Gibbs International Magnet School
Vol. No. 1
3/01/12
Inside this Newsletter
/12/12 12/13/2006
IMPORTANT EVENT DATES
GIBBS GREEN TEAM
PROJECT
Special Edition
GIBBS GREEN TEAM
PROJECT
By Ms. Gonterman
A TRIBUTE TO GIBBS
RECYCLERS
GOLDMAN RECYCLING
IN MEMORY OF
DR. WANGARI MAATHAI
PLANT A TREE
BOOK LIST
SHOCKING STATISTICS
ABOUT PAPER WASTE
GIBBS EARTH DAY PARADE
Important Event Dates
GIBBS GREEN TEAM ENTRY
Thursday, March 1
SPRING BREAK
March 19-23
GIBBS EARTH DAY PARADE
Friday, April 20 (TBA)
EARTH DAY
Sunday, April 22
NATIONAL ARBOR DAY
Friday, April 27
The
fifth graders have
turned in their Green Schools
Team Projects. Many chose to
use technology for their GLOG
links. Videos, Power Points,
and Surveys… OH MY! Others
used their skill as artists to make
great posters to spread the paper
recycling message. Still others
chose to utilize their writing
skills
for book reviews,
interviews, and news articles!
Now that all submissions have
been made and editing is
completed, we will share the
GLOG link on GLOGSTER
with the Gibbs community so
you can learn more about how
Paper Recycling at Gibbs
impacts the environment in such
a positive way. The Gibbs
Green Team is comprised of the
Teacher Team of Ms. Tracy
Barbarotto,
Ms.
Louise
Carpenter, Ms. Lori Gibson,
Ms. Vicki Stroud Gonterman
(Chair), Ms. Rachel Reynolds,
and, of course, Mr. Ian Hadden,
Gibbs parent and mentor for the
project, and all the fifth graders!
A TRIBUTE TO GIBBS
RECYCLERS
By Ms. Gonterman
Gibbs is celebrating its 25th
or Silver Anniversary this
school year. One of the things
that we are most proud is our
paper recycling.
Thanks to
Coach Nancy Passini, who
joined Gibbs its first year as a
magnet school 25 years ago,
Gibbs recycles paper. First it
was only notebook and copy
paper, but over the years it
spread to include different kinds
of paper. She sponsors a student
team
called
the
Radical
Recyclers who meet after school
one afternoon a week to recycle
paper.
This includes taking
trash from the classroom paper
bins and emptying the paper into
the larger collection bin. Coach
Passini has a phrase that will be
with us always, “Thank you for
caring for the earth. Thank you
for recycling.”
Not only does Gibbs recycle
paper, but the staff also reuses
paper. Thanks to a contact of
Ms. Carolyn Blome, first grade
teacher at Gibbs for 25 years, a
former Gibbs parent who works
at a Little Rock law firms
donates paper to Gibbs that is
used on one side but is perfectly
good for copying on the clean
side. Reusing paper saves trees
for the environment and money
in the Gibbs budget. Not as
much new paper has to be
purchased for teachers each
year.
Ms. Susan Turner Purvis,
another staff member since
1987, has taught us that art can
also be made from recycled
materials. For years she has
reused materials for art supplies.
Before the Goldman bin, she
would also collect the numerous
unsolicited
catalogs
and
magazines that teachers receive
and recycle those from her
home. She still collects plastic
in the teachers’ lounge for
recycling at home. Before we
through anything away, we ask
ourselves, “Can this be reused in
anyway?”
oil, 3.5 cubic yards of landfill
space, 4,680 kilowatts of
energy, and 8,190 gallons of
water.
IN MEMORY OF DR.
WANGARI MAATHAI
GOLDMAN
RECYCLING
A
huge thanks goes to
Goldman
Recycling
for
becoming a LRSD Partner in
Education
with
Gibbs
International Magnet School!
Gibbs will use a donation from
Goldman to create a new Gibbs
flag that reflects a recycling
focus.
Coach Passini, the
sponsor of recycling at Gibbs, is
pleased
with
both
the
partnership and the donation.
She no longer has to carry
recycled paper in her car
because now Gibbs has its own
blue paper/cardboard recycling
bin by the Gibbs parking lot.
According to Matt Miskin of
Goldman Recycling, Gibbs
International Magnet School
recycles more paper per
student than any other school
in Little Rock. Gibbs recycles
2,350 pounds of paper per
month thereby saving 20 trees
from being harvested. That is a
total of 180 trees in a school
year!
Now
that’s
a
TREmendous statistic! Also
saved by hardworking Gibbs
recyclers are 444.6 gallons of
“It’s the little things
citizens do. That’s what will
make the difference. My little
thing is planting trees.”
Dr.
Wangari Maathai,
born in Kenya in 1940 earned
global recognition for her work
in planting the trees of Kenya
and winning the 2004 Nobel
Peace Prize. A political activist,
a
feminist,
and
an
environmentalist, she was the
first east African woman to earn
a PhD., become the head of a
university department, and win
the Nobel Peace Prize.
As a veterinarian and
university
professor , Dr.
Maathai was
in a special
position to study animals and
nature. She was a leader in the
fields of ecology, sustainable
development, natural resources,
and wildlife. In 1976 she started
the Greenbelt Movement, a
grassroots organization to stop
the deforestation of Kenya.
Since then, over 30 million trees
have been planted in Kenya and
other African nations. Why
plant trees? Trees prevent soil
erosion, filter water and air,
provide firewood and food and
timber for shelter. Dr. Maathai
died in November of last year,
and most of her work today is
carried on by village women.
She was indeed “A Friend of the
Earth.” Let’s plant a tree in her
memory (perhaps in our
school’s community garden).
You can learn more about
Dr. Maathai, nicknamed Mama
Miti or Mama Trees, by reading
the
following
children’s
literature:
Mama Miti by Donna Jo Napoli
Planting the Trees of Kenya:
The Story of
Wangari
Maathai by Claire A. Nivola,
and Wangari’s Trees of Peace:
A True Story from Africa by
Jeanette Winter.
Adults might want to read
Unbowed:
A Memoir by
Wangari Maathai and The
Green
Belt
Movement:
Sharing the Approach and the
Experience
by
Wangari
Maathai.
Do the right thing even
when no one is
looking!
BE A FRIEND OF
THE EARTH!
PLANT A TREE
By Arbor Day Foundation
Trees can add value to your
home, help cool your home and
neighborhood, break the cold
winds to lower your heating
costs, and provide food for
wildlife.
The Value of Trees to a
Community
The following are some
statistics on just how important
trees are in a community setting.
--“The net cooling effect of a
young, healthy tree is equivalent
to ten room-size air conditioners
operating 20 hours a day.” —
U.S. Department of Agriculture
--“If you plant a tree today on
the west side of your home, in 5
years your energy bills should
be 3% less. In 15 years the
savings will be nearly 12%.” —
Dr. E. Greg McPherson, Center
for Urban Forest Research
--“A mature tree can often have
an appraised value of between
$1,000 and $10,000.” —Council
of
Tree
and
Landscape
Appraisers
--“In one study, 83% of realtors
believe that mature trees have a
‘strong or moderate impact’ on
the salability of homes listed for
under $150,000; on homes over
$250,000,
this
perception
increases to 98%.” —Arbor
National Mortgage & American
Forests
--“Landscaping, especially with
trees, can increase property
values as much as 20
percent.” —Management
Information Services/ICMA
--“One acre of forest absorbs
six tons of carbon dioxide and
puts out four tons of oxygen.
This is enough to meet the
annual needs of 18 people.” —
U.S. Department of Agriculture
--“There are about 60–200million spaces along our city
streets where trees could be
planted. This translates to the
potential to absorb 33 million
more tons of CO2 every year,
and saving $4 billion in energy
costs.” —National Wildlife
Federation
--“Trees properly placed around
buildings can reduce air
conditioning needs by 30
percent and can save 20–50
percent in energy used for
heating.” —USDA
Forest
Service
--“Trees can be a stimulus to
economic
development,
attracting new business and
tourism. Commercial retail areas
are more attractive to shoppers,
apartments rent more quickly,
tenants stay longer, and space in
a wooded setting is more
valuable to sell or rent.” —The
Arbor Day Foundation
--“Healthy, mature trees add an
average of 10 percent to a
property’s
value.” —USDA
Forest Service
--“The planting of trees means
improved
water
quality,
resulting in less runoff and
erosion. This allows more
recharging of the ground water
supply. Wooded areas help
prevent
the
transport
of
sediment and chemicals into
streams.” —USDA
Forest
Service
--“In laboratory research, visual
exposure to settings with trees
has
produced
significant
recovery from stress within five
minutes, as indicated by changes
in blood pressure and muscle
tension.” —Dr. Roger S. Ulrich
Texas A&M University
--“Nationally, the 60 million
street trees have an average
value of $525 per tree.” —
Management
Information
Services
BOOK LIST
By Lori Gibson,
Gibbs Media Specialist
Here
are some books to
check out from the Gibbs
Library that will help you better
understand paper recycling and
the benefits of trees to the
environment:
The Giving Tree by Shel
Silverstein
Here Comes the Recycling
Truck by Meyer Seltzer
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
The Recycling Garage by Donna
Bailey
Trash by Charlotte Wilcox
Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A
True Story from Africa by
Jeanette Winter
We have many more titles
available over recycling and
forests.
