Eco-Corner News... What A Glorious Earth Day It Was !!!

Many, many thanks to all the Hillcrest folks for coming out in such force last weekend to help us beautify our campus!  Pathways were made and 

revamped, weeds were pulled, natives were planted, mulch was spread, an apple orchard was planted and sunshine surrounded our efforts through-

out the day.  The fervor for helping out, caring and the endless energy shown by the Hillcrest community never ceases to amaze me.  You are all passing on such a gift to your children; the passion for what you believe in and the mentality that together we can work to accomplish anything that is important to us.  

Please take a moment to walk the hillside and admire all the fruits of the labor.  Spring is here and as always, we have much to celebrate!

A special thanks to all our environmental stewards who helped out on Earth Day.

Mark Kramer

Cary & Henry Littell

Danielle King

Kelly & Thurston Morrison

Pia Funes-Bakker

Luis Bakker

Sarah, Matt, Doran, Audrey Cambell

Katie Hurt

David and Tristan Earp

Patricia Remch

Brian Porat

Phil & Charlie Longenecker

Diane, Wayne & Jacob Diamond

Michael & Zev Black

Andy Packer

Lin & Noah Cheyer

Leah Korican

Ava Korican-Barlay

Linda and Julliet Bornholdt

Ted and Tristan West

Lissa & Reagan Hines

Shirley Rhee

Per & Axel Ljung

Barb Murrer

Ryan, Cara, Miles & Logan Brockbank

Ken, Ryan & Cole Dupee

Nancy Scanlon

Katie, Lucas & William Binder

Mike & Walker Blake

Pouneh & Neela Trockle

Joohee Hong

Helgi Adalsteinsson

Ingi & Hum Helgason

Kristin Beltran

Plastic, Plastic Everywhere.....

We've been working together all year with the students in Ecoliteracy to review the 4 R's.  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot.

Last Friday, 30 families contributed their plastic waste for the week so that we could evaluate how much plastic 

that would generate and what to do with it all.

Many thanks to the 5th graders in Ms. Freschl/Bahr's class for helping us sort the plastics in two piles; that which could be recycled and 

that which ends up in the landfill.  Many students were seen holding up the plastic containers looking hard for the triangular symbol which

usually has the numbers 1-7 printed in it.  The good news is that the majority of the plastics that were piled high could be recycled.  We made a banner with the non-recycled, landfill plastics that said "Choose To Reduce".  As the students know, this is the most important R of all.

Here are some facts that the students learned.  Perhaps they will be of interest to you as well.

*  Only 30% of all material that can be recycled gets to a recycling center in the U.S.   Yikes!

*  Recycling one ton of plastic saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space.  To give you an idea of what that means, the back of a small pick up truck

    holds about 1 cubic yard.

*  When in question about if a product can be recycled or not, put it in the Recycling Bin.  No one picks through the landfill to remove recycling.

*  What do you do with these super common household items?

    Newspaper bags, dry cleaning bags, bread bags, produce bags, toilet paper, napkin and papertowel packaging wrap, plastic cereal box liners,

    case wrap that if often around snacks and waterbottles, plastic bags from stores

    

Bag up all the above plastics and drop off at a grocery store which recycles all #2/#4 plastics.  They need to be clean and dry.

Hillcrest students are trying to make a difference by choosing to practice the 4 R's.  Thank you parents for supporting and modeling good environmental choices along the way.  Kids know they can make a difference.  Just ask them, they will tell you.

Thanks again for your plastics contribution and great kids.

Nancy, Cara and Katie

Earth Week 
at Hillcrest 


Wed. April 18th - 
Sat. April 21st

Wednesday, April 18th- Walk & Roll to School

Thursday, April 19th - Kids Challenge Day!

                          1) Turn off any lights not being used!

                                  2) Eat healthy! Eat some fruits & veggies!

                                  3) Get outside - Video/Screen Free Day!

Friday, April 20th - Hillcrest Plastic Assembly

*** Bring in your family's recyclable & non-recyclable cleaned plastic waste/bags/containers collected during the week to morning assembly. ***

Saturday, April 21st - Garden Clean Up!

Come celebrate Earth Day at Hillcrest!

9am -1pm 

Bring your gloves & water bottle. 

Snacks & drinks will be provided!

Questions? Send an email to greenhillcrest@gmail.com

Come see what's growing in our gardens!

Our new Seedlings are loving this rain!

In Ecoliteracy class, we are making room for our new seedling by weeding our planting beds and adding compost to enrich the soil.

The kids are planting seeds which are growing on the window sills outside of Ms. Inclan, Ms. Buswell and Ms. McLaughlin's rooms. We are also transplanting our seedlings into our gardens and also into pots for the plant sale. We are so thankful for this rain because Mother Nature is doing the watering for us this week!


Ms. Rochester's garden had Arugula growing as tall as the kids, so her class got to work pulling it up and turning it into a beautiful salad.  Many kids ate it and were quoted saying:

"I could eat this all day long!" 

