What a year we’ve had as our first as Big Thompson Elementary School of Nature and Science! All classrooms continued to bring science into the classroom and take lessons outside whenever possible. We’ve had teacher trainings, community nature and science events, and the creation of our Worm Wranglers and Green Team. We’ve had some great field trips as well, from 3rd graders at High Plains Environmental Center in both fall and spring combining science and history units of plants and Native Americans, to 5th graders at Bobcat Ridge cultivating a deeper understanding of their local area, to 2nd graders learning about all of their science units at Rocky Mountain National Park (and 4th graders too!).
Teachers have had some great opportunities for additional training in our focus. We started the year off with a school-wide Environmental Education Day where all six grades went to natural areas and explored and learned outdoors while teachers had time to prepare and make plans for what being a school of Nature and Science looked like. In January, teachers were trained and certified in Project Learning Tree, bringing more hands-on, well-researched nature and science curriculum to our students. We are even looking into becoming the first Project Learning Tree School in Colorado! In April, teachers and staff walked the school grounds with a retired professor and local natural history expert from Sylvan Dale Ranch, studying the plants, animals, geology and human history of Big T and the surrounding area.
This year has seen a significant reduction of waste in our school as well. Our vermicomposting efforts have got all students excited about feeding the worms, and our daily lunchroom Worm Wranglers have helped all students with sorting their waste, cleaning the recycling so it’s ready to be processed, and even allowed us to have real silverware instead of plastic! Our Green Team is made up of 3rd, 4th and 5th graders who know what can and cannot be recycled at Big T, and collects all of our recycling every Friday. Next year, some incoming 3rd graders will join the team and our new 4th and 5th graders will train them. Nearly all of our current 3rd, 4th and 5th graders are competent Worm Wranglers. We’re hoping someday to get all the students at Big T trained as expert recyclers and composters!
Big T School of Nature and Science hosted two additional community nights this year, featuring nature and science. Starry Nights brought together many astronomical activities and even allowed families to view objects in the night sky through telescopes. Worms, Dirt and More brought new excitement to the open house, featuring our vermicomposting and recycling programs, and our Outdoor Education Center. During school, we had Worm Day in the fall, and our second annual Green Day celebration in the spring!
A big thanks to all the teachers and staff, local nature and science organizations, and the Cultivation Committee (made up of teachers, staff, and parents) for all the amazing opportunities our students have had this year at our Nature and Science focus school. Look for our new mission statements, framed in every classroom, and in the main areas of the school. We truly have had a successful first year of this new adventure!
(The week's Nature and Science Corner)
Friday, May 7, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
WORMS AT WORK!
(Reprinted from the Thompson Education Foundation Newsletter, May 2010. Note that when they mention Leslie Hyland, one of our 3rd grade teachers, that they should have included Butterscotch Culhane and Becky Bice, our 5th grade teachers, who have really pioneered the effort that Mrs. Hyland's Creativity Grant has supported. Hooray for our Big T Teachers!!!)
Slimy, squishy, gross, and helpful? Although you may not think about it when you see them lying on the ground after a rainstorm, worms can be extremely helpful. Leslie Hyland from Big Thompson Elementary has developed a program within her 5th grade Nature and Science class that provides a creative way to encourage recycling and teach about the fascinating world of composting and worms. Even more exciting, Leslie's "Worms at Work" project has become a sustainable program that now involves the entire school!
With her Creativity Grant award, Leslie and her team of support staff have created a composting program that has reduced school lunch waste by 41% and continues to educate and support Big Thompson Elementary. Leslie's idea was to build composting centers at her school and use composting worms to help teach her 5th graders about recycling and the science behind composting with worms. With the help of John "The Worm Man" Anderson, a professional local composter, Leslie used her funds to purchase composting containers which reside in a large garden area outside the school.
