​SAVE THE PLANET

Our students are involved in many activities that promote green living at Forest Ridge. The top 5 list was created by our students.

 

Going Green During Virtual Learning
Virtual learning has been challenging in many ways. It was important to our students that our Green initiatives continue even though our school setting was much different this year. Our homes and communities became a focus this year. Our students came up with the idea of creating at home reminder signs for saving energy. They took that concept a step further and created contest for our student body to engage in. One contest was to create their own reminder sign. Another was to create a coloring page that promoted saving energy. Our students also took the initiative to set up a Community Clean-Up Day which followed CDC guidelines. Using their creativity, our students decided to host a Outdoor Class Day in which everyone would take their computers and other learning materials outside for class for a day. Keeping the staff and community up-to-date with our endeavors was done through the FRES Forerunner - electronically. Our students put a lot of effort into making sure our environmental focus stayed true even during virtual learning. 

The Last Straw/Straw-Free Fridays 
In 2018/2019 our Green Team became very aware of the impact straws were ( and still are) having on our environment. Together with leadership in our school, students were given the opportunity to create posters encouraging alternative choices to plastic straws. A great display was made and hung in our cafeteria to offer a visual to the amount of straws that are thrown away and end up in our environment. Our Green Team began a campaign in conjunction with our Trash-Free Fridays to further that concept with a Straw-Free Friday. Our goal always to bring awareness of the issue and recognize that we have a role in protecting our environment. Students can make a difference. 

 

 

 

 

Less Plastics Please: No More Plastic Bottles
In exploring the pollution problem in our world, we recognized that plastics propose a significant problem for our environment, particularly single-use plastics. We began a campaign to encourage our students, staff, and community to use a reusable water bottle rather than a plastic water bottle that is often thrown away after just one use. A representative from the group "Less Plastics, Please" came to our school and presented to our staff, students, and community the dangers of plastics and how we can be environmentally responsible in regards to using plastics. Our P.T.A. joined in and bought reusable water bottles for our staff and students. Seeing these reusable water bottles reminds us that we can take action and be stewards for our environment.

 

 

Trash-Free Friday
Trash-Free Friday had become a tradition at our school. It became an opportunity to teach about recycling. It became a tool to help students recognize how much trash was being generated just in our school cafeteria. Members of our Green Team would join in at each lunch shift and assist students with sorting through their recycling and trash. Once all the trash was gathered, it was then weighed. The weight was recorded. This was done in every lunch shift. Students made announcements to encourage the use of reusable containers. They also encouraged students to be careful in packing their lunch - not to pack what they wouldn't eat and to take home anything that did not get eaten instead of just throwing it away. Students also made announcements as to each grade's lunch trash weight - the goal being to have to lowest weight. Encouragement was given to teams that were able to lower their trash weight each time. Our hope being that this became a habitual change - lessening how much trash each student disposes of.

Lights Off!
It is so easy to leave lights on when leaving a classroom. In this initiative, students became responsible for turning lights off in classrooms. That responsibility became a classroom job  - Energy Monitor. Students saw this as an easy, yet effective way to save energy. The focus on lights expanded to include overhead projectors and computers. This brought out teachers on board as well. Members of our Green Team would randomly do a Lights Out check to see how each grade was doing in this initiative.