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The Office of Sustainability Schools Program is grateful for all the new and ongoing partnerships you’ve invited us into this year. We’re looking forward to working with you to keep expanding environmental education literacy and sustainability best practices at schools in the new year and beyond. Warmest wishes for your winter break!
All our best,
The Schools Program Team
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From left to right:
Gerald Schwartz, Collette Sanchez, Kamille Lang, Esme Cabrera
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Free Resources from the OOS Schools Program
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The Office of Sustainability Schools Program offers a variety of services and resources for school administrators, teachers, and facilities staff to support in reducing waste on campus and to inspire young people to take action at home.
Our free educational offerings include:
- Assistance with developing a unit plan of study in resource conservation, the 4R's (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot-Compost), and zero waste
- 5E resource conservation and waste reduction lesson plans with step by step instructions and student activity sheets aligned to Next Generation Science Standards
- Student-facing activities with accompanying video clips such as making a tote bag from old T-shirts
- Online interactive and take-home 4R's Unit Games
- Assistance with becoming a certified Green Star School classroom based on the actions that students can take home
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Games and competitions are a fun and engaging way to teach students in all grade levels about reducing waste and conserving resources. This semester, we at the Office of Sustainability took advantage of this method by facilitating a virtual waste reduction Jeopardy Game and an outdoor waste sorting relay with one of the local waste haulers, South San Francisco Scavenger. During these interactive activities, classes competed against one another. As a result, students enjoyed the competition and learned about the importance of sorting waste into the correct bins (recycling, composting, and landfill) on campus and at home.
Don't wait until spring to schedule one of these activities, but do it now to ensure your class or school has it booked. Contact us at sustainability@smcgov.org.
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The Office of Sustainability’s Surplus Property Program aims to find ways to beneficially reuse surplus equipment from the County of San Mateo departments such as furniture, office supplies, and much more. Retired property is posted online for auction on GovDeals. Unlike the general public, school administrators and teachers can request items free of charge. This can be done before the auction of an item ends by following these steps:
- Visit www.govdeals.com/SanMateoCounty to see the listings of all available surplus property. Register for a bidder account if you have not done so already.
- Email OOS_surplus@smcgov.org with a link to the requested item. State the school or school district that you are from, and your GovDeals username.
- The Surplus Property Program will pull the item from the auction, and provide pickup instructions. You are responsible for the removal, packing, loading, and transportation of the item.
Need an item but don’t see it on GovDeals? Email OOS_surplus@smcgov.org with the requested items and quantity. You will be contacted in the requested item becomes available.
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The County of San Mateo’s Youth Exploring Sea Level Rise Science (YESS) program provides sea level rise educational programming to high schools across San Mateo County. The program empowers students to explore why sea level rise is happening, what and who will be impacted, and how individual actions can tackle climate change to protect our communities. Due to current COVID-19 restrictions, the YESS program will continue to be offered as a virtual format.
The YESS Remote Learning Program is now accepting bookings from San Mateo County high school teachers for this upcoming 2022 school year. For access to the YESS Program Remote Learning Curriculum and technical support to integrate this curriculum in your classroom: Contact Kamille Lang at klang1@smcgov.org to schedule.
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Through the Youth Climate Ambassador program, 53 high school students in the 2021 cohort identified environmental and social justice issues in their community in order to design and implement Community Impact Projects. Students assessed several different aspects of their community, with waste being one of the most popular topic areas students were ready to take action on. Several student groups looked closer at waste infrastructure, helped to restore local habitats, built community gardens and taught waste education programs at elementary schools, and hosted a school district-wide clothing swap. Find inspiration for projects that students can lead at your campus by exploring their final projects on the YCA webpage.
As this cohort graduates from this program and continues their climate action journey, please join us in congratulating the work of this cohort!
If you would like to learn more about the YCA program and how your students can get involved, please email Kamille Lang at klang1@smcgov.org.
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About the OOS Schools Program
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The Office of Sustainability Schools Program provides a diverse array of Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core aligned curricula tailored to teachers', schools', and districts' goals, aimed at students taking action to reduce waste, conserve resources, and protect the environment. To learn more about the Office of Sustainability Schools Program visit: www.smcsustainability.org/waste-reduction/education-schools/.
For questions and comments, please email us: sustainability@smcgov.org.
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