Climate Action at School and Beyond!

When their school district passed a resolution to initiate climate action in schools, students and teachers at Turtle Creek Elementary STEAM Academy in Pennsylvania, U.S. jumped into action! 

Students from 5th grade formed the Green Team and developed and planned climate action activities for the entire school! The goal of this Alcoa W5 project was to provide opportunities for the entire school to engage in climate action projects focused on green infrastructure, zero waste, and clean energy that would enhance not only the school, but the community as well. They also wanted to reduce the amount of waste (especially paper and plastic) created at the school and in the Turtle Creek Community, provide recycling opportunities, encourage reduction of carbon emissions, and install green infrastructure at the school.  

So that’s just what the Green Team did! They set up a recycling programme in all the classrooms, planned and implemented a community clean-up day in the borough of Turtle Creek, and even designed lessons and action projects for younger students to teach them about climate change issues including ocean plastic pollution, the importance of bees, alternative energy sources, recycling and zero waste practices, and water conservation. As part of the project, five new trees were planted on the Turtle Creek Campus, five garden beds were created as part of the learning garden, and two rain barrels were installed. 527 students made seed balls with pollinator friendly seeds and beeswax wraps to reduce waste, while 35 classrooms participated in the school-wide recycling programme.  

The actions weren’t just limited to the students and teachers at the Turtle Creek Elementary STEAM Academy however! Parents and school board members helped plant trees and install the garden beds, while community members, including the Turtle Creek mayor and council members joined in for the Turtle Creek clean-up day. Turtle Creek Elementary STEAM Academy also worked with partners from several local climate action organisations including Communitopia, Tree Pittsburgh, Chatham University, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Garden, Rivers of Steel (Environmental Science on the Three Rivers), Planted Bee, National Geographic, Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, Pennsylvania Resources Council. These collaborations helped create an even more impactful and enriching experience for all those involved. As Katie Modic, the Executive Director of Communitopia expressed,  

“Turtle Creek students bring authentic, genuine energy and talent to the movement for climate change solutions. Their efforts set precedent, demonstrate potential, inspire, and literally impact positive change. It's an honor to bear witness to youth developing mindsets and skill sets that change systems for the better. My respect for you and your students is real and everlasting!” 

Through their Alcoa W5 project, students learned about multiple strategies to reduce their contributions to climate change at home and at school. By the end of the year, a survey showed that 100% of students responded that they take actions to help reduce climate change. 

The Alcoa W5 project of Turtle Creek Elementary STEAM Academy support the following SDGs: 

Appreciating Tiny Seeds

As part of their Alcoa W5 project, teachers at Espira Husebyparken Preschool in Norway wanted to increase the children’s knowledge of ecosystems at both foundational and practical level, including their understanding of where food comes from and how to plant different vegetables, berries, and flowers.  

During the winter months, the preschool planned their kitchen garden and bought everything they needed for the raised beds and planting. They chose to plant species that can be harvested at different times, including potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, peas, wild strawberries, and sunflowers. The community got involved too! Their local garden center offered advice on how to plant potatoes in raised beds and parents received regular updates on the project. 

By spring, the children were ready to go outside and start planting! The teachers observed that the children started to understand the connection between the seed, the planting process, and the food. The children seemed fascinated experiencing how a seed grows, becomes a plant, and can produce food! 

“Through this project, we would like to give the children a greater understanding of how things are connected in nature, to help them understand where food comes from, and that a seed can become something edible. We now observe that the children identify seeds in the fruit they eat and are more aware of these processes. We also want to teach the children about sustainable consumption and in the long run, we plan to involve the children in activities where they can experience the value of re-using materials.” – Principal, Lene Margrethe Skeibrok 

The preschool has come a long way from when they first introduced the Eco-Schools’ Seven Steps. Since last autumn, they have been working towards a Green Flag and have come far in the process! Their goal has been to involve the whole school in both the planning process and activities, and all the children have actively participated in the environmental review and all the activities. 

The Alcoa W5 project activities at Espira Husebyparken preschool support the following SDGs: 

Planting Without Borders

When the Sentrum Preschool in Kvinesdal, Norway wanted to expand their kitchen garden, they saw it as an opportunity to not only help their students connect with their environment, but also to connect with other children. So, they decided to team up with the Union Elementary and Pre-School, another Eco-School six time zones ahead in Penang, Malaysia! 

