Brookside Public School is taking ‘green’ initiatives to another level.
This September the school started a new project called “Who Is Green?” The program supports EcoSchools and green schools’ initiatives by giving simple steps that help students discover their strengths and use them to help the environment so that their green projects are environmental and personally meaningful. The program was developed by Kelly Clark, an Ontario teacher, after she graduated from the University of London, England, and supply taught in elementary and secondary schools across London, England and Toronto, Ontario.
Students grouped together to perform projects in the school that involve the 3-Rs – reduce, reuse or recycle. Also, all students worked together to plant 20 new trees and 50 tulips at the school.
Each class completes a scrapbook that documents all of their environmental activities. The school is also given a green doll called “anybody” and the school’s job is to turn it into “somebody” by attaching items onto it that represent each project – such as a shovel for tree planting.
The ‘Who is Green’ initiative shows that ‘anybody can be somebody who is green’ and is a great way to give recognition to these hard working students. For more information about the program visit www.whoisnobody.com
Being ‘Green’ is nothing new for the students at Brookside. Here are some of the ‘Green’ things students do around the school each and every day:
One group of 25 students, from all Grades, called the Milk Bag Crew, have taken on collecting milk bags to make into sleeping mats to send to Haiti. Milk bags are cut into strips then crocheted to create mats, which are washable, repel bugs and provide an alternative to sleeping on the damp, bare ground. A single mat, about a meter wide and more than a meter long, is made up of strips from 260 milk bags.
Mara Cutting said they cut the milk bags into strips during their second break, each day, and roll them into balls for Mrs. LeRoy to crochet. Hayley Gibson said they have made 30 balls, about the size of a basketball, so far this hear.
The Compost Crew, made up of seven students from Grades 6 and 7, spend their second break collecting small compost pails from each classroom then dump them into a large compost bin outside. Crew member Jason Barger said they each collect a pail from a classroom and dump it out everyday, then every Friday they wash out the pails.
The Recycling Crew of Dylan Ulrich, Brayden Smyth and Ben Nelson sort the recycling material from each classroom, every week at second break. Smyth said they sort the recycling – paper and cardboard – and make sure everything in each recycling box is strictly recyclable material to be sent away.
A five member team of Grade 5 and 6 students are Tree Water-ers. Everyday on their second break, team member Cody Westecott said, they ensure the newly planted trees and tulips are watered.
This article was published in Lucknow Sentinel on November 3rd 2010
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