Archives
2022-23
Mark your calendars - we've got a SOLAR-BRATION!!!
REUSE for Pets!
Get ready to be GREEN..... it's EARTH WEEK!
The Green Team hopes you had an AMAZING Earth Week! We had so much fun celebrating being GREEN with you! Here are some pictures from the week!
Central's Semi-Annual Recycled Sculpture Contest!
All the foxes that were submitted for our Recycled Sculpture Contest were so incredibly creative! It was hard to pick who was the winner in each grade! We hope you had so much fun making your foxes.
The 2023 winners are :
Evangeline S - Kindergarten
Lucy P & Maren K (a tie!) - First Grade
Audrey A - Second Grade
Sicily T- 3rd Grade.
Unfortunately there were no submissions in 4th grade. Each winner won a prize from the Green Team, and each participant received a packet of wildflower seeds.
And the Golden Pop Tab goes to.....
April 2023:
Kindergarten: Mrs. Meneese's class with .27 ounces
First Grade: Mrs. Ortmann's class with 8.78 ounces.
Second Grade: Mrs. Engstrom's class with 7 pounds and 13.92 ounces
Third Grade: Mrs. Shea's class with 10 pounds and 5.56 ounces - our Golden Pop Tab winners!
Fourth Grade: Mrs. Collins' class with 2.74 ounces
March 2023:
Kindergarten: Mrs. Meneese's class with 1.29 ounces
First Grade: Mrs. Dana's class with 8.15 ounces.
Second Grade: Mrs. Engstrom's class with 8.23 ounces
Third Grade: Mrs. Mirabelli's class with 1 pound and 3 ounces - our Golden Pop Tab winners!
Fourth Grade: Mrs. Collins' class with 2.75 ounces
January 2023:
Kindergarten: Mrs. Meneese's class with 1.29 ounces
First Grade: Miss Rose's class with 6.73 ounces.
Second Grade: Mrs. Engstrom's class with 1 pound and 14.26 ounces
Third Grade: Mrs. Mirabelli's class with 3 pounds and .5 ounces
Fourth Grade: Mr. Elman's class with 5 pounds and 1.21 ounces - our Golden Pop Tab winners!
December 2022:
Kindergarten: Mrs. Meneese's class with 6.55 ounces
First Grade: Mrs. Ortmann's class with 14.66 ounces.
Second Grade: Mrs. Engstrom's class with 7.78 ounces
Third Grade: Mrs. Mirabelli's class with 1.27 ounces
Fourth Grade: Mr. Elman's class with1 pound and 7.22 ounces - our Golden Pop Tab winners!
November 2022:
Kindergarten: Mrs. Meneese's class with half an ounce
First Grade: Mrs. Ortmann's class with 6.68 ounces.
Second Grade: Mrs. Ciulla's class with 3 pounds and 5.5 ounces - our Golden Pop Tab winners!
Third Grade: Mrs. Shea's class with 3.43 ounces
Fourth Grade: Mr. Elman's class with 3 pounds and half an ounce
October 2022:
Kindergarten: Mrs. Vegter's class with 1 ounce
First Grade: Miss Rose's class with 1 pound, .81 ounces.
Second Grade: Mrs. Engstrom's class with 4.75 ounces
Third Grade: Ms. Samborn's class with 6.32 ounces
Fourth Grade: Mrs. Dietrich's class with 1 pound, and 3.82 ounces - our Golden Pop Tab winners!
Holiday Lights Drive 2022
proudly sponsored by the Green Team!
The Green Team is proud to announce our annual Holiday Lights Drive!
Bring your old string lights (working or not) to Central and drop them off in the bin in the front lobby. The Green Team will take them from there, and bring them to a donation area that the village of Wilmette is sponsoring. Along with SWANCC, the village will be properly recycling these string lights to keep them out of our landfills.
Coat Drive 2022
proudly sponsored by the Green Team!
The Green Team is proud to announce that our coat drive was a success! We collected 85 coats this month! All coats were donated to Connections for the Homeless in Evanston to benefit our local community.
Thanks for helping us reuse something that can help someone else!
Start Collecting Pop Tabs!!!!
Pop Tab collections are starting up again this year! Collect pop tabs from cans at home and bring them to your classroom. Then, once a month the Green Team will collect pop tabs from all the classrooms. Pop tabs will be weighed, recycled and donated to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. The class with the most pop tabs each month will win the Golden Pop Tab Award! Check out the video below for more information. The first pop tab collection date will be October 27th this year!
