Coronado Green Team Goes National
Project Learning Tree (PLT) and the U.S. Forest Service are once again supporting the Green Schools National Conference to be held this year in West Palm Beach, FL on February 22-24.
The 3rd annual conference Developing Healthy and Sustainable Schools Across America, is the largest green schools conference in the U.S.
PLT has participated in all of the Green Schools National Conferences to date, and this year will host a pre-conference PLT GreenSchools! workshop and concurrent session. For complete information on the conference, go to: www.greenschoolsnationalconference.org.
PLT Pre-conference Workshop—Investigating Your School Site
On Friday, February 22 from 8:30 to 11:30am, PLT’s special half-day workshop entitled Investigating Your School Site will highlight the strong connections PLT’s GreenSchools! Investigations have to the new K-12 Science Framework and STEM. For more, see http://www.plt.org/3rd-annual-green-schools-national-conference.
This year, we are excited to have the students and faculty from Coronado Elementary School in Albuquerque, NM as part of the presentation team. Together, they took their community by storm with their documentary, Coronado Connects the Dots, www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlcNdOo5ZzU. Now PLT is helping them go national.
Meet the Green Team
Stefano, born in Mexico, loves all living things. He shows us where our food comes from.- Susie, Harry Potter fan, recycles everything! She takes us to the transfer station and the dump.
- Mateo, champion break dancer, turns up the beat as he turns off the lights. He walks us through the power plant.
- Hawthorn, the artist, paints us a picture of the water treatment plant.
Three of these very talented 3rd and 4th graders will share the projects they have completed on their campus, and a fourth student Paolo will stand in for Susie, the waste expert.
They’ll present their documentary that took the students ten months of filming and editing; talk about their experiences to hundreds of conference attendees from around the country; and specifically highlight what New Mexico's future challenges are with regards primarily to water shortages. They will also listen to other presentations, participate in workshops, and learn new skills.
To secure the means to get to Florida, the students and their Green Team Coordinator, Noel Chilton, organized a fundraising campaign and set up bake sales and car washes. The PTA supported the Green Team with winter carnation sales.
Just over a year ago I had the pleasure of meeting and working with the Coronado Green Team while teaching a workshop in Albuquerque. I suspected then they would do great things! I am thrilled they will join us in Florida. We look forward to seeing the students and their families, plus Noel and Coronado 2nd grade teacher Richard Robles tomorrow!