Through their Alcoa W5 project ‘Plant Without Borders’, both schools wanted to engage their students in their environment through planting vegetables and caring for a garden of their own. The project was also an opportunity to teach students about climate change and protecting biodiversity across two very different climates and countries. 

10 teachers and 25 students are actively collaborating through digital tools and sharing platforms, where students share photos about the progress of their ongoing kitchen garden project. Students will meet virtually again twice before their garden tour and harvesting celebration in September.  

And while a 6-hour time difference and very different climates may seem like a challenge, it's proven to be a wonderful opportunity for students to learn about how different seasons in different parts of the world impact the planting, growth and harvesting of vegetables.  

By creating pots out of recycled materials, planting both vegetables and native pollinator-friendly plants, and learning about climate change in group meetings, the project engages students in SDGs 4 (Quality Education), 12 (Responsible Consumption & Production), 13 (Climate Action), and 14 (Life on Land). Lastly, the experiences of both teachers and students in this project have been enriched through their collaboration. As Jan Rune Strømland, the Principal at Sentrum Preschool expressed, 

“We are thankful for this opportunity to collaborate across country borders on a topic of high importance. The children will inherit the Earth, and it is our duty that they feel that they belong to nature and want to care for it. Through exchanging knowledge and experiences, we can help each other learn more about protecting biodiversity and sustainable development, and the children will hopefully grow an interest in plants and nature that can follow them throughout their lives.” 

The Alcoa W5 project activities at Sentrum Preschool support the following SDGs:

Benefits of Outdoor Education

5 to 12-year-old students from the Perséides school of the city of Pointe-Calumet, located in the region of Quebec, Canada, took part in the W5 project and started using nature as a classroom!  

The students at Perséides had expressed an interest in spending more time outdoors and the teachers quickly came on board and started finding creative ways to teach different subjects outside.  

Each of the eight classes of the school benefited in different ways from the project. One class made art by drawing the trees and surrounding flora while others used the flora to learn about polygons. Small catapults were built with materials found outside to explore concepts linked to physics. Other classes learnt about the history of Iroquoian life (hunting, fishing, shelter building, bartering, etc.) as well as the Industrial Revolution by physically moving from a field to a more populated area with huts. In short, every reason was used to go outside, learn, and enjoy nature – in all kinds of weather.

"It’s amazing for me to work in the nature with my students! Lately we have been working on observing nature in order to reproduce it in art and we have been practicing math by calculating the perimeter of our snow fortress with tape measures.” - Cassandra Chenard, Teacher at the Perséides school. 

The school used the funds of the Alcoa W5 project to buy equipment for outdoor observation and exploration. A group of dedicated parents helped the school with the management of the funds and the learning activities.   

"To hear and see the students engaging in their outdoor learning is simply amazing. As parents, we realise how useful these hands-on activities are. They understand different concepts in a much better way. Moreover, we are seeing that they now want to observe and protect the nature more at home.” - Anik Rochat, parent of four students at the Perséides school. 

Exploring nature with appropriate equipment has created a real increase in student motivation and engagement in their learning. Retention of information is stronger when students have experienced their learning and it is therefore more concrete and meaningful to them. A reduction in stress was also noticeable for several students. This project is now embedded in the students' weekly learning! 

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The Alcoa W5 project activities at Perséides alternative school support the following SDGs: 

“Who put a mask in the compost bin?”

5 to 12-year-old students from the Perce-Neige school of the city of Pierrefonds, located in the region of Quebec, Canada, took part in the W5 project with the objective of improving recycling and composting within their school.  

When returning to school after the COVID-19 lock-down, the teachers and students wanted to revive good recycling and composting practices at the school. They had observed that some students were putting everything in the green bins and therefore wanted to make everyone more aware of their daily waste production, to understand the recycling systems, and to act more responsibly.  

To start off the project, the school contacted the Regie régionale de gestion des matières résiduelles de Portneuf - RRGMRP (the municipal organisation that manages the residual waste of 23 municipalities). RRGMRP helped install waste recycling stations throughout the school and conducted a number of workshops to promote waste reduction at source, improve the waste management, and to explain how waste is connected to CO2 emissions. 

Posters were made by the children to help staff and students understand how to sort their waste. Their sorting skills was put to the test during a Community Action Day when all students, along with their friends and families, were invited to do a litter-pick around the school and to dispose of the waste in the right bins.  