Environmental Week 2022
Thanks for joining the Green Team in celebrating Environmental Awareness Week! Central Foxes helped to conserve energy by turning off the lights, walk to school and took part in our first spirit day of the year!
Check out the pictures below for just some of the fun!
2021-22
Environmental Awareness Week
Thank you to all who participated this week!
We hope you all had fun being GREEN!
Environmental Awareness Week
The Green Team is excited to present this year's Environmental Awareness Week here at Central!
We hope everyone has a chance to partake in an activity or two this week and get our GREEN year off to a great start!
GREEN TEAM 2021-2022
Congratulations to this year's Green Team members! Our first meeting will be on Thursday September 30th.
Green Team members, check your lockers for details!
GREEN TEAM 2021-22
Attention all 4th graders!!
Do you have great ideas?
Do you love being environmentally friendly?
Do you want to get to learn a little bit more about how to stay GREEN?
Join the GREEN TEAM!
Ask your teacher for an applications
Fill out the form and make sure to get a parent signature
All applications are due by September 10th.
(No late applications will be accepted)
Our first meeting will be on September 30th during 4th grade lunch and recess time. More info to come!
2020-21
We're so proud of all the hard work the Green Team did this year - and of how much Central students worked hard to stay GREEN!
Green Team members - Mrs. Dietrich and Ms. Potakis are SO proud of you! We know you're going to ROCK Highcrest and beyond!
This video was shown during the school-wide end of the year virtual assembly to celebrate the Green Team. Enjoy!
Happy Earth Week!
We're so excited for a great Earth Week this year at Central! The Green Team kids have created fun events for every day - including a bonus day for Friday's day off of school! See the schedule above for each day's events.
Week Long Challenge: Being Green Rocks!
Using either an environmental theme or a kindness theme decorate a rock and bring it to school! Place your rock near where you line up to come into school. At the end of the week you can take your rock back home, or you can leave it and the Green Team will move it to the school garden.
Here's some examples to get your creative ideas going:
Monday - Lights Out Day! In an effort to reduce energy, Central School will dim or turn off as many lights as possible today. Hallways, classrooms, Learning Commons, and our gyms! Remember this is a super easy way to save energy! When you leave a room, turn off the light! Use a lamp instead of an overhead light if you can. If a room has a dimmer, dim the lights when you can.
Tuesday - Walk to School Day! On Tuesday save even more energy by walking to school instead of driving! Once you arrive at Central, line up at your door normally. We'll have music playing at each door for a dance break before school starts!
Remote Learners - you can join in too! If your plans for the day involve traveling somewhere, try to walk there instead of driving - or just take a walk around the block.
Wednesday - Save Paper Day! Today we want you to be really aware of your paper use. Did you use the whole sheet? Can you use the back of your sheet instead of a new piece of paper? If you can't use it anymore make sure to recycle in. At school our recycling bins for paper are blue - make sure only paper goes in the blue bins!
Thursday - Spirit Day! Today's half day celebration is easy - wear blue or green to show your Earth Day spirit! If you share a photo on Twitter use the hashtag #FoxesGoGreen so we can see it too! Your photo just might end up here!
Friday - Bonus Day! Today students have off from school, but the Green Team wanted to provide an optional event. If the weather's nice, go for a walk, take a bike ride, draw an Earth Day message in chalk, etc. If the weather's not nice, watch a nature documentary or one of these nature cameras!
At our January meeting, the Green Team learned a little about the impact the fashion industry has on our environment. Scroll down to watch some videos about the topic!
Hand-Me-Down : A hand-me-down is a piece of clothing that someone older than you has worn. It doesn't fit them anymore, but it fits you - so they hand it down to you to wear!
Thrift: A thrifted item is an item that belonged to someone that you don't know before it belonged to you. It may have come from a thrift store, garage sale, or fashion reuse website.
Up-Cycle: To up-cycle something means to make something old into something new. Some examples may be to take an old shirt and decorate it with paints and ribbons to make it new, or to cut and re-sew a pair of pants into a new skirt.
Here's some of the Green Team members in our commercial to further explain Reuse the 90% Day!
