Habitat Restoration
Riderwood students are working hard to restore native habitats on the school grounds. Below is a summary list followed by additional details:
Riderwood students are working hard to restore native habitats on the school grounds. Below is a summary list followed by additional details:
- Restoring Schoolyard Habitat
- Creating Monarch Waystation
- Creating Baltimore Checkerspot Habitat
- Removing Invasives
- Renovating 2nd grade courtyard garden
- Planting Native Pine Trees
- Building and Installing Bird Houses
Restoring Schoolyard Habitat
Grades: All
Number of Students: Approximately 20 per Garden Workday
Date: Beginning Spring 2013, maintenance ongoing
Riderwood had an existing schoolyard habitat, built about 10 years ago, which had fallen into disrepair and was never used by teachers or students. The split rail fence was rotting, the gate's hinges were broken, and the habitat itself was a mass of mulberry bushes, multiflora rose bushes, and other overgrown vegetation. Stepping stones were barely visible.
BUT it provided a wonderful foundation upon which the Green Team could build. The Green Team led the charge to not only restore, but enhance, the previous habitat so it can once again be used for authentic environmental learning at the school. All the work was accomplished during several "Garden Workdays" on weekends. Each time over 35 members of the school community, including many students, showed up with garden tools, pick-up trucks and lots of muscle to remove undesirable vegetation, prune favorable trees and shrubs, unload compost, amend the soil and plant new gardens. One Garden Workday was featured in the local Towson Times! (See Community Partnerships.)
Now, in the spring of 2014, the habitat is a showpiece at the school, frequently visited by all grade levels, both as part of the curriculum and as a peaceful place to stroll when students need a break. Visitors to the NEW schoolyard habit are treated to:
Grades: All
Number of Students: Approximately 20 per Garden Workday
Date: Beginning Spring 2013, maintenance ongoing
Riderwood had an existing schoolyard habitat, built about 10 years ago, which had fallen into disrepair and was never used by teachers or students. The split rail fence was rotting, the gate's hinges were broken, and the habitat itself was a mass of mulberry bushes, multiflora rose bushes, and other overgrown vegetation. Stepping stones were barely visible.
BUT it provided a wonderful foundation upon which the Green Team could build. The Green Team led the charge to not only restore, but enhance, the previous habitat so it can once again be used for authentic environmental learning at the school. All the work was accomplished during several "Garden Workdays" on weekends. Each time over 35 members of the school community, including many students, showed up with garden tools, pick-up trucks and lots of muscle to remove undesirable vegetation, prune favorable trees and shrubs, unload compost, amend the soil and plant new gardens. One Garden Workday was featured in the local Towson Times! (See Community Partnerships.)
Now, in the spring of 2014, the habitat is a showpiece at the school, frequently visited by all grade levels, both as part of the curriculum and as a peaceful place to stroll when students need a break. Visitors to the NEW schoolyard habit are treated to:
- two butterfly gardens filled with native plants (see below)
- three bird houses (see below)
- split rails engraved with the names of family donors (see Community Partnerships)
- decorative stepping stones (see Community Partnerships)
- educational signs (see Structures for Environmental Learning)
Creating Monarch Waystation
Grades: All
Number of Students: Approximately 20 per Garden Workday, 90 first graders planted seed balls, at least 7 watered over the summer
Date: Spring 2013, maintenance ongoing
One of the highlights of the restored schoolyard habitat is our new monarch waystation. A corner of the habitat that was once a simple patch of grass, contributing very little to support native wildlife, has been transformed into a beautiful expanse of host plants for the monarch caterpillars and nectar plants for the adult butterflies. All of the plants were donated by local nurseries (see Community Partnerships) and were recommended by Native Plants for Wildlife and Habitat Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).
Host plants: swamp milkweed, butterflyweed
Nectar plants: wild sweet William (phlox), goldenrod, Joe Pye Weed, sedum, threadleaf coreopsis, ironweed
This is student-driven project. During the two Garden Workdays in Spring 2013, students removed sod for the new garden space, added compost, planted the native plants, and applied mulch. First graders planted seed balls for the milkweed and Joe Pye during Earth Week and learned about providing appropriate food sources for the different stages of the monarch's life cycle. During the summer after the initial planning, the Green Team established a watering schedule and students from at least 7 families helped keep the garden thriving with periodic waterings. The signs in monarch waystation which label the plants and provide information about monarch migration (see Structures for Environmental Learning) are helpful to all students visiting the garden.
