Saturday, April 28, 2012

Shred Day 2012 at BCE


A big THANKS to Scott Lowrey and "Certified Shred" 
to donate his time and his company truck to shred sensitive papers, bank documents, tax returns for our community.

Did you know that shredded paper cannot go into a single household recycling bin?
Certified Shred will bring the shredded paper to a recycling facility. 
Most of the paper will be made into toilet paper!!!

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Announcement


Shred Day 2012
Saturday, April 28th,
9 to 11 am
at BCE


Barton Creek Elementary and Certified Shred are hosting a shred day to give the community and businesses the opportunity to keep their identity safe while helping the environment.  
Shred Day 2012 is a free on-site document shredding event which allows people and businesses to shred their
old bank statements, tax returns, and any other sensitive documents they may have.  
Keep in mind that we are only shredding documents,
so NO newspapers or any plastic material.


Saturday, April 14, 2012

Plastic Bag Recycling


BCE students saved all these plastic bags from going into our landfills.
BCE collected over 17,000 plastic bags in 1 week!!!

It took 3 truck loads full to get these plastic bags to HEB Westlake
where the plastic bags will go to a recycling facility to be reused.


Who won the plastic bag contest?
Ms Schumann's class!


Ms Schumann's class and Mrs Bowerman's class collected each over 3,000 plastic bags!

Plastic bags have been around for only 50 years. Scientists are not sure how long they take to degenerate on a landfill. Actually plastic bags don't bio-degrade, they do photodegrade (through ultraviolet light).
Estimates range from 500 to 1,000 years...for sure a very long long time!

Our 17,000 plastic bags were just saved from spending 1000 years on a landfill!!!

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Announcement

BCE and HEB Westlake are working together again!

BCE will collect Plastic Bags for Recycling 
all through Earth week.

History of this event:
Last year, 54 stores participated in the School Recycling Contest collecting more than 958,000 plastic bags!! The record amount of bags collected at one school is 83,000. The average school collects nearly 16,000 plastic bags. In 2011, HEB recycled 4.1 million plastic bags!!
 
What are the school's responsibilities?:
- each classroom must collect the bags from students daily
- school leader will need to submit the grade level that collected the most plastic bags and total bags collected as a school
- educators in each classroom will be responsible to keep track of all the bags collected daily then combine for a grand total at end of contest 
- contest will go for the entire week of April 16-20 
 
What will the winning classroom win?:
- celebration with HE Buddy, healthy snacks, drinks and a $150 HEB gift card 


Friday: Trash Reduction Contest

Our first unannounced weighing (Tuesday, April 10th):

Kindergarten:    28.00 lbs
1st grade:          33.60 lbs
2nd grade:         30.16 lbs
3rd grade:          27.47 lbs
4th grade:          24.52 lbs
5th grade:          22.78 lbs

The grade that will reduce their trash the most on Friday 
will receive extra recess!!!

How to reduce trash?
* Eat your food!!!
* compost all leftover fruit and veggies
* recycle all milk bottles
* bring in reusable lunch containers, Laptop Lunchboxes are great!!!
   ...order with BCE and you'll get free shipping and 15% discount on products!

Who won the trash reduction contest?

2nd grade!
2nd grade reduced trash by 25%!!! That was a total of 8 pounds less trash!!!
3rd grade reduced trash by 5 1/2 pounds and 1st grade reduced trash by 5 pounds!
Way to go BCE students!

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What could possibly be better?
The students are actually keeping up their good RRR behavior.
On Friday in the cafeteria, I did not find a single milk bottle going into trash from 2nd grade. I had a student come to me asking me if he could recycle the 3 empty milk bottles I was holding in my hands. I was very impressed!!!

Thursday: Paper Bag decoration

BCE students decorated paper bags for HEB Westlake.
Those were handed out on Earth Day at HEB Westlake.

Paper bags were all very creative: pointing out Earth facts, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle facts.
Students did an awesome job!

 Some of the many paper bags:




HEB Westlake gave out prices for best decorated paper bag per grade!
Here are the winners:
  • Catherine, 5th grade, Mrs. Dearth's class
  • Grace B., 4th grade, Mrs. Alkire's class
  • Olivia, 3rd grade, Ms. Roberson's class
  • Madi, 2nd grade, Ms. Bowerman's class
  • Athena, 1st grade, Mrs. Peichoto's class
  • Joseph, Kindergarten, Ms. Hanley's class
  • Tristan, ELT grade, Ms. Swiderski's class


  • Congratulations!!!