Fashion and the Environment
At our January meeting, the Green Team learned a little about the impact the fashion industry has on our environment. Below are links to the videos we watched. Even if you're not a Green Team member, these are really interesting. We talked a little bit about how when we might not have a true solution to an environmental problem, just being aware that the problem exists can help!
Green Team members - check your Google Classroom for more information about the meeting and upcoming events.
These are the two we watched during the meeting:
Zero Waste Fashion - Daniel Silverstein, Designer
And here are the ones we didn't get a chance to view yet:
Fashion and a Circular Economy - Consignment & Thrift Stores
Reducing Waste - A Handcrafted Solution
Holiday Lights Drive 2020
The Green Team is proud to host our annual holiday lights drive! In cooperation with the village of Wilmette, we'll collect string lights at Central school to be recycled properly. Bring any and all string lights - any length or color - to the front of the building and deposit them in the collection bin located outside.
Since the Green Team will be unable to sort the collection in person, we ask that you please remove all bags and packaging from the lights before you drop them off. Garlands, live greens and wreaths will not be accepted.
The drive will run from December 7th to January 29th
Help us keep our community GREEN!
GREEN TEAM 2020-2021
Congratulations to this year's Green Team members! Our first meeting will be on Thursday October 22nd.
Details coming soon!
GREEN TEAM 2020-2021
Attention all 4th graders!!
Do you have great ideas?
Do you love being environmentally friendly?
Do you want to get to learn a little bit more about how to stay GREEN?
Join the GREEN TEAM!
Applications are in your Google Classrooms.
Just click on the link and fill out the form.
All applications are due by October 16th.
(No late applications will be accepted)
Our first meeting will be on October 22nd (weather permitting) during 4th grade lunch and recess time. More info to come!
Green Team is going to look very different this year - but we are sure
you'll make it great!
2019-2020
Pop Tab Update
Unfortunately we are suspending the Pop Tab collection for the rest of 2020. We are hopeful we can start it back up again next calendar year, but right now we are unable to safely collect and deliver pop tabs.
Please consider keeping your collection going at home!
We will let you know when we'll start recollecting them at school.
GREEN TEAM 2019-2020
It wasn't the way we wanted to end our year, but we were able to meet a few more times as a Green Team from home this spring.
Mrs. Dietrich & Ms. Potakis are so incredibly proud of this wonderful, imaginative and enthusiastic group this year! We couldn't have picked a better group to have to have gone through this with!
All the best at Highcrest and beyond - and STAY GREEN!
Earth Week 2020
We were so pleased to have so many people take part in our Earth Week projects from home this year! Check out some of our favorite photos of Central students staying GREEN!
Need a "Green" Indoor activity?
Here's some fun ideas from the Green Team:
1) Take care of your family's houseplants!
2) Grow some herbs indoors that you can use later for cooking
3) Make some artwork of plants, animals and landscapes!
Put them up around the house!
4) Read an article or do an activity from EEK - Environmental Education for Kids
5) Watch a nature cam! (Our favorite's Fiona the hippo from Cincinnati Zoo - who does a Home Safari everyday at 2pm!)
We've made a list of some awesome nature cams to check out on the Green Links page found here.
6) Go for a nature walk around the block - with parent permission. Set up a "treasure shelf" at home to display cool looking rocks, pinecones, etc that you find!
7) Find out if your family has a telescope - set it up and star gaze before bed!
8) Have a family conversation that's environmentally minded. Maybe it's something you can do at home to be more Green - or something you learned about!
9) Make a comfy bird watching station! Pick a window where you can see some trees or bushes from and set up comfy pillows, some notebook paper and pencils. (Binoculars and bird guide optional) Draw any birds you happen to see!
10) Find out how to "green" up your house! Make signs to sort trash and recycling! Turn off lights you're not using!
11) Visit the Green Team's links page! Learn about some great environmentalists, read a cool article or play a fun game.
Here's even more great ideas from Earth Easy.
We hope you continue to stay green Central!
Earth Week 2020
The Green Team met last week via Zoom to modify our Earth Week plans and make them more at-home friendly! We're excited to be able to have this fun spirit week no matter where we all are! See the schedule above for each day's event.
Below are further details for some of the events.
Have fun being GREEN Central!