Grades: All
Number of Students: Approximately 20 per Garden Workday, 90 first graders planted seed balls, at least 7 watered over the summer
Date: Spring 2013, maintenance ongoing
One of the highlights of the restored schoolyard habitat is our new monarch waystation. A corner of the habitat that was once a simple patch of grass, contributing very little to support native wildlife, has been transformed into a beautiful expanse of host plants for the monarch caterpillars and nectar plants for the adult butterflies. All of the plants were donated by local nurseries (see Community Partnerships) and were recommended by Native Plants for Wildlife and Habitat Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).
Host plants: swamp milkweed, butterflyweed
Nectar plants: wild sweet William (phlox), goldenrod, Joe Pye Weed, sedum, threadleaf coreopsis, ironweed
This is student-driven project. During the two Garden Workdays in Spring 2013, students removed sod for the new garden space, added compost, planted the native plants, and applied mulch. First graders planted seed balls for the milkweed and Joe Pye during Earth Week and learned about providing appropriate food sources for the different stages of the monarch's life cycle. During the summer after the initial planning, the Green Team established a watering schedule and students from at least 7 families helped keep the garden thriving with periodic waterings. The signs in monarch waystation which label the plants and provide information about monarch migration (see Structures for Environmental Learning) are helpful to all students visiting the garden.
Creating Baltimore Checkerspot Habitat
Grades: All
Number of Students: Approximately 20 per Garden Workday, at least 7 watered over the summer, all first graders examine for signs of Checkerspots
Date: Spring 2013, maintenance ongoing
Following the suggestion of the head naturalist at Cromwell Valley Park (see Community Partnerships) and inspired by the first grade's Nurturing Nature unit (see Environmental Issue Instruction), the Green Team took advantage of a small depressed area of the restored habitat that tends to stay damp and filled it with plants loved by the increasingly rare Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly. We were fortunate that local nurseries donated the plants (see Community Partnerships), all of which were native and recommended by Native Plants for Wildlife and Habitat Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).
Host plant: white turtlehead
Nectar plants: great blue lobelia, cardinal flower
Students attending the two Garden Workdays in Spring 2013 dug the garden, amended the soil and later planted the plants. During the summer after the initial planning, the Green Team established a watering schedule and students from at least 7 families helped keep the garden thriving with periodic waterings. First graders visit the habitat as part of their unit Nurturing Nature and look for signs of Checkerspots. After urging the Governor to take action to protect the Checkerspot, the students are delighted to see white turtlehead growing in the own garden and read the sign about the Checkerspot's dwindling habitat in the wild. (See Structures for Environmental Learning.)
Grades: All
Number of Students: Approximately 20 per Garden Workday, at least 7 watered over the summer, all first graders examine for signs of Checkerspots
Date: Spring 2013, maintenance ongoing
Following the suggestion of the head naturalist at Cromwell Valley Park (see Community Partnerships) and inspired by the first grade's Nurturing Nature unit (see Environmental Issue Instruction), the Green Team took advantage of a small depressed area of the restored habitat that tends to stay damp and filled it with plants loved by the increasingly rare Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly. We were fortunate that local nurseries donated the plants (see Community Partnerships), all of which were native and recommended by Native Plants for Wildlife and Habitat Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service).
Host plant: white turtlehead
Nectar plants: great blue lobelia, cardinal flower
Students attending the two Garden Workdays in Spring 2013 dug the garden, amended the soil and later planted the plants. During the summer after the initial planning, the Green Team established a watering schedule and students from at least 7 families helped keep the garden thriving with periodic waterings. First graders visit the habitat as part of their unit Nurturing Nature and look for signs of Checkerspots. After urging the Governor to take action to protect the Checkerspot, the students are delighted to see white turtlehead growing in the own garden and read the sign about the Checkerspot's dwindling habitat in the wild. (See Structures for Environmental Learning.)
Removing Invasives
Grades: All
Number of Students: Approximately 20 per Garden Workday
Dates: Spring 2013, Fall 2014
Parent and students volunteers worked hard to remove invasive vines growing in two separate locations on the school grounds. First, the oriental bittersweet winding around the split rail fence of the schoolyard habitat and the multi-flora rose in the habitat were dug up as part of our initial Garden Workday. Second, porcelainberry, which was increasingly covering a huge pine tree on the corner of the school lot, was pulled down. If allowed to grow unchecked, these vines would have blanketed trees and eventually killed them by blocking sunlight.
The Green Team, including students pictured below, filled up the pick-up truck several times over with the porcelainberry vines pulled down from the pine tree. The activity unleashed a lot of latent aggression in some of the moms participating!
