Northwood News ♦ December 2010

Forest Knolls Elementary School Is Now ‘Green’

By Jacquie Bokow

Students at Forest Knolls Elementary School planted more than 20 trees (as well as bushes and wildflowers) to reforest part of the schoolyard, transformed an empty courtyard into a butterfly garden so that second graders could watch the life cycle of a butterfly firsthand, raised rainbow trout from eggs and released them at Little Seneca Creek, and used electronic waste to create “robot sculpture” art — activities which led to the school being certified in June as “green” by the nonprofit Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE).  FKES was the 34th out of the county’s 200 elementary, middle, and high schools have won the designation.

The MAEOE program requires that environmental issues be incorporated into the curriculm.  In addition, schools must make “eco-friendly” changes in buildings and grounds, and document their progress.  Activities fall into categories such as energy conservation and recycling, waste reduction, habitat restoration, and water pollution prevention.   ■