Sonoma Mountain Elementary has brought the innovative global warming program, Cool the Earth, to their school.

With its collective-action approach, Cool the Earth educates student and their families about global warming and inspires them to take simple, energy-saving action at home to reduce their carbon emissions.

All of this is brought to the children in an age-appropriate and fun-filled manner. Most elements of the program include at-home activities and many of them require parent involvement – it’s a great chance for the family to learn together.

A few key program elements have included a kick-off assembly performed by teachers, parents and students, plus action coupons and incentives. An Action Coupon booklet was given to every student. These coupons contain simple energy-saving tips – easy steps families can take to help fight global warming. Coupons show how many pounds of carbon are reduced by each action taken. Once a student and their family has taken an action listed on a coupon, they turn in the coupon and a special raffle takes place every Friday to help keep students motivated to take action. The number of actions taken is tallied monthly and posted in the school lunchroom so that everyone can see the school’s progress towards their goal.

A team of students, teachers and parent volunteers run the program. In addition to the kids learning about solutions to global warming, they are also learning about responsibility, citizenship and caring – values our students will carry with them for life!

Kudos to Suzanne Martin, Principal at Sonoma Mountain and Kerry Romstad, parent volunteer, for initiating and organizing this wonderful program!