Clean Air Schools Champions Forum

BAIR, the Better Air Bear, is out of hibernation this year and traveling all across the state. He recently visited schools in Cherokee, Cobb, Gwinnett and Henry Counties which were randomly selected from all of the Clean Air Schools that registered by last Septmeber 15th. We'll do another drawing over the winter for schools working on their programs then!

Our first ever Clean Commute Week comes to a close this afternoon. Be sure to share with us the ways your school participated in this event. Flippen Elementary in Henry County celebrated the week by having their "Ride the Bus! for Clean Air" try-it week at the same time. Their champion printed punch cards from the template we provided. Students with 5 punches have been entered into a drawing to win a grand prize!

Last Friday, at Big Shanty Elementary in Cobb County, Jamee Douglas' 5th grade class made scare crows as part of their participation in Clean Commute Week. The scare crows held their custom-made No Idling signs, a donation from a local printer, all week since the students couldn't always be there. Only three of the students had ever made a scare crow!

Today marks the kickoff of The Clean Air Campaign’s first ever Clean Commute Week. The idea for Clean Commute Week came from a group a parents from Evansdale Elementary’s PTA Green Team. Clean Commute Week makes use of each school day to explore and encourage four clean modes of transportation, bus riding, biking, walking, and carpooling.  Students are challenged to commute cleanly for the entire week and log their commutes daily. If your school has already taken its baseline survey, kick off your Clean Air Schools program education campaign this fall. 

The US Green Building Council of Georgia is hosting it's first annual High Performance, Healthy Schools Summit in Atlanta. If you are interested in greening your school, this is an event you should attend.  Introductory and advanced courses will be taught in Energy Efficiency, Water Efficiency, Indoor Air Quality, Recycling/Waste Management, and Environmental Curriculum.  This summit targets School Boards, Superintendents, Facility Directors, Teachers, Parents, Industry Professionals, and Non‐Profit Leaders.

Check out the flier below for more information on this exciting 2-day event.  Space is limited, so register today!

Attention physical educators, health teachers SRTS champions, parents, and community stakeholders!  Georgia Safe Routes To School is offering free 2-hour workshops to provide strategies and tips on teaching a child pedestrian safety education curriculum developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  The workshops will be interactive and each participant will receive a copy of the curriculum materials.  Space is limited!  For more information, check out the flier below or visit:  www.SafeRoutesGA.org

Over the last few years we’ve observed great teamwork at Clean Air Schools.  Teamwork not only facilitates shared responsibility, it creates the kind of energy and commitment you want to infuse in your school community. 

As we begin the 2011 school year, we want to know – who’s on your team? Teachers? Parents? Students? Administrators?

What are your team members’ roles and responsibilities? 

How do you make sure everyone is on the same page, so you can avoid this?

Our highways are peppered with billboards, especially between state and country borders.  Non-sign II, an art installation commissioned by the US government's Arts in Architecture program, directs attention to what is right in front of us - our immediate surroundings. 

Non-Sign II in Blaine, Washington

Non-Sign II graces the border of the United States and Canada along the highway between Blaine, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia.  In August, the installation, created by Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo of Seattle-based art collective Lead Pencil Studio, was recognized as a top project for the Americans for Art 2011 Year in Review.

Air is so basic, so vast and often invisible that it can be hard to grasp as a concept. How do you make it come alive for students?  What are your favorite images?  We'll continue to post ours.  We want to see yours, too!

Looking for new lesson plans on transportation and sustainability?  Check out Earth Day Network’s Transportation Sustainability: An Educator’s Guide.  It includes 25 lesson plans, the majority of which are geared towards middle and high school students.  Our own Gretchen Gigley wrote the introduction to this guide and some Clean Air Schools lesson plans have been included in the collection.  

The varied subject matter covered in this guide suggests that a cross-curricular approach is most effective for transportation education.  In addition to science lesson plans, there are materials for health, language arts, social studies, geography, economics, and civics classes.   

Here are a few lesson plan titles to give you a sense of what’s inside the guide:

• The Rise of the Automobile
• An Analysis of the Human Lung
• Major Types of Air Pollution and Their Global Distribution
• Corn: Fuel or Food?
• The Green Teen Driver
• Signed, Sealed, Delivered: A History of the Postal Service

Let us know what you think about the guide and which lesson plans you are working with for your classes!

We created a new calendar for the program to help you align your program with Clean Air Schools activities, national initiatives, and strategic partner events.  You can find it in interactive form on the Champions Forum and as a printed version here.

Schools tell us that starting early in the school year and sending consistent messages about clean air actions in the fall and spring semesters help to create consistent behavior and establish a strong culture of personal responsibility for air quality.

This year’s big events are:

Clean Commute Week - October 24-28

Kick off your education campaign during this first annual event!  Resources coming in September!

Young Lungs at Work Art Competition - details released February 1, deadline April 2

Engage your students’ air quality knowledge, creativity, and competitive spirit!

Air Quality Awareness Week - Late spring, TBD

Celebrate your air pollution and traffic reduction results during Air Quality Awareness Week! 

We’ll also have cool incentives throughout the year.  Our first is a BAIR visit for your school.  Register your school by September 16 for a chance to win!