Brad Lander Meets with Government and Green Clubs

New York City Council Member, Brad S. Lander, meets with 5th Grade Government and Green Clubs.  

Green Club hands petitions asking for the Cole Street Triangle to be Turned "A Lot Greener."

Later that week, Council Member Lander quotes a Green Club member when arguing for a plastic bag charge.

Brooklyn New School 5th grader Elan Rabiner agrees with Lander. The council member spoke about the bag fee last Monday as a guest of the school’s Green and Government Clubs.

“I like the idea of there being a cost,” said Rabiner, who is a member of the Green Club. “It will help people remember to bring their own bags. With fewer plastic bags, there won’t be as much litter, bags stuck in trees or in the ocean, which can cause sea life to eat the bags and die.”

Link to Blog Article

Ramp it Up

Despite the scaffolding and reduced space, first graders explore physics.

Get the marble in the cup, after a very, very  long trip.

Renewable Energy

Fourth graders explore renewable energy...as part of their study of the Dutch in New Amsterdam.   The two projects are taken from the K'Nex Renewable Energy Kits.

Water powered grist mill.  

Alex, I.C.E. intern, troubleshooting grist mill.

Proud constructors with their wind-powered water lifter.

Warning:  When the fan is on full speed, the water splashes quite a bit.

Thanks Hila for the photos.

Indoor Shore

Some snapshots of another themed choice/work time.  This time the theme was:  shells.

Shell sort.  

Printing in clay with shells.

Which animal(s) were born with their shell?  Which borrowed theirs?

A hermit crab?  A fiddler crab? A water snail?

What is this? 

Students hypothesized:  "A snake skin?"  "A rattle snake skin?" when they heard the shaker sound.  "Beads? "  Then they dissected the specimen (a whelk egg case) and found tiny shells in each section.  Students pasted the shells on paper to keep them to study later on.

Upon opening the whelk egg case:  "Oh it is a cocoon of shells."

Thank you Celso for sending the photos.  

Link to Another Indoor Shore Entry

Scavenger Hunt at the Shore

 Urban Park Rangers guided K students as they hunted for Shore treasures.

A grid for placing specimens.

Found Objects Turn into Vehicles

GM look out.  Green Studio is challenging your dominance in auto design.

Found objects and wood scraps,  carefully cultivated by J.E., get turned into cars by First Graders.  So scientific...after weeks of testing sliders and rollers on ramps.  So cute... "My cheeks hurt from smiling so much."  

Sustainability Connection?

It's rather weak.  But couldn't keep myself from publishing this...

Okay:  How about humor sustains us?  See the play on words...loads of fun?  As 2nd graders build model bridges we ask them to test to find out how much of a  load their bridges can hold.  According to his teachers, Amy and Penina, Zaydon was hysterical laughing at the double meaning in his entry.