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Congratulations Sheridan.
We Did It!
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Graphics courtesy of
Ontario EcoSchools |
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Thank you to the Sheridan EcoSchools committee, the Sheridan staff and all the Sheridan students for your hard work. Because of your dedication, we have reached our school goal of achieving EcoSchools Certification at the Gold Level!
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| Well Done! Great Job! Awesome! Whoo Hoo! |
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| The Sheridan EcoSchools Program |
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Recycling fine paper and drink containers in blue boxes.
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 Composting of food scraps by collecting items in green bins and kitchen catchers. We were one of the first elementary schools in Halton to begin this program last year. |
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 Trashless Tuesdays - Students bring lunches and snacks packed in reusable or recyclable containers and/or take garbage home with them on Tuesdays. |
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 Walking Wednesdays - We are participating in an Active and Safe Routes to School pilot project. We have launched a Walking School Bus at our school to be held each Wednesday. |
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Turning off lights when we leave classrooms. |
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| Shutting down computers when not in use. |
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 GOOS Bins (Good On One Side) are located in each classroom to reuse paper.
Photocopying - staff use both sides of a sheet of paper whenever possible.
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| Providing electronic newsletter delivery for families who have agreed to live without a paper copy. Please notify the school if you would like to switch to this option. |
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 Classroom learning has already taken place including the involvement of our Grade 5 students in a pilot program offered by GreenLearning and facilitated by Mrs. Johnston.
During Earth week all grades participated in environmental presentations: JK/SK: Worm Tunnels; Grade 1 - 4: Beneficial Bugs; Grade 5: Zero Waste.
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 Our greening project is small and focused this year with the planting of 10 trees, some shrubs and a perennial garden with plans to help them survive so that the trees will eventually produce shade for students on the playground and improve the air quality in our neighbourhood.
It is our hope that schoolground greening will become an annual tradition at Sheridan.
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Earth Week Learning Fun
As you know, our EcoTeam has been working hard to help Sheridan achieve EcoSchools Gold status. To accomplish this, our application has to show evidence that Sheridan students have been learning about the environment, the impact of humans on the environment and the actions they can take to make a positive difference. Our Earth Week activities provided something for everyone, with environmentally-focused learning occurring every day. Here's what we did: |
| Monday, April 19 - Student Workshops |
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Learning sessions were provided for students in Grades 1-5 by volunteers Liz and Jennifer from Oakvillegreen. Grade 5 students attended a presentation called Zero Waste during which they began to look at waste as a design flaw while students in Grades 1-4 learned about Beneficial Bugs.
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| Tuesday, April 20 - Assembly |
 The whole school attended an assembly provided by Elisabeth Schieck from Farm to School who spoke about the importance of growing produce locally.
Mrs. Borbath spoke to the students about the planting recommendations made by our friends at Oakvillegreen. Information sheets including a short list of tree/shrub species to choose from went home with students so that each family had the opportunity to vote on what we will plant for our greening project on April 27. Our goal was to select trees that would thrive on our schoolyard while providing shade for us and/or a habitat for wildlife. From the list provided, families indicated their choice of plant species on a tear-off "Family Tree Vote" section at the bottom of the page and returned it to the school by Friday morning. |
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| Friday, April 23 - Clean up and Wrap Up |
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All students participated in the 20-Minute Makeover yard cleanup. Each class took a section of the yard, including part of the woods for some of the older classes and cleared it of man-made debris. Large bags were provided for the event by the Town of Oakville.
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| Metro's Green Apple School Program |
 Thank you to Dave Friesen from Metro who attended our CARE for the Planet assembly at Sheridan on Friday, April 23. He presented us with a cheque for $1000 on behalf of Metro's Green Apple School Program to help with our School Ground Greening Project. We look forward to putting this money to good use. Please continue to visit our website for updates. |
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| Family Tree Vote Results |
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Thank you to all families who participated in our exciting Family Tree Vote. As a result of the votes which were tallied by class, each class will have a tree planted and will be in charge of caring for their tree. We will be planting the following trees according to the majority of votes in each case:
Mr. Stone's Monday/Wednesday class: Red Oak
Mrs. Hay-Hussain's Monday/Wednesday class: Tulip Tree
Mr. Stone's Tuesday/Thursday class: Black Cherry
Mrs. Hay-Hussain's Tuesday/Thursday class: Sugar Maple
Mrs. Vidal's and Miss Roosevelt's Grade 1 class: Sugar Maple
Mrs. Doyle's and Mrs. Lynds's Grade 1/2 class: Red Oak
Mrs. Knapp's Grade 2/3 class: Sugar Maple
Mrs. Restivo's Grade 3/4 class: Tulip Tree
Mrs. Dionisio's Grade 4 class: Tulip Tree
Mrs. Redman's and Mrs. Johnston's Grade 5 class: Sugar Maple
We will also be planting an Eastern Redbud tree, donated to the school by Conservation Halton in celebration of Sheridan's 30th Anniversary! Stay tuned for more details about an anniversary celebration later in the spring.
