Mason-Rice Green Team Kids!

With the arrival of the new year and our spring composting project launch just around the corner, it's time to roll up our sleeves and get to work!  As a quick recap:  as our spring project, the Green Team is aiming to launch composting in the Grades 3-5 classrooms during snack-time.   Composting is a great way to divert students' food scraps from our waste stream (and preventing the subsequent production of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas), and to convert them into valuable, natural fertilizer that can then be added to the school garden.  Participation in a composting program can also increase students' environmental awareness, and empower students to take positive environmental action. As a first step, we wanted to make sure we all understood what snack time looks like right now, what kinds of snacks are eaten (and trash produced), how the recycling bins are used, and how they are emptied.  The Green Team Kids helped us answer these questions based on each of their o

At our last meeting before the holidays, we had a few surprises in store for the kids. First, we were joined by our new high school friends from Newton South -- Audrey and Kate (a Mason-rice alum!) -- who are generously contributing their time and energy to help us out.  It was clear that our Green Team kids looked up to Audrey and Kate and enjoyed their company, especially as Audrey and Kate helped the kids out with our playground clean-up.... Kate, Audrey, Ms. Claire and Ms. Heather, as we went around the circle introducing ourselves and things we love about our environment Kate helping Liam as he climbs down to clean up trash around the creek. Ms Claire and Eric enjoying their walk back into the building after collecting a large bag of trash And then went above and beyond by diligently washing and sorting out recyclables from the bags of trash we collected off of the playground. (Thank you Audrey and Kate for being great role models for our kids!) While Kate an