reduction

A -Trash Free Tuesday - All classes, everyday The CYC has been doing a Trash Free Tuesday program since 2012. Families have been encouraged to minimize the amount of trash in their children's lunch on Tuesdays. The kindergarten children collect the trash from each room and count the amount. They then make a graph for everyone to see showing how little trash is actually brought in. The amount has steadly decreased over the years as families become more aware. The CYC also particpates in a compost program and children are taught to distinguish between trash, compost, and recycling. 

B -Using Recycled Materials All classes, everyday - Children with the help of adults, collect recycled material for use at the art table. Children have access to it all of the time to create sculptures and collages. The Yellow room used the recycled materials to construct airplanes after an airplane study. They invited their parents in to see the results and had a party. 

 

 

C -Color Cycle -All classes, Everyday

Before Covid-19, children at the CYC have been collecting used markers to send off to Crayola for recycling. The last time the school did this, in February 2020, the kindergarten class collected the markers from each room and counted them. There were 266! Unfortunately the markers sit boxed and ready to mail due to Color Cycle not accepting any markers until after the pandemic. Children decorate recycled boxes for each class to use for collecting the used markers.

D -Little Free Library - All classes, Everyday

May 20, 2019 – The CYC Little Free Libraries got a face lift. The CYC is fortunate enough to have not one, but two Little Free Libraries. Little Free Libraries is an international non-profit organization that encourages members of a community to put up a small structure to house used books for anyone passing by to take one and then in return leave one.

Greg Thompson, from dining services had two built for the CYC in May of 2014. Representatives from the CYC Parent Teacher Partnership monitor and steward the two libraries, making sure the libraries are neat and has an ample supply of books. One Little Library is filled with childrens books, the other is for adults. Last year’s steward Priya Varadan, painted the libraries white with a red roof; a clean pallet for the children to decorate. This year’s steward Jackie Madoo, completed the job with the children of the Purple room adding their handprints as flowers.  The nature theme has delighted children and parents alike, who frequent the libraries as during drop off and pick up. One brother of a CYC student commented that he really liked it and once found a water powered calculator kit in there. 

2.7. Habitat Restoration

A - Bug Hotels

Lessons were taught about habitats durin covid lockdown with this video of a girl and her mom making a bug hotel. This inspired some children to try their hand at making bug hotels as they learned the importance of helping benificial insects find shelter during colder times.

 

 

B - Schoolyard Habitat Award from the NWF - All classes, Everyday

The CYC maintains and is a certified Schoolyard Habitat for providing food, shelter, and places for animals to raise their young. In this video we talk about how the shool does this with the help of the children and it also questions the children to do the same at home. See more on habitat instruction. The Orange Room manages bird feeders by filling them up and observing the animals.

Transportation - 

A- Save Fuel Week - April 14, 2019 The CYC had a yearly save fuel week. The Kindergarten Green Committee made signs and containers for people to add their vote when they use a specific type of transportation. The catagories were, bike, walk, carpool, bus, or scooter! If a family did one of those when they usually used a car, they could put an entry into the matching jug. At the end of the week they tallyed up the votes and since the goal was surpassed, every class got a smoothie party. 

Objective 3: Community Partnerships, Awards and Special Recognition

3.1. School Active in Community -  

April 17, 2019 - Denton Green Fest - The CYC has been participating in the Denton Quad dorms GreenFest at the University of Maryland for the past several years. This year they focused on Being Active Outside. The booth had lots of outside activities like hoola hoops and bubbles. Adults and children wrote how they liked to be active outside. 

The CYC signed up to participate in the 2020 Denton Greenfest but it was cancled due to the virus.

April 24, 2019 - Maryland Day - Every year during Maryland Day the CYC uses this time to celebrate it's green achievements. This year, Mr. M sang songs about the Earth and several displays on outdoor play were arranged for visitors to see. 

Unfortunately, Maryland Day 2020 was cancled due to the virus, otherwise the CYC would have participated as it has in the past. 

