Hug It Forward

Ask anyone and they’ll tell you that February is

known as the month of love. Just like “x’s” and

“o’s,” hugs & kisses are a big part of this heart-filled month.

That means February is a perfect month to check out the

website http://hugitforward.com/ . This San Diego non-

profit is raising donations and awareness for “bottle

schools.” Bottle schools are popping up, thanks to Hug It

Forward, in several communities in Guatemala to help

communities break free from “the cycle of poverty.” Plastic

bottles & other non-biodegradable trash are picked up by

community members, trash is stuffed in the bottles, the

bottles are nestled in chicken wire to form a vertical wall,

then cement and sand form walls around the wired bottles.

These make the foundation of schools. Amazingly, these

schools/ structures can be created with only about

$9000…leaving behind a cleaner community and empowered

community members that helped to make it happen. Green

building at its finest!

To see a video of the creation of this, check out

http://www.theplastiki.com/2010/12/how-to-build-a-school-

from-plastic-bottles/ . (Yes, this is GTG’s favorite boat

constructed out of 12,500 plastic bottles.) Then, go to

http://hugitforward.com/uploads/Hug_It_Forward_Introdu

ctory_Leaflet_November_2010.pdf to see a detailed flier

about the beauty of bottle schools. Guaranteed…it’ll make

for a great classroom discussion with your students!

Love Your Lights:

By Turning Them Out!

Is it time for a reality check when it comes

to your energy usage from lights alone?

Get yourself ready for next month’s “Earth

Hour” (on March 26th from 8:30--9:30 pm). What’s Earth

Hour, you ask? Stay tuned, as it’ll be the focus of next

month’s GTG…but to tide you over, it’s a one hour+ time slot

where people world-wide can commit to making a positive

change by turning out their lights to show that small actions

can make a big difference! http://www.earthhour.org

So this month, to raise your own awareness, check out page

2 of this month’s GTG. Go green on sunny days by graphing

those moments when you consciously go “lights out.” How

long will it take to light up your light bulb graph?

The Green Team Gazette Volume 3, Issue 6, page 1 February 2011

Eco-eResources, Part Deux

January 2011 Green Team Gazette was chock-filled with

eco-resources to ring in the new year. Unfortunately,

my basket of ideas was overflowing, so here’s part 2 of

some great internet resources to check out!

Ratings: US & Green Transport

Make mapping not only a geography event but a green

one too! Pull down the class map and have your

youngsters use this USA Today link to locate the best

(and worst) states based on how they use their

transportation $$’s for the forces of GREEN (according

to the Natural Resources Defense Council-NRDC) and

Smart Growth America.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/p

ost/2010/12/us-states-ranked-transportation/1

Love Books?

Then Think I.N.K.

Thanks to one of my favorite “green authors,” Jennifer

Keats Curtis, I’ve discovered I.N.K.: “Interesting

Nonfiction for Kids.” Here teachers will fall in love!

Nonfiction authors have come together to write about

their books, resources they know about, and they’ve

included lessons/activities and other teaching resources

to accompany their books. To check it out yourself, go

to www.inkthinktank.com and create a free registration.

Also visit their blog http://inkrethink.blogspot.com/.

The Green Team Gazette is a publication

co-sponsored by the founders of CynerGreen

CGKidz, and Eagle Cove School (formerly “Gibson Island Country School”), a Green

School in Pasadena, Maryland. Our mission is

to educate and share ways to “go green”—both big & small--

and be environ-mentally-proactive at home, in school, and

beyond. It is written by Vicki Dabrowka, 3rd grade teacher

& co-Green Team Leader at Eagle Cove School. To learn

more visit www.cynergreen.com, www.cgkidz.com, and

www.eaglecoveschool.org. You can also follow us at

http://greenteamgazette.blogspot.com/ or find us at “Green

Team Gazette” on Facebook or on Twitter.

Please print on recycled paper. Copyright © 2011 Vicki Dabrowka

A Bright Idea: Lights Out!

The Green Team Gazette Volume 3, Issue 6 , page 2 February 2011

Copyright ©

2011 Vicki

Dabrowka

Here’s what you do:

1. Pick a room to try this

experiment—either your

playroom, your bedroom, or

your classroom. Make sure it is

a room that gets a lot of

natural light!

2. Post this light bulb near

your light switch.

3. Get in the habit of stopping

and thinking: “Do I really need

those lights on… especially if it

is a sunny day!?!

4. For every hour you turn off

the lights, color in one full

square on the light bulb graph.

5. For every half hour you go

without lights on, color in one

half square (or triangle).

6. Be sure to keep track of

your starting & ending dates.

7. When your light bulb graph

is completed, figure out how

many days it took you to save

this much electricity. Also

count how many total squares

you filled in. This equals the

number of hours you saved

energy!

I’m going green is to turn out the lights on sunny days when I don’t need them.

Lights Out Date Started: _________________

Mission Completion Date: _________________

It took (#) ___________ days.

I saved (#) _______________ hours of electricity by doing this!