PS40 and The Super Green Eco Team Win Big!!!

At the end of the school year, the PS40 Super Green Eco Team were presented the awards they had won, at a Celebration in the auditorium, in front of their peers.

1. PS40 and the Super Green Eco Team were awarded the Golden Apple award, for highest achievement in the TrashMasters! Team Up to Clean Up competition winning both for Manhattan as well as all of NYC.

2. PS40 and the Super Green Eco Team were awarded the 'Rose Award' from the New York Restoration Project, for our tremendously successful roof garden.

The PS40 Super Green Eco Team's Golden Apple Award

At the Celebration, the Super Green Eco Team posed with representatives from the Department of Sanitation (Golden Apple) and from Bette Midler's New York Restoration Project (Rose Award).

The whole school was there to celebrate!

The Golden Apple Award

The Rose Award

A short video project by Daniel, in his 3rd year as a member of the SGET.

The Roof Garden is GROWING!

The SGET represents at the PS40 Benefit Auction

The SGET and graphic design artist, Bonnie Cummings (2nd Grade Parent) got together several months ago to “brainstorm” about their mission as a group in creating a piece from recycled materials that illustrates the things in nature that are precious to humans and to our earth; why we plant, recycle, don’t litter…




The kids came up with themes relating to the ocean, earth, animals and vegetation and so it began and the idea evolved…. This collage was made possible by the kids who donated recycled magazines, news papers and package filler, along with Bonnie's recycled fabrics and special papers from left over design projects (all recycled in one way or another!) This piece has a Where’s Waldo feeling, as you need to look closely to find the forest creatures and even humans that are hiding in the tree and ocean.

Hidden in the collage is “Love Our Earth” in Spanish and “Mother Nature” looking over the earth and it’s beauty.

The Roof Garden becomes a garden!

On Friday morning, the Super Green Eco Team met, a PS40 mom named Cecile who is heading up the new 'Garden Club'. She purchased from Union Square Green Market farmer, Joe, a variety of small growth plants to get our Roof garden started.



When we got to the roof Cecile passed out plants and we decided which garden box would get which plants.

The SGET is always ready to dig right in and get their hands dirty.

The plan is to grow a variety of lettuces, arugula and tomatoes, potatoes, and herbs in the hopes that they will have grown large enough to make a salad to serve at the parents bbq at the end of the school year.

Meet a PS40 Veteran Bottle Cap Recycler!

During earth week, we met a 2nd grader of PS40, who has been collecting bottle caps for 3 years and sending them to Aveda to be recycled. As you know, we were collecting them for the week to see how many we could collect. In one week, we pretty much filled the jug you see in the photo. Imagine if we had been doing it for 3 years!

So, let's meet him. Interviewed during earth week by SGET member Wesley.

HOW OLD ARE YOU?

7

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN COLLECTING?

I've been doing it since I was 4.

HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT IT?

My mom has this work (His mom works for Estee Lauder) so we collect bottle caps so her company could make shampoo bottles from them.

HOW MANY BOTTLE CAPS DO YOU THINK YOU'VE COLLECTED?

To me, I think I've collected at least 10 per day for three years.

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THEM?

I have this bin that I put them in.

DO YOU TAKE THEM TO AVEDA?

My mom does.

WHY ARE YOU DOING IT?

Well, to save the environment.

DO YOU RECYCLE OTHER THINGS?

Well, we save bags for garbage.

IS RECYCLING YOUR JOB AT HOME?

Yes it is.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

A policeman.

DO YOU LIKE TO COLLECT ANYTHING ELSE?

When I was little I used to collect rocks.

DO YOU HAVE A MESSAGE FOR ALL YOUR SCHOOL MATES?

Don't throw out caps!

The soil arrives for the Roof Garden!

At 9am on Saturday April 10th over thirty PS40 parents and students turned out to help with the roof garden project. Ten large garbage cans filled with rich soil were donated and delivered to PS40. The fact that PS40 does not have an elevator did not deter anyone.


These dedicated parents and kids carried every bit of the soil up all four flights of stairs. Under the expert guidance of horticulturalist and soil donor, Chris and Lisa Goode, of Goode Green (goodegreennyc.com), the kids layered the soil and prepared it for planting.


The day was a huge success, not only for the speedy and efficient delivery of the soil, but the opportunity for disparate members of the PS40 community worked together and widened the scope of the mission of the Super Green Eco Team.








No one was afraid to get their hands dirty!


The garden boxes look beautiful and we are ready for planting!

Earth Week is a success!

On Monday March 22nd the PS40 Super Green Eco Team launched the third annual EARTH WEEK!
This year's fun and informative event featured bargains on eco-products, free coffee, demonstration for classes, an eco sculpture project and a Healthy Bake Sale on Wednesday.

There were four great displays explaining the projects that the Super Green Eco Team is working on this year:

• A Roof Garden
• Researching Solar Panels
• Murals
• Composting

For the first time ever, Earth Week was open in the evening! On WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24TH Earth Week hosted the PS40 March PTA meeting. We invited some of the people with whom the SGET has teamed up:

Frances Anderson from a local Community Supported Agriculture organization

Henry from Tri State Bio-diesel

Phyllis Mangels from the Stuyvesant Square Alliance

We also asked a few of the super stars from the 2009-2010 Super Green Eco Team to talk about each of their projects.

More than half of the classes at PS40 (Kindergarten - 5th grade) reserved time to visit Earth Week. Each visit was hosted by one of the parent Eco Volunteers to teach the students about all the project the SGET is working on. Each class was asked to participate in the eco sculpture, in which each student was asked to write a wish for the earth on a strip of scrap paper, the decorate and add to the strands of loops hanging from the ceiling.