 

 

April 22, 2020 - The CYC participted in the University of Maryland's Arbor Day festival put on by the University's Arboretum, and submitted images of trees for them to display on their FaceBook page during the covid lock down.  See the pictures. This was also the week of Earth Day and the kindergarten children wrote about taking care of the earth in their journals. These were posted on the Cyber GreenCYC website for all to see.

Healthy living was a topic for the week of May 26th 2020, where GreenCYC children and teachers shared healthy eating ideas and exercise images on their wheeled vehicles. 

 

 

Community Active in the School  -

October 16, 2019 - The School of Public Health came once again on Global Handwashing Day to share handwashing tips with the children. They taught songs, had children rub "special lotion" into their hands that showed germs under a black light flashlight and then had children rewash their hands. To finish off the visit, a large poster was made to commemorate the day. 

Director of Global Health Engagement Dr. Elisabeth Maring has brought undergraduate students to the Center for Young Children for about six years. The effort demonstrates the School of Public Health's commitment to community outreach and education.

PTP Picnic -

 

3.2. Awards and Special Recognition 

Maryland Green School Award, Eco-School USA Green Flag, UMD Platinum Green Office Award, Schoolyard Habitat NWF Award

Fourth and final renewal application for Eco-School USA Green Flag Award

In Progress - Hope to complete by June 2021

Checklist

Step 1: Form an Eco-Action Team

Please see the cover page that lists, teachers, administrators, parents, classrooms, and others that are active members of the Center for Young Children Green Committee. The Green Committee gets monthly updates in the form a an e-meeting email, at PTP meetings, Staff Meetings, and during Kindergarten class meeting. 

Step 2: Conduct an Environmental Audit 

See the audit

We conducted three audits for the Green Flag.

1. Energy Conservation
2. Water Conservation
3. Schoolyard Habitats

Step 3: Create an Eco-Action Plans see below -

• Energy Conservation - Turn off the lights campaign
• Schoolyard Habitat - Bird feeders
• Consumption and Waste - Trash Free Tuesday

Step 4: Monitor and Evaluate Progress - (Post images of actions and evaluations)

Fall 2020 - Turn Off the Lights Campaign - The Kindergarten class decided to make signs to remind people to turn off the lights when they don't need them so as to not waste electric energy. They made signs for each of the other classrooms and some to take home. They also kept track of when they turned the classroom lights off.

Fall 2020 - Bird Feeders - The Orange Room decided to attract more birds outside of their window by making bird feeders. They counted how many birds came to the window without the feeders and how many came afterwards. 

2019 -2020 - Trash Free Tuesday - 

Pieces of trash are collected from each classroom. Kindergarten children count the pieces and graph them on a chart for the school to see. The whole school participates including staff. All of the classrooms also compost to help eliminate landfill trash. 

Families saw the rate of landfill trash go from around 30 pieces to 12. In the past the children weighed the trash but counting seemed more developmentaly appropriate for this age to understand. 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 5: Link to Existing Curriculum - Please see Objective 2 in the Maryland Green School application to view how each of our six classrooms named after the colors of the rainbow, learn and become involved in the environment through lessons provided by their teachers. 

Step 6: Involve the Community

1 -The school uses a prominent, designated way such as a newsletter, bulletin board or website, to communicate Eco-Schools USA activities with staff and students along with the greater community - CYC uses this website, Facebook, and emails to communicate activities.

2- The whole school, along with community volunteers, engage in a number of EcoSchools USA activities - PTP picnic, Global Handwashing Day,   See Objective 3 for images and more detail.

3- The school develops a day of action or other event that engages the greater community in learning about and helping with Eco-Schools projects- Maryland Day, Denton GreenFest, UMD Arboretum. and Arbor Day and Earth Day.

 

 

 4 - Students write about Eco-Schools USA projects for local papers and magazines  - The Kindergarten Green Committee wrote this letter to the world to remind them to take care of our planet. This article was published on the school website. Feburary 11, 2020. |

 

5- The school uses the Eco-Schools USA website and other communication tools to share its projects with other schools in US and with the global community - We use FaceBook, this website, and the EcoSchools website to communicate with others.

Step 7: Create Your Eco-Code