All-Week Long Sculpture Challenge
Create a sculpture using recyclable materials at home! Grab that recycling bin and your arts and crafts supplies and get creative! You can make a globe or any animal you want. Check out the photos from last year's fox sculpture challenge to get ideas. (Once on that photo page, scroll down to "Earth Week 2019" to see last year's entries)
Take a photo with your finished sculpture and email it to Ms. Potakis at potakisj@wilmette39.org
Please include your full name and teacher's name as well.
We'll showcase some photos on the Green Team's website at the end of the week!
Nature Cams
On Wednesday we're encouraging you to pick out a nature cam to watch online!
We've made a list of some awesome nature cams to check out on the Green Links page found here.
Sidewalk Art
On Friday we're encouraging you to decorate your driveways and sidewalks with some fantastic chalk art! Take a photo of you and your art (or just of your art - whatever you want!) and email it to Ms Potakis at
potakisj@wilmette39.org
Please include your full name and teacher's name as well in your email.
We'll showcase some photos on the Green Team's website at the end of the week!
Earth Day Spirit Day!
On Wednesday the 22nd we'll celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day!
Check out this website for more info on this wonderful day!
We're encouraging you to wear green or blue - or both! - on this day. Get creative with your outfit! One green sock and one blue sock! A nature themed t-shirt will work too. Put some flowers in your hair! Whatever you want! Get creative Central!
If you'd like to share a photo of your spirit wear email it to Ms. Potakis at
potakisj@wilmette39.org
Please include the full names of everyone pictured and their classroom teacher's name as well.
We'll showcase some photos on the Green Team's website!
Need a "Green" Indoor activity?
Here's some fun ideas from the Green Team:
1) Take care of your family's houseplants!
2) Grow some herbs indoors that you can use later for cooking
3) Make some artwork of plants, animals and landscapes!
Put them up around the house!
4) Read an article or do an activity from EEK - Environmental Education for Kids
5) Watch a nature cam! (Our favorite's Fiona the hippo from Cincinnati Zoo - who does a Home Safari everyday at 2pm!)
We've made a list of some awesome nature cams to check out on the Green Links page found here.
6) Go for a nature walk around the block - with parent permission. Set up a "treasure shelf" at home to display cool looking rocks, pinecones, etc that you find!
7) Find out if your family has a telescope - set it up and star gaze before bed!
8) Have a family conversation that's environmentally minded. Maybe it's something you can do at home to be more Green - or something you learned about!
9) Make a comfy bird watching station! Pick a window where you can see some trees or bushes from and set up comfy pillows, some notebook paper and pencils. (Binoculars and bird guide optional) Draw any birds you happen to see!
10) Find out how to "green" up your house! Make signs to sort trash and recycling! Turn off lights you're not using!
11) Visit the Green Team's links page! Learn about some great environmentalists, read a cool article or play a fun game.
Here's even more great ideas from Earth Easy.
We hope you continue to stay green Central!
Going Green Matters Fair!
The Green Team is once again going to be participating in the Going Green Matters fair - presented by Go Green Wilmette and the Village of Wilmette - on Sunday March 8, 2020 from 12-4pm. The environmental fair is open to the public and is located at the Michigan Shores Club at 911 Michigan Ave in Wilmette.
This year's theme is "Trees: Back to our Roots." The Green Team is very excited to be participating in staffing the District 39 exhibit booth! We'll have some fun things to make and take home, so stop on by and visit us!
Want more information? Check out the Going Green Matters Fair webpage here.
Coming Soon - Earth Week at Central School!
The Green Team is hard at work planning out all the fun events to participate in during Earth Week 2020!
The week long celebration will be from April 13th to April 17th, with a bonus celebration day on Earth Day - which is on Wednesday April 22nd!
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and we've got something really special planned to celebrate at Central School!
Make sure to check back here for more details as we get closer to the dates!
Holiday Happenings!
Thanks to all who came to visit the Green Team during Holiday Happenings! We had a blast - singing songs, dancing around and getting the word out about our Holiday Lights recycling drive!
Green Team all ready to go!
Talking to some neighbors Getting interviewed for the
about the drive Wilmette Beacon!
Our moment in the spotlight:
Green Team Meetings
Our smaller groups met and came up with their new group names!
The "Rage Against the Trash" group will be working on a plan for new trash can placement on our fields and playground.
The "Green Beans" came up with our year-long pop tab goal and are working hard preparing for Holiday Happenings.
We're already so impressed with how enthusiastic our Green Team members are!