This year her class has sorted trash, recyclables and composting food scraps every day at lunch. Food scraps of vegetables and fruit go into large buckets that her 5th graders take out to the worms. The students record the weight of the composted food and learn how to care for the composting worms. Leslie's class regularly composts an average of 15 pounds of food scraps every day! As the project progressed, Leslie was able to include 3rd and 4th graders in on helping with the recycling process and she says it will prepare them for taking over the more difficult role of caring for the worms when they reach 5th grade. Through her "Worms at Work" project, everyone at Big Thompson now helps Leslie and her students make a big difference in caring for the environment.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Earth Day is Every Day
This year for Earth Day, Big T celebrated our second annual Green Day festival. Despite the rainy weather, students spent quite a bit of time outdoors, as well as indoors with our activities combining fun and learning.
The Outdoor Education Center housed a few different activities. Mrs. Coalwell led a directional scavenger hunt, challenging students to be sure that they knew which way those Soggy Worms are that they are Never supposed to Eat. Next time your family is in the OEC, see if your students know that Devil’s Backbone lies to the East, Red Ridge to the West, Horsetooth Rock to the North, and the Big Thompson River to the South. Ms. Amber led most classes in a few rounds of Camouflage, emphasizing the predator/prey relationships (5th grade had an especially wet time slot and played Bat and Moth, experiencing a simulated echolocation tag game). Mr. Willy has been taking his art classes out all week for nature art inspired by Andy Goldsworthy, so those students were busy exploring the thicket for nature sculpture materials. Go take a stroll through the OEC to see these masterpieces!
Indoors, students made puppets out of trash, many with an Earth Day or “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” theme to them, and put on puppet shows as time allowed. They also were able to select “new to them” books from the stock they have been contributing to for a while. Some students planted flowers in reused newspaper pots and others made Earth Day bookmarks. The school district recently had an Omni Globe donated (made here in Loveland), so we brought that in as well. The Omni Globe is a very cool 3-D globe that projects maps and real-time weather patterns of the planet from the inside out (like a TV screen) to give us a better idea of what is happening on our planet.
Students also know that we try to do our part to conserve resources every day with our recycling program and our worm bins. We showcased these interesting features at our Worms, Dirt and More! community night on April 12th, with a demonstration of our lunchroom sorting session, tours of the Outdoor Ed Center, and lots of information about vermi-composting and viewings of our worm bins. We also invited many community partners to come share their programming and events with us. The Poudre Learning Center even brought river water with macro-invertebrates to identify!
If you are looking for nature or science camps for your students this summer, Ms. Amber has a full list of ones in the area in addition to the wonderful ones we’ll have right here at Big T! Check our blog (blogspot.bigtgreent.com) or email lamba@thompson.k12.co.us
(The week's Nature and Science Corner)
The Outdoor Education Center housed a few different activities. Mrs. Coalwell led a directional scavenger hunt, challenging students to be sure that they knew which way those Soggy Worms are that they are Never supposed to Eat. Next time your family is in the OEC, see if your students know that Devil’s Backbone lies to the East, Red Ridge to the West, Horsetooth Rock to the North, and the Big Thompson River to the South. Ms. Amber led most classes in a few rounds of Camouflage, emphasizing the predator/prey relationships (5th grade had an especially wet time slot and played Bat and Moth, experiencing a simulated echolocation tag game). Mr. Willy has been taking his art classes out all week for nature art inspired by Andy Goldsworthy, so those students were busy exploring the thicket for nature sculpture materials. Go take a stroll through the OEC to see these masterpieces!
Indoors, students made puppets out of trash, many with an Earth Day or “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” theme to them, and put on puppet shows as time allowed. They also were able to select “new to them” books from the stock they have been contributing to for a while. Some students planted flowers in reused newspaper pots and others made Earth Day bookmarks. The school district recently had an Omni Globe donated (made here in Loveland), so we brought that in as well. The Omni Globe is a very cool 3-D globe that projects maps and real-time weather patterns of the planet from the inside out (like a TV screen) to give us a better idea of what is happening on our planet.
