It's showtime!
A fundraising-through-recycling program, FundingFactory (www.fundingfactory.com), has partnered with Sony Pictures to provide schools with a promotional program to raise awareness about recycling and taking care of the environment.
Based on Sony's Planet 51 movie, the collaboration provides items for elementary and grade school teachers and classrooms. Visit www.fundingfactory.com/Planet51/about.aspx or view www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0PnAmp38IU.
Growing green now on screen
PBS is offering the DVD "Growing Greener Schools," with best practices for creating sustainable schools and integrating environmental education into curriculum for both urban and suburban schools. Educators and students discuss the effects on student health, attendance, test scores and preparedness for green jobs.
The program includes grant-writing tips, how to build eco-friendly school buildings from the ground up, retrofitting older classrooms to new green standards, and operating green campuses. Program participants also demonstrate how "going green" is helping schools save money. Visit www.PBS.org; click on "shop PBS" in the top bar; then click on Growing Greener Schools under DVDs.
Healthy Schools Day April 11
It's not too early to start planning for National Healthy Schools Day on April 11. The purpose of the day is to celebrate and promote healthy and green school environments for all children.
Projects can be worked into science, math, character education, reading and more. The day is coordinated by Healthy Schools Network,a not-for-profit environmental health organization, together with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Council of Educational Facility Planners International.
Visit www.nationalhealthyschoolsday.org/ to get graphics, posters and decals. The awareness day promotes use of the EPA's Indoor Air Quality "Tools for Schools" program, a comprehensive resource to help schools maintain a healthy environment in buildings by identifying, correcting and preventing indoor air quality problems.
Action kits with software, fact sheets, and classroom tip sheet, brochures, workshops and resolutions are available at www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/index.html.