BAEER Fair 2013!

What a great day at the BAEER Fair!  LEAF 2013 students both hosted a table and lead a workshop at the Bay Area Environmental Education Fair (baeerfair.org) this year.  For their workshop, PHS students lead a group of participants in a recycled art project.  They had two tables of trash, one collected from a home in SF, and one collected from a home in Marin.  They lead the two groups in the creation of "trash bears".  All of the participants became very involved in their bears, you can see photos of the garden bear and the space bear below.   The students did a great job leading this project.  Everyone had a great time, and it was amazing to see the trash that could become art in a mere 45 minutes!

https://picasaweb.google.com/111730822444277859714/PHSLEAFAtBAEERFair2013?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKDu0sii05rvUw&feat=directlin

Edison Charter Academy students also joined us at the BAEER Fair and presented the educational videos that they have created which teach students of all ages how to dispose of their trash properly, and why it is important.  It was great to see their finished project and hard work!

Both groups spent time at our LEAF booth, teaching the public about LEAF Academy.

Special thanks to all students who participated!

PHS LEAF Project!

PHS’ LEAF 2012 Team’s first few weeks of 2013 have been very exciting and productive. Our young PHS LEAF leaders have inspired PHS 4^th and 5^th graders to get to know their waste. They accomplished this through an intensive analysis of the waste students produce during their day-to-day learning at PHS. Students have loved learning to sort and catalog their garbage, recycling and composting.  Our students’ favorite parts of this project have been applying their math skills and learning how to use the balance beams from the PHS science lab to measure the mass of the waste they’ve produced. Young PHS mathematicians/environmentalists have done a precise and accurate job of measuring, recording and organizing project data. 

On Friday, January 18, 2013 our PHS LEAF students collaborated with Recology Artists in Residence and PHS teachers to support PHS’ 4^th and 5^th graders as they transformed their trash into art. It was an exciting, creative and collaborative process that embodied the values and mission of the PHS community. The results were fantastic!

Please visit YouTube to enjoy the ARTT (Awareness Reduction Transforming Trash) Project kickoff video and the video documenting Friday afternoon’s creative process and the transformation of PHS school trash into artistic representations of the PHS mascot!

http://youtu.be/RMPulXqYBDU

http://youtu.be/_dejModu2zQ


Here is a link to more photos documenting much of the learning process and incredible art projects!

https://picasaweb.google.com/111730822444277859714/PHSLEAF4thAnd5thGradesProject?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCNLr1OXW3cOKuAE&feat=directlink

Today I visited Edison Charter Academy to see their progress on their LEAF school year project!  ECA LEAF students are tackling the problem of trash at their school.  Through school-wide trash clean ups, posters made entirely out of trash, classroom visits, and conversations with their peers, ECA students are trying to change the culture of their school to one where people are conscious of where they put their trash, and understand the long term effects of trash disposal.  The ECA LEAF students understand what a huge endeavor this is, but due to their passion and heart-felt actions, they are already slowly starting to see change.  Take a look at their awesome posters below, and I look forward to seeing the educational videos the team is working on currently!  Thanks ECA!  ~Rachel

If you can't see the pictures under "they are...", the pictures are of marine life harmed by trash.  The images are taken from the Marine Mammal Center.

Posters made entirely from trash found on their schoolyard.

The ECA LEAF team!

MLK's LEAF School Year Project!

Today I went to visit MLK to see how their LEAF school year project is going!  Here are a couple of pictures of the group; Ms. Nussbaum, Jacelynn, RJ, Karen, Anthony and Stephen in their classroom.  They are holding boxes that are part of a game they will play in each homeroom class at MLK, to teach their fellow students how to sort trash, recycling and compost.  Once their peers understand how to dispose of their waste and why it matters, these LEAF leaders plan to start a school- wide recycling competition with prizes for the homeroom that consistently does the best sorting!  They will make their competition known through posters and increasing the number of recycling bins in the school.  It was great to see all of the work they have done!  Thanks MLK!  ~Rachel

Crazy day

 My experience today was really crazy…. First off in the morning while we were driving there the roads were very twisty and the sky was very foggy!!! Then the group and I saw deer, banana slugs, and rolly polly’s…Then we had an event and an activity on the creek but it didn’t turn out so well…because Martha accidently moved a hornet’s nest and a lot of them came out and attacked us…Martha got bit on her hip and thigh so she had 2 bites and I had 3 bites, 1 on my left hand and 1 on my right thumb and 1 on my right lower arm…It hurts super bad!!!! ;(


                                          -Sabrina(:

Fresh air filled the forest  The trees were tall and big                      

The creek filled the river  with fresh water breeze

 The sky was foggy making all us cold

  There were trees lieing  down on the floor  

                        - Sara

Poems

Hello,
   Today we went on a beautiful hike. I was inspired to write a few poems. Here they are.

Observations 

The furry green moss 

is a stow away 

attaching itself

to the tree

the tree gives it a home 

the tree does not complain

we are like the moss 

we lodge on the earth

the earth is a tree

it gives us food water and shelter

what does it get in return? 

Nothing 

we ruin the earth 

we cut down the trees

destroy their majestic beauty 

we take to many fish to feed us

and the whole eco system crashes 

the question is 

is destroying nature worth the cost? 

The Earth 

Her tear drops are the mourning dew 

her eyes the day and night

her smile is the flowers bloom 

her head the sun so bright

her question is so simple 

who and what am I?