Our Earth and The Environment Eco Issue |
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Earth Hour At School By: Natalie (Gr. 4) Have you ever heard of earth hour? I bet you already have. Well, if you haven’t, then this is the right place to start! Earth hour happens once a year, so this is your chance to make a big difference! Earth hour is when you try to save as much electricity and energy as possible in one hour, or one day. Here is a list of what you can do to help save energy:
- turn the lights off - turn your computer off - use solar panels - turn off any fans in your class ( if you have any.) - turn off the tap ( that would save water, that’s still good.) Those are just a few ideas. If you've got any more ideas, please help save the environment!
Earth Hour’s History
By: Jonah and Alexander (Gr. 5)
Earth Hour started in Sydney, Australia (2007) when 22 million people and 2000 businesses shut off their power to take a stand against climate change. On March 26, 2011 about 1 billion people participated in 35 countries for Earth Hour by turning off their lights. Earth Hour is organized by the World Wildlife Fund. WWF is a charity that tries to stop the degradation of the earth’s natural environment and build a future where people live in harmony with nature.
 Growing plants in the science room
Grade 5 LCA By: Toni and Fiona (Gr. 5)
The grade 5 students did a really cool project in Science called, “The Life Cycle Assessment.” In the project, the grade 5 students made posters or slide shows to show the life of their chosen product such as a toothpick, a plastic straw, wool, and a water bottle.
Here's what the grade 5 students thought of their projects LCA projects: Alexander: “It gets people to realize what happens to their trash and how much pollution it causes.”
Toni: “I think the project was good because it shows how much pollution was used to make a single product.” Fiona: “I thought the project was very informative for children and adults to understand that our waste doesn’t just disappear.” Hayley: “I thought that it was fun to do and people can learn new things by doing it.” Kyrstyn: “I think that it was a good project to do because not only you learn the life cycle of a product but other people do to because we are going to hang them up.” Barbara: “I thought it was fun because I got to learn things that I would have never figured out if it weren’t for the project.” Jonah: “I thought that the LCA project was very interesting because I learned how much pollution it takes for the product I chose to even get to the store.” Here are some pictures of some of the projects that the Gr.5 students did.
Solar Panels at Hillcrest By: Emma and Natalie (Gr. 4) Since Hillcrest got solar panels on their roof, they were a lot more environmentally friendly. The solar panels at Hillcrest started working on Sunday, March 27, 2011. The Toronto District School Board decided that our school would be a great leader with the solar panels. Ms. Lerner commented that solar panels are very important because they provide an alternative energy source, reduces our hydro cost, and provides a wonderful opportunity for our school and students. The solar panels work when the sunlight hits the panels, which are made out of special materials that help electrons flow and become an electric current. The current travels along wires that go into the city's electric grid. Now at Hillcrest, we can generate electricity! The TDSB gets paid money for the electricity that we generate, and we don’t create pollution.
Top Five Ways People Waste And Can Save Energy By: Reid and Noah (Gr. 6)
How We Waste Energy
1. Turning up your heat 2. Leaving the lights on when you leave the room 3. Leaving taps running 4. Buying gas when you don't need it 5. Leaving the fridge open How We Save Energy 1. Unplugging electronics 2. Turning off lights 3. Air dry dishes 4. Wash clothes in cold water 5. Take showers instead of baths
 Eco poster  Simon's Kindergarten class has a huge fort made of cardboard boxes.  Hillcrest wants you to pack a wastefree lunch! 
 Reusable lunch bags |
 Sort the Trash Activity (click on the document below)
Earth Day By: Luke (Gr. 6)
On April 22, people in countries all over the world will celebrate a day intended to raise awareness about the environment, and of the wonderful planet we live in. This day is called Earth Day.
The first Earth Day was organized in the U.S.A. in 1970 by the American Senator Gaylord Nelson, as an environmental teaching day to be held at universities all across the U.S.A. The Senator was an environmental activist, and came up with the idea for an Earth Day after he took a trip to Santa Barbara to view the consequences of a horrible oil spill off the coast, in 1969.
Earth Day was a huge hit, with over 20 million Americans participating. As a result, 1970 saw enormous environmental change and the U.S. Environmental Protection Act was created because of the public interest in protecting the environment. Soon after, acts such as the Clean Water, Clean Air, and the Endangered Species Act were created to protect the United States environment. Other countries soon followed in creating their own environmental legislation.
