As The US House of Representatives votes on No Child Left Inside this week, this is your last chance to let your legislator know you want MORE funding for training teachers in outdoor education, MORE funding to expand environmental education programs and MORE programs to ensure that US graduates are environmentally literate.
You can write your representative directly and/or find out how she our he stands at the No Child Left Inside home page. With school budgets cut and the increased emphasis on teaching to the test, not much needed recess, this effort is needed now more than ever.
Jennifer Lance wrote about this effort back in May, but it bears repeating especially as the bill comes up for vote.
While Congress waits to vote, there’s an effort afoot to pass around this video to bring awareness to the issue, by adding this video to your blog. You can get the link on Youtube here.
With back-to-school in full swing, I know many of you have been packing healthy and tasty meals for your kids–or yourself! Luckily, EcoChildsPlay is full of great tips on packing just those kind of lunches, whether it be recipes your kids will love, or containers you know are safe for your kids. The folks over at Healthy Kitchenware are doing the same thing by featuring plastic-free products for your kitchen and lunches, including these stylish tiffin-style stainless-steel food carriers. The best part? You can win one! Find out how, after the jump.
I have opted out of traditional preschools for my three year old, instead choosing to bring preschool to her at home. Our plan for the year includes one letter a week (D’Nealian, as that is what our grade school teaches), plenty of outdoor activities, music, and environmentally sound crafts.
The first step in becoming more Earth Friendly is to consume less. In an attempt to do this, we will make supplies such as fingerpaints & playdough (if you don’t want to make your own, look for eco-friendly fingerpaints). We will reuse household items such as cardboard rolls & scrap paper. We will go on scavenger hunts to find rocks, leaves & bugs. We will make music with water in glass jars and drawing journals out of cereal boxes and recycled paper. The apples will be picked from the tree in our yard and flavored applesauce will be created and enjoyed for snack time. Read the rest of this entry »
In my experience, one of the hardest places to green our family’s life is our children’s school. As a parent and a teacher at this school, I am constantly met with resistance when I suggest ways we can green our children’s education. The excuses from lack of money to health regulations never cease, but I never stop trying. Ironically, these excuses are actually reasons why schools should become more eco-friendly. Green schools reduce sick days for staff and students, as well as cost 2% less to run, according to the Organic Consumer’s Association. Here are five ideas to help you change your child’s school:
Start a the top with the school board: All policies for school districts are set by the board of trustees. The administration takes their directives from the school board. If you can get the school board’s support, your schools will go green. Compile a packet of information on the benefits of green schools and submit it to the board. You may look to other schools or states as models, such as New York requiring the use green cleaners, and New Jersey requiring all new schools be built according to LEED standards. OCA also has materials available you could use, and Green Schools has a sample school board resolution. Have parents write letters supporting these changes (letters are more effective than petitions). Request to have an agenda item listed, then organize a presentation with parents asking the board to adopt a green schools policy or resolution.
Work your way down the school’s hierarchy: If you can’t get support from the school board, go to the site’s principal. If you can’t get the principal’s support, go to your child’s teacher, etc. Don’t forget the teachers’ union, as they may include in their contract negotiations a reduction in chemical exposure, etc.
Even though I spend a lot of time championing the outdoors as the ultimate green play time, greening kids’ minds with environmental stewardship happens online daily.
I love kid-lit and fabulous tree tales like A Forest of Storiesand The Giving Tree is still my favorite book of all time…but paper free, online media like Dizzywood’s virtual world of collaborative play prove eco-literacy can transpire on a screen too…In Web 2.0 live-chat, 3-D immersive, fun!
Last week at the massive Virtual Worlds Expo in L.A., Dizzywood’s virtual critters and cuties turned some heads learning that kids’ reforestation efforts online enabled 15,000 REAL trees to be planted off line,thanks to their eco-partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation! Created for preteens 8-12 and Privo Safety Seal tested with accolades out the wazoo, Dizzywood is thankfully, NOT an anomaly…Check out these OTHER eco-positive picks that prove green media is not an oxymoron! Read the rest of this entry »
If you have a cub scout or boy scout yor probably receive Boy’s Life Magazine. For the past several issues, they’ve had green topics featured: green vehicles, ocean and reef conservation, eco-friendly fun, and sporting green.
The newest edition, September 2008, features a whole section called “Be a Green Guy”. It has five projects, some of which my family is definitely going to be trying out (both guys and gals).
I just found out about an online green living bookstore dedicated to providing quality educational materials with minimal environmental impact. With the rate of books we go through in our house, anytime I can get a digital version, I choose to download instead of getting a paper copy.
With global paper consumption increasing at a staggering rate, and forests disappearing overnight, our society really needs to look at ways to decrease our rate of consumption. One online company is focused on giving you an option when buying books for yourself or your kids. Read the rest of this entry »
When my daughter started preschool last year, my life as a craft collector began. From rock monsters to paper plate people, our family grew by the day. While I always welcomed the creative creatures and inventions into our home, I was disappointed that many of them were adorned with things that had likely been purchased at dollar stores (i.e. pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, googly eyes), which in addition to being wasteful also made most of them choking hazards for my younger son (80% of the kids had baby brothers or sisters at home).
I was excited to learn about The Imagination Factory, a website dedicated to helping children turn solid waste into art. Marilyn Brackney, founder of The Imagination Factory, is an artist and educator out of Columbus, Indiana who has been reusing materials for art projects for many years. In 1996, she launched her website where she helps visitors learn how to use trash for activities such as drawing, collage, and sculpting. The site also offers educational information for kids, such as how to be a paper saver. Brackney believes that it is often the children who inspire the adults to be more environmentally conscious. Read the rest of this entry »
One benefit of my children attending a one room school house is we don’t get the ubiquitous back to school list of school supplies. There’s no place to shop for these supplies in our little town of 200, and most families could not afford the extensive list common to suburban schools. No matter where they live, one thing all children need for school is pencils, but what is the most eco-friendly option for these graphite writing utensils?
Pencils are made from wood, and although it is hard to imagine forests are clearcut for the little bit of wood in a pencil, they are. Many pencil manufacturers buy their wood from Sierra Pacific Industries, which is notorious for irresponsible logging practices, such as clearcutting and use of herbicides on plantations. Forturnately, Forest Ethics has rated pencil manufacturers on the amount of pre- and post-consumer recycled content in their products, whether they are made Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified lumber, and whether the lumber is purchased from Sierra Pacific Industries. According to Josh Buswell-Charkow of Forest Ethics:
Parents don’t want their children using pencils which degrade California’s landscape, drinking water, or species, and the top companies on our report card show that there’s a better way. Those big companies that earned ‘F’s, however, are like the students in the back of the class with pencils in their ears and their heads in the clouds while the rest of the class leaves them behind.
The Big Apple will always have my heart. New York City is where I first learned about sustainability and green living. Ironic I know, but it’s true. Well here’s some back-to school ideas for all you New Yorkers out there. It’s provided in courtesy of Greenopia New York, the independently researched guide to all green services and business in NYC area
ORGANIC PACKED LUNCHES (don’t forget the BOX!):
Send them to school with healthy snacks and fresh, locally grown grub from these yummy markets:
I am also a big fan of the Farmer’s Market in Union Square. There’s a wide variety of Organic produce and also supporting local farms in upstate New York. Highly recommended.
I have opted out of traditional preschools for my three year old, instead choosing to bring preschool to her at home. Our plan for the year includes one letter a week (D’Nealian, as that is what our grade school teaches), plenty of outdoor activities, music, and environmentally sound crafts.
