North Goes Green

Learn about the Sun and the Earth with the NASA celebration of Sun/Earth Day 2011. Check out NASA’s Sun/Earth Day site celebrating the Spring Equinox. Learn about ancient mysteries and future discoveries. It’s our job to learn as much about our Earth as we can so we can keep it as vibrant as it is today!

Help your child make a neat pillow out of one of their old T-shirts! Reduce, REUSE, Recycle !

Make your T-shirt now!

STUDENTS: Email northgoesgreen@gmail.com and let us know what you WANT to see on this site! From recycling tips, ways that solar energy save the earth and much more. We can put what you want on our site !

TEACHERS- we can give you “teacher pages” and you can provide to us curriculum you want your students to have access to. Links to science sites and recycling online information can all be located in a convenient place for your students to find on a North Elementary website! Email me and I’ll fill you in!

STAFF- Please let us know what you’d like on the site to help promote GREEN stuff at North!

Thanks!- Allie & John Gillies

Check out all the cool green stuff over the past year! Happy New Year everyone!

http://www.naturemoms.com/blog/2010/12/28/2010-a-very-good-year/

Did you know that we all make much more trash than necessary at Christmas time. All that wrapping paper and bows and ribbons!

I have a friend from Michigan who was ahead of her time. She always exchanged gifts with her family wrapped in pillow cases! Why? Maybe they were early recyclers or last minute shoppers but either way its not a bad idea! Tie with a rope or twine and poof gift is hidden and “wrapped!”

Why not use the kids artwork for them to wrap their gifts? Art paper is recyclable so you can use it and recycle it next! Remember to recycle ALL cardboard contained in toy wrappers. There is a lot you can do to reduce your waste stream even at Christmas.

Re-use your old Christmas cards for tags on gifts. Recycle all gift wrap (except that super shiny stuff), and save all the bows and gift bags to re-use next year! Send email photo cards or photo videos and save postage and paper waste! Take your Christmas card photos and make a great photo collage for your wall so you’ll see friends and family each and every day!

Teach your kids to recycle and mulch your live Christmas tree or better yet- haven’t bought one yet? Get a LIVE potted tree and plant it after the holidays!

Keep in mind you can recycle a ton at Christmas and all year round! It’s a GREEN thing!

Check out these great sites and see what other Natural Moms are talking about: Nature Moms

Check out the Earth Day store for great GREEN gifts for family and friends!  EARTH DAY STORE

Shop these fine GREEN retailers and earn extra $GREEN$ for North Elementary to support the North Goes Green Initiative-  Lets Go Green Biz and Green Raising

You can also shop any day at Amazon and earn $green$ for North Elementary’s Green Initiatives!

North Elementary’s North Goes Green Initiative is funded by everyday folks like you. Shopping online or in town at our local sponsors (see side link to the right) helps us every day get closer to being GREENER here at North Elementary. Shop online and earn from 25%-45% for North. Shop locally and earn 10% (you must print out the Dragonfly coupon) and you can also avoid shipping your goods to your home which saves the environment more than 10%!!

Go thru our links to Amazon.com and buy ANYTHING from them and we earn 5-10% of every purchase. We all shop everyday and a lot of us shop online. Simply going through North Goes Green’s links on the right hand side from our online retailers and in person Somerset, MA stores can benefit North each and every day. Thank you and Happy Holiday Shopping to you all!!!

Dear North Goes Green Family- There are hundreds of ways to Green your holiday. Do you still have older lights? There are trade in sites where you can go and trade in your old string lights for new LED lights. Check out- HOME DEPOT TRADE IN to see how!

You can purchase a potable Christmas tree- although expensive- better for the environment because you can re-plant it in your own yard and thus have a lush green Christmas tree all year round! Great for putting outdoor LED lights on next year!

Please remember the less fortunate this year. Donate your old lightly worn coats to the North Elementary Coat drive and donate new mittens and hats as well. Invest in a good sweater and keep your heating bills low by lowering your thermostat by a few degrees. Save money and save heat!

Reduce your waste. At the holidays remember to recycle the packaging. All that cardboard around toys- you can put it in your paper/cardboard bin. Take all those plastic bits and put them in your recycle bin too. Keep in mind all cardboard must be 3×3 feet or smaller but take a few moments and you too will reduce your waste this holiday season.

Use a crock pot- it uses less energy and it makes cost effective meals. You can purchase lesser cuts of meat, cheaper chicken (thighs are great in a crock pot) and cook it on low for hours for a savory meal. Share with your neighbors. My neighbors give me deer meat (he is a hunter) and we make lovely stews and other tasty treats. I share my veggies they share their deer meat and we all eat well and save money at the same time. Saving our resources and sharing with others is a great gift for all this holiday season.

Re-use old gifts. Re-gift. Receive a gift that you don’t like- don’t throw it away or toss it in your closet. Donate it- or re-gift it to someone who actually wants it. Got a gift for yourself or your kid last year and used it once? Swap it with your friends who did the same thing. A new toy to your child is as good as a brand new one and less costly and less wasteful. Share and do a toy-swap. Its a good thing!

Let us know your tips on saving time and energy this holiday season and we’ll post them for you!

Happiest Green Holiday Wishes to all of you at North Elementary!

Check out some great GREEN TIPS from local RI channel ABC6 News:  Great Green Tips

Remember it is simply every-day things we can do to help make the earth Greener! Using a reusable bottle for water is a great start. A stainless steel thermos is a great alternative to using bottled water. Send them to school for your child’s lunch and snack and save lots of $GREEN$ as well as the earth. Encourage your child to bring home their plastic bottles if that is more convenient for you. Recycling them at home is a great option as well. If we all do a few little things we can all make a HUGE change!

Please send any tips or ideas to: northgoesgreen@gmail.com

It’s not too early to be thinking of Halloween and if you have kids like I do – they love costumes.

Chances are you have a few extra costumes in a “dress up” bin. Why not shake things up this year and rather than buy NEW costumes why not re-use and re-purpose some of your old ones. My daughter this year wants to wear her brother’s old Spider Man Costume with a twist of course. She wants to be “Spider Girl” so poof- same costume with an old tu-tu her Gramma gave her and voila her costume is all set. The boys want to be Aliens and we are taking bits of old witches costumes and wizard capes and different ghoulish masks and they are set too.

Now what for Mom and Dad for the Fall Costume Dance? Hmm…well I just found some old silk pajamas from my Grampa (my mother taught me long ago to reduce and reuse everything which is probably why I am the way I am.) Anyway- these pajamas are polka dotted! Imagine ! So if I can convince my shy husband to wear them with an old clown wig we have poof Dad will be a clown. Fingers crossed he’ll agree with me on this one. Me? Not sure yet- perhaps I’ll cover myself in recycled materials and be the “Green Girl?” But either way I think I’ll find something in my house that I already have and re-purpose it for Halloween. I hope this inspires you and your kids to do the same!