Students also know that we try to do our part to conserve resources every day with our recycling program and our worm bins. We showcased these interesting features at our Worms, Dirt and More! community night on April 12th, with a demonstration of our lunchroom sorting session, tours of the Outdoor Ed Center, and lots of information about vermi-composting and viewings of our worm bins. We also invited many community partners to come share their programming and events with us. The Poudre Learning Center even brought river water with macro-invertebrates to identify!
If you are looking for nature or science camps for your students this summer, Ms. Amber has a full list of ones in the area in addition to the wonderful ones we’ll have right here at Big T! Check our blog (blogspot.bigtgreent.com) or email lamba@thompson.k12.co.us
(The week's Nature and Science Corner)
Friday, April 9, 2010
Big T Birds
With spring in the air, the birds at Big T are spending more time foraging, calling, and showing off to attract mates. We have some year-round residents, some on-and-off-again visitors, and some summer residents. The best place for bird watching around here is in Big T’s Outdoor Education Center on the other side of the Masonville Road.
The American Robin is one of the most common birds in North America. It is a fairly large songbird and can be recognized by its gray-brown upper body with an orange-red belly. Robins also have a darker head, with white patterning around the eye, and a mostly yellow beak. Their call is a melodious “Cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up.”
Bald Eagles have been spotted at Big T over the playground on occasion. Since bald eagles eat mainly fish, this is probably because the Big Thompson River is just on the other side of Highway 34. Bald eagles are one of the largest raptors (bird of prey) in North America, and the adults cannot be mistaken for any other bird, with their pure white head and tail against a dark body. Their call is harder to use to identify them, as it is a weak, high-pitched chirping, piping or whistling sound. The bold call you hear from eagles in the movies is actually the call of the red-tailed hawk, another one of our local raptors.
If you walk over to the Outdoor Education Center right now, before the leaves come out on the deciduous trees, you may see a hanging woven nest in a tree-top just east of the path. This nest is probably from last year’s Bullock’s Orioles. These birds nest here in the summer, and are bright orange with white wing-bars and a black throat patch and eye-line, and black along their backs. Listen for their interspersed chattering, chirping and whistling.
Keep your ears open all year round for the little Black-capped Chickadees, mostly creamy-gray birds with a dark black cap, white cheeks, and a black throat patch. They especially like our over-grown shrubs in the center of the Outdoor Education Center, and the taller evergreen trees. They make a high sing-song call of “Fee-bee-yee” or “Cheese-bur-ger” in addition to their buzzing call that gives them their name, “Chick-a-dee-dee-dee.”
More information on birds of all types can be found in The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America and on the Cornell Ornithology Lab’s website: www.allaboutbirds.org (this website is especially helpful to listen to bird calls, and look for birds by name or shape, as well as giving lots of information about how to identify birds).
Happy Bird-watching!
(The week's Nature and Science Corner)
The American Robin is one of the most common birds in North America. It is a fairly large songbird and can be recognized by its gray-brown upper body with an orange-red belly. Robins also have a darker head, with white patterning around the eye, and a mostly yellow beak. Their call is a melodious “Cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up.”
Bald Eagles have been spotted at Big T over the playground on occasion. Since bald eagles eat mainly fish, this is probably because the Big Thompson River is just on the other side of Highway 34. Bald eagles are one of the largest raptors (bird of prey) in North America, and the adults cannot be mistaken for any other bird, with their pure white head and tail against a dark body. Their call is harder to use to identify them, as it is a weak, high-pitched chirping, piping or whistling sound. The bold call you hear from eagles in the movies is actually the call of the red-tailed hawk, another one of our local raptors.
If you walk over to the Outdoor Education Center right now, before the leaves come out on the deciduous trees, you may see a hanging woven nest in a tree-top just east of the path. This nest is probably from last year’s Bullock’s Orioles. These birds nest here in the summer, and are bright orange with white wing-bars and a black throat patch and eye-line, and black along their backs. Listen for their interspersed chattering, chirping and whistling.
Keep your ears open all year round for the little Black-capped Chickadees, mostly creamy-gray birds with a dark black cap, white cheeks, and a black throat patch. They especially like our over-grown shrubs in the center of the Outdoor Education Center, and the taller evergreen trees. They make a high sing-song call of “Fee-bee-yee” or “Cheese-bur-ger” in addition to their buzzing call that gives them their name, “Chick-a-dee-dee-dee.”