"Who put a mask in the compost bin?” - Student from the Green Squad. 

The project helped students gain more confidence and a sense of responsibility by empowering them individually and collectively. Staff and students improved their knowledge of the different waste items that can be recycled, such as paper, cardboard, plastic, metal, glass, and organic materials, thanks to the standards provided by the RRGMRP and the awareness raising activities. 

In collaboration with the RRGMRP, the school will compare the tonnes of general waste, recyclable, and compostable materials collected between September 2021 and June 2022. This will give them a clear idea of the CO2 produced and the materials diverted from the landfill – setting a baseline that can be improved even more in the future. 

The Alcoa W5 project activities at Perce-Neige school support the following SDGs:

Creating Outdoor Learning Opportunities

Through the W5 project, preschoolers from La Saumonière school of the city of Donnacona, located in the region of Quebec, Canada, had the chance to build a school garden and learn how to grow their own fruits and vegetables.  

As the school courtyard was planned to be redesigned by spring, the teachers thought it would be a great opportunity to add a garden section and different fruit trees. By making these new outdoor spaces, they wanted the children to learn how to grow fruits and vegetables and to understand the importance of taking care of their environment. It was also an opportunity to teach them basic concepts connected to ecosystems and biodiversity through hands-on activities. 

First, a presentation of the project was made to the school board and a few meetings about the redesigning were held. The teachers then researched materials and developed a plan together with parents and Alcoa volunteers. Even before the garden was ready, the teachers introduced the children to gardening concepts and helped them grow plant seedlings.  

“I’m really excited about making the school courtyard greener! I can already see the children very interested about the growth of their plants and coming to me during the break to tell me about it! They will see that they can make an impact through their consumption and will understand how important it is to avoid food waste. “ - Mélanie D’Anjou, La Saumonière school.  

Through this project, the school hopes to strengthen their collaboration with the local community by offering part of their harvest to community members who, in return, can help take care of the garden during school vacations.   

Thanks to W5, the children were introduced to concepts of responsible consumption and production and have improved their healthy eating habits. Moreover, the children have benefited a lot from working in small groups to build something useful for the community. The school also saw this as an opportunity to integrate more environmental topics into their curriculum, including food provenance and plant growing.  

 The Alcoa W5 project activities at Curé-Brassard school support the following SDGs:

Using Creativity to Raise Awareness

8 to 10-year-old students from the Curé-Brassard school of the city of Nicolet, located in the region of Quebec, Canada, took part in the W5 project with the objective of improving their upcycling skills by creating second-hand bags from COVID-19 masks. The goal was also to raise awareness about the litter created by human activity and to exchange knowledge across generations.

With more than 1000 masks used per day, the school raised a global concern about the amount of COVID-19 waste in their bins. The education team wanted to give students the opportunity to learn how to recycle and create second-hand items. Moreover, this project allowed them to teach children how to sew and be creative! 

How did they do it? The team contacted people in the local community and presented the project to the board and the council of the school. They even met the city councillors to make them commit to the work. In order to engage a few elderly people to join the kids, the school also contacted the director of a local community centre for elderly. 

“We asked all our colleagues to help us with the collection of used masks. We tested the fabric, washed them, and tried to create a prototype of a grocery bag with the collected waste. Since October, the children have been meeting once a week to prepare and create the bags. We also solicited the help of elderly people for their sewing skills, and we wanted them to socialise with the younger members of the community.“ – Elisabeth Cassan and Gaétane Fortin, the Curé-Brassard school.  

Thanks to the W5 project, the children have developed important creative skills, they have helped the school and community reduce their waste, and they have gained important social skills! The plan is to sell the bags and use the profits for having an outdoor class. 

Éloise felt very proud the first time she completed her first sewing project. Moreover, she was the first one to finish it! She called her grandmother to tell her all about this experience. Éloise became very independent in the course of a few weeks. She now knows how to cut masks and remove bands as well as metal pieces.  She is now also able to give advice to her classmates and help them in complicated sewing situations.“ – The story of 9-year-old Éloise, student at the Curé-Brassard school.  

 Radio Canada even published an article about this school's innovative recycling project which recognizes the school's environmental efforts in their community: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1877584/recyclage-masques-jetables-ecole-cure-brassard  

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 The Alcoa W5 project activities at Curé-Brassard school support the following SDGs: