As Heard Monday Morning

The Stuff Diet

Vintage glass from the thrift store - good.

Crazy over-packaged stuff you don't really need - bad.

In today's Toronto Star, Catherine Porter wrote about "The Stuff Diet" which basically involves not buying anything other than essential items (such as food and health-related items) for three months. I'm going to try it out and see if I can do it. Apparently, you can still go to thrift stores since you are helping to keep objects from the landfill. This means I can thrift for vintage household treasures without breaking this three month promise. Can I do it?

Stay tuned.

E. Hawkins

Here's a link to Catherine's column: http://www.thestar.com/living/shopping/article/749469--porter-why-i-ve-sworn-off-shopping-for-three-months

Busted on the Job

Megan R. from the Green Team wrote the comments on this post. Great job.

This Green Team member is telling the teachers that they didn't turn off their lights!

Another Green Team member writing a "not good" letter for teachers!

YOU REMBERED!

OOPS!

These door hangers go on teachers' door handles to tell whether teachers did turn off their lights or if they did not. The Green Team is hoping that if we continue to put these on the doors, the teachers will start turning off the lights when they are not needed. Example if your blinds are open you can turn you lights off to save enegry! Or if the teachers are in the staff room they should turn off the lights to save lots of energry for the school!

I hope that the teachers do try to save energy for the school!

By Megan

Saving Paper at Staff Meetings

Just think of all the paper we'll be saving!

Clairlea is becoming more eco-minded by the minute. During today's staff meeting, Ms. Persaud initiated "reduced paper" meetings. In the past, staff members were given a hard copy of the agenda. From this month on, the agenda will be posted on one piece of chart paper, the back of which will be used for next month's agenda. This will save approximately 180 sheets of paper from now until June, plus we save on additional energy and toner used for the photocopier. Every little bit helps.

Good going!

The Outdoor Classroom

The Grade 5s in Room 204 are learning about Energy Conservation right now. We decided it would be interesting to observe visible pollution on the school grounds by taking samples of snow. Students formed hypotheses as to the areas of the school that would be most polluted. Then the field research began...

Back of the school where school buses pull in. Do these buses idle? We'll find out.

An intrepid scientist making notes.

Students quickly found patches of grey slush on the new snow.

Polluted Slurpee

In class we talked about the factories and high traffic volume in the surrounding area. Here, we see a big rig zipping along Victoria Park.
Aaah: Fresh, clean snow on the basketball court. At least it looks clean.
Back in the classroom, students looked at their samples and discussed their findings. The snow samples were moved into coffee filters where the residue will be examined with magnifying glasses. Results to follow.

Classroom sink/lab. We'll have it cleaned!

50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth

This is a great gift idea for the environmentally-minded child in your life. I recently borrowed The New 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth from the library and am now inspired to go out and buy a copy. This book is packed with ideas and activities to encourage stewardship. As a teacher, there are several projects that would easily translate into lesson plans. Visit their web site at http://www.50simplekids.com To check out some cool eco craft books I also borrowed from the library, check out my thrifty/eco teacher blog The Foolscap Flyer. I'll add it to the links to the right, or you can click here http://erin-thefoolscapflyer.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by,

E. Hawkins

Save Those Christmas Cards

Here's a crafty way to repurpose those pretty Christmas cards. Cut up details from your old cards. Punch a hole in the corner and voila - instant gift cards. Of course, this requires time and the ability to remember where you put them the following year. That reminds me, I have to go hunting for our Christmas stockings in the basement today. Phone the police if you don't hear back from me.

This idea was taken from http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/paper_crafts

Speaking of paper art, here's possibly one of the most artistic short films I've ever seen. This clip was put out by the New Zealand Book Council as a way to show how books come to life. Have a look. You'll want to watch it over and over. Enter NZ Book Council in the search engine of YouTube if you want to enlarge the picture. There are so many things you can do with old books that nobody wants anymore. I'll try to post some attainable project ideas down the road.