Check out these tips on fostering a green field trip for your school. First, find a volunteer (either a parent, student or educator) to research an environmentally friendly location for a school field trip. This volunteer should then compile a list of all the green field trips that your school could potential embark upon.

Think about your school’s location and what types of environmentally friendly organizations are close by. If you live near a body of water, see if there is a local governmental or non-profit organization that oversees that body of water, and contact them to see if you could set up a potential field trip there. Are there any wildlife preserves near you? See if you could organize a school field trip near a wildlife preserve.

Once you have your put your list of environmentally friendly field trips together, present that list to the person at your school who oversees scheduling field trips. Be mindful that your school may require permission slips from the students for any school-sponsored field trip.

Remember to create an environmental outcome from your school field trip. One idea for the environmental outcome of the field trip could be for students to learn more about conserving water, or preserving nature, or littering less! Students will be inspired and empowered to care for the environment more because  field trips offer a way for students to really connect with the nature and learn how to protect our Earth.

Lastly, the field trip should always engage students and remain both educational and fun!

There is nothing like some positive publicity to inspire and empower your school to keep up its environmental efforts! You should aim to publicize each Grades of Green Activity that you implement at your school. Publicizing your school’s success boosts both the pride and the morale of your Grades of Green Team, because this publicity highlights all of the Green Team’s hard work.

Choose a volunteer (either a parent, student or educator) to help with your Green Team publicity initiative. People with marketing backgrounds or people involved in current Grades of Green Activities are often great volunteers! An easy way to spread the good news about successfully completing a Grades of Green Activity is through an e-newsletter. The e-newsletter allows parents, your school, and the local community all know more about the successes of the Grades of Green Program at your school.

Another great way to spread the word about your Grades of Green achievements is by letting the community know about your success. There are many ways your school can get recognition for its green achievements simply by utilizing different media outlets.

The volunteers could contact your local newspaper in order to get the word out about the successes of your Green Team. Likewise, you could create a YouTube video that highlights all the accomplishments of your school’s Green Team as well. The more your school publicizes its environmental stewardship, the easier it is to garner support around implementing more Grades of Green Activities at your school.

Lastly, check out the No Idle Zone Communication Toolkit for an additional resource on publicity.

You may have found that many Grades of Green Activities cost nothing to implement. However, some Grades of Green Activities do require some expenses. Fundraising provides schools with additional resources to cover the costs of certain Grades of Green Activities.

Find a volunteer (either a parent, student or educator) to think of ways to fundraise for your school. You could hold a bake sale, raffle, or even a car wash (using environmentally friendly products of course) to raise some money for the Grades of Green Activity.

Be as creative as you want when you brainstorm ways to raise money for your school. Check out the Grants and Awards page to get some ideas on how to acquire funds for your school’s Grades of Green Team. Raising funds from outside sources will relieve your school’s budget of any additional costs.

Best of all, implementing Grades of Green Activities may actually save your school money in the long run. Grades of Green Activities often aid in lowering your school’s water bill, electricity bill, and waste hauling bill!

 

If you’ve implemented any Grades of Green Activities or you are planning to implement one, applying for grants and awards can help your school earn some money to support its environmental initiatives. Earning grants helps to alleviate some pressure from your school’s budget, and applying for grants is a simple process as well!

You’ll need one or more volunteers (either parents, students or educators) who can help to start this initiative. Find a volunteer who is comfortable with writing, and who understands the environmental activities being implemented by your school’s Green Team.

Check out this list of Grants and awards: Awards_Grants_2017 .  This list consists of suggested grants that you could apply for to raise funds for your school. Additionally, Disney, Sea World, and other entities offer annual grants and awards to schools who are attempting to go green. You can also check out your community’s City Council or Mayor’s Office for additional tips.

When your school does receive a grant or award, make sure to publicize it so that the entire school knows of your accomplishments. Lastly, please let us know if you come across any additional environmental grants and awards so that Grades of Green can add them to the list! Happy grant hunting!