    *********
    Announcement:


    HEB Westlake and BCE are working together:

    Each BCE students is decorating an HEB  
    Paper Bag with Earth themes.

    HEB will hand these out to costumers on
    Earth Day, Sunday, April 22nd.

    Come back here and check out our BCE's greatest Paper Bags!!!

    Wednesday

    Wait and see what green surprise Mrs Frederickson has for every grade!!!

    Tuesday T-shirt Drive

    Last year's week long T-shirt drive got Open Arms 350 T-shirts.
    Could we beat this number in just 1 morning collection of T-shirts?

    YES!!!
    We collected 710 T-shirts this morning.
    Way to go, BCE!!!
    A whole minivan full of T-shirts:


    BCE students learned that we can REUSE T-shirts!!!

    Open Arms – a company with a conscience – was founded to employ refugee women living in Austin, Texas to help them break the cycle of poverty by earning a reasonable wage that enables them to support their families. 
    Open Arms is on a mission to do it differently - creating awareness that everyday choices can change the world.
    Open Arms reuses T-shirts to make beautiful skirts and scarves! 


    ********
    Announcement

    Recycle your T-shirts!

    Donate your T-shirts!
    We need your burnt orange, maroon, red, brown, gray and black T-shirts!
    Your fun artsy T-shirts are welcome, too!
    Bring them in and put them in the Open arms collection box.

    BCE will have 5th grade student helpers to collect T-shirts in car lanes.

    You'll be helping Open Arms, a company employing refugee women at a living wage in Austin, TX!
    Their fashionable skirts and scarves are from re-purposed  100% recycled materials!

    Drive Date and Collection Box Locations:
    Tuesday, April 17th
    Car lane and bus rider box

    Monday March to School


    120+ students   MARCHED from WRMS to BCE this morning.
    What a great Kick-off Event to Earth week!


    Our crossing guard at the middle school...it was a fun event for sure!
    AND we did make sure our BCE students were all safe!!!


    HEB Bee Caves donated bananas and water for the March.
    No landfill waste. We composted a half bucket full of banana peels and served water in reusable cups.

    Even the perfect shirt for the day: "Environmentalist (someday) NOW"

    "I walked to School Today" Earth Week sticker for every walker:

    And not to forget: "Tuesday T-shirt Drive":


    **********
    Announcement:

    Drop off your BCE student between
    7:10 am and 7:25 am
    at WRMS (in car lane at front entrance)
    and we will march your students to BCE.

    Parents are welcome to walk with their kids!

    Parking:
    Volunteers: park along field and not in WRMS front lot
    Marching Parents: you can park in WRMS front lot but need to remove your car by 7:50 am…you will have enough time to walk your student to BCE and then walk back..it is only a 10 min walk!
    Drop off: same procedure as BCE

    The Monday March to School event is a reminder to all of us to walk short distances rather than use our cars,
    might it be to a friend’s house or the playground.
    We can WALK!!!


    Thursday, April 12, 2012

    Earth Week 2012 at BCE


    Earth week
    is April 16th- April 22nd 2012 at BCE!

    We will have an educational, fun and “green” week!

    Monday March to School:
    Drop your BCE students off at WRMS between 7:10 am and 7:25 am
    and we will march them with green surprises along the way to BCE!
    (see details below)

    Tuesday T-shirt Drive:
    Bring your used T-shirts to BCE and Open Arms will reuse them!
    We will collect T-shirts at car lanes as well as have a box out front for bus riders!
    (see details below)

    Wednesday
    Mrs Frederickson has a green surprise for each grade level!

    Thursday Paper Bag decoration:
    Thursday is the deadline for students to bring in their decorated Paper Bag.
    HEB Westlake customers will use these on Earth day.
    HEB will choose a winner for best decorated bag for each grade
    and will give out prizes!!!
    Class with 100% participation will get a special surprise from Mrs Frederickson.

    Friday Waste Reduction Contest:
    Which grade can reduce their amount of trash the most?
    Recycle, compost, reusable lunch boxes…
    Winning grade will get extra recess!