Facilities and Grounds Resources

Your school facilities, grounds, and school forest provide excellent educational opportunities if they are designed, managed, and used correctly. This section will help you identify current health, safety and environmental management practices for your buildings and grounds. It will start you thinking about how you can modify these practices to make a safer, healthier learning environment, increase outdoor plant and animal diversity, improve aesthetics, reduce runoff, and manage these resources wisely.

Action and Implementation

Schools qualifying to be a Green & Healthy School must meet the following Green & Healthy School requirements for school site and grounds:

• the school has a plan to improve the environmental quality and educational use of the facilities and grounds,
• school forest is registered with the DNR (if applicable),
• and students use at least one component their school site or nearby natural area for educational purposes.

If your school district has a school forest, you must also meet the following criteria for Desired Green & Healthy School status in this category:

• forest has a management plan approved by the DNR,
• forest has an education plan,
• forest has a manager,
• and the forest is used by classes for educational purposes.

The resources below can provide you with ideas on how to meet these requirements.

Reaching Higher

If you choose to go further after your school becomes a Green & Healthy School, the following resources can also be used to help you meet the Reaching Higher requirements.

Use of School Grounds

Your school grounds can be used as a great tool for teaching students and the community about the environment. Nearby natural areas and nature centers can also be valuable places to learn. The following Web sites contain lessons and ideas on how you can use your school grounds or nearby natural area as an educational tool:

• Earth Partnerships for Schools - Schoolyard Habitat Restoration workshops for teachers [exit DNR]
• Learning through Landscapes [exit DNR]
• Nature in Your Schoolyard [exit DNR]
• Schoolscape [exit DNR]
• School Gardens [exit DNR]
• Milkweed Monitoring [PDF exit DNR]
• The Outdoor Classroom (Elementary and Middle School) [exit DNR]
• Schoolyard Activities [exit DNR]

School Facilities and Grounds Improvement and Maintenance Plan

A plan to improve and maintain your school facilities and grounds will help turn your school facilities and grounds into a valuable educational resource. Planting a prairie, creating an outdoor classroom, creating a rain garden, or putting up bird houses are a few things you can do. Think about how these improvements can assist learning and improve the health, safety, and environmental quality of your school facilities and grounds. Use the following resources to give you some ideas of what you can do at your school.

• Project Wild [exit DNR]
• Rain Gardens
• Resources for Enhancing School Grounds (see page 95) [PDF exit DNR]
• School Grounds Development Guide [exit DNR]
• School Grounds Transformation [exit DNR]
• Wisconsin Plants [exit DNR]

School Forest

A school forest can be a great resource if managed and used properly. If your school district is fortunate enough to have a school forest make sure that you are using it to its fullest potential. The following resources can help you make the most of your school forest.

• School Forest Master Plan - Developing (see page 74) [PDF exit DNR]
• School Forest Master Plan - Starting (see page 59) [PDF exit DNR]
• School Forest Registration Form [exit DNR]