Summary: 5/10 Newton Community Farm Trip

On Friday, May 10, we lucked out with the weather (the forecasted rain did not come, thankfully!) and were treated to an incredibly fun and educational session at the Newton Community Farm on Nahanton Street.

Reva Haselkorn, Director of Education at the Newton Community Farm, led the tour and our own Green Team high school student members Audrey and Kate helped to lead activities. After a snack and introduction in the barn, Reva took us on a tour around the farm...

We learned about the farm animals, the various types of plantings...

and lots of fun facts. For example, did you know the big leaves on a rhubarb plant (in the photo below) are poisonous?)

One of the most exciting parts (in my opinion) was seeing composting in action. Our Green Team Kids were treated to a fun compost sorting activity (using Reva's frozen food waste) and a chance to try out the tumbler compost bin (many of the kids found out that turning it is harder than it looks).

For many of the Green Team Kids, feeding the chickens was the highlight of the trip. Interestingly, the best thing to feed these particular chickens is mallow, an edible weed, growing nearby.

The trip was a success! Thanks to all who contributed to this enriching experience.

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Our last meeting!

On June 7, we Green Team coordinators were happily surprised and showered with beautiful flowers, cards and gifts from our Green Team Kids and their parents. Were were thrilled to hear how much the students enjoyed the programming over the year, and we thank the parents for their ongoing support and generosity! To cap off a great year and to enjoy the beautiful summer afternoon, we enjoyed a scavenger hunt outdoors that covered numerous topics we've discussed over the course of the year followed by frozen treats, a short presentation by Kate and Audrey about eating vegan (this was a topic we were going to cover in an earlier session, when we went to visit the Mayor instead!), and then a photo slideshow of the year. Thanks everyone for an amazing year, and have a great summer!

Our Kickoff Meeting (10/26/2018)

On the afternoon of October 26th, we launched our first Mason-Rice Green Team Kids meeting for the year. We had approximately fourteen 3rd and 4th graders with a mix of knowledge and interest in environmental issues and actions they can take to help protect our planet. As a group, we discussed what they would like to do as members of Green Team Kids (the most popular response was "making posters" to raise awareness, which we will be doing at the next meeting). Then we launched into our first substantive topic: TRASH. Below is a copy of some of the slides and videos from our presentation. October 26 Presentation Slides For those who would like to learn more about how the City of Newton manages its trash and recycling, please check out the "Where Does My Trash and Recycling Go?" section on the City's website .

Summary: 12/7 Meeting and Spring Project

On Friday, 12/7, we spent the afternoon teaching the kids about composting and then revealed our exciting spring 2019 project: launching composting during snack-time at Mason-Rice. With Principal Bultema's support, the Green Team Kids will help lead composting at Mason-Rice starting next March! As a quick background: Mason-Rice does not currently compost during snack or lunch. This is probably not surprising, since - as Newton residents would know - the City of Newton currently does not provide for compost pickup. Accordingly, Mason-Rice students' food scraps must be thrown into the trash. However, over the years, a couple of elementary schools in Newton (Underwood and Peirce) have started to compost on their own campuses thanks to the initiative of environmentally-minded and motivated individuals at the respective schools (typically a staff member). This fall, the City of Newton has also launched compost pick-up at its newest elementary s...

Mason-Rice Green Team Kids!

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