Green Moments 2012

Above and below: Grade 1 & 2 students from Ms. Hawkins' class learn about groundwater, the ancient art of water dowsing, and participate in a water walk after learning about the dangers and hard work involved in obtaining well water for some women in African countries. 

Above and below: Scenes from Clairlea's 2012 Earth Hour Day including Ms. Moledina's naturally lit classroom, a dusky hallway and one of three photocopiers shut off for the entire day. Classrooms kept lights and computers off all day, not just for an hour. Bravo!

Above: Students from several classrooms cleaned up the school yard on Earth Hour Day. Hurrah! Below, Grade 1 & 2 students from Room 108 plant seeds and write promise letters to Mother Nature on Earth Hour Day. 

Mme Paré's awesome display of environment books in the library. 

Our amazing Primary Green Team. Not everyone was in the picture. Can you believe we have over 80 students involved? We should be in the Guinness Book of World Records for this. 

The Primary Green Team make dual language signs about ecology with Mme. Volakhova's assistance. 

Above and below: The Primary Green Team plant lupines for the school ground. Like Miss Rumphius, they want to make the world a more beautiful place. 

Miss Lowen's terrific grade 2s and 3s respond to The Lorax by writing passionate letters to Toronto mayor Rob Ford about cars and the environment. You go!

Grade 1s & 2s from Ms. Hawkins' class get up close and personal with nature as part of a Language activity on descriptive writing. 

Mme Paré has been encouraging students to contribute to "Clairlea Cares About the Planet" campaign. The back wall in the library is filled with images and ideas of what some of our great kids are doing to help the earth. 

The Primary Green Team recently met in the library to watch a film and have a meaningful discussion about e-waste and the toxic chemicals toys are adding to soil and groundwater. 

A grade 1 student in Ms. Hawkins' room sorts animals into their families. 

More to come.
Teachers, is your class working on projects connected to the environment? Email pictures to Ms. Hawkins and we'll include them here.

During Earth DAY

Thanks to Thomas and Adam for recycling.

Peace. (P.S. It's someone else posting. Anyways, it's Nic.)

Eco Updates

Forgive me Clairlea. It's been seven months since my last post. It's been a very busy year, but we've been busy making Clairlea a more ecologically friendly place to be. Stay tuned for more photos of our green side.

In the meanwhile, let's enjoy a moment as we celebrate our Gold level eco status from last year. Will we be Gold again next year?

E. Hawkins

Hoisting the magical gold sticker.

Oh yeah

Proud students who help out with the Green Team take a moment to celebrate eco gold.

Green Team Back in Action

Familiar and new faces were seen taking care of recycling business in the hallways of Clairlea today. Thank you so much! This year, the Green Team will be involved in creative projects as well. We have to keep the Gold dream alive.

An extra thanks to Kayleigh for her boundless enthusiasm. She told me that she was picking up trash in her neighbourhood and plans to pick up trash in the Clairlea yard tomorrow. I hope to provide back up support. Awesome initiative, Kayliegh!

Thanks also to our "lights out" checkers this week: Justin P. and Thomas T. They really enjoy the power of busting teachers. Who knew?

- E. Hawkins

I wanted to upload BTO's "Takin' Care of Business" for the hard rock eco kids, but there wasn't a decent YouTube version, so Bobs and Lolo it is. This is how I wake up each day. LOL

Stop the Press!

We just found out that based on our recent audit, EcoSchools has granted Clairlea Gold-level eco status!!!!! We are terribly excited about this news. Thanks to everyone who has worked hard to make this happen, especially the boys and girls on the Green Team and in the Gardening Club. We couldn't have done it without you. Now go do your happy dance!

E. Hawkins

Clairlea Green 2009-10

A huge thanks goes out to Nicolas Louie in Room 204 for this slide show retrospective. Nic is one talented guy. One day, he'll be making feature films, mark my word.

E. Hawkins

EcoSchool Audit

Kids from Room 204 putting the finishing touches on their "green home" earlier this year. There are many amazing examples of ecological literacy in action around Clairlea.

Hello,

Today, a representative from TDSB's EcoSchool department came by to evaluate how much Clairlea has done this year in terms of energy conservation, waste reduction, and ecological literacy. In attendance was Ms. Persaud, our chief custodian Harold Porter, Mr. Knierim, and myself. We answered a series of questions and later Mr. Knierim and I gave a tour of Clairlea both inside and outside of the school.

We had a very positive report, especially about the high number of children involved in the Green Team, as well as the grant we have received for new trees to be planted on the west side of the school next fall.

We will find out about our EcoSchool status within the next two weeks and we'll keep you posted. Thank everyone - especially the children of Clairlea - who have worked so hard to help us in our effort to make the school a greener place. Way to go!

E. Hawkins