Green Committee Activities for September 2013 -2014
Trash Free Tuesday
September 22, 2013 Trash Free Tuesday begins again! Teacher's explained the concept to parents at back-to-school night and everyone was prepared for the following Tuesday. The Kindergarten class did a base line trash weighing and came up with 8 pounds for the whole school. When they weighed the trash generated on the 1st Trash Free Tuesday it came to just 1 pound! Keep up the great work.
September 22, 2013 Trash Free Tuesday begins again! Teacher's explained the concept to parents at back-to-school night and everyone was prepared for the following Tuesday. The Kindergarten class did a base line trash weighing and came up with 8 pounds for the whole school. When they weighed the trash generated on the 1st Trash Free Tuesday it came to just 1 pound! Keep up the great work.
Green Lunch Tips
September 2 - Shannon Green, as the parent rep for the Green Committee, sent out recommendations for a greener lunch with some helpful links on the subject to the CYC community.
Green Lunch Tips:
1) Use resusable lunch boxes and food storage containers.
2) Use cloth napkins instead of paper.
3) Avoid pre-packaged snack size items (e.g. purchase a tub of yogurt and pack a single serving in a BPA free plastic container; purchase a large bag of pretzels and pack a serving in your child's cloth snack bag).
4) Pack real silverware rather than plastic.
5) Pack juice or water in a Kleen Kanteen or other re-usable water bottle and avoid disposable juice boxes and water bottles.
September 2 - Shannon Green, as the parent rep for the Green Committee, sent out recommendations for a greener lunch with some helpful links on the subject to the CYC community.
Green Lunch Tips:
1) Use resusable lunch boxes and food storage containers.
2) Use cloth napkins instead of paper.
3) Avoid pre-packaged snack size items (e.g. purchase a tub of yogurt and pack a single serving in a BPA free plastic container; purchase a large bag of pretzels and pack a serving in your child's cloth snack bag).
4) Pack real silverware rather than plastic.
5) Pack juice or water in a Kleen Kanteen or other re-usable water bottle and avoid disposable juice boxes and water bottles.
Work Starts on Gold Office Award
September 2013- Work began on the Gold Office Award. Everyone on the staff agreed to work toward this status. Oct. 2 a meeting was held to review the Bronze and Silver requirements and for everyone to show which requirements they already did at home. A total of 5 home implemented requirements was needed by each member to complete requirement 5 and this was easily done with most staff members far exceeding 5.
By the end of the meeting it was discovered that the school only needed one more requirement to complete the award!
September 2013- Work began on the Gold Office Award. Everyone on the staff agreed to work toward this status. Oct. 2 a meeting was held to review the Bronze and Silver requirements and for everyone to show which requirements they already did at home. A total of 5 home implemented requirements was needed by each member to complete requirement 5 and this was easily done with most staff members far exceeding 5.
By the end of the meeting it was discovered that the school only needed one more requirement to complete the award!
3rd Annual Save Fuel Week
October 14-18 2013 Parents participated in yet another successful Save Fuel Week by walking, busing, biking and carpooling to work. The PTA paid for Ranger Rick subscriptions for each classroom as a reward. Thank you PTA the children are enjoying the magazines immensely!
October 14-18 2013 Parents participated in yet another successful Save Fuel Week by walking, busing, biking and carpooling to work. The PTA paid for Ranger Rick subscriptions for each classroom as a reward. Thank you PTA the children are enjoying the magazines immensely!
October 19- BYO plates and utensils to the International Picnic saved waste and money for the PTA. Many people participated and a smoothie party was held to celebrate.
November 11 2013- The PTA led by Sally Deleon, sponsors an e-waste drive. This is one of the last requirements listed on the Gold Office Award from the UMD Office of Sustainability.
January 24, 2014- The Center for Young Children passes the final audit to earn the Gold Office Award from the Sustainability department of the University of Maryland. Highlights were changing to organic fair trade coffee and tea, committing to using green hotels and selecting more sustainable food options for meeting. See the completed checklist.
The Green Office newsletter featured an article about the CYC being the first Gold Office recipient. See the article.
The Green Office newsletter featured an article about the CYC being the first Gold Office recipient. See the article.
January 29, 2014 The Center for Young Children earns the Bronze Eco-School Award for it's Trash Free Tuesday program. The program was bumped up by adding up-cycled cloth napkins for each room and using natural light to save energy. Children help fold, sort and deliver napkins after they are laundered. The school reduced it's landfill trash from 8 pounds to less than .5 on each consecutive Tuesday for 6 weeks. An initial audit was performed by the Yellow Room by weighing the recyclables and compost too.
February 13, 2014, the Center for Young Children earns the Certified School Yard Habitat award for providing food, water and shelter to wildlife. There are 5 bird feeders and several suet feeders maintained by teacher Janice Gonzalez to feed the birds. The CYC also has hedges and a grassy area for wildlife to enjoy along with many flowers for pollinators although you cannot tell during the winter months! Several classes have built bird nesting boxes that are hung around the school yard on different trees. The school owns two bird baths and expects to purchase two more in the future.
February 2014, In response to working on an Energy audit for the Eco-School USA program, John Vucci from facilities came to teach the kindergarten how the heating and cooling units work at the Center. Children also learned about insulation which was compared to wearing a coat to keep you warm when you go outside. The children particularly enjoyed Mr. Vucci's drawings! Mr. Vucci took the Blue Room outside to see the units ontop of the building.After the visit the kindergartners talked about finding ways to insulate around the doors that leaked air. They also made signs to remind people to turn off lights and unplug energy "vampires".
March 5, 2014- The CYC completed all requirements to earn the Silver Eco-School USA award. Two pathways were completed, energy and consumption and waste. There are just a few more requirements left to finish up for the highest award of Green Flag which should be completed in time to celebrate at our Maryland Day Green Festival.
April 16, 2014- First trash-free PTA meeting was held using compostable plates and a projector for the budget report. The agenda was written on a large dry erase board. Sally De Leon, parent Green Committee member, initiated the effort and it was embraced by all. The children's Green Committee came in during the meeting to thank their parents and remind them that compost is turned into soil that helps plants.
May 3, 2014 PTA Auction and Carnival - this event was designed to be a trash free event. All plates, utensils etc. were compostable. Parents donated the products and earned service points. Games and crafts were eco-friendly too.
May 22, 2014 CYC's annual Appreciation Breakfast went trash free too. This event honors volunteers that have gone out of their way to support the school. Teachers and Administration prepare food for the honorees that include parents, facility members, and others.
March- June 2014- A used marker campaign was initiated by the Green Committee to collect markers for recycling with the program. Ms. Fowler arranged for the markers to be collected as part of the Holy Reedemer school in Berwyn's collection. The Blue Room decorated recycled boxes for each room to collect the markers. All in all 161 markers were collected!
May 2014-The CYC became a host for two Little Free Libraries. The CYC's Green Committee member, Greg Thompson from dining services, had the libraries constructed out of old pallets and other recycled materials. One library is for adult books, the other for children's books. The Marquis family has been in charge of monitoring the library.
May 7, 2014- The Center for Young Children earned a Green Flag the highest honor from Eco Schools USA sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation. The Kindergarten accepted the flag from director Dr. Favretto at their graduation. Three areas were focused on for the award: Energy, Consumption and Waste, and School Grounds.
Summer Camp 2014- Children had an opportunity to learn more about their environment during several CYC summer camp projects.
Red Room - Healthy Bodies
Orange Room- Bugs
Green Room- Bicycles
Yellow Room-Birds
Red Room - Healthy Bodies
Orange Room- Bugs
Green Room- Bicycles
Yellow Room-Birds