ecoschool banner
                    EcoSchools Newsletter
April 2009                                                                                                        Volume 1 Issue 5
In This Issue
TDSB Earth Hour 2009
Project standby
Open House
Register for certification
Workshop
Essential tools
Earth Week challenge
Waste audit for 10 schools
Spring clean-ups
Step to Action
Green Toronto Youth Award
Funding for Greening Projects
Steve's web pick!
Quick Links











henry david


How can you know
that a computer is in standby mode?


Look for a flashing green light on the power button at the front of the computer.

If you are not sure that your computer has the standby setting applied, or if the computer does not "wake" from standby mode at the click of the mouse, touch of any key, or by pressing the on/off button, please call the Enterprise Help Desk.










































































Spring Gardening!

For anyone keen to
learn more about
gardening, check out
the Toronto Community

Garden News. Item 9 of the April e-newsletter includes a listing of Garden Jane's workshops on organic gardening Saturdays April 18th, May 9th and May 30th. Instructor Jane Hayes
has a wealth of experience with children's gardening and school gardens. $50-75 sliding scale includes resources.































clean up

The EcoSchools Community Clean-up Guide has timeless tips for planning a well-run
event.


To get free gloves
(one per student)
and bags, you need
to register your
clean-up event
on-line, using a
TDSB computer,
click here.

Please note: the City
supplies gloves and bags to the TDSB for distribution to registered schools. Do not contact the City.















nature bookmark
Two different nature walk bookmarks available free! Students can record the textures and shapes they observe on one; and sounds and living things on the other. A small "word bank" accompanies each concept. Suitable for grades 1-3. To order class sets for your spring nature walk, click here.
 






TDSB Earth Hour 2009: The results are in!
Earth Hour Logo
TDSB Friday March 27th Earth Hour

energy use reduction 27.8%

TDSB Earth Hour weekend energy use reduction:
16.1%


The figures speak for themselves. TDSB's Friday in-school Earth Hour and the Earth Hour weekend were both wonderfully successful!  No one was sure we could top our 2008 reduction of 22%, but we did it! Cooperation from so many people at so many levels made this outstanding result possible, from the Director's office, senior managers, superintendents, principals and caretakers, to teachers and students-collectively, we are AWESOME. Congratulations everyone!

"Earth Hour Plus": Is your school planning to build on Earth Hour's message by conserving more? Write to tell us your specific actions (e.g., a regular monthly Earth Hour) and we'll post them.

Earth Day, April 22: Is your school holding an Earth Day or Earth Week celebration this year? Tell us your stories and we'll post them.
Exemplary practice (3)...Earth Hour highlights leadership and teamwork at Selwyn ES
 
EcoSchools' evolution depends on learning from how schools apply the program. In this snippet of Selwyn's story, schools will see echoes of what they do to build leadership and teamwork and ecological literacy in order to reduce their impact on the environment.

Selwyn ES reported an 75% drop in electricity consumption during the TDSB Earth Hour on Friday, March 27th. The level of cooperation among principal, caretaker, staff, and students is an inspiration that deserves a closer look! [To read on, click here.]

Project Standby: Offers a minimum 10 million kWh reduction of electricity use annually!

I.T. has now completed installation of standby settings on all PC classroom computers, allowing computers to "sleep" when not in use. Installation on PC administrative computers began April 3rd in the 36 schools seeking platinum certification, followed by the remaining 228 currently certified EcoSchools beginning April 17th, and all other schools beginning May 1st.

The resulting reductions in energy use and greenhouse
gases are really adding up!  Monitoring software is tracking
500 computers in 6 schools 24/7. Results to date:

computers are in standby 72% of the time on weekends;    53-58% of the time during weekdays. At this rate, we estimate that when all 51,000 PC computers have standby capability installed, it will reduce TDSB's electricity consumption by about 10 million kWh of electricity a year. This is equivalent to the annual electricity used by 1000 average Toronto homes. And there are more savings to come. Let's challenge ourselves to reduce electricity use even further!

