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EcoSchools Newsletter | Volume 9 Issue 1 | November 2016
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| In this issue...EcoSchools Registration deadline; apply for free water refill stations, the Middle Schools Leadership Conference & the EcoFilm Lab workshop; Save the date for the first EcoSchools conference; ASST curriculum resources, Waste Sorting tools; Teacher PD opportunities and so much more! |
Stay connected--follow us on twitter and share your great environmental initiatives with us!
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Secondary School Kick-offs
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This year 328 students from 58 secondary schools participated in the EcoSchools Leadership Conference held in two new locations at Humber Arboretum and UTSC (University of Toronto Scarborough Campus) in October.
The expert staff at both locations engaged students in hands-on learning experiences  expanding students' understanding of local environmental issues.
Students attending UTSC were welcomed by university officials and attended three ecologically oriented workshops. The EcoFoodprint workshop, facilitated by Nadia Harduar from the
Sustainability Office
introduced students to food preservation through pickling. EcoTeams attending the Powerful Pollinators workshop conducted by
Dr. Scott MacIvor
, created wild bee hotels to increase pollinator biodiversity. The Bike Connection workshop facilitated by
CultureLink,
challenged students to explore active, safe, and sustainable transportation alternatives. In addition, students with special needs pulled 420 litres (6 full garbage bags) of invasive dog-strangling vine while learning about biodiversity on the UTSC grounds.
At Humber, the Arboretum staff hosted three workshops in the diverse urban green space of the Humber Valley. The EcoFootprint workshop illustrated the human impact of our lifestyle but challenged EcoTeams to make a difference through their daily actions. The students participating in the Water workshop, facilitated by Jimmy Vincent, designed natural water filters and compared the taste of tap and bottled water. In the pollinator workshop, (facilitated by Ben Verdicchio), students learned about the importance of native plants and created clay seed balls to propagate more native plants in their school community.
Students from the Riverdale Environmental Action League commented: "We learned a lot and took away many resources and information to implement in our school with our EcoTeam" while others appreciated the venue: "great way to explore different sites around Toronto".
Check out the hashtag #TDSBEcoCon on Twitter for pictures taken during the Secondary School Leadership Conference.
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Dec 15th: Deadline to register for EcoSchools Certification
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Attention EcoTeams!
If you still haven't registered, do it NOW to be on the list for (re)certifying as an EcoSchool. It  is quick and painless! All you need is a contact name, role, TDSB email address, and a password that's easy for other team members to remember.
If EcoSchools staff do not hear from your school by
December 15th
, you will not be eligible to have an audit and become (re)certified this school year. Please join us.
To register (from a TDSB networked computer):
Click here to go to the registration screen of the online Certification program.
If you are trying to access the online application from home, please visit our
Register/Apply web page and follow the detailed instructions.
Questions? Check in with our Auditor-General
Wendy Abbot
or 647.224.4382
*Schools are now able to opt-in during registration to participate in the paperless portfolio feature of the online Certification Application to help reduce paper usage.
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Dec 1st: Application deadline for FREE water refill stations!
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Project Refill:
Reduce waste and encourage drinking tap water by having a water bottle refill station installed free of charge! Schools that
do not already have a water refill station
can apply, but must be able to show a prior commitment to reduce plastic water bottle use in their school, strong curriculum connections, as well as plans for future reductions or educational campaigns. Past actions to reduce water bottle usage are heavily weighted.
Visit the Project Refill webpage for more details and the application form.
Deadline to apply: Dec 1st, 2016 & March 31st, 2017.
Questions:
Contact
Jenn Vetter
This resource provides ideas on how you can create awareness within your school and implement teaching/learning components that will help to educate students about water bottle waste.
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Dec 14th: Deadline to apply for the EcoSchools Middle Schools Leadership Conference
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Middle school students are keen to become EcoSchools agents of change.
This conference draws on existing best practices to help students develop leadership skills, and taps their potential to take a greater role in organizing and implementing the EcoSchools program. 
This year student teams will gain the necessary skills and ideas to implement a special EcoSchools event, suitable for Earth Week or other environmentally focused days. Held at Downsview Park's Discovery Centre, this will be an exciting opportunity to engage students and experience nature in the city.
EcoTeams with students in grades 7 and 8 are invited to apply. A maximum of 5 students, and 1 staff member per school can attend. Teacher release is provided for ONE teacher per school. Schools are asked to provide their own transportation.
A maximum of 12 schools will be selected to attend each day of the conference held January 23rd - 27
th
, 2017. Priority will be given to schools that have not attended the conference in the past. Remaining spots will be selected through a lottery process and successful schools will be notified by December, 16th.
