Montessori School of Northern Virginia

Maria Montessori believed that nature should be an inspiration for learning. MSNV has always included nature in the curriculum-the students recycle, compost, and participate in nature studies ranging from indoor research and observation to outdoor gardening and nature hikes. Because being respectful of the earth and providing a healthy learning environment for our students go hand in hand, MSNV faculty and staff also observe these and other green practices.

MSNVs Co-op Committee spearheads the schools energy conservation and environmental initiatives. The committees efforts fall into three main categories:

Waste reduction Energy conservation Environmental stewardship

WASTE REDUCTION

MSNV has taken numerous steps to cut down on the waste that comes in and out of the building, including:

Waste-Free Lunch. In addition to encouraging healthy, lifelong eating habits, we teach our students to help preserve the planet by recycling, composting, and packing no waste lunches. Our lunch guidelines recommend a reusable lunch box, reusable food containers and flatware, and cloth napkins.

Recycling and reusing materials. Students reuse materials whenever possible and every classroom has recycling bins for paper and plastic/glass.

Often before purchasing new items, we search for used ones that would meet our needs.

Going electronic. The weekly newsletter is now emailed to families, surveys are conducted online, and most communication between the school and parents is via email.

Eliminating disposables. Children use washable plates, utensils and glassware instead of paper or plastic for their daily snack. Parents are encouraged to bring class snacks to school in reusable bags; many classrooms have a dedicated snack bag that gets sent home to the weekly snack family.

School-wide functions often use recycled paper and biodegradable bagasse plates, as well as corn-based cutlery and cups, which are readily composted in the landfill.

Our elementary students surveyed the daily trash and realized that paper towels take up more space in our trash cans than any other single element. Our Primary and Elementary classrooms participate in the Reusable Towel Program, in which each student is given a hand towel to use for the day. Based on success in the classrooms, MSNV staff use small towels in their bathrooms as well.

Due to these combined efforts, we noticed our regular dumpster is less than half full at the end of the week. We changed from a 4 cubic yard to a 2 cubic yard dumpster which in addition to helping out the planet also reduced our costs.