The Go Green Initiative's School of the Week: Brentwood Elementary in Texas! : TreeHugger

art kids recycled cars photo.jpg

Not content with just talking about recycling and putting it into practice on a dailyi basis, the Go Green Initiative’s school of the week stepped up to the plate recently and turned ordinary cardboard boxes into a city of their own.

Of course, few cities today lack cars, and the kids above had a blast creating theirs as a way to raise awareness of the need for recycling and how vital an eco-friendly strategy it is.

Earth Day Fair
Taking the concept past Earth Day itself, they conducted a school-wide event held on Friday, May 2nd consisting of a school picnic and concert, a contest to see who could bring in a lunch with the least waste possible and various learning stations about the environment. Some of the stations included topics such as Reduce/Reuse/Recycle, Renewable Energy, Gardening & Composting, and Green Art.

Recycling Rangers
Turns out they also have students from grades 3-5 pick-up & empty recycling bins school-wide twice a week. And they also read Earth tips on these days over the announcements along with a call for more recycling Rangers to pick up the cause.

Gardening Club
Community gardening expert volunteers lead their gardening club on Friday afternoons for less-privileged students and students with behavior challenges as a way to help raise their awareness and provide alternative means to reach kids.

Environmental Club
They have clubs for 1st-3rd graders and 4th/5th graders meeting every other week where they study gardening/composting, packaging, the 4 R's, solar energy, and other aspects of the environment.

Composting
Raw fruits & veggies are collected daily from the cafeteria for the two composting containers. 15-20 pounds of food are collected daily! The Gardening & Environmental Clubs maintain the compost piles and use the compost in the school gardens.

An Amazing School
Together, it seems the folks at Brentwood Elementary in Texas are doing some incredible things to make a difference today while educating kids for the future at the same time. With things like a least-waste lunch contest and using gardening as a way to provide behavior modification for troubled kids, they’re tapping into kids natural energy as well and that can only lead to positive things in the future.

Congrats from everyone here at TreeHugger!

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