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Jan 11th: EcoFilm Lab--Deadline to apply
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Planet in Focus, in partnership with EcoSchools, The Arts and support from the ETT Environment Committee, is offering a two-day professional development workshop to equip teachers with enough film production skills using IPads to be able to help students tell an environmental story they care about through video (4-minute maximum length). As filmmakers, students will be creating, researching, planning, problem-solving, analysing, editing, and performing to inform others about an important environmental topic and  inspiring us all to see the world with new eyes.
Selected schools must send a team of two teachers (e.g., classroom, librarian, ESL, special needs, eco-club mentor) who have not previously attended the 2014 or 2016 EcoVideo workshops, to work together at their school with students on their ecofilm(s). Teacher release costs are shared by the school and EcoSchools: the school pays for two teachers to attend Day 1 of the EcoFilm Lab and EcoSchools will pay for two teachers to attend Day 2.
(Thursday, Feb 9th and Thursday, February 23rd at TBD.)
Areas to be addressed will include pedagogy and curriculum; storyboarding; camera work; editing; assessment and evaluation.
The culmination of this project will be the submission of one or more films (to a maximum of 3 films) from each participating school for consideration to the June 8th, Planet in Focus Student Film Festival. Submission deadline for consideration for the film festival is May 5th, 2017. Note: Participation in this workshop is not a guarantee that the school will be selected by the jury for entry into the Gala Film Festival.
All TDSB K-8 Elementary schools are welcome to submit a film for consideration to the Gala Film Festival.
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Feb 4th, 2017 EcoSchools Conference--Climate of Change: Environmental Education in Action
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SAVE THE DATE: Join us on SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4th, 2017, from 10 am to 3:30 pm for our first EcoSchools Conference, hosted by the TDSB and OISE!
Come and learn from EcoSchools teachers and Environmental Education educators from across the GTA, who will share a wide range of ideas, approaches, and teaching strategies foruse in K-12 classrooms. This conference will offer two key-note talks, an EcoFair, and a variety of workshops aimed at K-12 teachers. Over twenty interactive workshops will offer opportunities to discuss and experience hands-on activities and teaching resources about environmental and sustainability issues connected to the curriculum.
The best part is that this event is FREE for TDSB teachers! Stay tuned - information on registration will be coming soon.
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ECOSCHOOLS ESSENTIAL TOOLS
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Active, Safe, & Sustainable Transportation (ASST)
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EcoSchools Section 6: Questions 6.1, 6.2, and 6.8
What travel modes did you use today? Did you
travel alone in a vehicle, carpool, take public transit, walk or cycle? Perhaps you used more than one travel mode.
Every day, each of us make transportation choices that can have a profound influence on our own health and the health of the environment. The EcoSchools
Certification Toolkit has several tools to help promote active, safe, and sustainable transportation (ASST) at your school - check out the
Calendar of Events (p.10), Classroom School Travel Survey (
Elementary - p.12,
Secondary - p. 13),
Requesting Street Improvements in Toronto (p.14) and
Reducing Traffic Congestion (p.15).
Whether you've been promoting ASST at your school for several years, or are venturing into unchartered territory, these tools can help to develop targeted campaigns to enable ASST in your school community.
For more information, contact
Cynthia Chan
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Math Lessons using ASST data
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EcoSchools Section 5:
Question 5.4; Section 6: Questions 6.2 and 6.8
Collecting information about how students travel to and from school can help determine what actions might be taken to promote active, safe, and sustainable travel (ASST) in their  school community. Engaging your students in the collection and analysis of school travel data is a great way to catapult them into real world mathematics. By using visual math tools such as tables, symbols, diagrams, and graphs we can help students understand and illustrate trends and relationships found in their school's transportation data.
Furthermore, representing data through graphics can also assist students communicate their thinking and understand realistic problems more clearly.
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EcoSchools Section 3: Questions 3.5, 3.6, and 3.7
Managing our waste
In 2014, The City of Toronto disposed of 524,000 tonnes of garbage. While this sounds like a staggering amount of waste, the City's
Long Term Waste Strategy
passed in June of 2016, estimates based on current population growth, that by 2050 the City could be managing over 1.5 million tonnes of garbage annually. With this in mind,
The Long Term Waste Strategy
has adopted the 5R's Hierarchy to"Reduce, ReUse, Recycle, Recover, Residual disposal." In doing so it makes a commitment to minimizing wasted resources, through an investment in programs targeting waste reduction and reuse, and an aspirational goal of working towards Zero Waste. The strategy also recommends placing an emphasis on residents of the City to "do the right thing" by reducing the amount of waste they generate and ensuring participation in already existing programs.
