Sixth grade seeks to make Stuart a more river-friendly school through project based learning

“How can we make Stuart a more river-friendly school?”
 
Throughout the trimester, Middle School students have been investigating water issues around the world in their classes. For this year’s sixth grade PBL, we took our global knowledge and acted locally by seeking answers to the question stated above, “How can we make Stuart a more river-friendly school?” Using criteria developed by watershed organizations throughout the state, students developed ways that our school community can have a positive impact on our local watershed. Students began by consulting virtually with our local River-Friendly School coordinator and selected projects to research and propose. Students generated proposals for improvements to our school's sustainability like planting a rain garden, beginning a composting program, creating colorful trash cans to encourage proper garbage disposal on the playground, a school-wide garbage cleanup, and ways to share what they have learned about sustainability with the wider community. Their actions will contribute to earning Stuart’s own designation as a River-Friendly School.
 
We hope to earn our designation as a River-Friendly School by documenting water quality lessons (such as those done throughout the sixth grade "Creek Ecosystems" unit), water conservation lessons, and wildlife habitat protection lessons. Many things we've already done on campus in our own mission to be stewards of Creation can count toward advanced certification, in addition to some of the projects students proposed during the PBL. Stay tuned for more updates on our progress!