Some dates to know:
March 4th - Go Green Fair permission slips due for Green Team members
March 5th - lunch meeting for Go Green Fair participants
March 8 - Go Green Fair 12-4pm
March 19 - Rage Against the Trash meeting
April 13 - 17 - Earth Week
April 22 - Earth Day
April 30 - Green Beans meeting
Holiday Happenings!
The Green Team will be at Holiday Happenings 2019 which takes place all around Wilmette! The event takes place Saturday December 7th from 10 am to 6pm. It's a day full of family fun! Decorate some cookies at Plaza del Lago, visit Santa at Lad & Lassie, watch Elf at the Wilmette Theatre and end the night with the tree lighting at Village Hall!
The Green Team will be outside the Wilmette Theatre from 2:30 to 4:30 spreading the word about our Holiday Lights Recycling Drive! Come drop off your holiday lights for recycling with us - or just to say hi!
For more information about the Holiday Happenings event please visit their website here.
Holiday Lights Drive
Paper Bag Drive
Our Paper Bag Drive was a HUGE success! We've never seen so many paper bags ever! Thank you to all who contributed. Extra bags were distributed to classrooms for future use or recycled. We're excited to say that the 2019 Book Fair was plastic bag free this year!
Paper Bag Drive
The PTA came to the Green Team and asked us to help make the book fair more GREEN. We are super excited to help make the book fair
PLASTIC-FREE this year!
We're collecting paper bags of all shapes and sizes to replace the plastic shopping bags at the book fair this year!
Drop off your clean, folded paper bags in the bin found in the lobby from Monday October 21st to Friday November 1st.
Halloween Costume Swap!
The Costume Swap was a great success! Thank you to all who donated or swapped a costume or accessory! We were able to keep 28 costumes and 7 accessories out of the landfills! Way to go Central!
National Walk to School Day
We had a blast this morning! Check out the photo page to see some of the fun!
Thanks to Bolt for coming out to play with us!
National Walk to School Day
We're so excited to take part in National Walk to School Day this year! Over 4000 schools nationwide will be taking part in this event. While 177 of those schools are in Illinois, only one is in Wilmette - US!
Join us on the blacktop before school for a party to celebrate! We'll have music, a photo booth, chalk to draw with and more!
**If you pick up a piece of trash on your walk to school, toss it out with a Green Team member when you get to the blacktop for a special prize!**
So go GREEN on October 10th and walk to school Central!
Coming Soon....
Halloween Costume Swap!
Mark your calendars and clean out those closets! In an effort to keep costumes and accessories out of the trash we're sponsoring a swap! Bring in a costume or accessory you don't want anymore on the 17th and pick out something new-to-you on the 18th! Details below.
Paper Bag Drive
From October 21st until November 1st we'll be collecting paper bags to help make the Central School book fair plastic-free!
Bring your paper bags to the collection box in the lobby!
Wilmette Kids Climate Rally
The Wilmette Kids Climate Rally had a great turnout! Students from McKenzie as well as Highcrest and WJHS all gave some wonderful speeches. A few of those older kids were former Central Green Team members! So cool!
Here's some photos of our own Green Team members who attended - way to go!
Environmental Awareness Week!
We had a great time during EA week this year! Check out our photo page for some of the fun! Thanks for participating Central!
Welcome to Green Team!
We are excited to begin a new year at Central with a fabulous new team of environmentally minded 4th graders! This year our team has 45 members - and their applications were out of this world! Our events are based on their ideas and they did not disappoint! We have some really fun ideas for this year!
Green Team members - check out the "Green Team Members" tab to the left. You'll find all info that pertains to you there!
Central - check out our Green Team bulletin board in the front lobby of the school. We'll update it all year long with all our fun activities to help our whole school stay green!
We're also close to debuting a brand new website! So keep an eye out!
Alright Central - let's get ready for a great GREEN year!
First up.....
Environmental Awareness Week!
Environmental Awareness Week kicks off on Monday September 23rd and goes until Friday September 27th. We have some great things planned for the week! See the schedule below.
We hope you have fun celebrating the environment with us!
Wilmette Kids Climate Rally
Hey Central! Want to take part in a great environmental event in our community? Check out the Wilmette Kids Climate Rally! This is a peaceful and positive rally for kids by kids to help get the word out about climate action.
(Rallies are happening world wide as part of this Global Day of Action!)
See below for more details: