Salsa from the Kindergarten Garden!

The Kindergarten Garden yielded some juicy tomatoes and herbs. The goal was to make a pizza garden. Thanks to Hana and all the volunteers who helped make it happen. We hope to work with a local farm to bring some fresh produce directly into our cafeteria this fall!

Try this recipe for a fresh snack idea...

Salsa Fresca

4-5 Garden tomatoes, diced
Fresh basil, torn up
Corn kernals (roasted are especially delicious)
Red kidney or black beans, about a cup
Fresh parsley or cilantro, cut
Healthy splash of lime juice or balsamic vinegar
2 T of olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced

Mix together and let sit for an hour or so to let the flavors meld. This makes a wonderful snack with some non-GMO corn chips. Another option is to melt cheese on chips and drizzle with salsa. Top with fresh guacamole. Enjoy! Paula

Green Team Action Items, 2014-2015

Here are a few things we hope to accomplish this year!
Check out our Volunteer section to get involved. It's Easy Being Green! - Paula

Sign Our Pledge!

Mr. Madden will be sending a copy of this home. Post this on your refrigerator and review it from time-to-time. We hope you join in and try your best!

10 Eco-Friendly School Supplies

Top picks adapted from the Honestly blog. Visit their blog for more ideas.

1. Bamboo Dry Erase Board: Work out math problems without wasting paper.

2. New Leaf 100% Recycled Paper and Notebooks: 100% post-consumer recycled paper

3. Rock Paper Notebook: Cool paper made from limestone saves water, trees, energy, and has no post-production waste.

4. Eco Staple Free Stapler: Safe for little fingers and no metal waste.

5. Corn Calculator:  Fun-colored solar calculator made from corn plastic. 

6. The Seven Year Pen: Reduce waste (an estimated 100 million pens are discarded every day) by not buying another pen for seven years!

7. Bamboo Ruler: Made from sustainable, recycled, and biodegradeable resources

8. GLOB: Responsibly-packaged art products sourced from natural, recyclable, and biodegradable materials, such as paints made from fruits, vegetables, flowers and spices.

9. Clementine Art: From crayons to paints, this natural and non-toxic brand has all the art supplies your child needs for school.

10. eco-kids USA: Get naturally creative with these non-toxic and natural art supplies.

Greening Back-to-School

Your back-to-school purchases have an impact on the environment. Here's why: 

14 billion pencils are produced every year, many made with wood from ancient forests. Americans use about 31.5 million tons of printing and writing paper each year, requiring 535 million trees (most from virgin tree fiber) and 12 billion gallons of oil to make. The average American consumes about 660 pounds of paper per year, compared to 550 pounds in Japan and only about 8.8 pounds in India.

Buy Environmentally-Friendly Supplies:

• Green Schools Buying Guide
• Center for Health, Environment and Justice – Check out their Guide to PVC-Free Back-to-School Supplies and their Back-to-School Checklist.
• New American Dream has an excellent Back-to-School Guide.
• New Leaf Paper - New Leaf offers a 100% Recycled Back to School Value Bundle (online). Save 10% off all other products with promo code "RECYCLED" at checkout.
• The Green Office - (online) Sells supplies with recycled content, fewer hazardous chemicals, PVC-free, and reusability (like refillable pens). New "PVC-free Catalog." Enter coupon code TGOWELCOME at checkout to receive 10% off first purchase.
• Office Depot, Office Max, Staples - (in-store or online) Look for recycled content paper and notebook products, green printing supplies; pencils made from certified sustainable-harvest wood; and EnviroTech products, which have a higher recycled content.
• Green Earth Office Supplies - (online only) Sells notebooks, recycled paper, recycled binders (some are made of old circuit boards!), and many other great products such as reusable, biodegradable, non-PVC plastic containers for lunch boxes under the Kitchen Supplies tab (containers must be hand-washed).

Adapted from Green Schools Initiative

Pack a waste-free lunch. Learn how here. 

Plastic-Free July!

Welcome summer with some smart, green habits! Say no to single-use plastic during July. That means no plastic water bottles, plastic containers for your strawberries, plastic juice bottles, etc.

Sign up for the challenge here…

http://www.plasticfreejuly.org

Earth Day is Tuesday, April 22

What are you doing to live more sustainably? Tell us and we will post it in our blog.

Check out Earth Day Network to see what's happening around the world and to get involved!

Earth Day Lesson ideas.