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....
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| Kate, Audrey, Ms. Claire and Ms. Heather, as we went around the circle introducing ourselves and things we love about our environment |
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| Kate helping Liam as he climbs down to clean up trash around the creek. |
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| 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 and Audrey continued to work through the recyclables, we prepared a surprise snack of freshly popped popcorn for the kids and then started the presentation to walk our kids through the backyard composting program currently being implemented at Underwood Elementary School in Newton Corner.
We (Wendy, Heather and Claire) have all toured Underwood Elementary School, where in recent years a committed staff member (Andy Gluck) has implemented an extremely successful student-run backyard composting and recycling program with the support of faculty/staff.
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| Underwood Elementary School, and a view of their backyard composting bins (constructed by staff and parents) |
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| Close-up of their composting bin |
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| Student volunteers to facilitate composting and waste disposal during lunchtime at Underwood. Here, we have two 4th grader boys who are volunteers for the day. |
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| Lunchtime compost bin at Underwood. |
Our Green Team kids were fascinated by the program and student involvement at Underwood, and motivated to help bring the same program to Mason-Rice. With the leadership of our Green Team kids, we hope to take the first step this spring with our snack composting initiative.
At last, it was time for the much-anticipated Zero-Waste Yankee Swap! The kids could not wait to see what they would get. There was much excitement as the various gifts were revealed, and items got exchanged in every which direction. From glow-in-the-dark slime, friendship bracelets, used books and a coloring pad, to a much-loved teddy bear and ceramic garlic roaster, there was something in there for everyone. The gift swap turned out indeed to be a fun and eco-friendly way to exchange gifts during the holidays, and we highly recommend it!
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