More information on birds of all types can be found in The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America and on the Cornell Ornithology Lab’s website: www.allaboutbirds.org (this website is especially helpful to listen to bird calls, and look for birds by name or shape, as well as giving lots of information about how to identify birds).
Happy Bird-watching!
(The week's Nature and Science Corner)
Friday, March 5, 2010
Signs of Spring
Nature and Science Corner
Despite today’s snowstorm, spring is coming! The vernal (spring) equinox is on Saturday, March 20th this year. At 11:32 AM, Mountain Daylight Time, the sun will cross directly over the equator, giving us equal daylight and dark on this day across the world (equinox literally translated means equal night).
Plants and animals are waking up and returning to their summer areas. With the warm temperatures of the past week, this activity has picked up even more. What are some signs of spring you have seen?
Have you seen birds returning to the area? Red-tailed hawks, year-round residents, have been flying in pairs lately, indicating mating season and the start of new broods. Our winter residents are on the move as well. A few lucky first and second graders saw an adult and immature bald eagle fly low over Big T while taking out the recycling last month! Check ponds and lakes for returning and migratory water birds. If it’s not a mallard, it may be back for the summer, or just passing through! Now is also a good time to put out bird feeders (if you don’t have an outdoor cat). Birds will become dependent on food sources through the winter but in the summer they are less likely to need the food you provide to survive, so putting out feeders is a good way to attract birds for easing viewing in your backyard. Unless you are dedicated to feeding them plenty and consistently through the winter, put your feeders away when fall comes.
Have you noticed the buds forming on the tips of the bare tree branches? Go outside and look at a deciduous tree (a tree that “decides” to lose it’s leaves, also called a broad-leafed or hardwood tree). Can you find the small tough scales that end in a point on the twigs? Inside are the new plant parts—tiny leaves, stems and even flowers—waiting to emerge as the days grow warmer and longer. The sap, the lifeblood of the tree, has been rising from the roots on these warm days to bring nutrients to the buds so they can grow into new tree parts. Check out the tiered flower garden near the stairs in our courtyard the next time you’re at Big T. The iris leaves are back in full force and will probably enjoy the moisture from the snow as long as they don’t get too cold!
Take advantage of the snow to look for animal signs. Scat (the scientific word for animal poop ☺), may be harder to find, but tracks should be abundant. Which animals are hanging out around Big T? Which ones are around your house?
Enjoy the longer days by playing outside and going for walks or hikes as a family. And definitely get outside during spring break to see what’s going on with the change of seasons in your neighborhood!
(The week's Nature and Science Corner)
Despite today’s snowstorm, spring is coming! The vernal (spring) equinox is on Saturday, March 20th this year. At 11:32 AM, Mountain Daylight Time, the sun will cross directly over the equator, giving us equal daylight and dark on this day across the world (equinox literally translated means equal night).
Plants and animals are waking up and returning to their summer areas. With the warm temperatures of the past week, this activity has picked up even more. What are some signs of spring you have seen?
Have you seen birds returning to the area? Red-tailed hawks, year-round residents, have been flying in pairs lately, indicating mating season and the start of new broods. Our winter residents are on the move as well. A few lucky first and second graders saw an adult and immature bald eagle fly low over Big T while taking out the recycling last month! Check ponds and lakes for returning and migratory water birds. If it’s not a mallard, it may be back for the summer, or just passing through! Now is also a good time to put out bird feeders (if you don’t have an outdoor cat). Birds will become dependent on food sources through the winter but in the summer they are less likely to need the food you provide to survive, so putting out feeders is a good way to attract birds for easing viewing in your backyard. Unless you are dedicated to feeding them plenty and consistently through the winter, put your feeders away when fall comes.
