Spring into learning with KEEP resources! | |
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January is a great time to plan out your spring kit schedule! Reserve early, as we schedule reservations on a “first reserved first served” basis and many of our kits get booked up fast, especially around Earth Day in April. Don’t forget that all of our kits can be reserved up to a year in advance, so if any of your lessons this past fall were enhanced by a kit – or could have been enhanced by a kit if only it was available for the days you needed it - you can put those reservations in now, too!
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KEEP also offers many energy lessons and professional development opportunities that support student learning. Take a look at all of KEEP’s resources to determine what will make the biggest impact in your classroom.
And don't forget that KEEP staff are flexible, creative, caring and enthusiastic real people in your state you can reach out to with questions, ideas, and feedback. Our outreach educators have experience as classroom educators and understand the needs and challenges educators face.
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Congratulations Fall 2024 Renew Our Schools Winner! | |
Lourdes Academy, in Oshkosh, won the Renew Our Schools energy conservation competition for the fall semester of 2024. Educator Becky Piechowski and the Knight Savers, a team of third grade students, represented the school. | |
“The Renew Our Schools energy competition is a great way to raise awareness and foster responsibility about energy efficiency," said Piechowski. "The guided activities are interactive and fun so that students feel empowered to take charge of their own energy saving efforts.” | |
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DEADLINE EXTENDED: Sign up for Renew our Schools Spring Competition by January 27, 2025
Sign up now for Renew Our Schools 6-week spring competition where students use their own school building as an energy education tool.
KEEP, Focus on Energy and Resource Central partner to offer the competition to Wisconsin K-12 public and private schools.
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Some of the School Energy Actions (SEAs) students completed during the 6-week competition include conducting an energy audit of their building using light meters, watt meters, and infrared thermometers; taking an energy field trip; communicating their energy saving strategies through school-wide posters and announcements; and creating and presenting a school energy policy to the school at large. | |
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Lourdes students completed all 34 SEAs in the competition, enabling them to uncover ways to conserve energy in their school building. The savings were quantified by an electricity datalogger installed on the school’s utility meter. By seeing real time energy consumption of their building, everyone from students to facility managers were able to get better insights on energy management.
KEEP is proud of the work of Lourdes Academy and everyone who participated in Renew Our Schools.
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Congratulations Green Team Mini-Grant Fall Awardees! | |
These students have developed projects to reduce their schools’ carbon footprints and educate their schools and communities about renewable energy and energy conservation. Teams will carry out their projects over the next few months and report back to KEEP at the end of the school year about what they’ve accomplished. | |
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Curious about the Mini-Grant program? Attend an info session February 3 or 6 then invite your students to submit an Info Form for the spring rounds of Mini-Grants by February 14.
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Mauston High School KidWind Team Sigma | |
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"Mauston High School KidWind is proposing a project to develop a wind turbine that will be successful at the 2025 World KidWind Challenge. Following this, we plan to combine our accomplishments and knowledge to change the minds of people at Mauston to understand the necessity of renewable energy, specifically wind. By sending weekly school announcements and monthly district messages and presenting them to the school board, Mauston will become a place that wants to fund projects and educate students on renewable energy."
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Brookfield Central High School Environmental Club | |
"We aim to continue our composting program at Brookfield Central High School for the second year, in partnership with Compost Crusaders, a local sustainability leader. Our goal is to establish dedicated composting stations/bins in the cafeteria to significantly reduce school waste and minimize our contribution to local landfills, thereby decreasing harmful methane emissions and protecting our atmosphere."
| St. Thomas Aquinas Academy Renewables | |
"We are a class of Juniors in the Intro to Renewable Energy & Sustainability class at St. Thomas Aquinas Academy. Our school is over 100 years old and has a radiator heating system. Some of the rooms are very hot or very cold in the winter. Our plan is to get thermostats for 15 of our classrooms. Our school maintenance man is willing to install them. We would like to do this to make our classmates more comfortable and save our school money. We will be looking at the money savings and energy savings."
| Sheboygan South High School Renewable Redwings | |
"Renewable Redwings plans to install smart surge protectors on smart boards eliminating wasted phantom power when not in use. Phantom power is energy used during stand-by mode. By closing the laptop, this power is immediately cut off; saving energy and money, & reducing the carbon footprint by cutting power use during non-student contact times. Each device will result in a potential savings of 896 kWh, 744 lbs of CO2, & $144. Or a total savings of 13,440 kWh, 11,160 lbs of CO2, or $2,167.87."
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Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities | |
DEADLINE ALERT: Sign up by January 15 for KidWind 2025! | |
The KidWind Challenge returns on Saturday, March 1, 2025. Student teams bring small-scale wind turbines or solar devices that they've designed to the Challenge where they are tested for power output. Teams also meet with a panel of expert judges to present their design process and demonstrate their contextual knowledge and tackle instant challenge activities.
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DEADLINE ALERT: WAEE Award Nominations close January 31 | |
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Know an outstanding educator, administrator, student, student group, eco-justice advocate, WAEE member, or leader in environmental education? Nominate them or yourself for a 2025 WAEE Award! Nominations will be accepted until January 31.
And save the date for the Celebration of Excellence in Environmental Education Awards Event which will be in-person Saturday, May 3, at the state's first net zero school, Forest Edge Elementary School in Fitchburg.
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The KEEP program is funded with generous support by Alliant Energy, Madison Gas and Electric, We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service, WPPI Energy, and Xcel Energy. | | | | |