In 1990, another big environmental change took place - Earth Day went global. This time,over 200 million people from around the world participated and environmental issues were brought fourth world wide.
This year, Earth Day is still going strong, with
many events to better our environment. For instance, Earth Day Canada is organizing
a “Give It Up for Earth Day” campaign, encouraging everyone to give up one
thing that damages our environment on April 22.
You can pledge to give up meat, riding in your car, or using toxic
chemicals. It’s one little thing that
all of us can do to help our earth. What will you give up? 
The GREAT BIG Crunch By: Emily D. (Gr.5)
The Great Big Crunch is an event where everyone at Hillcrest participated in. The parent council donated all the yummy apples for The Great Big Crunch. The Great Big Crunch was to tell us about how good it is to eat food from local farmers. Also, apples don't need any plastic for packaging, so that helps reduce waste in our environment. Apples are so good for your body and they environment and they taste delicious! Here are some comments from students and what they thought about how good it is to eat locally grown apples. "The reason it’s better to eat apples that are grown close to home is because if the apples are grown in Ontario, then there's less pollution for apples to travel to Toronto, compared to apples that maybe grown in California." By: Jayden (Gr. 5)
"I think local apples are healthy for our body. They have vitamin C in them. They of course grow on apple trees -everyone knows they do. But the question is why are they healthy for the environment? They are good for our environment because if you plant more apples, more trees will grow." By: Dario (Gr. 2)
"Apples are good for the earth because you can put them in the compost." By: Madeline (Gr. 2)
Keep up the good work Hillcrest and keep on crunching!
Hillcrest Green Team By: Emma (Gr.4)
Every year at Hillcrest, there is a club called the Green Team. Ms. Peck and Mr. Remisch are the two teachers who run the Green Team. The Green Team does projects to help the school be more environmentally green. A past project was making posters to remind students and staff to turn off the lights, close the blinds, and to put paper in the GOOS bin (Good On Other Side). In March, the Green Team was working on making 3D posters to remind students how to sort trash.
The Hillcrest Courtyard Garden Growing Food and Ideas By: Kielan (Gr. 4) Here at Hillcrest, we are proud of our gardens. Yes, that’s plural! Last year, the Green Team and Ms. Poffenroth grew a vegetable garden along the ramp beds in the playground. This year, the newly named gardening team are working on a another garden in the courtyard. It will be used as an outdoor classroom, not only for studying plants but for a variety of things including art and literacy.
One of the inspirations for this garden is the local food movement, which involves urban agriculture. Urban means city and agriculture means farming. By growing food close to home, we can decrease the amount of CO2 being released into the atmosphere because we don’t need to ship it from different parts of the world. Plus it’s fun and exciting for kids such as myself to watch food grow out of the earth. Ms. Poffenroth says: “We can learn a lot from nature, so it is important to include it in our education.” If you are interested, come and join the gardening team and help us to grow food and ideas!
Hillcrest's Vegetable Garden Emily's Interview with Ms. Poffenroth About the Vegetable Garden By: Emily K. (Gr. 4) Emily Where do you plan on planting the vegetables? Ms. P In the ramp beds. Emily What kind of vegetables are you going to plant? Ms. P Mixed (pizza and salad veggies) peppers, tomatoes, herbs, zucchini, lettuce and more. Emily What will you do with the vegetables? Ms. P I hope all the kids can eat salad and pizza in the fall. Emily Who can help? Ms. P Some classes and the Gardening Club. Emily What do you do if you want help? Ms. P You get the beds ready. Some seeds are planted indoors (sweet pepper seeds were planted last week). We will be transplanting, pulling up weeds and watering. Keeping the beds nice and healthy. The vegetable garden sounds yummy!
Solar Inventors By: Theadora (Gr. 5) The Solar Inventors Club was introduced to Hillcrest in 2010. The Solar Inventors' first project was to build a solar oven that would create enough heat to make smores. Their second project was to build their own inventions, like a solar powered hat and solar powered car. I asked Ms. Poffenroth, "What made you start the Solar Inventors Club?"
When the school got solar panels on the roof, I thought it would be a good way to let kids explore this new and exciting technology first hand. Solar inventors provide them a great opportunity to use their imaginations about how we might create a more environmentally friendly future. - Ms. Poffenroth Does this change the way the you think about solar technology? I hope that this article makes you want to join the Solar Inventors Club next year!
 A solar powered hat  Solar cars 
 Solar inventors hard at work to build and adjust their solar car |
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