Have you noticed the buds forming on the tips of the bare tree branches? Go outside and look at a deciduous tree (a tree that “decides” to lose it’s leaves, also called a broad-leafed or hardwood tree). Can you find the small tough scales that end in a point on the twigs? Inside are the new plant parts—tiny leaves, stems and even flowers—waiting to emerge as the days grow warmer and longer. The sap, the lifeblood of the tree, has been rising from the roots on these warm days to bring nutrients to the buds so they can grow into new tree parts. Check out the tiered flower garden near the stairs in our courtyard the next time you’re at Big T. The iris leaves are back in full force and will probably enjoy the moisture from the snow as long as they don’t get too cold!
Take advantage of the snow to look for animal signs. Scat (the scientific word for animal poop ☺), may be harder to find, but tracks should be abundant. Which animals are hanging out around Big T? Which ones are around your house?
Enjoy the longer days by playing outside and going for walks or hikes as a family. And definitely get outside during spring break to see what’s going on with the change of seasons in your neighborhood!
(The week's Nature and Science Corner)
Starry Nights
Tuesday, March 2nd we had “Starry Nights” here at Big T. Over 300 people came through to learn about the phases of the moon, make Star Wheels (make your own at http://www.skyandtelescope.com/letsgo/familyfun/Make_a_Star_Wheel.html) discover constellations inside the Star Lab, and go outside to the upper playground with the Northern Colorado Astronomical Society (NCAS) to find the constellations and look through their telescopes to see the Orion Nebula in Orion’s sword and Mars. If you did make it to Starry Nights, see if your family can remember how to find the constellations you learned. If you didn’t get a chance to come out (or a review would help), here is a little information to help your family enjoy the night sky!
The constellation of Orion the Hunter is nearing the end of his annual visit to our night sky. Orion can be found in the southern sky from twilight until after midnight as we near the spring equinox. See if your family can find the three bright stars making up his belt. The bright red star above and to the left of the belt (his right shoulder) is called Betelgeuse (“BEH-tull-juice”). It is the second brightest star in Orion. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant that will be visible even during the day when it finally becomes a supernova and explodes! Rigel, the blue supergiant that is diagonally down to the right, is the brightest.
Draw an imaginary line through Orion’s belt and follow it down to the left until you find a very bright star. This is called Sirius, the Dog Star (and Ms. Amber’s favorite star because of the way it appears to twinkle all the colors), and is the nose of the constellation Canis Major. Look further down the line to find a triangle that makes up the dog’s hindquarters. Sirius is actually a binary star (Sirius A and Sirius B), which is two stars orbiting around a central point. It is the brightest star in our night sky!
The moon is currently a waning gibbous, moving from full to 3rd quarter. Find more links and information on our blog at: bigtgreent.blogspot.com Happy stargazing!
(This week's Nature and Science Corner)
Friday, February 19, 2010
Maiden Voyage of the Green Team
In an effort to have some sustainable Green T, Big T's Green Team is trained and was deployed today to collect all of the school's recycling. Our Green Team is made up of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders who will become the experts on recycling and all things 'green' at Big T in order to keep the knowledge in the school.
The idea is to have 10 teams of one 3rd, one 4th, and one 5th grader, with the 5th graders 'captaining' their team (though we expect everyone to be equally competent recyclers by the end of the year!). Next year, the current 3rd and 4th graders will continue on with Green Team as 4th and 5th graders, training the incoming 3rd graders (this year's 2nd graders) to become fulling-functioning Green Team members.
Currently, all ten teams meet during lunch hour on Fridays, each team collecting two bins, with the teams who finish first collecting the remaining two. Once everyone is up to speed on the process, we hope to move to splitting Green Team into two groups and having each half meet every other week, collecting four bins each.
We're looking forward to this learning process and becoming a lean, mean, green machine!
The idea is to have 10 teams of one 3rd, one 4th, and one 5th grader, with the 5th graders 'captaining' their team (though we expect everyone to be equally competent recyclers by the end of the year!). Next year, the current 3rd and 4th graders will continue on with Green Team as 4th and 5th graders, training the incoming 3rd graders (this year's 2nd graders) to become fulling-functioning Green Team members.
