Scaling Greener, Healthier Schools for Milwaukee's Low-Income and Minority Communities
The project will align the school health team's action plan with the outdoor learning environment to increase environmental health literacy.
Milwaukee Public Schools proposes to create a system of support to educate and train school staff and community members in how to use newly constructed green spaces, outdoor classrooms, traffic gardens, and fitness stations in MPS. Activities include creating and implementing professional development, developing school health plans, and collecting data to support environmental health literacy. The outputs/outcomes include completion of plans with goals, publications for professional development, a "lessons learned" document, and findings from the evaluation.
Short-term outcomes are to decrease nurse visits or other remedial visits, increase daily average outside activity minutes, decrease recess and overall discipline problems and conflicts, decrease off-task behavior in class, and improve environmental health literacy among students and teachers/staff.
Long-term outcomes include increased school enrollment and attendance; equitable outdoor classroom experiences; increased awareness, knowledge, appreciation, and concern for the natural environment and the effect of people's actions upon it; and reduced risk of disease.
Carlos Rodriguez, curriculum specialist, physical education and health, Milwaukee Public Schools
Green Schools Consortium of Milwaukee
This site offers background information on the benefits of playground redevelopment projects and provides guidance on how to start the project at your school. The site also shares different activities and lessons that teachers can use with their students.
FoodWIse Nutritional Guide (in English and Spanish)
FoodWIse advances healthful eating habits, active lifestyles, and healthy community environments for families with limited incomes through nutrition education at the individual, community, and district levels. This resource offers nutritional guidance for teachers and parents to improve the eating habits of our children. It's a great resource for picky eaters.
Wisconsin Climate Education Hub
This hub was created to provide educators with quick and easy access to teacher-approved and scientist-reviewed resources to support the state's requirement for environmental education. This site offers teachers resources connected to the Wisconsin academic standards that align to climate justice, science, math, literacy, and health education. Resources include curriculum, exemplar lesson plans, and news articles for students to learn about and explore making our environment healthier. View the Wisconsin Climate Education Hub's video introducing its resources.
EPA – Children's Healthy Learning Environment: Grant Tools and Resources 2023
Milwaukee Public Schools collaborates with our community partner, Reflo, to offer amazing environmental education lessons on a variety of outdoor topics.
All photos are courtesy of the Reflo media department.
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Learning in an outdoor classroom
Children gather to begin their observations in a new outdoor classroom at Nathaniel Hawthorne School.
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Leaf identification
A student at Nathaniel Hawthorne School identifies the type of oak leaf found in their schooyard.
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Pathways
Children at Nathaniel Hawthorne School take a stepping stone pathway through a bioswale in their schoolyard.
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Discovering bioswales and green infrastructure
Students learn about green infrastructure at Clement Avenue School.
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Sensory connections to nature
Children identify their senses and use them to explore nearby nature at Clement Avenue School.
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Collecting tree measurements
Students at Golda Meir High School collect data to help estimate how much stormwater the tree can absorb.
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Playing on the new synthetic turf field
Students at Hayes Bilingual School use the new synthetic turf field, which has an underground cistern beneath it to help capture and manage stormwater.
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Exploring the new nature play structure
Students at Hayes Bilingual School investigate and test the new nature play structure.
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