Sunday, October 31, 2010

Green October

The effectiveness of how much we've recycled in our Summit house this month has been the best so far. We have some new wonderful additions to our house -- recycling bins that stay below our staircase where we can store all our recycled trash without it overcrowding our entrance. We also started getting organized as roommates to have a schedule of when everyone will take the recycling out, and when. For those of us without cars (Jared and me), it works out to be paired up with the ones that do (everyone else).

As for Boyd Elementary, unfortunately my school schedule didn't let me go last Friday to make Halloween crafts out of recycled goods, and I regret this a lot. Specially when I heard about how much fun it was, and how sassy the kids were being (apparently, they're really good at speaking Spanish, so I'm looking forward to teach them about recycling, bilingual style). Definitely, lots to look forward to this November!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Frankenstein, Pine Cones, and Recycling Bins - Smith

     Finally. That's the best word to describe my feelings towards this month's progress with our Summit project. Things are finally beginning to work. We finally got to do some volunteer work, and even got some sweet recycling bins for our house. Our help with Boyd has expanded to more than just the Think Green group, and now includes the entire school.
      Today I got to volunteer at Boyd for an hour in between my classes, which marks my first volunteer hour for the Summit project. A bit of a late start, but now that things are rolling the rest of the hours should follow quickly. We set up some craft tables during Boyd's recess time, and the kids had a blast. At one table they made Frankenstein monsters out of cardboard rolls from toilet paper and paper towels, and at the other they made bird feeders out of pine cones, peanut butter, and bird seed. The kids all got along nicely, and waited patiently when we were helping another student out. We attracted a good amount of the kids, as the rest of the playground seemed almost deserted. I look forward to our next project with them.
     We ended up running out of cardboard for the Frankensteins, and almost ran out of pine cones. I had to return to the house to get more bird seed, and picked up a bag full of pine cones while I was at it. I even found a paper towel roll's cardboard roll lying on the ground while I was out, and it was nice to know that the litter was serving another purpose minutes after it was found. Next time we plan on doing an event at recess we will need to bring more things so we don't run out of supplies. Some of the kids made Frankensteins on pieces of paper, but I didn't hear any of them complaining, I was really surprised to see such well behaved kids.
     We now have four big blue recycling bins for our house, which will come in very handy. Between the eight of us we can rack up a lot of recycling pretty fast, and these containers are a lot bigger than the cardboard boxes we have been using. We are planning on teaching some classes at Boyd about the nitrogen cycle in the coming weeks, and will be going into different classrooms to do this.

Recycling in the Summit Home -Proszek

After discussing the lack of recycling options in our Summit home, our group felt it was critical to look into recycling options. Call this Phase I of our progress:


Four large recycling bins (2 for each floor) allow us to recycle glass, paper, cardboard, and aluminum effectively. Although we still need to take our recycled materials across the street, these bins are a big help. And honestly, they are not that special. Every house in the Summit block could be equipped with these bins for a very small cost. Our next goal, I believe, will be to equip Summit with better recycling bins. 

So for now, here's a little sustainable thinking on the home-front, with more to come in the future.

Go'en Green! - E

Earlier this month, we went to the garden next to Cox North and help the kids pull weeds and cut down old plants. We cleaned up the garden beds for next year and put down cardboard for a new bed. Teaching these kids to garden now will help them save money later on in life by growing their own food. Not only will it help save money but it will also cut down mass produce. It was fun to be working along side the kids cleaning up their garden. I cant wait for spring when we can plant. I think that the kids learn a lot by watching the plants grow and the feeling that they get when they see their hard work paying off.

Also, we have been working with Boyd with their think green program. We are going to be eating lunch with the kids and teaching them how to think green. We are going to be teaching the kids ways to make the world more green along side what the teacher is covering. While the teacher is covering the subject like rain cycle, they can tell the kids that if this doesn’t happen, then the garden wont grow. We are just there to help the kids understand why these things are important and why it is important to think green.

