Dear Schools & Community,
It’s been an exciting month for sustainability across our school district! We launched composting at another CPS school this month, and we were nominated as a school district for the Green Ribbon Schools Award, for our efforts in energy efficiency, waste reduction, and more. Read below to find out more!
Fletcher Maynard Academy (FMA) began lunchroom composting on Monday, March 16. The school community learned about the new program at their morning meeting where Meryl Brott from the Department of Public Works presented a slideshow, and students from the Green Team club helped demonstrate where to put different items (see photo above). A few Green Team students also read a poem about composting. Adult volunteers were at lunch all week to help students learn how to participate in the new program. FMA students did great. It's exciting that students from a total of ten Cambridge Public Schools are now helping nature and animals by composting their lunch leftovers. A big thank you to our volunteers, custodians, students, parents, and staff at FMA!
Fletcher Maynard joins the following schools that already compost: Peabody School & Rindge Avenue Upper School, Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School, King Open & Cambridge Street Upper School, Graham & Parks School, Tobin School & Vassal Lane Upper School, Cambridgeport School, Amigos School, Haggerty School, Kennedy-Longfellow School & Putnam Avenue Upper School.
Our school district was nominated by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education as one of three candidates from Massachusetts to be considered for the Green Ribbon Schools Award, given by the U.S. Department of Education. The two other nominees include Hingham High School and Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School.
The winners will be announced on Earth Day, April 22, 2015. The U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools program recognizes schools, districts and postsecondary institutions that are 1) reducing environmental impact and costs; 2) improving health and wellness; and 3) teaching environmental education.
Thanks for keeping our schools green!
–Kristen
Donate Furniture to Homeless
Getting rid of furniture? Donate it! Moving this spring and can’t take it all? Plan ahead and get free pick up with the Coalition for the Homeless. They have extra pickup days in Cambridge at the end of May and early June! Items must be clean and usable. Someone’s gonna love your stuff. Complete the online form for your good-condition furniture donations at www.tiny.cc/MAHomelessDonations. They take kitchen tables & chairs, couches & sofa chairs, ottomans, hutches, end tables, coffee tables, bed frames, dressers, bookshelves, cabinets, rugs, lamps, dishes, pots & pans, and blankets & linens. Your gently-used donations help low-income and formerly homeless families furnish their apartments at no cost to them. For all 2015 pickup dates and other options, visit CambridgeMA.Gov/Furniture.
Apply for Mini-Grants
Need funding for your project related to healthy choices? Please see this announcement for ten $500 mini-grants to support initiatives in Cambridge that help promote physical activity and healthy eating by making “the healthy choice, the easy choice.” The grants are funded by the Cambridge Public Health Department and three Whole Foods Market stores in Cambridge.
Grants are awarded in a competitive process by representatives from the Healthy Children Task Force, the Cambridge Food and Fitness Policy Council, the Cambridge Green Schools Initiative, and the Cambridge Public Health Department.
Grant applications are due by April 3rd. For more information please see this document or contact Josefine Wendel at [email protected] or 617.665.3765. Thanks!
Kids Recycling Tour
During April Vacation
Do you want to see what happens? Cambridge kids, see where your recycling goes! Children in first grade and up are invited to visit Casella Recycling in Charlestown on Wednesday, April 22 - Earth Day (School Vacation Week)! We'll be in the Education Room where we'll ask questions of staff and watch a live video of papers, cardboard and containers getting separated and prepared for markets. Third and fourth graders will find this particularly exciting. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Participants will need to walk a flight of stairs to get to the Education Room. We'll meet at DPW, 147 Hampshire St, at 9:30 SHARP and carpool (return by 11:45). To sign up, email [email protected]; include how many are in your group, ages/grades, if you can drive, and how many passengers you can take.
Fresh Pond Day
Do you or your students & families want to spend time in nature, locally?
Fresh Pond Day is May 30 at Fresh Pond Reservation, 250 Fresh Pond Parkway. The event is a City sponsored celebration of water, wildlife, and sustainability to connect residents with watershed, urban wild, and local community resources. Includes music, wildlife demos, tours, and parade. Organizations interested in participating in the event should contact Kirsten Lundquist, 617.349.6489 or register here.
Drink Up!
Do you want to stay hydrated and healthy at school?
Please see this flyer for multi-lingual information about Cambridge tap water! Please feel free to print and hang in your classroom/office/bathroom!
Tap water is drinking water that comes from the public water source. We get our tap water from faucets, sinks, and water fountains.
Cambridge water is clean and delicious, and comes directly from Fresh Pond! After purification, the water flows through pipes to every home and business in the city.
Tap water is zero-calorie, low-cost, and tastes great! The Cambridge Water Department carefully treats and disinfects water to make sure it’s still safe when it reaches your faucet. Stay hydrated and protect our planet by drinking from the tap!
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