Today is Climate Action Day #2; Energy! This is Mr. Lellis reminding you of some basic energy saving tips:
1) When it's daytime, try to avoid using the lights and just open the curtains (natural light)
2) Always turn off any lights you have in use when you leave the room. Who are you leaving them on for?!
3) Check out this awesome PSA I made! I only printed copies for grades K-2 to not use so much paper and betray CAD #1 on waste.
For Climate Action Day 1 (Waste), each 4th grade and 5th grade student was sent home with a slip of paper that was as follows:
Name: __________________________ Class number:_______
Leftover food item: ___________________________________
What could I do to the leftover food, or add to it, to make it appetizing to eat again?
The concept is to develop a resourceful list of ideas for students and families alike to reuse leftovers in the days after cooking (and before expiration) to avoid wasting. This open ended concept could be a first of its kind for the NYC Department of Sustainability and focuses to the "Reuse" of the 3 Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). Students are being asked to turn in 1-2 ideas each on the slip and can write on the front and back if needed to make sure their ideas are written in as much detail as possible. They may include their own ideas, those from their family and ideas from the internet. However, Mr. Lellis is insisting on original student and family ideas the most so those ideas are helping the same students and families that are giving ideas. This activity is due 11/19/24, on the day of the Waste CAD.
Climate Action Days
For the second year in a row, NYC schools and YVA are participating in "Climate Action Days, with each day focusing on an important section. The following dates indicate which topic is to be discussed:
November 19- Waste
February 5- Energy
April 9- Health, wellness and green spaces
May 21- Water
For the upcoming Waste day, we are hoping to do the following:
A sorting activity to help students understand which kinds of containers all their waste belong in so that items that can be recycled go to the proper facilities, a cafeteria "Check Up", a secret project headed by Mr. Lellis, Ms. Mani and Ms. Mochica, along with a possible student collaboration from fifth grade students (and maybe fourth grade) to develop a resource book that would be a compilation of tips and tricks to help families decide how to reuse their leftover food to prevent food waste. Such ideas include reheating of pizza in the oven (not the microwave) to get it crispy again, taking old chicken and shredding it and adding mayonnaise to make chicken salad, and adding different spices, sauces and ingredients to make old food appetizing again. One such example is taking plain breaded chicken and adding tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese and baking in the oven to make it into a chicken parm dish. Depending on number of responses and ideas, Mr. Lellis will investigate into compiling the ideas into a student made book that could see some level of publication, whether sent home to families or more.
Climate Action Day 4 (Water)
For this CAD, with K-2 classes, we read two stories related to water, it's daily uses, how it travels through the NY water system and other parts, including items we should be sure to NEVER drop down the sink, down the drain or flushed down the toilet (such as laundry detergent, hair, grease/oil, paper towels, etc). To wrap our time, we did our "Design Your Own Drippy" color in sheet where students designed their own version of Drippy from one of the stories. Many colored theirs as they liked, put hair and other things like shoes, pants, and a hat on their Drippy.
For grades 3-5, we discussed that the idea of Water Conservation is to try and avoid waste or misuse of water at school and at home. Students shared many ideas they heard of or thought of on the spot, most revolving around not leaving a sink running or dripping, when not in use (such as when washing dishes, brushing your teeth, etc). We then listened to a read aloud of the short book "We Are Water Protectors" by Carole Lindstrom. It covered the topic that sometimes water supplies are at risk when elements like a "black snake" (ex. oil pipelines) can poision local water supplies and affect people, animals, plants and more. In a connection to Civics, this expresses the need for students to be mindful of advocating and the right to protest just causes, such as clean drinking water for all. We wrapped the time with a Word Find sheet with 15 different words related to the NY water system, including newer words such as "fatberg" that describes large masses that form in the sewers from unsafe elements that have been dropped in the drain or flushed in the toilet, such as paper towels, toilet wipes, grease, baby diapers, and more. When these things get clumped, they become larger and larger masses that can begin to block pipes and thus the flow of wastewater in the system. The best way to prevent fatbergs is to be sure these items end up in the garbage and NOT in the drain or the toilet
NOTE: with the rising popularity of toilet wipes, students mention using them at home. Initially, most of these brands were intended as baby wipes and were meant for garbage disposal. However, with children and adults using them, they're ending up in toilets and the sewers. PLEASE check the packages you use for some kind of label saying "Safe To Flush." If the package of wipes says this, they are okay to flush in the toilet. It all has to do with how the wipes break down in the sewers and don't become part of larger fatbergs because they don't break down.
