Green Transformation
New City Neighbors
New City Neighbors is an organization with the mission of “empowering the youth to reach their full potential.” They are committed to employing youth (around 100 kids) along with giving them opportunities to build skills such as leadership, effective communication, business mentalities, and embracing diversity and inclusion. In addition, New City Neighbors believes in radical hospitality and holistic ministry to positively impact the surrounding community. The organization’s urban farm is called the New City Farm in which high school kids help to grow and sell produce. Additionally, the youth make and sell baked goods, soups, salads, wood-fired pizzas, and beverages at the New City Café. They serve around 250 customers in hopes to provide food security to those in need within their community. They are also one of the few food providing organizations that accept FAP credit and food stamps for fresh, clean produce. All in all, this wonderful organization strives for social and economic equity all while teaching its students the importance of living a sustainable lifestyle.
Source:https://newcityneighbors.org
Our Project
This curriculum is intended for middle school students. The theme that we chose is green transformation, and it shows how simple products such as cardboard boxes, mason jars, toilet paper rolls, etc. can be used to make new things, overall preventing excessive waste. In other words, the learning activities utilize pre-existing items and transform them into new ones. We chose this theme because we believe it is important to try our best to minimize waste whenever possible. We aim to teach students about the importance of transforming items that would have gone into the landfill into new, creative things. Through learning activities such as food preservation, art projects, and DIY terrariums, we hope to give students a better understanding of what it means to be sustainable. Community awareness and accessible learning activities are key parts of sustainability and each effort made to keep items out of landfill has a positive impact on our planet.
Source: Ryan Soehren
Learning Activity Example
Source:https://earth911.com/home-garden/start-seedlings-off-right-with-recycled-toilet-paper-rolls/
Materials:
Toilet paper roll
Scissors
Tray, plate, or bowl
Soil
Seeds (beans or sunflower seeds)
STEM: Science
Toilet Roll Seed Starters
A simple way to reuse toilet paper rolls is to make these easy seed starters. This learning activity teaches students how they can easily make starters to help their seeds sprout and plant them in a pot or garden to give them a head start.
Procedure:
Take your toilet paper rolls and scissors and cut ÂĽ inch wide strips, about an inch long, at one end of the roll.
Start folding each strip down. They should start to overlap each other creating a bottom that will eventually hold the soil
Fill the tube with pre-moistened soil and then lightly compress and keep adding soil until there is about ½ inch left at the top.
Plant one seed (a bean seed or sunflower seed)
Watch the sides of the roll for dryness and keep the soil moist for 2-4 weeks. Once the seeds have sprouted, you can transfer them into a bigger bin of soil or in your garden. You don’t have to remove the cardboard since it will biodegrade into harmless material in the soil.
Steps 1-4
Source: http://yougrowgirl.com/toilet-roll-seed-starter/
Other Learning Activities
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJJvghf1E7A&t=207s
Water Bottle Plants
Source: https://pastryandbeyond.com/dried-apples-crispychewy-vs-crispy/
Oven-Dried Fruit
Source: https://www.thespruceeats.com/pickled-cabbage-4690042
Pickled Cabbage
Source: https://dengarden.com/gardening/How-to-Make-a-Terrarium-in-a-Jar
Moss Mason Jar Terrarium
Source: when-to-plant-up-germinated-seeds-250x250.jpg
Germinating Pepper Seeds
Source: https://www.scarce.org/upcycled-craft-weaving-with-plastic-bags-on-a-pizza-box-loom/
Reusable Harvesting Bag
Source:https://www.firstpalette.com/craft/seed-mosaic.html
Bean Mosaic
References
A. (2019, October 21). Easy refrigerator pickles. Retrieved March 18, from https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/easy-refrigerator-pickles-recipe/
About. (2021, February 24). Retrieved March 18, from https://newcityneighbors.org/about-us/
Brfonline (Director). (2018, March 19). Plastic bag weaving Step-by-step | an activity from Get MESSY! may - august 2018 [Video file]. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1Bt8BC68UY
Daisy Dawes. (2020, April 9). Transferring Paper Towel Sprouted Seeds to Soil. Retrieved March 19, from https://daisydawes.com
Gunes, H. (2019, July 1). How To Make Homemade Paint From Fruits And Vegetables. Sortra. Retrieved March 12, from https://www.sortra.com/how-to-make-homemade-paint-from-fruits-and-vegetables/
Meymi. (2020, April 4). How to Make Dried Apples Chewy vs. Crispy. Retrieved March 17, from https://pastryandbeyond.com/dried-apples-crispychewy-vs-crispy/
Rattray, D. (2021, March 14). Quick-Pickled Cabbage. The Spruce Eats. Retrieved https://www.thespruceeats.com/pickled-cabbage-4690042
Seed Mosaic. (2018). First Palette. https://www.firstpalette.com/craft/seed-mosaic.html
The Dad Lab. (2018, Nov 7). How To Make Natural Paint For Kids From Food At Home [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JttnWHnmtm0.
Trail, G. (2007, April 13). Toilet Roll Seed-Starter. You Grow Girl. http://yougrowgirl.com/toilet-roll-seed-starter/
Ujjwal mitraf. (2017, November 19). Self watering system for plants using waste plastic bottle [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJJvghf1E7A
Upcycled craft: Weaving with plastic bags on a pizza box loom. (2019, November 07). Retrieved March 24, 2021, from https://www.scarce.org/upcycled-craft- weaving-with-plastic-bags-on-a-pizza-box-loom/
Z. (2019, May 8). How to Make a Terrarium in a Jar. Dengarden - Home and Garden. https://dengarden.com/gardening/How-to-Make-a-Terrarium-in-a-Jar
Created by: Lily Danaher, Lucas Dasilva, Jonathan DeSantiago, Noah Dougherty, Parker Hice, Annah Huberts, Avery Koan, Ryan Soehren, Carly Sowirka, Lauren Visser
