Friday, October 15, 2010

Spring Hill Goes Green!

Even though the leaves on the trees are turning shades of red, orange, and yellow, at Spring Hill Elementary we have been doing things a little greener.  At a recent principal's meeting, SHE received kudos from Cabell County's Energy Manager for making significant energy-saving growth.  Please continue to properly shutdown computers and projection equipment and turn off lights when leaving a classroom.  Below are some other ways that Spring Hill Elementary can help to make the world a little greener.

Paper Recycling

Be sure to place all of your discarded paper products in the large blue containers located throughout the school.  Goodwill Paper Recycling helps to keep discarded office paper out of the waste stream.  Did you know that every ton of office paper recycled is the equivalent of 24 trees?  You may wish to keep a box in your room labeled PAPER ONLY to collect your paper between visits to the blue recycling bins.  Ask your student helpers to participate in the action!

Printing

If you replace your print cartridge, be sure to send the discarded cartridge to the Parent Room for recycling!  Office Depot and Ink in a Blink have been very generous to Spring Hill Elementary in support of our ink cartridge recycling program!

Think before you print!  Sometimes, it is too easy for us to press the Print button on our computers and copy machines.  Much paper is wasted by printing out single line papers or unnecessary copies of documents.  According to a recent article released by the World Wildlife Federation, the golden rule for saving paper is:

Think twice if you really need to print-- 
if it is necessary to print make sure you print on both sides.

Check your Email daily!  As more staff begin to effectively communicate electronically, we will be able to further reduce our paper consumption at SHE.  

Student Resources for Going Green

Green Planet for Kids  There's an app for that!

Monday, October 4, 2010

BrainPOP & BrainPOP Jr.

BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr.  provide a library of videos that are an excellent resource for enriching your classroom curriculum!  Did you know that today is World Habitat Day?  Celebrate with a quick video titled, Freshwater Habitats for K-3 or Ecosystems for 3-5.  Other videos during the month of October feature Hispanic Heritage Month, Columbus Day, John Adams, Halloween, and many more! 

BrainPOP also provides activities for building vocabulary, utilizing graphic organizers, and games like Food Chain and Hibernation which allow students to sequence events in a series.  Search for lesson plans in BrainPOP Educators.  By joining this community (FREE), you can subscribe to the monthly newsletter and will have access to 800+ resources!

Consider integrating BrainPOP in your current classroom curriculum as whole-group activities or in the computer lab for enrichment.  If you have any questions or would like to request a demonstration in your classroom, please contact sbarracl@access.k12.wv.us.  For login information, please revisit your Email.