The Terracycle Curriculum SeriesTerracycle (our favorite upcycling company) has made an entire company (and a lot of money) from waste. Now, they’ve connected with The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education to create the Terracycle Curriculum series. From Terracycle’s website: “In nature, garbage doesn’t exist, but it does in the human system….[we focus] on how we can solve this problem.” Find lesson plan downloads by grade level at http://www.terracycle.net/ curricula. Curriculum additions are expected 3 times a year. The focus of the Spring 2010 lesson sets (on Nature Laws and Principles of the Materials Cycle) are as follows:

Grade K-2: Where Do Apples Go? A Story About the Nature of Materials

Grade 3-5: The Materials Cycle and Me Grade 6-8: Biomimicry--Nature as Model,

Measures, and Mentor Grade 9-12: An exploration of Cradle to Cradle

Design Thinking

Create A Graph:Computer Graph AttackData analysis and the ability to read graphs are in the NCTM math standards at every grade level. Invite your kids to do their own Computer Graph Attack by using page 2 of this month’s Green Team Gazette. The “Create a Graph” website (http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/) makes it easy for youngsters to make a very professional-looking graph. It also serves as an excellent “direction following” activity!!

Follow up the graphing activity by asking questions such as the ones below about the newly-created graph:

What do you notice? What is the mean? The median? The mode? The

range? What do you get when you add two countries’

waste? How much more waste did New Zealand create than

Japan? How much weight would a particular country have

over multiple years? How much less is the annual amount of a particular

country than a ton (2,000 pounds)? How long would it take at that rate to reach 1, 5, 10 tons?

The Green Team Gazette Volume 3, Issue 5, page 1 January 2011

The Green Team Gazette

Ringing in the New Year With Some Rocking

eResources I’m always amazed by the wealth that is out there on the internet. In part, that’s how Green Team Gazette originated--to share all the great green goodies & finds that are out there. This month’s Green Team Gazette is dedicated to ringing in the new year with some out-of-sight sites!!

PreCycle & PlanetPalsWe all know about “Reduce, Reuse,Recycle,” but perhaps the best NewYear’s resolution is to commit to not an “R,” but a “P”--PRECYCLE. A quick review on prefixes gets us to “pre-“ meaning “before.” So before there’s a need to RECYCLE, perhaps we should investigate what we can do first to PREVENT RECYCLING. The PlanetPals website has a slew of simple precycle ideas such as staying clear of disposables or going with reusable items (batteries, cups, bags, etc.) versus items with an ultimate landfill-ladened lifespan. Use PlanetPal’s ideas as a springboard to your own brainstorming list. Make a definite plan to pursue precycling at http://www.planetpals.com/precycle.html.

The Green Team Gazette is a publication co-sponsored by the founders of CynerGreenCGKidz, and Eagle Cove School (formerly “Gibson Island Country School”), a Green School in Pasadena, Maryland. Our mission is to educate and share ways to “go green”—both big & small--and be environ-mentally-proactive at home, in school, and beyond. It is written by Vicki Dabrowka, 3rd grade teacher & co-Green Team Leader at Eagle Cove School. To learn more visit www.cynergreen.com, www.cgkidz.com, and www.eaglecoveschool.org. You can also follow us at http://greenteamgazette.blogspot.com/ or find us at “Green Team Gazette” on Facebook or on Twitter.

Please print on recycled paper. Copyright © 2011 Vicki Dabrowka

Image you will see when you get to http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createag

Computer Graph Attack: Graphing Waste Per Pound, Per Person, Per CountryDirections: Use the chart below and the list of instructions below to makea computerized graph of the average amount of waste (measured in pounds), per person, per year, for each country. Spelling Counts! Pay attention and don’t forget to follow the directions carefully!!

1. Go to www.google.com and type in “create a graph” in the search bar. Click the “nces” link (which is probably the first one) or go to http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/.2. Choose “Bar” graph.3. In the “Design” Tab:

a. Pick “Vertical” as the direction.b. Pick any shape.c. For style, change nothing.

4. Click the “Data” Tab: a. Title your graph “Annual Household Waste Per Person, Per Country ”b. For the “X Axis,” type in “Countries”c. For the “Y Axis,” type in “Pounds of Waste”d. For “Source,” type in “by __________” (your name)e. For “Data Set,” select “18” items. Do not change the number of groups.f. For “Group Label,” type in “number of pounds of waste per person.”g. Under “Item Label,” write in the names of each of the countries from the list.h. Under “Value” write in the household waste in pounds per country using

the chart.i. For “Min-Value” write in “0.”j. For “Max-Value” type in “2000.”k. Choose colors for bars.

5. Click on the “Labels” Tab:a. For “Show Label” type “yes.”b. Change only “Label color” to the color of your choice.

Change nothing else in the top box.c. For “Font,” pick a font in the first column only

(the other ones don’t always work well.)d. Pick a font color….do not change the font size.

6. Click the “Preview” tab.7. Have your teacher view your graph before you print.8. Click the “Print/Save” tab.

a. Click “Print.”b. In the next window, click “print.”c. Find the “print” icon and click.d. Find where it asks you how many copies you want. Ask your teacher how many copies you should

print, type in that number, then click “print.”e. Voila! Mission Completion!!

9. Study your graph. What do you notice? How much more waste does the US make per person thanthe least wasteful country on this graph?

Volume 3, Issue 5, page 2 January 2011

Copyright © 2011 Vicki Dabrowka

Image you will see when you get to the

“Create A Graph”

Country Amount of Waste per

year in Pounds for Average

PersonAustralia 1,521Canada 1,102France 1,301

Germany 1,204Iceland 1,433Ireland 1,235

Italy 1,014Japan 882

Mexico 683New Zealand 1,400

Norway 1,322Poland 705

South Korea 882Sweden 794

Switzerland 1,322Turkey 728

United Kingdom 1,058United States 1,587

Data from http://www.nationmaster.com/grap

h/env_was_gen-environment-waste-generation for the year

2000, converted from kilograms to pounds.

Included in this list are the top 5

ranking WASTEFUL countries in the

world.Can you find them?

Image you will see when you get to http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createag