SHOCKING
STATISTICS ABOUT
PAPER WASTE
(From Internet Sources)
--In this decade, it is projected
that Americans will throw away
over 4 and a half million tons of
office paper and nearly 10
million tons of newspaper.
Almost all of this material could
be recycled.
--12,500 sheets of paper can be
made from 1 tree.
--Every year enough paper is
thrown away to make a 12’ wall
from New York to California.
--The amount of wood and
paper we throw away is enough
to heat 50 million homes for 20
years.
--If every household in the U.S.
reused just one paper grocery
bag for one shopping trip, about
60,000 trees would be saved.
--Newspapers need to be
recycled. Newspapers alone
take up 13% of the space in
landfills.
More shocking statistics
--It takes one 15-year old tree to
produce half a box of paper.
--One tree can filter up to 60
pounds of pollutants from the
air each year.
--Rainforests once covered 14%
of the earth's land surface; now
they cover a mere 6% and
experts estimate that the last
remaining rainforests could be
consumed in less than 40 years.
--Everyday Americans buy 62
million newspapers and throw
out 44 million. That’s the
equivalent of dumping 500,000
trees into a landfill every week.
Even more shocking statistics
--Rain Forests are being cut
down at a staggering 100 acres
per minute!
--Forests are being cut and trees
are being felled at an
unimaginable rate of 100 acres
per minute. All this to produce
paper which is normally used
and disposed without much
thought.
--A seedling plant takes a
minimum of 15 to 20 years to
grow into a tree, but takes less
than ten minutes to be felled,
and on an average one tree can
yield about 700 paper grocery
bags, which will be consumed in
less than an hour by a
supermarket!
--Unlike other products, paper
cannot be recycled forever.
After a certain point, the quality
of recycled paper deteriorates
and it cannot be recycled
further. The waste paper would
then have to be sent to the
landfills or the incinerators.
Therefore, while paper can be
recycled, it is important to use
paper carefully.
GIBBS EARTH DAY
PARADE
(By Ms. Gonterman)
T
he first annual Earth Day
Parade at Gibbs commemorated
the 20th Anniversary of the first
Earth Day celebration in 1990.
Gibbs students create awareness
posters in foreign language
classes that carry environmental
messages in four languages.
The posters can either be reused
in store front windows in the
community or recycled in the
Goldman bin at school. Since
Earth Day 2012 falls on a
Sunday this year, the parade
may be scheduled for Friday,
April 20th, at 1:45 p.m.
GARDEN CLUB NEWS
By Ms. Nelson,
Parent Sponsor
Spring Gibbs Garden Club
Dates For 2012
For Gibbs Students at the
Dunbar Community Garden
MARCH
Thurs 3/1/12
Kindergarten
Fri 3/2/12
1st Grade
Thurs 3/8/12
2nd Grade
Fri 3/9/12
3rd Grade
Thurs 3/29/12 4th Grade
Fri 3/30/12 5th Grade
APRIL
Thurs 4/5/12
Kindergarten
Fri 4/6/12
1st Grade
Thurs 4/12/12 2nd Grade
Fri 4/13/12 3rd Grade
Thurs 4/26/12 4th Grade
Fri 4/27/12 5th Grade
MAY
Thurs 5/10/12 Kindergarten
Fri 5/11/12 1st Grade
Thurs 5/17/12 2nd Grade
Fri 5/18/12 3rd Grade
Thurs 5/24/12 4th Grade
Fri 5/25/12 5th Grade