Currently, all ten teams meet during lunch hour on Fridays, each team collecting two bins, with the teams who finish first collecting the remaining two. Once everyone is up to speed on the process, we hope to move to splitting Green Team into two groups and having each half meet every other week, collecting four bins each.
We're looking forward to this learning process and becoming a lean, mean, green machine!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Recycling – Part II: Helpful Hints and Common Errors
Students and staff at Big T now all generally know the basics of what and how to recycle at Big T. We still make mistakes and put things in the wrong bin occasionally, so here is some more information to discuss with your student about the finer points of recycling. We take pride in doing our best to make sure our recycling “stream” is as good as it can be here at Big T!
Most of us now know to rinse containers so that food and liquids don’t go into the single stream recycling. We do this so that the plastic is clean and of higher quality when it’s recycled (so that someone will want to buy recycled plastic instead of new), and so that workers sorting containers don’t have to deal with mold and mildew, or pressure in a bottle from fermentation when someone doesn’t rinse and forgets to remove the lid. Some lids are recyclable, but most aren’t (check for a recycling triangle with a number inside), and they are generally a different plastic or metal than the container that they come with, so please remove and dispose of those properly.
Another common error is putting plastic utensils, plastic wrap, soda six-pack rings and plastic bags into the recycling. The only one of these that is recyclable are plastic grocery bags that have the #4 in the recycling triangle and these can’t go into the recycling bin—most grocery stores have a recycling program for them (please don’t bring them to Big T as we don’t have anywhere to take them anymore!). Ask your child how they can reduce their use of plastic (see December’s Nature and Science Corner on Plastic Bags).
While most papers are recyclable, some forms are not. Tissues, paper towels, and coffee filters are usually not the right sort of paper to be recycled, and generally are not clean and dry after use. Ask your child if they have some ideas for how to reduce their use of napkins, paper towels and tissues (use cloth towels and napkins, use handkerchiefs, etc). Paper plates often have food residues or are coated with a thin layer of plastic or wax which makes them non-recyclable. Cardboard can be recycled, though pizza boxes usually cannot because of the grease that is on them. They make great kindling for a fire though! What other ways can you keep items out of the landfill? (Compost the papers mentioned above along with food, choose items with less packaging or recyclable packaging, reuse containers, buy food in bulk, etc.)
Stay tuned for updates from our newly forming Green Team on the state of recycling and composting and all things “green” at Big T! Check out our Green Blog at bigtgreent.blogspot.com (you can find previous Nature and Science Corners here in addition to updates and thoughts from the students).
If you have any questions about recycling or anything else “Green” please contact Amber Lamb, our Nature and Science Coordinator, at lamba@thompson.k12.co.us
(This week's Nature and Science Corner)
Most of us now know to rinse containers so that food and liquids don’t go into the single stream recycling. We do this so that the plastic is clean and of higher quality when it’s recycled (so that someone will want to buy recycled plastic instead of new), and so that workers sorting containers don’t have to deal with mold and mildew, or pressure in a bottle from fermentation when someone doesn’t rinse and forgets to remove the lid. Some lids are recyclable, but most aren’t (check for a recycling triangle with a number inside), and they are generally a different plastic or metal than the container that they come with, so please remove and dispose of those properly.
Another common error is putting plastic utensils, plastic wrap, soda six-pack rings and plastic bags into the recycling. The only one of these that is recyclable are plastic grocery bags that have the #4 in the recycling triangle and these can’t go into the recycling bin—most grocery stores have a recycling program for them (please don’t bring them to Big T as we don’t have anywhere to take them anymore!). Ask your child how they can reduce their use of plastic (see December’s Nature and Science Corner on Plastic Bags).
