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!!!

Earth Week 2012 at BCE

Earth week

is April 16^th- April 22^nd 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!

                                              

Silverware!

This is a HUGE step towards getting greener at BCE:
we have SILVERWARE forks and spoons in our cafeteria since January!!!

Some first graders eating lunch, happily using silverware forks:

Just imagine how much plastic we are saving from going into trash=landfill by using reusalbe utensils!
500+ students times 1 fork and 1 spoon a day (I have seen students with 3 plastic forks and 4 plastic spoons on their trays before BCE switched to silverware)!!!

Xmas tree recycling - City of Austin

Recycle your Christmas Tree and Turn it Into a Resource!

Twenty-six years ago, the City of Austin began recycling Christmas trees, and now, almost 20,000 trees are kept out of area landfills annually. The tradition continues in 2011: recycle your tree into a free local resource!

For City of Austin garbage customers, recycling a Christmas tree is as easy as setting it on the curb. Beginning Dec. 27, 2010, Solid Waste Services will pick up all trees with yard trimmings on regularly scheduled collection days. They are then recycled along with yard trimmings to make Dillo Dirt™.

 

Residents who do not have City of Austin garbage service, including apartment and condo residents, can recycle their trees by dropping them off in Zilker Park from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the following dates:

• Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011
• Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011
• Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011

 

Trees collected at Zilker are recycled into mulch, which is made available free on a first-come, first-served basis to Austin residents in mid-January.

 

Source: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/sws/sws_news_details.cfm?nwsid=2850

A Greener Holiday Season

BCBC's Green Committee is wishing all BCE families a Happy and Green Holiday season!

Please take a moment to consider a greener holiday for your family and our Earth:

If every family in the country gift wrapped just three gifts by recycling existing paper they already have (how about school art paper/homework from your kids that you might otherwise recycle…reuse it and then recycle after the holidays!), the paper saved would be enough to cover 45,000 football fields. Now, that’s a green Christmas and a whole lot of trees saved too!

Replace your holiday lights with energy efficient LED lights. According to Energy Star, holiday LED lights consume about 70% less energy and last up to 10 times longer than traditional holiday strands.  The lights will pay for themselves in electricity savings in less than five years!  There are weather resistant ones for outdoor use, too!  Also, if one light goes out, the strand still works.  Nice, right?

Choose a live tree? There is definitely a bit of controversy on this topic. Best option: no tree. That most likely won’t go over well, another green suggestion would be a live tree that won’t be dumped out after the holidays.

Although an artificial tree can be used year after year, real trees might still the more sustainable choice.  Eventually artificial trees (which are made from petroleum products and contain PVC) will end up in the landfill and their plastic content will make them stay there forever.  Live trees are a renewable resource grown on tree farms.  While they are growing, they contribute to better air quality, and over 90% are reduced into mulch after the holidays.

Recycle old electronics. When the latest version of an electronic gift shows up under your tree, make sure that you recycle your old ones.  BCE will help you recycle most older electronics! Check out the escrip box in the entrance hallway at BCE for dropping off electronics!

Rethink your Holiday traditions and start newer and greener ones.

This is the best gift you can give our Earth!

Resources:

http://ecofriendlygreenearth.com

http://blog.greenearthbamboo.com/

http://www.christmastree.org/faketrees.cfm