Thames Valley District School Board Celebrates Earth Week

Wednesday, 22 April 2015 05:56

Thames Valley District School Board celebrates Earth Day with a variety of learning opportunities.

Earth Day will be celebrated around the world today, but Thames Valley District School Board will also be doing their part here at home. Many schools including East Oxford Central Public School will be implementing outdoor learning classrooms to teach the students how important it is to respect the environment. Environmental Education Coordinator for Thames Valley, Erin Mutch, explains how another school in the area will be participating this week. "It's the culmination of a lot of our schools to just practice environmental sustainable habits. College Ave for example - this week on Friday are completing a school ground clean and green. The City of Woodstock itself has offered to assist schools in the area." Other schools will be receiving their Eco-Schools certificate which represents the school meeting provincial standards when it comes to achievement in environmental education and action.

Mutch explained why she believes it's imperative to have students learning about Earth Day. "Environmental issues are complex and it allows our students an opportunity to integrate all the subjects they are learning in school. For example, if they are conducting a waste audit, that will involve a bit of math calculation as well as communicating the results to the rest of the school. It is a great way to do some real world problem solving and integration of our curriculum."

The School Board has extended the one day global celebration to entire week so students understand why they need to practice environmentally friendly habits. Mutch adds that over the week a number of schools will be receiving eco school status. "We have a number of schools who will be completing their eco schools certification this week. Two of them will be going for platinum and a number of them will be going for gold. That involves them completing their certification after a number of activities." There are four levels of eco schools that range from bronze to platinum where each school accumulates points to advance to the next certificate.