As for further Water day advice, students should continue use of reusable water bottles to reduce how many single use plastic bottles wind up in landfills, along with that most public water is clean to drink and thus not buying water bottles ultimately saves families money. For those with less than clean water at home, you could speak with a building manager or plumber about the quality of your water, or purchase a water filtration system that is either a container with a filter in it, or one that attaches to the sink. These will clean the water as it comes out of the tap and makes it safe to drink.
Climate Action Days
DECEMBER 6: Energy (electricity) <--- SUCCESS!
FEBRUARY 7: Waste (food) <--- SUCCESS!
Expected plans: implementation of the Share Table at lunch time (DONE!), practice sorting activity for the trash and recycling containers (DONE!), reemphasizing students bringing their own reusable plastic water bottles DAILY (compared to single use plastic bottles) (DONE!), and Plastic Free Day during lunch!
This website hosts some resources concerning garbage and recycling. One part labeled "Follow Your Waste" upon entering the site, lets you click on a type of waste and follow the steps from when it is picked up until what becomes of it at the end (each step is a dot at the bottom of the page)
"Play the sorting game" takes you to a drag and drop game where you are given various items to sort into the proper containers (e-waste, metal/glass/hard plastics/cartons, paper & cardboard, landfill and food scraps & yard waste). This activity may be a little advanced for K-2 grades to sort all items properly and I have focused students mostly to the containers they see in school at this point (black for garbage, blue for metal/glass/hard plastics/cartons, green for clean paper/cardboard). This activity is good for students to learn beyond those three containers only along with the recently added "brown for food scraps & yard waste". I'll be giving students a chance to play this sorting game on the Feb 7 Climate Action Day for those I am scheduled with, perhaps with other classes either before or after the day, depending on time.
Make a bird feeder with a toilet paper roll
Click the link to see
If you don't have bird see, instead of buying, you could use pieces of stale bread, or crackers that you put in a baggie and crush. Birds enjoy both and most houses have both and it's a great use for those foods instead of throwing them away if they go stale.
MORE!!!
APRIL 17: Health, Wellness and Green Space <---SUCCESS!
JUNE 12: Water <--- SUCCESS!
For the above dates, we are going to focus on conservation and sustainability for each topic with activities we can do, or activities we can avoid, to make things better.
For instance, for the December 6 Climate Action Day on Energy, we are hoping to go the following activities:
1) A "Lights Out" teaching period of one hour (likely 8:30 am to 9:30 am) where classes will turn off the above head class lights to save electricity and see how "natural light" (the Sun) can keep a room bright during the day.
2) Minimized use of the school elevator (unless physically required by those who would need it daily)
3) Reading of and and discussion of the below PSA page from Mr. Lellis (FIGHT VAMPIRES AND SAVE MONEY!!!). The focus of the PSA is to help students and families understand that while we turn electronic devices to OFF positions when we don't use them, if we leave them plugged in at that time, the devices CONTINUE to use electricity and cost families money, even if they don't notice! The PSA includes helpful examples to help students and families combat this "Vampire Power Drain" to save electricity and money on the utility bill each month.
TOP TIP: The cable box is your BIGGEST DRAIN of electricity from devices that are turned off, but still plugged in.
Cable Box Research document <--- Mr. Lellis conducted a two weeks long experiment to see if unplugging the cable box from bedtime to returning home would save money on electricity. Click the link and read to find out!
FIGHT VAMPIRES AND SAVE MONEY!!! <--- PSA link here, click on it! A copy was sent home with the students starting on Dec 7!