Michigan Green School Offers Tips for Earth Day
NHA Communications TeamNHA Communications Team
Articles by NHA Communications Team
-
Michigan Green School Offers Tips for Earth Day
Published: Apr 15, 2025
-
How to Raise a Compassionate Kid
Published: Apr 01, 2025
-
How to Stay Connected and Talk with Your Kids
Published: Mar 25, 2025
-
Tips for Making the Most Out of a College Visit
Published: Mar 18, 2025
How would you build a better world?
Students at Achieve Charter Academy in Canton, Michigan, are celebrating Earth Day by using anything they can get their hands on or look to for inspiration – blocks, links, Minecraft, LEGO – to decorate classroom doors with their vision and inspire others to take care of the planet.
“They talk through ideas,” said Teresa Sparks, dean of K-4 at Achieve. “We’ve also had a poster contest, but I think they like the door idea better.”
The door decorating contest is one example of how Achieve is a Michigan Green School, dedicated to assisting schools achieve environmental goals that include protecting the air, land, water, and animals of our state along with world outreach through good ecological practices and the teaching of educational stewardship of all school children. Achieve earned the highest designation of Evergreen this year, requiring the school to complete at least 20 activities, including a minimum of two from four categories (reduce/reuse/recycle, energy, environmental protection, and miscellaneous).
Citing April’s Moral Focus virtue of Compassion, Sparks and those at Achieve are showing compassion for the Earth each day around the school. For younger students Sparks rcommended Earth Day-themed coloring pages, along with quizzes testing knowledge of sustainability and clean energy and tool kits detailing climate literacy and plastics.
Caring for the environment starts locally, and Sparks has encouraged students to do what they can at home and in the neighborhood by picking up trash if they see it. Even if only for a short period of time, teachers at Achieve have taken students outside for a quick break to pick up trash around the school. Sparks also offered some Earth Day-related tips students can practice every day at home:
Students at Achieve Charter Academy in Canton, Michigan, are celebrating Earth Day by using anything they can get their hands on or look to for inspiration – blocks, links, Minecraft, LEGO – to decorate classroom doors with their vision and inspire others to take care of the planet.
“They talk through ideas,” said Teresa Sparks, dean of K-4 at Achieve. “We’ve also had a poster contest, but I think they like the door idea better.”
The door decorating contest is one example of how Achieve is a Michigan Green School, dedicated to assisting schools achieve environmental goals that include protecting the air, land, water, and animals of our state along with world outreach through good ecological practices and the teaching of educational stewardship of all school children. Achieve earned the highest designation of Evergreen this year, requiring the school to complete at least 20 activities, including a minimum of two from four categories (reduce/reuse/recycle, energy, environmental protection, and miscellaneous).
Citing April’s Moral Focus virtue of Compassion, Sparks and those at Achieve are showing compassion for the Earth each day around the school. For younger students Sparks rcommended Earth Day-themed coloring pages, along with quizzes testing knowledge of sustainability and clean energy and tool kits detailing climate literacy and plastics.
Caring for the environment starts locally, and Sparks has encouraged students to do what they can at home and in the neighborhood by picking up trash if they see it. Even if only for a short period of time, teachers at Achieve have taken students outside for a quick break to pick up trash around the school. Sparks also offered some Earth Day-related tips students can practice every day at home:
- Support pollinators by planting wildflowers and native plants that attract our helpful little friends
- Clean up plastic around your neighborhood
- Go to the park and enjoy nature
- Plant a tree
- Reduce, reuse, and recycle
- Conserve water