Grades: All
Number of Students: Approximately 20 per Garden Workday
Dates: Spring 2013, Fall 2014
Parent and students volunteers worked hard to remove invasive vines growing in two separate locations on the school grounds. First, the oriental bittersweet winding around the split rail fence of the schoolyard habitat and the multi-flora rose in the habitat were dug up as part of our initial Garden Workday. Second, porcelainberry, which was increasingly covering a huge pine tree on the corner of the school lot, was pulled down. If allowed to grow unchecked, these vines would have blanketed trees and eventually killed them by blocking sunlight.
The Green Team, including students pictured below, filled up the pick-up truck several times over with the porcelainberry vines pulled down from the pine tree. The activity unleashed a lot of latent aggression in some of the moms participating!
Renovating 2nd Grade Courtyard Garden
Grade: 2nd
Number of Students: Approximately 20
Date: Spring 2013 - ongoing
Some of the 2nd graders in Mrs. McDonnell's class really embraced Riderwood's Green School philosophy by initiating some gardening work of their own. They told their teacher that they wanted to beautify a desolate, neglected courtyard in the back of the school outside their classroom doors. The courtyard consists mainly of some overgrown shrubs, a pear tree, and a little grass (but primarily mud and dirt). Though it had not been targeted by the Green Team as an area to renovate yet, it was definitely in need of some sprucing up. The students started working on it during their recess time, pulling weeds, planting annuals, and looking for worms. After a few days, students from other homerooms joined in the fun. It was truly a student-led project, fully supported their teachers.
Mrs. McDonnell intends to continue the project with this year's class this spring (if it would ever stop snowing!) She is talking to the Green Team about adding native plants to further enhance the 2nd grade lesson on pollination. As this courtyard has also been identified as a good location for a rain barrel by the student-led Save Water Action Team, the Green Team is excited to coordinate with students and teachers to tackle this habitat restoration project in the next year. (See BMP Water Conservation/ Water Pollution Prevention.)
Grade: 2nd
Number of Students: Approximately 20
Date: Spring 2013 - ongoing
Some of the 2nd graders in Mrs. McDonnell's class really embraced Riderwood's Green School philosophy by initiating some gardening work of their own. They told their teacher that they wanted to beautify a desolate, neglected courtyard in the back of the school outside their classroom doors. The courtyard consists mainly of some overgrown shrubs, a pear tree, and a little grass (but primarily mud and dirt). Though it had not been targeted by the Green Team as an area to renovate yet, it was definitely in need of some sprucing up. The students started working on it during their recess time, pulling weeds, planting annuals, and looking for worms. After a few days, students from other homerooms joined in the fun. It was truly a student-led project, fully supported their teachers.
Mrs. McDonnell intends to continue the project with this year's class this spring (if it would ever stop snowing!) She is talking to the Green Team about adding native plants to further enhance the 2nd grade lesson on pollination. As this courtyard has also been identified as a good location for a rain barrel by the student-led Save Water Action Team, the Green Team is excited to coordinate with students and teachers to tackle this habitat restoration project in the next year. (See BMP Water Conservation/ Water Pollution Prevention.)
Planting Native Pine Trees
Grade: 4th
Number of Students: 81 in 2013, 78 in 2014
Date: April 2013
As previously described in Environmental Issue Instruction, Ms. Detter arranged for all 4th graders to receive Eastern White Pine seedlings to plant in their yards. They were taught about the benefits of native trees in providing food and shelter to native wildlife.
Grade: 4th
Number of Students: 81 in 2013, 78 in 2014
Date: April 2013
As previously described in Environmental Issue Instruction, Ms. Detter arranged for all 4th graders to receive Eastern White Pine seedlings to plant in their yards. They were taught about the benefits of native trees in providing food and shelter to native wildlife.
Building and Installing Bird Houses
Grade: 4th
Number of Students: 9
Date: Spring 2013
Girl Scout Troop 1953 constructed bird houses for the schoolyard habitat with exciting results. The text and captions below were typed by some of the girls in the troop:
Our Girl Scout Troop made bird houses with the help of Mr. Molavi, Mr. Iannello, and Mrs. Vaikness. They turned out to be a great success!
-Grace P.
Birds actually made nests in them! - Anna V. and Chloe S.
Grade: 4th
Number of Students: 9
Date: Spring 2013
Girl Scout Troop 1953 constructed bird houses for the schoolyard habitat with exciting results. The text and captions below were typed by some of the girls in the troop:
Our Girl Scout Troop made bird houses with the help of Mr. Molavi, Mr. Iannello, and Mrs. Vaikness. They turned out to be a great success!
-Grace P.
Birds actually made nests in them! - Anna V. and Chloe S.