Craftapalooza!- Anna Regan

Not only is today a great day because it's FRIDAY of HALLOWEEN WEEKEND, big things are in store for the Green Team at Boyd Elementary today.  While our project has been off to a bit of a slow start, this past month has showed an increase of activity.  Most recently our Summit House got the opportunity to first engage with the Green Team for this year's activities at a community garden event hosted at the garden accross the street from Cox North.  This garden is one of many that are locally designed and maintained by a Springfield resident who is hoping to improve Springfield's green produce availability and to reinstill a degree of community activity through gardening initiatives connected with different elementary schools around Springfield.  This project has proved to be a fantastic plug in for the Green Team at Boyd due to its convenient location and the ability of kids to do kid-friendly tasks like pulling weeds and hauling weeds to the compost section of the garden. Working against the setting sun and Attention Deficit Disorder (weed picking is only fun for approximately 5 minutes to the average 8 year old), our group was able to help prepare the garden for the frigid winter ahead!

Along with our garden efforts, our group is looking forward to heading over to Boyd today for a crafting extravaganza during recess with all ages of kids. As Desiree's post shows below we will be making mini Frankensteins from recyclable materials along with mini bird feeders made from pine cones, peanut butter, and bird seed.  Each of these crafts will reinforce for the kids that using recyclable materials is not only FUN, but is also a way to better utilize recyclable objects as opposed to just throwing them out.

Also- after our crafting activities today, our group is looking forward to beginning our in class initiative on green presentations.  These presentations will be catered to match the curriculum already in place for the month or week, and will tie in Green facts which will then seem a little more relevant to each kiddo.  This month we will be covering exciting topics such as the water cycle and will bring in crafts and games to help the kids better understand the material we are presenting. Overall, we are looking forward to the next couple months with increased activity at Boyd and hope to have a good turnout today at recess.

Happy Halloween and see you guys tonight!

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Life's a garden. Dig it.

      A few weeks ago, some of us got our first chance to help with Boyd's Think Green club. The kids and some parents have been working on a garden near Jefferson and Divison, by Cox North. In the garden they grow an assortment of vegetables. It's a fun activity for the kids: they can learn how to garden, watch their plants grow, and enjoy the fruits (or vegetables) of their labor. Mid-to-late October is not a very good time to plant anything new, so we prepped the garden for the next growing season, and harvested any healthy-looking vegetables that were ready to be picked.

(Some of the Boyd kids pose for a picture. I would provide names, but they each gave me a few different names... They don't tell their names to strangers.)

     We put our green thumbs to work, pulling weeds and cutting back the tomato plants. A few of the kids went home with some beautiful green tomatoes. 


We worked on the garden for about an hour, but then the sun began to set. We ended the day then, not wanting to mistakes the weed roots for the vegetable plant roots. 

(Anna picking weeds.)


(A star weed-picker)


     The leader of Think Green at Boyd Elementary said that there may be another time or two that they will work on the garden before spring. I look forward to another chance to work with the kids (and maybe becoming less of a stranger) and work on the garden. 
     If they decide to wait until spring, we've been brainstorming more ideas for recyclable crafts for the kids. One seasonal craft we might do:
It's simple, easy to make, and pretty stinkin' cute.


     Back at the house, the Summit house, we're still working on keeping up with the recycling. If you're having trouble mustering up the motivation to gather the recycling and take it to the recycling center at Central and Summit, we're right there with you. But even if we aren't getting it done every week, we're still trying, and we're still getting it done (eventually). I hope you are, too. 
Trust me. It's easier than you think.

-Desirée

The Summit Situation- Scherrer

       We've been here for 2 months now, and I cannot say that I'm 100% satisfied with our progress. There have been many phone calls, emails, and group meetings within our group and within the community, but I have yet to say that we are making a difference in the lives of the students at Boyd. My group members did get a chance to work at the community garden a few weeks ago, which was great. But, we have run into numerous communication difficulties and time conflicts that our inhibiting the realization of the rest of our project.
     Although we haven't accomplished many tangible goals yet, on the bright side, we have taken advantage of this time to build our relationships as a group and truly brainstorm about how to make our project even more innovative and meaningful. So far, we've added some new ideas to our plate of possible projects and we are currently working to get our "green" in-class presentations started. Some of the new ideas that we've been bouncing around are "green" lunch buddies and "green"/craft recesses. I was able to get in contact with the principal at Boyd, Mr. Grandon, about both of these ideas, and he is excited for us to come to Boyd and see them through! As little as 20 minutes ago, Mr. Grandon gave us the "go ahead" to set up a table this Friday at Boyd during recess. I'm beyond excited about this, and hopefully it will be the start of many more "green" recesses to come.
       This project has been more work than expected, and has unfortunately taken a bit more time than I had anticipated to get started, but I know that it will all be worth it in the end.