technology with intention
Posts tagged green hour
Billings Middle School Eco-School Eco-Code
734 days
As a proud member of the National Wildlife Foundation’s Eco-School partnership, Billings students took some time to reflect on some of the ways we try to be environmentally conscious as a school. From recycling to switching off lights to spending time outside, all of our actions fall into the 8 pathways to sustainability.
Ronan, Peter and Rebecca took the time to organize our thoughts into a song, and they were joined by Eli, Abe, Mason, Tati, Kyri, Rowan, Isabelle M, Isabelle B, Ben C and Ben B to record.
Here is our result: Eco-Code
And the lyrics:
Hey it’s Billings,
School environmental,
Earth day all year round,
Now roll the instrumental…
Perfect lawn, our school don’t need it,
Catch roof run-off and reuse it,
In the lunchroom we compost,
reduce the waste, recycle the most.
Energy is what comes when you recycle
Don’t waste this world, it’s just a cycle.
Playing at the park,
Watering the rain garden,
Having some fun too,
These are all the things we do.
Take a ride, on the Spud,
a bio-diesel bus that we all love,
Takes us places we can’t walk,
Trucking graceful, like a hawk.
Get on a bike reinvent your life,
Save the world, fight the good fight,
Feeling good on your commute,
Do the math, it all computes.
Green hour, gain some power,
Play outside for one or two hours,
Get unplugged and have some fun,
Feel the rain, soak up the sun.
All our actions are connected,
The Earth is precious, help protect it.
Take a moment to reflect
On your life, please show respect.
Playing at the park,
Watering the rain garden,
Having some fun too,
These are all the things we do.
STEM: getting to know 101 neighbors
807 days
by Jac de Haan
in 6th Grade
With winter program over, students are eagerly back into Friday STEM experiences. We revisited our learning of binary code from back in December and took our knowledge out to explore the community.
Students were presented with 100-year-old photos of Green Lake businesses. Each photo included its street address written in binary code. Students were tasked with decoding the numbers and then visiting each location to take a photo.
In each photo, students are standing either facing the camera or away from it, representing ones and zeros. Their body language spells out the street address in binary!
*Historic images from “Seattle’s Green Lake” by Brittany Wright.
Cache in, trash out
810 days
Geocaching club this week had two amazing finds. Using global positioning satellites we hunted down a multi-step cache south of school and then searching out a decommissioned Seattle bomb shelter.
As we get more comfortable with the guidelines of geocaching, we’ve decided to add another level to our experiences, in keeping with the EcoSchool’s Global Dimensions Pathway that we aspire towards. Students picked up garbage while we hunted for caches: a concept referred to as Cache In, Trash Out.
The “Green Hour”
935 days
by Jac de Haan
in Reference
At Billings we are lucky, with our proximity to Green Lake and emphasis on environmental awareness. Our curriculum connections and lack of a gymnasium get us all outside significantly more than this average. Here is a partial list:
- Our 55-minute lunch period happens down at the park and in our new West Hall, with a wall of doors that roll up and connect the inside and out.
- Our expeditionary learning program takes every student out into the field multiple times a year – through overnight experiences and community service projects.
- Our Winter Program includes skiing, snowboarding, nordic skiing and winter camping.
- Seasonal PE offerings include soccer, ultimate, parkour, fitness, swimming and other outdoor activities.
- Our after-school program takes students outside everyday.
- 8th grade students take a period every Wednesday to gather water samples for Green Lake.
- 7th grade students have a weekly GO (Green Lake Outdoors) period with the purpose of moving through our community and experiencing seasonal shifts while getting exercise.
- 7th grade students have Thursday FLEX periods, which remain flexible to take advantage of nice weather or hands-on skills for camping trips such as setting up tents or knot-tying.
- 6th grade science students keep journals requiring them to get outside and note seasonal changes and weather patterns.
- 6th grade students have 2 extra PE periods per week, above the regularly scheduled school-wide PEs.
- Advisory periods are flexible – groups can decide to meet outside when it suits them.
STEM: Wheel & Axle
949 days
by Jac de Haan
in 6th Grade
Our study of simple machines continued this week with a couple of experiments examining the wheel involved in a wheel and axle.
Vocabulary terms this week were circumference, diameter and radius. We completed measurements and made educated guesses about the relationship of radius and circumference, as well as of circumference and distance traveled per rotation. To see concepts in action, we went over to our middle school community friends at Nothwest CrossFit – where they have a giant tire that looks like it came off a fire truck or monster truck. Their tire has a circumference of 14 feet! Which definitely illustrated the ideas we discussed.
Our final exercise consisted of estimating how many tire rotations Tom’s bike would go through to get from the CrossFit gym back to school. Guesses ranged from 70 up to 250. As we walked, students altered their hypothesis in light of information gathered. Official answer: 204 rotations! Knowing that Tom’s tire was 6′ 9″, that means we walked 1377 feet.
STEM: Inclined Planes in the Wild
963 days
by Jac de Haan
in 6th Grade
6th grade students, cameras in hand, went in search of inclined planes on Friday as part of our STEM celebration of simple machines, some results are shown below. We also took some time to compare time trials from last week’s matchbox car races and graph the data. Our results didn’t quite match our hypothesis, but there are a number of variables that got in the way of perfect data – the human factor had an impact on the stopwatch, angle support and the dropping of the car.
Port Townsend (Week 5)
2055 days
by Jac de Haan
in 7th Grade
No tech class this week as we were in Port Townsend – however, we found some opportunities to learn about technology.
Everyone got a chance to try the weed wrench – a simple machine that we used to remove the invasive Scotch Broom from an estuary used by salmon. We also participated in a beach clean-up and a planting project.
As part of our morning at the Fort Worden Marine Science Center, we each had a chance to use a stereoscope to examine the zooplankton and phytoplankton we collected and identified different types. We also took a class in marine birds and visited a touch tank.
This group went geocaching with GPS devices and found Wilson’s Admirer which contained a travel bug that will be moved along by the Billings Geocaching Club. We learned about navigation and the geocaching code of ethics.
Dave identified a submarine (possibly nuclear-powered) in the Sound and talked about the history of the forts and their purpose in years past. We stayed at Fort Worden where some students explored the bunkers, and also took a visit to Fort Flagler.
