RecyclaRuss on display at Town Hall

Green Team pleased with their work

Meet Recycla-Russ . . . The Green Teams Winning Entry into the Annual Arlington EcoFest!

Congratulations to members of the Green Team who worked hard to transform lunchroom leftovers— cleaned recyclables—and build a rhinoceros.  Why a rhinoceros? Because the weight of a mature African rhinoceros is equivalent to the weight that our recycling and composting efforts will have saved over the course of a school year from being trucked to the incinerator:  6 tons or 12,000 pounds!!!


The Green Team members, who named their rhino "Recycla-Russ" , were one of five winners at Arlington's Annual EcoFest on Saturday, March 23rd, at Arlington Town Hall.  The Green Team was awarded a gift certificate from the Book Rack along with a certificate for their participation. They plan to make a donation to the school library.

Transporting RecyclaRuss

You never know when RecyclaRuss might appear again!

After School Club meets

We had a great first meeting of the Green Team after school club on Tuesday.  17 students total attended from the 1st, 3rd and 4th grades. Parent helpers today were Rachel, Caitlin, Kim, and Erika. Here's a short summary of our activities:

1. We started seated in a circle and shared our names, grade, a favorite place to be, and the animal/element card we had drawn for the "web of life" game.
2. We then had fun playing the game which involved tossing a giant skein of yarn and making links between plants and animals until we had made a great big web and could feel the interconnectedness.
3. Next we talked about the great work the students are doing for lunchroom waste reduction program and figured out that in one school year we will have diverted 9,000 pounds of food "waste" that would have otherwise gone to the incinerator. (It turns out that's the weight of a mature African rhinoceros!) School Superintendent Dr. Bodie's next newsletter will feature an article on this written by a volunteer who visited the school to see the operation this morning.
4. We then turned our attention to possible future projects for the Green Team. To gauge student's interest we had 6 different suggestions on the bulletin board. After introducing the ideas each student was given 6 stickers to place on whichever project was most interesting. Projects #3 Landscapes for Learning, and #4 Design a T-shirt were the tied leaders followed closely by project #2 - recycled art project for community art show.
5. The next activity was viewing a short video clip from a film about a children's orchestra in Paraguay that uses instruments made from reclaimed materials. Here is a link: 
6. And lastly we did our own little craft making a small coin purse out of recycled juice pouches from the lunchroom.

We were glad to see all those who could make it and look forward to seeing others of you next time. Everyone was enthusiastic about getting together again. 

Green Team first club meeting

Resuming WASTE FREE WEDNESDAY!

REDUCE • REUSE • RECYCLE • ROT

We're putting the emphasis on REDUCING by re-introducing 

WASTE FREE WEDNESDAY

Students are doing a pretty terrific job cutting down on trash at the Brackett lunchroom, but we want to see if we can do even better by reducing the amount of packaging used to reduce the amount of material to be recycled as well.

 

IT’S EASY TO CUT OUT LUNCH WASTE.  HERE ARE A FEW TIPS:

    •  Have children help pack their lunches with healthy food they like
    •  Pack lunch the night before in order to avoid morning rush
    •  Pack fresh food from bulk in reusable containers such as:
       tupperware, ziploc snaptops, bento boxes, snack taxis, eco bags
    •  Cut big things into smaller pieces so uneaten portions                                 can be saved for after school snack
    •  Avoid pre-packaged single serving items
    •  Include reusable cutlery, cloth napkin,
    •  Resealable water bottles and thermos
    •  Use a lunchbox or reusable sack

 Here are some images from Waste Free lunches spotted at the Lunchroom

 

Show us your Waste Free Lunch!

 for more information go to

WasteFreeLunches.org

Compost in Action at the Fall Festival

What a gorgeous day for the Brackett Fall Festival last Saturday! We were happy to see many families stopping by after perusing the costumes and sampling some cider and donuts. It was great to have an opportunity to address questions about the composting operation.

It was perfect weather for sifting finished compost and filling the new raised bed that Robin, Jonathan and Aurora put together.  Several students tried their hand at the sifting and were delighted to see the rough twiggy pile turn into soft loose dirt.

 

Others helped with digging and planting the bulbs that Laura supplied. If the squirrels don't get them we'll have a nice array of miniature tulips and daffodils in the spring.

Still other children helped out by romping in the leaf pile. Now we have a good batch of crushed dried leaves to use as a source of browns for the compost recipe.

We're looking forward to the compost crew student captains starting up their lunchroom work soon!

LAST YEAR’S LUNCH?!

                          

Have you seen this wheelbarrow? It’s true. This fine looking, sweet smelling composted mulch is actually derived from Brackett cafeteria food scraps. Starting in April 2012, the leftovers were gathered and mixed with leaves, shredded paper, sawdust and woodchips in compost tumblers and left it to “cook” over the summer. The end product was then sifted and voila!

This Brackett GIG composting project is on-going. With the help of volunteers we continue to encourage students to sort their lunchroom waste.  We average 9 lbs. of recyclables, 9 pounds of trash and 50 pounds of food waste (not including liquids) every day!  This year alone Brackett could divert over 4 tons of food scraps from the waste stream and turn it back into healthy soil. It is part of a larger school waste-reduction program.

BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP.

We have immediate openings for lunchroom recycling/compost coaches each day of the week. A shift only takes an hour and orientation is simple. It is a great way to have a presence in the cafeteria by which to observe our children and the lunchroom routine.

So what’s the GIG?

The Brackett Green Initiatives Group is a collection of parents, students, teachers and neighbors with a common interest in sharing information and sponsoring activities that raise awareness and engender ecologically sustainable practices within the school community. Here are some of the things we did getting started last spring.

·       Conducted a lunchroom waste audit

·       Initiated a lunchroom waste-reduction plan

·       Implemented a composting program

·       Re-activated the school green house

·       Involved students in planting and cultivating mini pizza garden kits

·       Raised funds for the Brackett PTO

·       Raised awareness, questions and enthusiasm in the school community

·       Had fun brainstorming a lot more

In addition to refining the programs already started, some goals for Fall 2012 are:

1.         Build a small raised garden bed outside the cafeteria.

It’s a small project with big ambition: highlighting the full circle of the food cycle

> food scrap  >  compost  > garden soil >  new plant growth >  food >

We need materials, builders, shovelers, sifters, plants and gardeners

2.         Get the student Green Team up and running.

Many, many students have come to us to say they want to be compost crew captains and get involved in fun activities centered on learning the science and wonder of the natural world. Look for details in future school notices.

We need your help and permission for student’s participation.

There are many ways you can help: from signing up for regular compost browns/carbons collection, to developing grant proposals. To get more detail about the activities of the Green Initiatives Group and to get involved visit our blog & SIGN-UP          http://www.signupgenius.com/go

Or email us with your ideas, interests, contact information and availability at gig.brackett@gmail.com

COME JOIN US!