TIP: To optimize energy savings, please be sure to log off your PC when not in use and especially at the end of your work day.

Last Open House!open house april

George Peck PS

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
4:30-6 pm
 
Don't miss this last EcoSchools Open House of the year! Come and learn about how George Peck organizes and sustains its Walking Wednesdays and Water Warriors initiatives in addition to completing its regular EcoSchools tasks. On the curriculum side, you can learn how the Grade 7 science class goes beyond learning about climate change in using An Inconvenient Truth as a springboard for doing internet research and letter-writing. Refreshments, a tour of the school, and time to ask questions and exchange ideas make this a worthwhile stop on your way home!

Register for an EcoSchools certification audit by April 30th!                                  henry david

Have you registered to re-certify as an EcoSchool this year? Check with your team! The deadline is Thursday, April 30th. If you have questions or need help with getting on-line, contact Mary Lovett (elementary)
or
Maggie Ballantyne (secondary).


This is a firm deadline
to allow adequate time to schedule audits for an ever-increasing number of schools wanting to become or remain EcoSchools-certified.


Non-fiction writing, ecological literacy, and citizenship skills...RESCHEDULED

Teacher release provided.

Wednesday May 6, 2009 8:45 am-3:15 pm
Bathurst Heights, Room 120  
640 Lawrence Avenue West

With the exception of attendance, opportunities to develop skills and abilities in non-fiction writing is the 'number one factor' associated with improved test scores.

-Reeves, 2002, in Ontario Ministry of Education's Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat Monograph, March 2009

Environmental issues offer highly motivating topics for non-fiction writing that helps to improve student achievement along with ecological literacy and citizenship skills. Instructional Leader Steve Bibla will use GRASP: A tool for developing ecological literacy through rich performance tasks to cast learning in scenarios that involve role play and awareness of audience, and culminate in  a persuasive presentation or product. The scenarios set the stage for critical thinking, problem-solving, and focussed writing as students identify ways to reduce their impact on the environment. Highly recommended by participants at the initial March 3 workshop.

To register: go to Key to Learn, EcoSchools

Essential tools for green schools
mulch
Here are this month's tools from the EcoSchools Certification Toolkit.
  • Mulch is Magic describes the many benefits of mulch for trees and the soil and provides a guide to calculate the volume of mulch needed for trees and shrubs in different circumstances. TDSB schools have access to high quality "tub-ground" mulch from the City of Toronto. To learn how to order and how much to order, consult this mulching tool. There will be a delivery cost (in the $100-$150 range). Order as soon as possible once you plan your mulching event to be sure to receive your mulch in good time.
  • The Waste Audit: A "how-to" tip sheet walks you through before, during, and after the audit with a list of waste categories, supplies needed, and a short description of the steps involved.
  • The Waste Audit Worksheet provides a ready-made chart to record your team's results and observations.
  • The Waste Reduction Work Plan is a second chart to record your decisions based on the audit results and observations. (You may need to enlarge this to 11 x 17".)
Earth Week challenge: Can you switchgarbage bin final to once-a-week garbage pick-up?
 
Does your school have garbage bins in excess of what you need?  City of Toronto garbage collectors are often "emptying air" when they pick up bins that are only half-full.

Have a conversation with all the key players at your school to see if you can switch. To date, 119 schools have signed up.

Can you help us wildly exceed our initial goal of 100 schools? On Earth Day we will hold a draw and award 5 cases of 100% recycled paper to 10 lucky schools!


To register: Contact your Family Team Leader before April 22 to say you're ready to switch to once-a-week pick-up. Then, to have your school name entered for the prize draw, email Fran Raymond.

Expert help with waste audit for 10 schools

Waste Management Specialist Mieke Foster has been doing waste audits for over fifteen years and almost always finds treasures lurking in the garbage. Lots of eye-openers make the learning fun!

Mieke has offered to help teams from 10 certified EcoSchools complete a waste audit and use the findings to fill in the Waste Audit Worksheet and Waste Reduction Work Plan that is to be posted in the school.