Why does proper sorting matter?
Last year an estimated 45,000 tonnes of garbage was mistakenly put into the recycling. Items such as food waste, containers with food, textiles , VHS tapes, and disposable coffee cups can cause damage to equipment and ruin otherwise good recyclable materials.
This summer, the City launched a new campaign to help residents understand that "
Bad things happen when the wrong items and recycling get together."
This campaign demonstrates the need for continued education in proper waste sorting habits, and for all of us to keep paying attention as the City continues to expand what can be recycled. EcoTeams who have conducted an EcoSchools waste audit have found that they are able to identify areas for concern and conduct targeted campaigns to help their school community improve their sorting practices.
EcoSchools waste sorting posters
To help schools put waste, recycling, and organics in the right place we have created colour waste sorting posters that have been corrected to show that pencil shavings can now go in the green bin.
Use these posters to help sort waste in classrooms; hallways; cafeterias; common areas; staff rooms and daycares. Posters can be ordered individually or in sets of three.
NEW! Now available in French!
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Toner Bottle and Ink Cartridge Recycling Tools
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EcoSchools Section 3: Question 3.8
Schools and centres can recycle empty toner and ink cartridges to minimize their waste following these three different process:
Ricoh Canada collects and recycles the toner bottles used in their photocopiers as part of its contract with the TDSB. To support this process, Ricoh Canada provides TDSB schools and centres with toner boxes for collection of the empty toner bottles. Review the Photocopier Toner Bottle Recycling tool for detailed instructions on how to properly recycle Ricoh toner bottles.
RISO ink cartridges are now being picked up by the technicians. To make arrangements for the pick-up of the empty RISO cartridges review the Duplicator Ink Recycling Cartridge tool and contact Debbie at Bryte Com at
905-726-1557.
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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
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Dec 8th & 9th: Making Authentic Inquiry Work
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EcoSchools Section 5: Questions
Learning for a Sustainable Future and Natural Curiosity are again partnering to facilitate this 2-day inquiry workshop to help educators identify and address questions, issues, and challenges relevant to applying inquiry into their professional practice. Participants will gain confidence in planning authentic inquiry learning experiences and applying appropriate assessment methodology and explore how inquiry and other strategies maximize student engagement. Who should attend? Kindergarten and Elementary teachers of all grades who wish to explore how authentic inquiry is being applied to address expectations in social studies, science, language, and other subjects. School administrators and system leaders who wish to support transformative inquiry-based learning.
Location: 305 York Lanes, York University
Address: 4700 Keele Street, Toronto ON
Date: December 8
th to 9
th, 2016
Time: 9am - 4pm daily
Cost: $320 + HST(Breakfast, lunch and refreshments and 2 publications included)
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Evergreen Play-based Outdoor Learning Workshops for Elementary and Early Childhood Educators
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Experience a
professional learning opportunity designed for educators who are interested in learning how (and why!) they can incorporate nature based learning into their everyday practice.
Evergreen facilitators will engage participants in a creative sampling of activities and inquiry based approaches in our imaginative outdoor play and learning environment, and will
integrate practical natural learning connections to the current Ontario Curriculum.
Participants will receive an Evergreen Educators Outdoor Play and Learning Certificate.
The key elements of our approach include: 
- Place-based
- Play-based
- Ecological
- Hands-on
- Arts-infused
- Integrated
Dates: Thursday, Jan. 26th or Tuesday, Feb. 21st
Time: 8:30 am to 3:00 pm
Cost: $70 (+HST) includes lunch and resources
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Toronto Envirothon: Opportunity for Secondary Science
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EcoSchools Section 1: Question 1.6, Section 5: Question 5.6
Registration is now open for the Toronto Envirothon an interactive environmental education experience for youth in grades 9 to 12.
Participating in teams of 5 this hands-on program challenges students to learn about forestry, aquatics, soils, wildlife and in 2017 sustainable agriculture.
Students participate in interactive workshops exploring foundational environmental science concepts and learn about a variety of career and education pathways. Envirothon uses field testing to develop critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork and communication skills. Participation in the program can even fulfill requirements of several SHSM programs including Forestry, Agriculture and Health & Wellness!
Winning teams advance to the provincial championships to compete for the opportunity to represent Ontario at the North American competition.
Dates:
April 13th - Toronto Envirothon Workshop @ York University
April 19th - Toronto Envirothon Competition @ Ontario Science Centre
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