The 100th day of school & recycling!

On Feb. 11, 2008 all grades at PS40 collaborated with Craig Kane, the art teacher, to celebrate the 100th day of school. The Student Council decided on a recycling project which the school is actively practicing this year.

K through fourth grade were asked to bring recyclable objects- empty cereal boxes, aluminum foil, plastic bottles, brown paper bags & paper rolls on the 100th day. 5th graders were asked to bring in tins of food to give to those in need. Throughout the 100th day Craig supervised the building of sculptures made from them.

What was made? A replica of PS40 built from 100 cereal boxes, with the students represented in front by plastic bottles. A teepee structured of cardboard strips and covered with brown paper bags stood behind a man made of toilet and paper towel rolls with a circus dog of aluminum foil!!

It was a satisfying metaphor for the school’s recycling project- in which individual efforts, that might seem insignificant on their own, become something meaningful when combined with the efforts of others.

And this project will itself be recycled to become part of the PS40 bid in the citywide competition for the “Trashmasters! Super Recyclers’ Golden Apple Award” this May.

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE…RETHINK!

We couldn't do it without them!!

Here's a big THANKS!!!! To Shawn (directly below) and Joe, Elliot and Hector (bottom pic, from left to right) for helping us to recycle! Look out for the Super Green Eco Team's interview of the custodial team, coming soon!

Taking it home!!

There is always something to learn, and it seems that our kids are our greatest teachers in so many ways. Here is a recycling story from a mother of 2 girls at PS40...

Recycled Trash is so much more than our actual trash

My daughters (in 1st grade and 5th grade at PS40) told me that two women (parents of PS 40) came into their classrooms and spoke to them about recycling and showed them examples as well as took questions. A question that had been boggling us was whether tissues could be recycled or not. I figured they are made of paper so why not? But I was informed by my daughters that indeed they are not recyclable because we sneeze into them. I was quite surprised but I learned something new. At home we've always recycled but now Meagan and Morgan are seeing to it that we are bringing their lessons home and learning what goes where. It is so nice to see that they care for their environment and their future - that they are making sure to take part not only in school but at home as well and when we visit family they are making sure to inform them too. We've also taken great notice that we have very little actual trash and lots of recycled trash to put out. When you sort everything on a regular basis you can really notice that we don't have much actual trash but we do have a lot of actual recycled materials.
written by: Annette

On the tour....

Here we are on our whirlwind tour....