On Earth Day 2015, City of Lakes Waldorf School was named a Green Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. This prestigious award recognizes our school’s continuing commitment to green efforts in three areas; Reducing Environmental Impact and Costs, Effective Environmental Education and Health and Wellness. Here are just a few of the ongoing efforts!
Reducing Environmental Impact & Costs
A Minneapolis Climate Change Grant funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2011, allowed reduction of the collective carbon footprint.
City of Lakes Waldorf School purchases 75% of products from environmentally preferable sources to ensure all school events are waste-free.
We receive regular energy efficiency assessments through the Minnesota Retiree Environmental Technical Assistance Program. HVAC equipment timers, new steam traps, and retrofitted lights all reduce our energy use.
City of Lakes Waldorf School’s 5,000-square-foot rain garden replaced paved surfaces with mixed native plants, increasing diversity while improving soil and air quality.
A concrete slab was transformed into an outdoor classroom for play and learning thanks to a Mississippi Watershed Management grant.
Our school initiated a networking group of elementary school “green” representatives.
City of Lakes Waldorf School offers green resource kits to families, featuring energy saving meters, heat sensors, and weatherizing tools.
A Hennepin County Waste Abatement grant enhances our onsite composting program and supports our environmentally preferable purchasing policy
Continuing partnerships with nonprofits like St Stephen’s Human Services and PRISM via clothing and food donations.
Effective Environmental Education
City of Lakes Waldorf School’s mission emphasizes developing whole, balanced human beings who value and understand their interdependence with all life. Our philosophy is that a child’s relationship to nature is cultivated through direct experience in the natural world. The school’s curriculum provides students with ample opportunities to be nourished by the natural world, even within an urban setting.
2013 Minnesota Independent School Forum STEM grant enhanced City of Lakes Waldorf School’s science program. Equipment purchases and teacher training further strengthened the school’s phenomenological approach to science.
in 2013, City of Lakes Waldorf School hired an architectural firm to redesign the quarter-acre outdoor space. These plans are being considered in concert with an internal building redesign which will involve a future capital campaign. The outdoor redesign includes more natural play spaces and equipment, a gardening program, environmental education, outdoor cooking and community use. This highly visible project will inspire and promote development of new green spaces throughout the Twin Cities.
In 2014, City of Lakes Waldorf School hired a biodynamic gardener to develop its gardening program, including plans for a greenhouse and raised-bed vegetable gardens using permaculture principles.
In concert with waste reduction efforts, third grade students began a vermiculture program.
Fifth grade students study botany in the school’s rain garden.
The early childhood outdoor classroom offers hands-on environmental learning.
Overnight wilderness trips are an important part of the middle school curriculum.
Health and Wellness
A cornerstone of our curriculum is outdoor time; students experience up to two hours of outdoor time daily.
Our school promotes “Alternative Ways to School Week”, resulting in 1,200 car trips not taken over three weeks.
Our school partners with the Wedge Co-op to provide nutritious, organic foods via a catered hot lunch program for students and staff. In its third year, this program has expanded to include catering for school and parent education meetings.