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Located in Butte County, Chico Unified
School District comprises 19 schools, two of which participated in the UES
grant program: Chico Country Day School (CCD) and Parkview Elementary School
(Parkview). Various diversion practices existed within the district but were not
uniformly implemented. Some of these practices included diversion of green waste
and the use of compost, generated on site, for landscape and playground
maintenance, recycling of concrete from a remodeling project at Chico High
School, and operation of a volunteer-run computer refurbishing and recycling
program.
With the UES grant, Chico USD set out to establish an
infrastructure for a unified approach to environmental education instructional
strategies and waste management practices through the following programs:
- A fifth-grade class at Chico Country Day collected recyclable materials
school-wide and the sixth graders collected bottles and cans from designated
classrooms and school offices as a fundraiser. These funds were designated
for environmental field trips.
- Parkview students conducted a waste assessment of their cafeteria.
Students learned about composting, coordinated and implemented a
cafeteria-composting day once a month, and guided students how to empty
products in particular bins for composting. In addition, recyclable
materials were collected. Monies raised from these efforts were designated
for outdoor education school scholarships.
- Chico USD’s procurement office explored purchasing environmentally
preferred products in place of materials made from virgin products.
Additionally, Chico USD used grant funds for professional development time to
develop standards-based lessons. The team focused on these curriculum
activities:
- English/Language Arts: Through the application of listening, reading,
persuasive letter-writing, and speaking skills, students summarized their
studies and educated the school, parents, and community about what can and
cannot be recycled.
- Mathematics: Students analyzed the materials collected during their
waste assessments by using weight, measurements, analysis, and calculations.
- The community partners played a key role in providing technical
assistance, resources and support to this program. Logistical and financial
support for field trips was also provided to Parkview.
- Parkview students presented their unit and information about their
recycling program to a school that showed interest in coordinating waste
management efforts at their site.
- An Administrators support and knowledge of a program that a
teacher/class is coordinating and implementing is vital to the success of
the program. Acknowledging students for their work is an excellent
motivation and source of encouragement to them.
- Giving students choices dramatically affects the students’ interest in
the program.
- Team members noted the importance of frequent meetings and suggested
that the team meet at least once a month. Scheduled meetings allow time to
“check-in” with other team members, review program goals, share current
program status, and strategize next steps to successfully meet individual
and team goals.
- Chico Country Day’s fifth-grade class reduced the number of school trash
bins from two to one as a result of collecting recyclable materials
school-wide.
- Parkview students shared information about their recycling program with
a neighboring school that was interested in implementing waste management
efforts at their own school.
- Sixth-grade math lesson (Chico Country Day): Students read labels from
bottles and cans collected. They performed research on their findings and
wrote informative articles on contents of the bottles or cans. The articles
included graphs presenting the specific breakdown of ingredients found in
the beverage.
- Fifth- and sixth-grade math lesson (Parkview): Students conducted a
waste audit.
- Campus Needs Assessment
(Adobe PDF, 141 KB)
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