Systemic Sustainability

We want our green journey to continue to instill in our students and community a sense of wonder and respect for our world. We want to inspire our studnts to care for the environment, in small ways every day and in big ways when possible.

We will continue to maintain our Monarch Waystation, our worm farm, and our herb garden to be enjoyed by the whole community. We would also like to have the students in each grade plant and tend more air purifying plants in each classroom.

Our teachers remain committed to environmental education in each grade, and we hope to incorporate more field trips for hands on learning. Strawberry Hill, The Good Soil Farm, and Trout Unlimited have been been our partners for many years, and we hope to expand outdoor education opportunities through these programs.

We have learned much about using digital resources rather than paper throughout the pandemic and we will continue to reduce paper waste by using Google Classroom, sharing Google Docs, using Kahoot and other online learning game sites, and continuing to provide the Tuesday News digitally. Our creative teachers would like to learn more about digital tools and apps that we can use to enhance the learning experience of every student without the use of paper and other supplies.

Mother Seton School will proudly remain committed to not being consumers of single use plastic wheneber we can. Our bottle filling stations teach our students that plastic single use water bottles are wasteful and unnecessary. As covid restrictions allow, we plan on returning to less plastic waste inthe cafeteria. We would also like to incorporate learning about prevention of microplastics.

Changes in behavior throughout the school include:

Water bottle filling stations have been installed throughout the school. All students were given a reusable water bottle in an effort to cut out plastic waste.

Our weekly newsletter to parents is only available online: 

Tuesday News is no longer available in print form. An email is sent out each Tuesday notifying families when Tuesday News is posted. Current and archived newsletters are found on the website.

Reduce Cafeteria Waste

We are using biodegradable paper products to serve sandwiches and pizza (4/25) 

We serve local produce from Catoctin Mountain Orchards and dairy products from Dairy Maid, a local dairy supplier who use only local dairy farms and local produce to supply our milk.

 

Motion-sensing lights are installed in bathrooms, the Sabbath Room, and the Teacher Workroom to reduce electricity waste.

Using daylight wherever possible. Skylights are installed in our hallways and cafeteria.

Giving students the responsibility of turning off the lights as they leave the classroom.

Hand sanitizer dispensers have been installed in the classrooms, negating the need for individual plastic bottles of sanitizer.

Our HVAC system has been designed to run at maximum energy efficiency, as well as maintain comfortable temperature ranges. The system is under constant supervision both onsite and remotely to ensure that it is kept at peak efficiency. We can now shut down areas not in use. The system has also eliminated the need for a hot water heating "loop" to heat the school, which reduces water usage as well.

Paper recycling bins are located throughout the school and in each classroom.

We recycle ink and toner cartridges from school use.

Professional Development Opportunities

The entire faculty attended a professional development opportunity where Sister Sharon Horace, DC, and Sister Mary Jo Stein, DC, presented key points from Pope Francis's encyclical letter, Laudato Si', On Care for Our Common Home. 

An action point that arose from this discussion was our desire to reduce cafeteria waste. We are hoping to put some of our ideas into action and see positive results.

 

Blessing of the Animals

An annual tradition at Mother Seton School is the Blessing of the Animals Service. Members of our school community bring their pets to be blessed and celebrated. Taking care of God's creatures is another way that we can be good stewards of the Earth! (10/25)

 

Pre-K

This year our Pre-K class learned about native species. After the lesson, Pre-K found and destroyed lantern flies on their playground. 

Kindergarten

Prior to the pandemic, students learned about the seasons at the Renfrew Institute for Cultural and Environmental Studies as they participate in the EarthSeekers program, a "year-long environmental education program which ties the nature center, school, and home  together to create a comprehensive learning experience." (Renfrew brochure). We hope to return to Renfrew as soon as it is safe to do so. 

Students also learn about reusing materials by creating projects using only recyclable materials that they gather at home and at school. 

First Grade

First graders learn about endangered species, habitats, ecosystems, and the role we play in caring for the environment.

 

Second Grade

The Butterfly Garden and Monarch Waystation are important responsibilities of the second grade. Each year, students learn about life cycles as they hatch Monarch butterflies. Students keep journals as they watch the process of the life cycle occur.

 

Third Grade

Third grade students (prior to Covid) visited the Catoctin Zoo to explore habitats and ecosystems. We hope to resume our annual trip to the zoo as soon as it is safe to do so.

Pictured are students at the zoo, 5/19

Students also study food chains as part of their science curriculum, learning about producers, consumers and decomposers. (picture is from 2/19)

Third grade students pictured below are learning about our weather station from Senior Master Sergeant (Ret) Lyle Tayler.

Third grade students make 'grassheads' to explore seed germination (10/21)

Fourth Grade

St. Patrick's Day in the fourth grade is celebrated with a plant adoption. Students take home a plant to care for and nurture.

Fifth Grade

Fifth grade students learn about energy in ecosystems and how human activities affect Earth's systems. This year, the class has been able to learn about ecosystems through the eyes of a student who is visiting Antarctica, Alaska, and the Mediterranean. Pictured are the Hagers in Antarctica and students face-timing with her (1/22). They also read the family's blog.

 

All Middle School students participated in the STEM Fair on November 15, 2023. Students conducted experiments or created inventions to explore a variety of STEM topics. Pictured below is a student with their winning experiment on the best type of water filter for plants. 

Sixth Grade

Sixth grade students perform soil studies, bringing soil from home to compare with one another. Our school community is fairly geographically diverse, so soils can be quite different. Students plant seeds to compare the soils, as well as conduct soil analysis to measure pH, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium as we study the importance of soil conservation.

Seventh Grade

Students learn to be good stewards of our creeks and streams by raising trout from eggs as participants in the Trout in the Classroom program. Mother Seton School has been raising trout since 2011 as part of our ongoing commitment to helping our students understand our responsibilities as caretakers of God's creation.

Pictured are students releasing the trout into a local waterway. Students conduct a stream study to gauge the health of the stream. (5/2023)

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Seventh grade Science Club also had the opportunity to speak with retired horticulture teacher, Teresa Stevens, who taught them the skill and importance of growing plants from cuttings. (4/25)

Eighth Grade

The Eighth Grade Class helps to tend the rain garden that keeps oil and gas from the parking lot from reaching Willow Rill and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay. 

Pictured below are samples of student work concerning rainforest conservation as part of a Social Studies lesson (1/22)