Earl Beatty’s Scientific Experiment!

What are those orange fences for? And how long will they be there? The answer lies in the hard-packed soil of Earl Beatty's slowly disappearing playing field. Despite proper installation, the small field at the back of the school couldn't take last winter's lack of snow cover and the frequent pounding of many happy feet. What to do - and should it be a replacement of the same?

The answer is, maybe not. So the test plots were born in the early morning of June 4th, 2010. The plots include different types of grass seed/sod with a protective layer underneath. The entire field is being watered in the evenings each day. The fence will help the plots get established, and will remain for four months.

Then, let the games begin! Let us see which area stands up the best to the heavy use our little field can give. We need every one’s help in recording and observing accurate results – fences need to stay until the end of September…and everyone can assist with observations throughout the Fall and then in the Spring of 2011 until June.

Thank you for your participation in this…I’m certain we all look forward to key results and answers to our disappearing field.

Ms. L. Ordubegian, Ms. Boudreau, Ms. Wallace, Ms. Laporte and Mr. Travers

The test area, June 4th, 2010.

The first test plot.

All three test plots.

Have you seen it? The Anti-Idling Banner is complete

The Junior EcoTeam (JET) has been working on completing the Anti-Idling Banner that was first started last year. They are pleased to announce that it is complete and hanging on the south wall of Earl Beatty. Thank you, drivers of Earl Beatty community, for supporting our lungs at work and our green initiative by not idling your car!

EcoTrivia at Earl Beatty

In April, Ms. Dafoe and her students wrote and ran an EcoTrivia contest that had the whole school playing! The students in Room 4 announced a new question each morning and by the end of it all, Ms. McKelvey's class was the big winner. They earned ice cream and an extra DPA session with Ms. Dafoe. Congratulations to the winners! Shout out to Room 4 for coming up with the trivia questions and running this fun event.

Earth Day Tree Dedication

Many thanks to the students on the Intermediate EcoTeam for writing a gracious and thoughtful dedication for the tree planting that took place at Earl Beatty on Earth Day this year.

Commemoration Eco-Schools Tree Planting Speech
April 22, 2010 at 10 a.m.

On behalf of the staff, students and the parents of Earl Beatty, we would like to thank the City of Toronto for generously donating these beautiful Tulip trees to our school.

We also want to recognize and thank our school parent, Liza, for organizing the tree planting ceremony on Earth Day. We appreciate the time you took out of your day to select the trees. It is very important that our schools, communities and our city continue to replant the dying trees for the future generations. They clean our air and give us oxygen. They provide us with shade and we even appreciate it from inside the school. In the fall, they will give us something wonderful to look at instead of concrete, they’ll give us a variety of warm colours to enjoy, and they’ll also provide animals with shelter.

Once again, we humbly thank our City of Toronto and our parent Liza for these beautiful trees.

Waste Audits at Earl Beatty

Everyone at Earl Beatty has been working hard to be environmentally responsible; we are, after all, a Gold-certified EcoSchool. But we know that we can be doing more for our community and for our environment so Earl Beatty has set its sights on becoming a Platinum EcoSchool.

Moving up to Platinum status involves carrying out audits of Earl Beatty's waste. This year, Mieke Foster, Waste Management Specialist at the Toronto District School Board, came out to help our Eco Green Team conduct our first one in January. Mieke made sure we had all the materials required to sort and measure our waste, including garbage and recyclables. The Eco Green Team, armed with gloves, bins, and scales, were charged with the task of sorting all of Earl Beatty's waste into 7 different categories, which included Recyclable Containers, Recyclable Paper, Other Recyclables, Food Waste and Soiled Paper, Untouched Food (?!), Real Garbage and Reusables.

The results of January's audit were very interesting. The team found that the Earl Beatty community was throwing out 26 kg of material into the garbage bin and of that 26 kg only 9.2 kg of it was actual real garbage! These findings tell us that much of the material we throw out can be recycled, composted, or reused!

The next audit is happening next week. Hopefully, with the introduction of the litter free lunch program, the Good On One Side (GOOS) paper bins in each classroom, and the Eco Green Team's recycling awareness campaigns, the amount of material going into garbage bins has been diverted to recycling bins or being reused (like, pencils, pens, erasers and paper that hasn't been written on both sides) and that the amount of real garbage that Earl Beatty generates has declined.

A big kudos goes out to the staff and students that conducted the waste audit. Researching what goes into our garbage and recycling bins is important work that helps us out figure out what our next steps are to a greener, healthier school!


The Eco Green Team, Mieke Foster and Ms. Laporte ready to sort garbage!

A giant pressure gauge found in the garbage...you never know what you're going to find!

The sorting bins

And their respective bags.

Mieke Foster helping the team sort.

Garbage pile!

It's a dirty job...

but somebody's gotta do it!

A full, untouched lunch found in the garbage.

Pencils and pens that can be reused.

1.3 kg of unopened food

Food waste and soiled paper weighed in at 16.2 kg.

o.8 kg of recyclable containers (including many water bottles and yogurt containers)

1.1 kg of reusable things

9.2 kg of real garbage (landfull = things that cannot be recycled, reused or composted)

What's Up with the EcoTeam?

What’s Recyclable and What’s Just Plain Trash?

The Primary EcoTeam meets every other Monday at lunch. These students have noticed that people are confused about what items can be recycled or reused and what needs to be thrown out! To end the confusion, these dedicated eco-students have been working on recycling presentations for the school. They have visited many Earl Beatty classrooms to set the record straight on what is recyclable and reusable and what is plain trash.

Trees Can’t Do All the Work, We Can Help!

The Junior EcoTeam (JET) meets every other Friday at lunch. They have been hard at work completing an anti-idling banner that was started last year. Cars burn gas and give off toxic fumes. These fumes contribute to the greenhouse gas effect and climate change. JET hopes to have the banner ready for display soon.

JET at work on the anti-idling banner.

Recycling Posters and the Tree Planting Dedication

The Intermediate EcoTeam meets every other Thursday at lunch. Like the primary team, they have noticed the confusion about what is recyclable and what is not. These students have created and posted signs throughout the school informing students, staff and parents what we can pop in the blue and grey boxes and what we must throw in the garbage.

The Intermediate team also worked on writing a dedication that was recited at the Earth Day tree planting ceremony on April 22nd.

Good work, team, for keeping the Earl Beatty community informed about environmental issues!!

Earl Beatty's Earth Day In Pictures

Tree Planting Ceremony...

And the schoolyard cleanup....