COMMUNITY SERVICE DAY AT RMAE
Each spring, RMAE students, staff and parents spend a day together giving back to our community. This has become a RMAE tradition that is wonderfully educational, charitable and yet fun for all who participate. Parents and teachers collaborate to choose and carryout various projects to improve the environment, support our first responders and other volunteer organizations.
2019 Community Service Day
Today’s Community Service Day was focused on the environment. Through guest speakers, investigations, and hard work, students furthered their knowledge and positively impacted RMAE’s environment. Each grade level partnered with another on energy, environmental quality, school site, waste and recycling, and water.
Kindergarten and fourth grade worked on improving our school site. They built butterfly houses and boxes for owls, bats, and birds. These will be placed on our upcoming RMAE nature trail around the perimeter of our campus. They also listened to a guest speaker about how to be safe and interact with the habitat we live in. The afternoon was spent planting shrubs and flowers.
First and fifth grade has been investigating our waste production. Their emphasis was on maintaining a healthy planet. After learning about benefits of composting and what it takes, they took a field trip to visit a landfill and recycling site.
Second and sixth grade continued their study of water usage and quality. They hiked to Buchanan Ponds where they tested the water quality. In the afternoon they listened to a presentation given by a water engineer.
Third and eighth grade focused on energy usage and renewable energy. Eighth graders collected data around the school on our energy usage and made recommendations for energy savings. Third grade students made water wheels, wind farms, solar ovens, and ice cream to learn about the different types of renewable energy.
Seventh and the other third grade worked on environmental quality. Their morning began with an overall campus cleanup. They worked on mulch distribution and landscaping as well as planted and propagated ferns. The ferns are the particular variety which improve air quality. These ferns have been placed in every room on campus.
Students had quite an experience from the volunteers of HawkQuest. The students had the chance to see a hawk, falcon, eagle, and owl up close! They learned all about these beautiful birds and the role they play in our environment.
We finished the day with a school wide assembly sharing our learnings. We were also presented with an Earth day flag. This day would not have been possible without the efforts and time given from our amazing parents. A huge thank you to all of you who helped learning come alive while positively impacting our environment and school grounds!