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Fifth-grade teachers at Mount Airy Elementary will soon have the perfect reason to hold class outside.

After all, it will be easier to take the students outside the building than bring the outdoors in.

The students took the first steps last week toward preparing their outdoor classroom by clearing out a space behind the school to make it attractive for Maryland's native birds, plants and animals.

Armed with shovels and clippers, they wrestled with invasive shrubs and bushes, weeded out non-native plants, prepared the spot for native plants and trees, and installed 12 birdhouses for bluebirds.

"We are trying to make this into a home for many native birds and animals," said Marissa Cecil, one of the fifth-graders who participated in the project last week.

When the outdoor classroom is completed, teachers will use it for hands-on science projects and environmental exploration, said Karen Dulany, the fifth-grade teacher who started the project.

"The project is a culmination of everything we did back in the fall," she said.

The outdoor classroom project is one of the "green" initiatives at Mount Airy Elementary this year.

The school has started recycling plastic bottles and cans, and teachers are reducing their energy use and working with families to collect paper and cardboard for recycling. The school has already collected 2.28 tons of paper for recycling, and saved an estimated 19 cubic yards of landfill space.

Mount Airy Elementary has also earned a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation that will allow the school to plant 100 native trees on the school grounds by May 14.

And fourth-graders are developing plans a rain garden that will serve as a natural filter for runoff water from the school parking lot. The project will be another learning tool for students, who can use it monitor and test water quality, Dulany said. "All this is letting kids be a little more aware of the environment," she said.

Green certification

Based on these projects, Mount Airy Elementary is applying for a Green School re-certification from the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education.

The association is nonprofit group that provides support, resources and networking opportunities for educators and schools that take an interdisciplinary approach to environmental friendly practices.

Unlike other "green school" programs, which tend to promote environmental practices in the field of energy conservation, the Maryland group encourages schools to implement environmentally friendly practices in all areas of school operations.

To obtain certification, schools have to show that teachers are including environmental issues in their curriculum; are teaching their students to be environmentally responsible; are using best management practices in building maintenance and design; and are partnering with community groups to enhance environmental learning.

The association has certified more than 160 public and private schools in the state at least once. The certification process is free, but schools have to renew their certification every three years.

Steve Heacock, principal of the Carroll County Outdoor School, said there are several benefits to certification, such as ensuring that a school has the programs to be at the forefront of environmental education.

Certified schools also can network with one another, learn about new programs and gain access to the group's educational resources, he said.

And schools that have already gone through the process will have a solid base to build upon if the Maryland State Department of Education officials decide to implement environmental literacy requirements, Heacock said.

"It's a highly competitive award," he said. "Our goal is that ultimately every school in Maryland will be a green school."

A commitment

to green education

Carroll County Public Schools has a long-term relationship with the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Schools. The relationship started in 1999, when South Carroll High School became the first certified green school in the county, he said.

Since then, 13 public schools in the county have received the certification at least once and their number tends to increase every year, Heacock said.

This year, six Carroll County schools, including Mount Airy Elementary are applying for re-certification. Five other schools in the county will be going through the process for a first time, he said.

"Carroll County is probably farther ahead than many other counties," he said.

The biggest benefit for the county, however, is the experience that the county is using from the schools that have gone through the process.

Carroll County Public Schools is moving toward embedding environmental learning into its entire K-12 curriculum, so it is a basic requirement for every school in the system.

The school system, for example, is piloting grade-specific environmental programs, such as Mount Airy Elementary's fourth-grade rain gardens and outdoor classroom projects in schools across the county.

Meanwhile, as part of their curriculum this year, kindergarten classes at Parr's Ridge and Winfield Elementary and eight others Carroll County schools will build butterfly nurseries for the endangered Monarch butterflies, said Mary Hoy, school habitat coordinator for Carroll County Public Schools.

And in some schools, third-graders are looking into starting compost piles to recycle food leftovers, Hoy said.

Hoy, who helped students at Mount Airy Elementary start their outdoor classroom last week, said that programs which are incorporated in a school curriculum are the best way to encourage true environmental responsibility in students.

Unlike a short-term program, a curriculum-deep effort can really instill environmental sensitivity in students, she said.

"We are really on the cutting edge of this," she said. "You cannot take a kid out of the real world for a couple of days, then return them and believe they will be environmentalists."

E-mail Margarita Raycheva at mraycheva@gazette.net.