Hinterland Who's Who

If you were a child of the seventies or eighties, you no doubt remember the Hinterland Who's Who public service announcements. As soon as you hear the flute and the lulling voice of the narrator, it will all come back. Hinterland Who's Who have revamped their look and they have a terrific new site that is filled with information about land conservation and protecting endangered species. The site is linked to the right. Have a look and let your child learn more about environmental stewardship.

Artsjunktion-junktion What's Your Function?

Goodies from my most recent run to Artsjunktion. Find out what this is all about below...

Ecologically-minded teachers in the TDSB should take advantage of Artsjunktion if looking for odds and ends for Art, Science, and many other areas of study. Below, please find the blurb about Artsjunktion posted on the TDSB website. Following that, find some pictures of items I received for free at Artsjunktion last school year. I'll be back for more great stuff.

ARTSJUNKTION

ARTSJUNKTION is a depot for receiving and distributing donated materials and supplies to be used in educational and creative programs within the TDSB: in classroom, artistic in-school creations, curriculum projects, Board parenting centers, concurrent and afterschool programs. ARTSJUNKTION solicits and collects materials from hundreds of companies and individuals in the Toronto and surrounding areas through our efforts and through our association with several waste recycling network organizations. These materials are available for pick up at ARTSJUNKTION at no cost to TDSB staff. These free materials must be used to enrich and support curriculum for TDSB students. Visitors will be asked to sign in with their employee information.

Available Items All kinds of scrap materials absolutely FREE....wallpapers, plastics, mural paper, cloth, yarn, binders...you name it! ARTSJUNKTION stock changes constantly but usually includes: - binders - paper circles, strips and offcuts - letter and legal hanging folders - single wallpaper rolls and wallpaper books - envelopes - assorted fun fur pieces - nylon flag material - interior design samples - cardboard tubes (various dimensions) - film tubes and reels - buckets - cardboard and plastic thread cones - upholstery samples, scrap fabric - matboard - foamcore and gatorboard offcuts - empty boxes - metal and plastic lids - wood pieces - foam circles and gaskets - Styrofoam packing blocks This is NOT a depot for furniture. It is a depot for creative materials for use in elementary and secondary classrooms, such as Visual Arts programs, in the TDSB.

Location and Hours of Operation ARTSJUNKTION is located within Ossington / Old Orchard Junior School 380 Ossington Avenue (Just south of College. The entrance is at the rear of the North parking lot. Walk down the truck ramp to double doors) Tuesdays and Thursdays - 10:30 to 1:30 and 2:30 to 5:30 Contact Eileen Orr: 416-393-0894 eileen.orr@tel.tdsb.on.ca TDSB staff are welcome to pick up materials during operating hours. Companies or individuals interested in donating materials should contact Eileen Orr to make arrangements for drop off or pick up of items. Materials must be suitable for use with children (i.e. non-toxic).

Does this film reel bring back memories? In Media Literacy, we've been talking about film and the word "sprockets" came up. As luck would have it, I just so happened to have the overhead projector on and I pulled out this movie reel I got at Artsjuncktion. The children had never seen anything like it before. I used some of this to make a hallway sign, but I still have hundreds of meters left. Without a doubt it will get used in Science or Art down the road.

Fabric, string, shelf paper and a whole lot more. All free.

On the day I was there, I found a stack of these old advertisement transparencies. Cool.
Pink pearls by the truckload. I also found a barrel of corks, so I loaded up. It would take months to collect that many corks.

Reusing Paper

On any given week, you'll find a monster pile of paper by the printer in the library. The sad thing is that these sheets have print on one side and nothing on the back. Students and staff make mistakes when printing a job and sometimes we just don't check to see if there is a more efficient way of printing what we need without having the printer spit out sheets of unwanted paper. What to do?

Mr. Knierim has been on a mission to educate staff and students about using the printer more responsibly. The Green Team is jumping on that wagon and we will be starting a series of public service announcements soon.

Ginnie from the School Council had the fantastic idea of turning the unwanted paper into notepads for staff and students. Today, the Primary Green Team got cracking.

Mme. Trott and some wonderful Grade 1 students began attacking the paper pile during morning recess. Those little hands were busy cutting sheets of paper into quarters. Great to have a Green Team meeting in French. Merci!

Coming soon - hand-crafted notepads!

Thanks again to our intrepid Juniors for making quick work of the recycling disposal. Hurrah!

Don't Throw That Out!

I'm starting to think that you can teach everything with a 2-L pop bottle. In September, we made made pop bottle wind spinners. Last week students constructed models of the respiratory system using these bottles (along with balloons, straws, clay, and repurposed plastic bags). Cold, refreshing, and bursting with scientific discoveries.

Is your class using junk creatively? Have you made any cool crafts at home using trash? Let me know and I'll share your story.

E. Hawkins

Green Team is Rocking

This year, Clairlea will be running Primary and Junior/Intermediate Green Teams. I hope that we can get the kindergarten children involved in the near future as well.

The school has learned that we now need to be disposing the contents of our classroom recycling bins directly into the large recycling dumpster at the back of the school. Today, the Junior Green Team got busy during morning recess and with teacher/janitorial support went around to every room in the school that has a recycling bin and emptied them. This will be a weekly routine. I'm thinking that perhaps Primary Green Team students can partner with the Juniors to check the garbage cans in each room to ensure that recyclables are not ending up in the trash. We'll keep you posted.

Nice work team. Your hard work and enthusiasm is appreciated.

Next item on the agenda - taming the big, paper monster!

E. Hawkins

Breaking New Ground

Last week, a group of vigorous volunteers helped Mrs. Kumagawa create what will become a bed of purple and white crocuses at the front of the school. The best part is that the bulbs have been arranged in the shape of the letter 'C.' How cool is that? We can't wait to see the results come April. Thanks to everyone for pitching in at lunch time.

From Junk to Jewels

I recently discovered the work of Kathy Thompson. She is a mixed-media artist who creates these incredible shadow boxes she calls Hboxes (History Boxes). They remind me of the surrealist boxes of Joseph Cornell. If you have old junk piled up in your home, why not let your child repurpose it and create their own Hbox? You could even use clementine crates, or salad containers to box the art. Here's Thompson's website if you are interested in finding out more http://hboxes.com/

Best,

E. Hawkins

School Greening Committee Meeting

This past Friday (Nov. 6th), the Clairlea Greening Committee had its first meeting to discuss greening initiatives for the school grounds. Mrs. Brathwaite led the discussion using slides featuring the front of our school as well as pictures from Jackman P.S., which has had several successful greening projects on the go for over a decade.

On the screen you'll see a photo of the front of Clairlea. Although this space faces the staff parking lot, there is plenty of greening potential. Several trees remain, but the space is in need of some tough native plants that do well in tough places.

More to come...

E. Hawkins

Green Scene

Here is the current glass display case welcoming people to our school. The display is being used to let people know that we're now an EcoSchool and to also remind families about the need to pack a litterless lunch. Soon, our Green Team will be coming around to classrooms to check garbage cans, recycling bins, and to see if lights are left on when not needed. Please help us by sending your child's lunch in a reusable container and sending in a reusable water bottle. The little disposable water bottles add up in our blue bins.

Thanks a lot!

Here's a catchy little ditty about the Three Rs. It takes a few seconds to start up, but it's worth the wait. Enjoy!