By Ms. Amanda Rogers
On Friday January 17, we had some exciting visitors to Langley Elementary school! I have partnered with DCSEU to have my students get involved with an energy saving imitative and making Langley a greener school! There is a program going on next month called Sprint to Savings which will help Washington DC schools reduce their utility bills. This not only helps save money for tax payers by reducing the building's utility costs, but it also helps reduce our need for energy, which in the end is wonderful for our environment!
Staff memebers from DCSEU arrived at Langley early in the morning and stayed all day! We began our Friday with the Art Club, creating posters that advertised awareness for "going green". The students intereacted with DCSEU in an open discussion manner about how to save energy and why it is important. The most visual and exciting part of the day was when the students learned about different light blubs and energy costs. DCSEU brought in a special box with two light bulbs on it, one regular and one compact CFL bulb. Attached to the bulbs was a meter which calculated the energy use of each bulb. The students could see when the regular light bulb was switched on that the meter was running much faster (costing more money and energy) than the compact CLF bulb, which moved the meter much slower.
The students also learned about "vampire energy" which occurs when we leave our appliances plugged in when they are not in use. They made the connection right away with their game system chargers and cell phone chargers. At the end of the day it was safe to say that the students better understood why we need to unplug electronics when they are not in use as well as turn off lights when we are not using them. (FYI-the Langley art room never, almost never, turns on the over head lights because of the wonderful natural light we have!)
Pictured here are my 4 year old students coloring a sticker for a light switch plate. These stickers will also help students remember to turn off lights at home too!
If Langley can reduce their energy costs by 5% from Feb. 10th to the 28th we will win $5,000 for the school! It is an exciting opportunity for the students and staff to become more involved in helping their building as well as better the environment! Students have promised to turn off lights, close windows and doors, turn off computers at the end of the day, and watch out for "vampire energy". I can not wait for the contest to begin!
Check out DCSEU's Twitter and Instagram for great photos of the students art work and moments from the day. They even caught me teaching!
This blog post originally appeared on Northeast City Art. Northeast City Art is a blog that showcases the talents of young artists at Langley Elementary School in Northeast Washington, DC. For more on this article, please visit: http://northeastcityart.blogspot.com/2014/01/learning-about-saving-energy-with-dcseu.html