Hard Bargain Farm Outreach
Schoolyard Classroom Project Partner Schools

AFF’s Climbing the Environmental Education Ladder program is a three-tiered approach to scaffold and cultivate sustainable environmental education within local schools.

Teachers at each of the following schools use their schoolyard instructionally. Additionally, each school has something unique that sets it apart from others. Read on!

Patuxent Elementary School
Patuxent is in Prince George’s County, Maryland. This school is a Maryland Green School, and is profiled in greater detail in AFF’s Model Environmental School section of the Website. They continue to participate in our Summer Environmental Science Teacher Institutes each year, both by sending new teachers to participate and by being special guests to present to teachers their process to become a Maryland Green School, the benefits of environmental education to their student body, and where they are going from here. They are profiled in PBS’s Growing Greener Schools series.

Rosaryville Elementary School
Rosaryville is in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Staff members at this school have attended AFF’s Environmental Science Teacher Institute. This school planted a special garden in their courtyard with native plants. AFF worked closely with teachers, administration, and maintenance staff to beautify this outdoor learning space. For more, please see the Rosaryville Elementary website.

Accokeek Academy
Henry G. Ferguson Elementary School, now a part of Accokeek Academy, is in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Staff members at this school have participated in AFF’s Teacher Institutes as well as attended the annual Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education’s (MAEOE) Conference. They have quarterly integrated science days wherein science is taught throughout the school day in each subject area. They also hold large-scale annual Earth Day celebrations during which their schoolyard is beautified with cleanups and plantings, older students lead younger peers on nature walks, competitions are held for best nature rap, and much, much more! For more, please see the Accokeek Academy website.

César Chávez Elementary School
César Chávez is in Prince George’s County, Maryland. It is a bilingual school – the majority of students are bilingual, all staff members are bilingual, and a small portion of each school day is instructed in Spanish. A teacher has attended AFF’s Environmental Science Teacher Institute as well as Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education’s (MAEOE) Annual Conference. This school has a large schoolyard garden with two separate outdoor learning spaces that were installed with a $10,000 EarthDay Network grant. They have also received a $1000 water conservation grant through the National Environmental Education Foundation’s EE Week Mini-grant program and HSBC (César Chávez ES Garden Gets $1000 Grant). Teachers regularly use the garden throughout the school year to meet state standards across the curriculum. The garden has made students feel proud of their school, and they look forward to each new school day. In fact, for SY 2009-2010, they made the most gains in the county for the reading MSA scores and the fifth highest gains in the county for the math MSA! For more, please see the César Chávez Elementary website.

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Gale-Bailey Elementary School
Gale-Bailey Elementary School is in Charles County, Maryland. A team of teachers at GB have attended AFF’s Environmental Science Teacher Institute. As a result of this training, more and more teachers are incorporating environmental education into their curricula. A team also attended Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education’s (MAEOE) Annual Conference. This school has a beautiful trail on its schoolyard, running through a stand of woods and down to a creek. Student and parent volunteers help maintain the trail each year, and teachers bring their students to the woods regularly for instruction. Gale-Bailey also has a thriving Green Club, led by an energetic member of the staff. Since partnering with AFF and increasing student and teacher awareness of their environment and stewardship, interest in the club so high that they have to put some students on a waiting list! The Green Club conducts fundraisers by selling eco-friendly products from reusable sandwich/snack bags to decorated rain barrels. They have attended AFF’s Potomac River Watershed Cleanup and AFF’s Trash Summit. They have conducted schoolyard cleanups and other service projects. They do weekly announcements to the school. Also, they have taught their peers how to properly recycle in the lunchroom. For more, please see the Gale-Bailey Elementary website.

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Watkins Elementary School
Watkins is part of the Capital Hill Cluster School in Washington, DC. Multiple teachers, staff, and parents from this school have attended AFF’s Summer Environmental Science Teacher Institutes. One teacher has also attended Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education’s (MAEOE) annual Conference. They have 20 themed school gardens, including an edible garden, wetland garden, and wildlife habitat garden. Teachers use these gardens instructionally, and through a partnership with Fresh Farm Markets, they participate in Food Prints in which their 1st and 3rd graders plant, harvest and cook vegetables from their edible garden. They have received outside grants as well, including funds from the Capital Hill Community Foundation to help students go on field studies related to watershed education. For more, please see the Watkins Elementary website.

Harriet Tubman Elementary School
Tubman is in Washington, DC. Many students at Tubman are bilingual. Teachers at this school previously participated in the Watershed Wise, DC partnership with AFF, run through the District Department of the Environment. They have also participated in overnight canoe trips at AFF, funded through DDOE. This school has an edible garden as well as a beautiful courtyard. For more, please see the Harriet Tubman website.

Myrtilla Miner Elementary School
Miner is in Washington, DC. Teachers at this school previously participated in the Watershed Wise, DC partnership with AFF, run through the District Department of the Environment. One teacher has also attended AFF’s Environmental Science Teacher Institute. This school has a teacher-friendly outdoor classroom, complete with amphitheater-style seating. For more, please see the Myrtilla Miner Elementary website .

Center City Public Charter School, Petworth Campus
Center City is in Washington, DC. A teacher at this school previously participated in the Watershed Wise, DC partnership with AFF, run through the District Department of the Environment. She also partnered with scientist volunteers through ReSET to do watershed education with her students. Located on an urban block with little green space, teachers have to think ‘outside the box’ about how to utilize their schoolyard instructionally. For more, please see the Center City Public Charter School website.

Anne Beers Elementary School
Beers is a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Catalyst School in Washington, D.C. Teachers at this school previously participated in the Watershed Wise, DC partnership with AFF, run through the District Department of the Environment (DDOE). One of their four themes is Environmental Science, and classes at each grade level complete environmentally-themed projects. They have trees and gardens planted around their schoolyard. They partner with many other organizations to provide their teachers with environmental professional development and their students with environmental field experiences. For more, please see the Anne Beers Elementary website.

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Bruce Monroe at Parkview Elementary School
Bruce Monroe is in Washington, D.C. It has a high population of Hispanic students. Teachers at this school previously participated in the Watershed Wise, DC partnership with AFF, run through the District Department of the Environment. They have also participated in overnight canoe trips at AFF, funded through DDOE. For more, please see the Bruce Monroe at Parkview Elementary website.