 " I am not eating lunch today, I'm eating this!"

The magic ingredients?

Freshly harvested greens and Cara's yummy vinaigrette!

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar or unsweetened rice vinegar

1 Tbsp honey or maple syrup

I tsp dijon

Salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in a jar and shake well. Kids are especially good shakers!

          Plant Sale!

      

The kids love planting seeds and Cara has been busy watering our growing seedlings daily.  We had so many tomatoes, tomatillos and peppers that we held our first plant sale last Friday! Thank you for supporting the Ecoliteracy Program.

 Look for our next sale the week before Spring Break!

Energize for the prize

Diane Diamond attended the Energize for the prize meeting earlier in the month and has summarized the program and how to take advantage of the rebates and get money for Hillcrest!

Energize for the prize is the opportunity for Hillcrest to get $100 for every homeowner that does energy upgrades. This program is associated with Energy Upgrade California, a joint partnership with PG&E and Federal Stimulus funds to reduce energy usage.

Additionally, there are many rebates for energy upgrades available to homeowners through this program along with the "prize" for Hillcrest. To take advantage of this, you must work with a partner contractor. The contractor will provide an assessment that will give you the most bang for the buck, in terms of upgrades, to reduce usage and maximize rebates.

For more information, please go to their website Energy Upgrade California.

Or contact Diane Diamond (Hillcrest Parent) at 601-1481 or Dianewayne@sbcglobal.net

Earth Day is Saturday, April 21st!

We will be hosting Hillcrest's next garden work day on Earth Day, so please save your morning to come work in our gardens! 

Hillcrest's Solar Panel

The Solar Panel at Hillcrest was put in 3 year ago from a PGE solar schools grant submitted by Mary Ann Piette. Check out this link Hillcrest Solar Panel to see how much energy our panels are producing and learn more about solar (link also posted on blog on the right). We would like to get a couple of teacher and parents retrained through solar schools. Please email us if your interested greenhillcrest@gmail.com.

Josh Plaisted, our resident solar panel expert and dad of Nico and Sage, will be helping us put in a kiosk near the solar panel so that kids can easily see how much energy our solar panel is producing. Thank you Josh!

The Eco Team is looking to improve the energy efficiency at Hillcrest. Last spring a group of middle school students completed a basic energy/water study and we are looking to start it up again this spring. We will keep you posted on when and where!

If you are looking to make your house more energy efficient this workshop might be worth attending. Also, if you plan to upgrade your house or are in the middle of an upgrade, please make sure Hillcrest gets credit when you apply for your rebates. See below for more details.

The Hillcrest Eco Team is participating in a unique new fundraiser called Energize for the Prize, where the PTA gets money when members of our community make energy efficient home improvements through a program called Energy Upgrade California.

If you’ve been considering insulation, new windows, furnace or duct work, or other energy-efficiency improvements, there are up to $4,000 in rebates available for Alameda County homeowners who make energy upgrades.  Hillcrest gets $100 for every upgrade, plus the school that helps recruit the most upgrades will earn an additional $5,000 in May. There is no cap on the number of households that can participate or the amount of money we can raise through this program. Any homeowner in Alameda County can have their upgrade benefit Hillcrest, so please spread the word!

Learn more at www.energizefortheprize.org or contact Edie Irons, our Outreach Coordinator, at 510-891-6528orinfo@energizefortheprize.org. The Hillcrest parent contact for this program is Diane Diamond.

If you’re interested in learning more about Energy Upgrade California, there is a free homeowner information workshop coming up soon. You’ll meet local contractors who do this type of work and hear from an Oakland homeowner who has been through the process. Now is the time to make those energy-saving home improvements you’ve been putting off – plus your home will be so much more comfortable afterwards!

Oakland Home Energy Efficiency Workshop

Tuesday, February 28, 6:00 to 7:30pm
Dimond Library

3565 Fruitvale Ave, Oakland, CA

RSVP: http://oaklandenergyworkshop.eventbrite.com/

Red Wiggler worms in the Kindergarten and 1st Grade

Henderson, Rochester & Inclan's class all have Worm composter's in their classrooms. Although the initial reaction from each class was Eewww... worms and worm poop. Most kids got into digging through worm compost (worm poop) to collect worms for their composter.

Red Wriggler worms, different then Earth worms, love to eat decaying fruit, vegetables and small pieces of yard waste. They use newspaper, paper towel and paper bags as shelter and will compost the paper as well. When the worms digest all the fruits and vegetables they produce a very nutrient rich "poop"soil that is beneficial to our vegetable gardens. Worm compost (worm poop) does not smell if the environment is balanced.

Red Wigglers like a moist, cool (moderate temp), dark home with small bits of fruits and vegetables (already decaying is fine). So fruits and veggies that have gone bad are fine to use. 

Our landfills are filled with uneaten food. Since most of the uneaten food is wrapped up in Plastic/packaging it can never reach the earth to be turned back into soil. By composting at home, you can easily produce great compost soil for your garden and yard. If you are not quite ready for a worm bin, Oakland encourages that all food and food soiled paper waste go into your green bin. 