While most papers are recyclable, some forms are not. Tissues, paper towels, and coffee filters are usually not the right sort of paper to be recycled, and generally are not clean and dry after use. Ask your child if they have some ideas for how to reduce their use of napkins, paper towels and tissues (use cloth towels and napkins, use handkerchiefs, etc). Paper plates often have food residues or are coated with a thin layer of plastic or wax which makes them non-recyclable. Cardboard can be recycled, though pizza boxes usually cannot because of the grease that is on them. They make great kindling for a fire though! What other ways can you keep items out of the landfill? (Compost the papers mentioned above along with food, choose items with less packaging or recyclable packaging, reuse containers, buy food in bulk, etc.)
Stay tuned for updates from our newly forming Green Team on the state of recycling and composting and all things “green” at Big T! Check out our Green Blog at bigtgreent.blogspot.com (you can find previous Nature and Science Corners here in addition to updates and thoughts from the students).
If you have any questions about recycling or anything else “Green” please contact Amber Lamb, our Nature and Science Coordinator, at lamba@thompson.k12.co.us
(This week's Nature and Science Corner)
Friday, January 29, 2010
Recycling – Part I: What we can recycle
Big T has single stream recycling through Waste Management. All classrooms have a bin for our recycling, and students currently take turns helping to take out the recycling to the recycling dumpster each week.
Here’s what we can recycle at Big T:
Containers – Please empty and rinse all containers and remove lids
• Glass Bottles and Jars
• Plastic Bottles and Containers, # 1-7
• Aluminum and Tin Cans
Papers – Please make sure these are dry
• White and Colored Paper (no fluorescent colors please)
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Junk Mail
• Envelopes
• Brochures and Pamphlets
• Books
• Computer Printouts
• Carbonless Receipts
• Coated Paper and Paperboard (like cereal and tissue boxes)
• Manuals with Glue Bindings
• File Folders
Here’s what has to be thrown away at Big T:
• Candy Wrappers
• Carbon Paper
• Carpet or Cloth
• Food Soiled Cardboard (like pizza boxes)
• Food or any Organic Waste
• Liquids
• Plastic Bags and Saran Wrap
• Plates or Dishes
• Used paper cups and paper plates
• Used Paper Towels, Napkins, or Tissues
• Waxed Cardboard (like most frozen dinner boxes)
• Waxed Paper
• Wet or Soiled Paper
• Styrofoam
Note that we cannot recycle plastic bags at Big T, though many grocery stores will recycle them and most second-hand stores will take ones in good condition to re-use.
There are lots of gray areas in the world of recycling, so we at Big T are doing our best not to contaminate our recycling stream so that it won’t go to the landfill instead! Ask your student what things they look out for when checking the recycling before taking it out at the end of the week, and stay tuned for tips about how to recycle more effectively next time!
(This week's Nature and Science Corner)
Here’s what we can recycle at Big T:
Containers – Please empty and rinse all containers and remove lids
• Glass Bottles and Jars
• Plastic Bottles and Containers, # 1-7
• Aluminum and Tin Cans
Papers – Please make sure these are dry
• White and Colored Paper (no fluorescent colors please)
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Junk Mail
• Envelopes
• Brochures and Pamphlets
• Books
• Computer Printouts
• Carbonless Receipts
• Coated Paper and Paperboard (like cereal and tissue boxes)
• Manuals with Glue Bindings
• File Folders
Here’s what has to be thrown away at Big T:
• Candy Wrappers
• Carbon Paper
• Carpet or Cloth
• Food Soiled Cardboard (like pizza boxes)
• Food or any Organic Waste
• Liquids
• Plastic Bags and Saran Wrap
• Plates or Dishes
• Used paper cups and paper plates
• Used Paper Towels, Napkins, or Tissues
• Waxed Cardboard (like most frozen dinner boxes)
• Waxed Paper
• Wet or Soiled Paper
• Styrofoam
Note that we cannot recycle plastic bags at Big T, though many grocery stores will recycle them and most second-hand stores will take ones in good condition to re-use.
There are lots of gray areas in the world of recycling, so we at Big T are doing our best not to contaminate our recycling stream so that it won’t go to the landfill instead! Ask your student what things they look out for when checking the recycling before taking it out at the end of the week, and stay tuned for tips about how to recycle more effectively next time!
(This week's Nature and Science Corner)
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