A number of shrubs will be planted around the new trees to help protect them from too much love and trampled roots.
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| Every Week is Earth Week at Sheridan |
| Of course, one week does not an EcoSchools application make. We have been working all year by discussing issues at regular bi-weekly Eco meetings and weekly CARE assemblies. Recycling, composting and our Trashless Tuesday program have helped to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfills. We have been turning off lights and computer monitors when we leave our classrooms. We have been teaching students in, about and for the environment throughout the year and our Walking Wednesday program has recently been reinforced by our Walking Schoolbus initiative. Clearly, this is a school community dedicated to caring for our planet. Thanks to all Sheridan families and staff for your help in fostering environmental stewardship at school and at home. Your contributions will make the world a better place for your kids, their kids and future generations. |
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What a great week and a wonderful team effort! Special thanks to our parent volunteers Andrea Rowe, Jodi McDaniel, Danielle Ferguson, and Taye Newman, Liz B. & Jennifer from Oakvillegreen, Dave Friesen from Metro and Elisabeth Schieck from Farm to School for their contibutions to making Earth Week a week worth celebrating.
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| The Sheridan Eco Program Supporters |
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| We are excited about the donations received to date:
Metro's Green Apple School Program: $1,000 grant
Conservation Halton: Eastern Redbud tree
Oakvillegreen: "Beneficial Bugs" and "Zero Waste" presentations
Community Partners: Tool rentals and Pizza
The Tree Specialists: landscape assessment and planting of trees
Town of Oakville: wood chips
Karin Cassidy: 50 daylilies
The Muggleton family: bluebells
Connon Nurseries and EarthGen International: wholesale tree pricing
Sheridan Parents and Neighbours: White Spruce Tree, Worm Tunnels, Additional flower seeds such as Lupins, Lily of the Valley, Campanula, Columbine, Leopard's Bane, Bee balm, sunflowers, Monarch's Milk and more!
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 Many neighbourhood gardeners have also promised to donate divisions from their garden as soon as flowers are ready to be lifted and split: Asters, Black Eyed Susan, Coneflower, Primrose, Lungwort, Lamb's Ears, Bleeding Heart, Sedum, Lily of the Valley and more!
Please continue to contact us with any plants or flowers you think would make Sheridan Public School more bio-diverse and support the birds, bees and wildlife in our habitat.
For anyone wishing to volunteer in the school for the first time, please remember to make an appointment to speak with Mrs. Borbath and have your current police check available. A copy will be made and kept on file in the office.
Thank you,
Eco-School parent volunteers
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| The Sheridan EcoSchools Team |
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Our Eco Team meets every other Thursday. The team includes student, teacher, parent, custodian, school council and principal representatives.
Sheridan's current EcoSchool team members are:
Ms. Borbath, Principal ♦ Mrs. Doyle, Teacher/Chair ♦ Mr. Ferreira, Custodian ♦ Ms. Newman, School Council ♦ Ms. Rowe, Parent ♦ Ms. McDaniel, Parent
Student EcoMonitors:
Hailey 3/4 ♦ Savannah 4SR ♦ Kassandra 4RD ♦ Zainab 4RD ♦ Andrea 4RD ♦ Nicholas 1/2 ♦ Imran 1/2 ♦ Johnathon 5 ♦ Taylor 3/4 ♦ Tiana 3/4 ♦ Harkarn 5 ♦ Mohammed 3/4 ♦ Yashan 3/4 ♦ Tamara 4 ♦ Sachpreet 2/3 ♦ Signe 2/3
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| Thank you for your hard work and dedication! We couldn't get it all done without you. |
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| Samples of Student Eco Work |
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| Background Earth Artwork by Ms. Hay-Hussain's Kindergarten class. |
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