Mason-Rice Green Team Kids!

Time to make "bug hotels"! As promised, Kate and Audrey led us on an exciting journey this Friday afternoon to create our own, unique shelters for insects.  For those of you who are not familiar with the concept of a "bug hotel" (also known as insect hotels), here are a couple of key things to know: -- What is it?   Bug hotels are winter lodgings for your backyard bugs.  They are are usually made of found or upcycled materials around the yard and consist of different "suites" catered to each little bug's preferred lodging taste. -- Why build one?   Bug hotels provide safe areas for solitary insects to hibernate over the winter.  Big lawns and the lack of dead wood in our yards leave wild bees, spiders and ladybugs without a place to live.  Building accommodations for beneficial insects like ladybugs or flying pollinators can help benefit both your environment and garden in the spring. [Source:  Insteading.com ] After a brief introduction an...

Happy Spring! On March 29, we kicked off the first of a series of fun activities that our wonderful high school members, Kate and Audrey, will be leading throughout the remaining sessions.  After a quick debrief of our March 26 assembly (e.g., what went well, which areas we could improve on, what our friends or classmates thought), Kate and Audrey introduced the "Bug Hotels" activity that the students will get to work on next Friday.  Kate and Audrey facilitated a discussion about bugs and insects, and also explained how we will be making the hotels.  If you/your child missed the March 29 session, check out Kate and Audrey's slides below and don't forget to bring in any materials you might have at home. Now that spring has arrived, everyone was excited to go outside to resume our regular playground clean-ups.  As usual, the Green Team Kids found a wide variety of trash and recyclable items around Newton Centre Playground.  They also got a special trea...

Our March 26 assembly was a success!  After an intense session of filming and preparing, and an extra rehearsal on a Sunday, the Green Team Kids delivered an effective, engaging and educational assembly to the Mason-Rice 3rd, 4th and 5th grades.  The 2-part assembly, comprised of the Green Team 3R's video (above) and a "Recycle Right Walking Relay Race" facilitated by the students, was well-received by Principal Bultema, faculty and students. Well done, Green Team Kids! Below are some photos from our March 12 filming session and preparation on the morning of the assembly.  A BIG and special thank you to Neal McConnell for the incredible time and effort you put into creating the amazing video, and to Kate and Audrey for working with the students to design and implement the relay race. Green Team Kids eagerly waiting for their classmates to file in on the morning of the assembly Maebh tries out her lines on the microphone before the assembly Ms. Claire and Emili...