Contact: Melanie Harper

Tel: (432) 553-7656

Email: mharper@need.org

Teachers can access NEED curriculum online. As resources are available, teacher workshops and hands-on kits are available. Individual state curriculum correlations are available here.

Minshew Elementary School

McKinney, TX

Project Title: Colt Conservation

Project Adviser: Kim King

The Colt Conservation Club is a student created group of fourth and fifth graders who have worked hard this year to make a difference. Our mission is to teach other students and our community about energy and conservation. Our group consists of about twenty students dedicated to helping our Earth and conserving our resources.

We have a Watt Watchers group that checks classrooms during lunch, recess, and specials to encourage and tally the teachers and students who have turned off their lights and smart boards when the classroom is empty. Each month the winner was announced and their picture posted on a bulletin board. We have a Trash Trackers group that picks up trash and recycles papers in our building. We started a Bike Club, where we ride our bikes to school every Friday. We created an Energy Carnival, full of games to teach the different types of energy and how they can be saved. This carnival was presented for our entire community at our annual Science Fair.

Our most exciting event this year was Energy Day! Our members created a day of games, presentations, and lessons to teach K-5 students about energy conservation. A television producer came and interviewed us and recorded our day. This video is on Facebook, YouTube and the McKinney station. We also attended and participated in our city’s mission statement creation of sustainability.

NATIONAL PRIMARY SCHOOL OF THE YEAR

Satori Elementary School

Galveston, TX

Project Title: Energy Satori

Project Adviser: Nina Corley

Our project was to learn about the sources and forms of energy, how energy has been used in the past and present, and about conservation and recycling. So that we could learn how to help make a better future and share the information we have learned. We did this by doing experiments and reading and learning about energy with NEED curriculum. We learned about energy use in the past from senior citizens, Australian pen pals, people from the Japanese consulate, the Water Wise lady, research we have done, and the people at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration turtle facility. We have done energy and water audits of our homes and school and tried to replace energy hogs with more efficient means. We have learned about gardening from senior citizens and helped to grow baby trees to be planted on our island to replace those taken by the hurricane. We also grow food for our class iguana. We have taken the information we have learned and shared it with the other students at our school, pen pals in other countries, done demonstrations at open house, and shared information with the media.

Our Fifth Grade energy buddies invited us to an Energy Carnival. We were excited to show them what we had learned. We know that the little things we do will have a big impact on protecting our environment and saving energy.