Charter Schools

What is a charter school?

A charter school is a public school that is organized by a group of teachers, community members, or parents and is sponsored by an existing public school board. Charter schools are different from other public schools in important ways. The charter school has control over its curriculum, management of the school, and the budget. Funding for charter schools is provided through state and local revenues.

Curriculum & Academic Standards

What is the curriculum at the Green School?

The Green School offers an innovative curriculum that integrates project-based learning with balanced literacy (the workshop approach to reading and writing). We follow an educational approach called “using the Environment as an Integrating Context (EIC) for learning.” EIC uses the school’s surroundings and community as the context for reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. This approach integrates learning from textbooks, problem-solving opportunities, and hands-on experiences. (For more information on EIC, visit the State Education and Environment Roundtable at www.seer.org.)

Students will be involved in projects that incorporate Maryland State standards and require them to apply skills learned in all subject areas. Projects include: creating rain gardens; planning and growing an edible, organic garden; developing a recycling program; and creating a tree nursery. For example, as second graders create rain gardens, they read diagrams, maps, and gardening books; they calculate prices for plants to purchase; and they measure and map sites.

Our curriculum is built upon the standards included in the Maryland Voluntary Curriculum, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards, and the New Standards for Literacy. As we developed the curricular overview and the essential question for each grade, we were guided by these standards and have aligned our projects with them accordingly.

Does the school provide instruction in art? Music? Foreign language? Physical Education?

Green School students have Physical Education daily and art class once a week.

Do the Green School students take the same standardized tests as students in traditional public schools?

Yes. Students in 1st and 2nd grade take the Standford 10 assessment, and students in grades grades 3 – 5 will take the Maryland School Assessment (MSA) as mandated by the state of Maryland. In addition to these state mandated assessments, we will administer the Development Reading Assessment at the beginning and end of each school year. We expect our students to show at least one year’s growth in Reading as measured by the DRA.

Do computers play a role in the curriculum?

Students will have some access to computers for publishing written work, but our educational program is not dependent on computers.

How big are the classes? What is the student-to-teacher ratio?

Each class will have one teacher and approximately 22 students. There is a teacher’s aide in the kindergarten class.

Facility

Where is the school located?

The school recently moved to a beautiful new home in the former Shrine of the Little Flower Catholic School for the 2008-2009 school year. This newly renovated building in the neighborhood of Belair-Edison will be the school’s permanent home.

Is there a cafeteria?

We have designed our Dining Room so that it is a place where children enjoy a healthful meal in a relaxed atmosphere that is similar to a family meal at home. We have been able to achieve this by treating our Dining Room as the Wellness Coordinator’s classroom – the place where she follows up on the teaching and learning from the food-related Science Friday lessons, helps children choose foods to keep their bodies healthy, and teaches our students how to have good conversations with each other. The Dining Room is also place where we hold our weekly Tasty Tuesday Activities - Each Tuesday, our Wellness Coordinator introduces a new seasonal fruit or vegetable to the students’ palates. In a brief lesson, she teaches about the origin of the fruit or vegetable, where and when it grows, how it grows, and its cultural significance. Then each class has the opportunity to taste the new fruit or vegetable in the dining room and talk about the flavor. In this way, we expose our students to a wide range of whole foods, increase the number of fresh fruits and vegetables our students eat, and provide the seeds to grow these foods in gardens at home.

What about security on site?

We have an extensive security system that includes cameras around the property and a buzzer at the front door. All visitors have to be buzzed in to enter the school.

Programs

Does the school provide before-care and after-care?

We have contracted with Fitness, Fun, & Games to provide before-care and aftercare.

Does the school offer free lunch to those who qualify?

Yes. The school offers free breakfast and lunch to those who qualify.

Enrollment

Is there any tuition, or other fees?

No. The Green School of Baltimore is a public school.

What is the zone for the school?

Any resident of Baltimore City is eligible for enrollment. The school system will not be providing transportation, so families will need to provide their own transportation to the school.

How do I get on the mailing list?

Send an e-mail stating your name and address to expenvedu@aol.com or call 410-485-2102.