PS40 is inspected!

On Thursday, May 14th at 8:30 in the morning Department of Sanitation recycling inspector, Glen Nison came to PS40 to find out if we were really recycling as well as we said we were in the book we submitted. PS40's Head Custodian, Shawn Cavanaugh led Mr. Nison around the school... through the cafeteria, into the kitchen, into the garbage/recycling holding area outside, and in to several classes on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Mr. Nison took several photographs. One similar to this one.

As he was leaving the building I him asked "how did we do?" His response was 'very well overall. The cafeteria was perfect, and all the cans he looked in had the right things in them'.

I asked how we could improve for next year, and he let me know that he would have liked to have seen more signs... more Dept. of Sanitation recycling stickers and signs.

The results of the competition should be in by Friday May 23rd!!! Regardless of the results, CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE for doing such an amazing job, accomplishing more than I could have ever imagined! PS40 students, teachers, parents, administrators, custodians.... YOU ROCK!

NYC inspection this week!

Hi Everyone! 

Well it's May 12th, 2008 and the contest book of all PS40's efforts has been submitted. It looked amazing, thanks to Carlen and Gabrielle, and was very impressive, thanks to all the student and teachers who have made such a huge recycling push this year. 

We've been notified that a NYC department of sanitation inspector will be coming to the school between Tuesday, May 13th - Tuesday, May 20th. WHICH DAY WE DO NOT KNOW!! So we ask that everyone be extra diligent in their recycling efforts. Many thanks to all of you in advance! 

Ok that's it for now, good luck! 

The PS40 Super Green Eco team

The Cafeteria - Part III

Recycling in the cafeteria is a SUCCESS!


The kids know what to do...

The styrofoam tray and food are garbage and the plastic bottle and milk carton are recyclable...

The styrofoam tray is garbage and the milk carton is recyclable...

The plastic and styrofoam trays and the food are garbage; the milk carton is recyclable...

The milk carton is recyclable....

Success!

The Cafeteria - Part II

The lunch aides, the custodial staff and the kitchen personnel are all working to help the students recycle properly. Earlier this month we all met one morning and using the expertise of the those who know how the cafeteria runs they came up with a logical configuration of the garbage and recycling cans. We are working to keep the can locations consistent. It was agreed that it would help the students remember where to put their trash if the cans were always in the same place. So far so good.

The Salk school joins in

PS40 resides on the 1st, 2nd & 3rd floors of the Gothic building on the south side of 20th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenue. The prestigious middle school, The Salk School can be found on the 4th & 5th floors of this beautiful building.

Several members of the Salk School student council volunteered to create the Salk Recycling team. Since mid February the Salk Recycling team has been meeting once a week with Suzie and Michele in an effort to get Salk in compliance with all recycling rules.


These students evaluated the needs of every Salk classroom and created a chart listing the classrooms and how many recycling cans and garbage cans were required. The list was given to the custodial staff and the bins were delivered.
Once the classrooms had the appropriate recycling & garbage cans, they brainstormed ideas to encourage the Salk students to recycle. They decided to make a funny 'hidden camera' video that they will screen at a school assembly. More ideas are sure to come.

Bash The Trash

BASH THE TRASH came to PS40 and the whole school got to see them.

Bash the Trash, as its name implies, is all about building musical instruments from unusual materials, such as recycled junk, discarded stereo components and old children's toys.

Their goal is to educate children about the connections of sound and acoustics to science, math, literacy and cultural studies through the use of simple musical instruments.

They work to promote environmental awareness through increased student participation in the three "R's" - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Bash The Trash feels Arts in our schools is very important, especially as linked to the Core Curricula - science, math, literacy and cultural studies.

As the student were leaving the autotorium several were singing to themselves the "reduce, reuse, recycle" song the had learned during the show.

Paper Making

With help from the Parents As Art Partners organization, PS40 students and their parents met in the cafeteria to learn about paper recycling and how to make paper of our own!








Very cool paper!

Earth Week is a SUCCESS!!!

Earth Week was a huge success!
The TrashMasters! table sold almost all of the 'Super Green Eco-Team' 100% organic cotton t-shirts.

The gently used book sale saw almost as many books go out as came in.


We raised twice the amount needed to plant the 450 trees.



Almost every child and adult who stopped by wrote a note to the earth and clipped it up to the hemp line that ran through our celebration area.

And the colorful reusable bags with the PS40 logo sold like hotcakes. With so many bags sold the checkout people at the supermarket are going to stop being surprised when we say, no thank you to another plastic bag.

Earth Week goes up!!!

The kids worked together to paint the 'Love The Earth' poster;
and we needed the tallest ladder to hang it.

The Cafeteria

Nice work, dropping your milk carton in the recycling can. Only milk/juice boxes, water bottles, soda cans and aluminum foil goes in that recycling can. With new signs up, the students in the cafeteria are really paying attention and working hard to to put their trash where it belongs.

EARTH WEEK!!

HI, If you don't already know, next week, March 3rd-7th, is Earth Week at PS40. There will be tables set up in the cafeteria during 'morning drop of' and 'end of day pick up' all week. 

PLEASE come and check it out. Buy an organic t-shirt designed by Super Green Eco-Daniel, bring us all your plastic bags and we'll take them to Whole foods for recycling and if you can guess how many we will collect you'll win a prize...buy a raffle to win an eco-friendly water bottle, purchase a reusable shopping bag (lots of beautiful colors)- better yet buy some for friends too! They are only $6! Donate your used books and buy some 'new' ones...Write a wish for the planet and get lots and lots and lots of info about what YOU can do to help the planet heal. 

Let's make learning about this fun and do it side by side with our kids, their energy and enthusiasm is awesome and inspiring...! Let's nurture it- for them, for us, for everyone...!

Please come and say hello and have some free coffee!!! 

OH YEA...AND FRIDAY IS 'BASH THE TRASH'

Go Kids Go!!!!!

During the day, classroom recycling monitors bring the recycling bins to the large bins at the end of the hall and dump them out. From there the custodians pick it all up and bag it for the street...GO KIDS GO!!

Jan/Feb 2008 Newsletter

If you missed the Eco Teams page in the Jan/Feb PS40 Newsletter, here it is...lots of great tips and resources on the web....

Inspectors and their badges!!

Have you noticed these signs on the classroom doors yet?

The student council, 'Super Green Eco Team' have been inspecting every classroom at PS40 and if the classroom's recycling bins pass their inspection- they get an 'A-OK' super recycling badge. We've had many students come up to us in the hallways- 'we got our badge!!'

The Super Green Eco Teams' goal is to have the badge on every classroom and office door!! 

Here is an example of the checklist they fill out....

The First Bulletin Board!

Has everyone seen the bulletin board that's been in the cafeteria since last fall??? Well it's gone now, and we have put up a lot of very powerful images of plastic bags and the harm they do to the environment. 

But here is the first bulletin board- just in case you missed it!