The Ecoliteracy classes on Monday each made a simple home for their worms. Most kids wanted to take their worms home, so we are showing you how you can create your own worm composter. 

1) Find a Plastic Container (not clear) with a fitted lid. Drill holes in bottom for water drainage, around the top of the bin and on lid to allow in air. Also, put something under the bin to catch compost tea/drainage.

2) Fill the container with shredded paper. Add enough water to moisten all the paper but drain/pour off any standing water at the bottom. Worms will not survive in standing water.

3) Find Red Wriggler worms. The kids loved digging through an Eco Parent's worm compost to find their worms. Ask a friend who has a worm composter for some of their worms or purchase a bag at a garden center.                                                      

Fun Fact: 8 worms can produce 1500 baby worms in 6 months. Each worm is both male and female.

4) We put food (lettuce, apples, coffee grounds & filter, broken egg shells, tea leaves, yard waste) in the middle of the bedding (best to keep food in one area versus sprinkling all over). Worms will not eat meat, dairy, oils so only feed them fruits and vegetables. Don't over feed your worms initially.

Moist bedding, Compost, food & worms

5) Add compost or dirt over the food so the worms have somewhere to hang out.

6) Loosely cover the food & compost with some of the moistened bedding to help keep everything dark and moist. Cover everything with a piece of cardboard and then put on the lid. Worms like it dark!

7) We put our new worm compost bins in the a covered & shaded area.

For additional instruction click here Cheap & Easy Worm Bin.

We will keep you posted on the compost we are creating in the classroom!

- The Eco Team

What is happening in the Hillcrest Eco Program.

There is a long history of creating beautiful gardens at Hillcrest. Many parents have volunteered their time and energy to transform the front of the school, hillside and classroom patios. Hillcrest's monthly Ecoliteracy program, run by two parent volunteers, Cara Brockbank and Nancy Scanlon, is in it's second year. This class provides an opportunity for K-5 to go out and dig in the dirt, watch seeds turn into plants, flower, and then enjoy the fruits and veggies they have grown. In addition, our Eco Team has created a recycling/compost program where 65% of our waste is diverted from the landfill. All classrooms and outdoor spaces have a compost, recycle and landfill bin. In addition, we encourage the kids to follow the for R's (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot). 

2011-2012 - Projects

Gardens- The Ecoliteracy Class have been planting many seeds and plants around the gardens. Mike Blake and his crew have been building new planter boxes on the playground hillside. We will be having another Garden cleanup party in the next month. Look at our calendar for details. 

Fund Raising - The Ecoliteracy Program & Eco Team is Funded by the PTA, but we have committed to bring in part of our funding. We currently hold an evening at the Wine Mine which raising a significant amount of money. We are also researching a produce box which has a chance of bringing in a lot of money. 

Recycling/Compost Program - In conjunction with Earth Day, Nancy Scanlon is going to ask each kid to bring in plastic waste that they home has produced in a weekend. We will be displaying on campus how much just our school community produces in plastic waste and discuss way of reducing our dependence on plastic. 

We could also use volunteers in the lunch room to encourage kids to dispose of their lunch waste properly. Our kids are getting pretty good, but still need reminders. 

Farm Boxes - We would like to bring fresh fruit and veggies to you home. This would also be a big fundraiser for our Eco Team. We have done all the research on how to get it started. We are looking for  volunteers to help!

Worm Bins in the Kindergarten - In February we will be putting worm bins for composting in the Kindergarten. Every Wednesday, they will be feeding the worms at lunch time. 

Harvest Moon/ Spring Feasts - In October, the Eco Team hosted a  Harvest Moon Feast for the Hillcrest Community and shared a wonderful meal together. 

Masterplan - Katie Binder is working on creating a master plan for the gardens. She will working with Cara and Nancy to outline/label how the garden spaces are being used, work with teachers to help incorporate plants in the patios that will tie in with their curriculum, and plan for the future. In addition, we will be creating a manual for each patio garden to assist Eco/Garden Parents in maintaining and developing these outdoor spaces. The second phase of the project will be to create a broader masterplan for other future projects at the school. 

Current Volunteer Opportunities

1) Worm Parent in Ms. Rochester's Class contact Katie Binder @kpbinder@gmail.com.

2) Come to the Wine Mine and enjoy a glass of wine and share mingle with other Hillcrest families. Contact Diane Diamond at dianewayne@sbcglobal.net

3) Volunteer in your child's Ecoliteracy Class - Contact Cara at oaklandmonkey@hotmail.com

4) Help Shawn Wong start and manage the Hillcrest Produce Boxes - Contact Shawn at shawn_m_wong@yahoo.com

Do you have ideas? Here are a few other areas we would like to take on but need volunteers...

- Create a panel so that our kids can learn see how much energy our solar panel produces. 

- Improve energy conservation on campus

- Reduce paper used in YP

-? What are your ideas?

-