Contact Mieke Foster to book a two hour morning or afternoon waste audit between April 20 and June 12. First come, first served.

Spring clean-ups

Clean up your grounds to prepare for learning, play, and simply chatting with classmates and friends!

Classes or whole schools can clean up their school yard, their surrounding neighbourhood, or even a nearby City park.

Special clean-up days: Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22; the Toronto 20-Minute Makeover Friday, April 24; the City's Community Clean-up Day, Saturday, April 25.

If you plan to clean up a neighbouring City park, contact Charlotte Ueta or 416-392-1846 to avoid conflicting with a possible planned clean-up! Questions? Contact Mieke Foster.

Schools that register their clean-up by Friday May 2 will receive a Certificate of Appreciation from the City to recognize their efforts to make Toronto Clean and Green
.

Lucky schools win spring clean-up tree-planting opportunity! Four TDSB schools have won the opportunity to plant trees as part of the City Parks tree planting program: Portage Trail MS; Fenside PS; General Crerar PS; RH McGregor PS.
Young environmental leaders from across the city come together to Step to Action!
step logo
The TDSB-based Students of Toronto for Environmental Progress (STEP),
in partnership with the Toronto Renewable Energy Cooperative, Toronto Catholic District School Board, Youth Environmental Network, and EcoSchools, is organizing and hosting an 'Energy Shift' symposium to give 200 students a special opportunity to learn about energy conservation and renewables. On Wednesday, April 8th at Exhibition Place, students will tour the Toronto Wind Turbine, share ideas, and develop action plans to take back to their own schools.


STEP began at the TDSB a year ago as a small group of secondary students with a common goal of encouraging student leadership on environmental issues. Click here for more.

Two EcoSchools student teams are Green Toronto Youth Award finalists!
Green Toronto Awards
 
Student teams at two secondary EcoSchools
are finalists in the City's Green Toronto Awards Youth category. Congratulations to the Bethune Environmental Action Team (B.E.A.T) at Dr. Norman Bethune CI and the Enviro-link club at Kipling CI for being nominated as two of the three finalists in this category, and to the staff advisors so important to the students' success in greening their schools. Both schools are currently gold EcoSchools applying to become certified at the platinum level.


The winners will be announced at the Green Toronto Awards ceremony at 7pm April 23, 2009, at the Direct Energy Centre, Heritage Court. Award winners will also receive a $5,000 donation to a registered charity of their choice.

Planning to attend? RSVP to greentorontoawards.

Funding for school projects

The TD Bank's Friends of the Environment program offers schools funds for a range of environmental projects, with school ground greening an especially popular choice. For details, click here.

Learning for A Sustainability Future's Project Flow offers money for water-related action projects, on both a modest and more elaborate scale. For details, click here.

UN co2 kick the habit resizedSteve's web pick!
Web review by Steve Bibla

The United Nations has published an e-book called Kick the Habit, A UN Guide to Carbon Neutrality. It is also available as a pdf.

http://www.grida.no/publications/vg/kick/ebook.aspx

  • Teaching your students about the carbon cycle? Check out the interactive graph on pages 20-21.
  • Teaching your students about the life cycle of different products? Students could benefit from learning about the life cycle of computers on pages 96-97.
  • Curious about the carbon footprint of different foods? You'll be surprised by the graph on page 103!

If you would like to provide us with a web review for our upcoming e-Newsletters, please submit your copy (maximum 100 words) to eleanor.dudar@tdsb.on.ca.


When T.S. Eliot said "April is the cruelest month," he couldn't have been more mistaken! Public actions and events like Earth Hour and Earth Day can be occasions to highlight all your good work. EcoSchools pursuits help to make every day an Earth Day, and every hour an Earth Hour. Thank you for your tireless efforts. Write to us! We welcome your stories.
 
Best wishes,
 
Eleanor Dudar
TDSB EcoSchools Specialist