Verona kids are doing their green homework!

In early 2009, ten students from Laning Avenue School attended a Board of Education meeting to ask that "green" cleaning products be used at Verona's schools.The students reminded all those present of the health hazards associated with traditional cleaning products and the benefits of going "green”. The school district is currently phasing out cleaning products that are not environmentally friendly. Well done!

Looking for a
Dictionary of Environmental Terms?

We got an extract from the New Jersey
Environmental Primer just for you!

Asian longhorn beetle

The three R's

The three R's of the environment: reduce, reuse and recycle. Every year we throw away 50 billion of food and drink cans in the U.S. More than 30% of our waste is packaging materials and 85% of our garbage goes to a dump; where it can take hundreds of years to decompose. We are running out of space! Don't buy things you don't need or items that come in wasteful packaging. Avoid also things that cannot be recycled. Reduce consumption, reuse manufactured products and recycle whatever you can.

Great places to visit:

Liberty Science Center
Essex County Environmental Center
Verona Public Library

Some cool links:

The NJ State Environmental Education Directory Website
A Global Map of Human Impacts to Marine Ecosystems

Earth Science, Weather and Space

    

Ask an Earth Scientist
USGS Water Science for Schools
Ask a Geologist
The Astronomy Café
Weather Myths
USGS for Kids

Environment and Nature

    

EPA for Kids
NIEHS Kids Pages
Museum of Natural History for Kids
NOAA-Ocean and Atmosphere
National Geographic

Science Projects

Science Made Simple Projects
Discovery School Homework Helper
Science Fair Pojects

Walk to School Day

Visit the new Walk to School Day and Idle Free poster contest pages with plenty of photos from the event and continue walking throughout the year!

Verona Artwork

Artwork submitted by all four public elementary schools' students to the VEC’s Idle Free Verona poster
contest was exhibited at the Essex County Environmental
Center (ECEC) in Roseland, NJ. For information about their current events please call the ECEC at 973-226-6082.

Tara Casella, Essex County Office of Environmental Affairs' Coordinator, visiting Verona's exhibit during the "Third Annual Give Green Holiday Gift Fair" last November

Ready to Go to School...GREEN?

Considering that in the U.S. we throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour and 86% of those are not recycled; going to school offers a great opportunity to go "green". Try "I will pack my own lunch and avoid disposable packaging" or "This will be the year I walk to school every time".

Improve your health while you help the planet!
Ready to get greener? Check out GO TO SCHOOL GREEN!

The VEC recommends

Check out PBS EekoWorld (Environmental Education for Kids Online), designed to help children between the ages of 6 and 9 learn about the important role they can play in taking care of the earth.

Children Literature

The following 10 environmental children’s
books are amongst our favorites.

1. Brother Eagle, Sister Sky by Susan Jeffers
2. Earth Book For Kids by Linda Schwartz
3. The Everything Kids’ Environment Book by Sheri Amsel
4. It's Not Mean to be Green by Jamie Kleman
5. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
6. The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry
7. The Lorax  by Dr. Seuss
8. The Tree by Dana Lyons and David Lane Danioth
9. The Three R’s: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle by Nuria Roca
10. This Is My Planet: The Kids’ Guide to Global Warming by Jan Thornhill

General Science Stuff

Nasa Kids Club

Science Fact Monster

EncycloZine (Science Encyclopedia)

How Stuff Works

Mad Scientist Laboratory

Questacon

The Why Files (Grades 5-12)

www.yucky.com

Games and Activities

• Welcome to Recycle City! This kid friendly site from the EPA has games, activities, and fun facts to show you why recycling is so important.

• Soil Composting Activity This fun activity can show you how to make fertile soil out of things you would find in a trash can. Fertile soil helps plants grow and can provide food for lots of people.

• Sort Mania Game This game by the Enviromental Protection Agency that will show you how to sort and recycle.

• Planet Protectors Club Check out how you can be a member of the Planet Protectors Club for Kids! It involves fun games and activities.

• Yucky Worm World Check out the yuckiest site on the internet and how worms are professional recyclers.

• Eek! Recycling & Beyond Watch videos, play games, turn trash to treasure, and see how fun Recycler-opoly is.

• Paper University Can you get your diploma at the University of Paper? Don't forget to click the Fortune Teller for fun paper facts.

• Clean Up This Polluted City When you enter this city, you will see that it is a dirty and polluted place. Maybe there is something you can do to help!

• The Imagination Factory At the imagination factory, you can be creative and make art from garbage. Creating art is another, awesome way to recycle.

• Ecology Kid's Page This website will show you why waste reduction is important. And of course there are cool games to help you learn.

• Ollie's World Click on the kid's collection and join Ollie's Club. Meet his friends, hang out on his island, and help him save the planet.

• Recycle Roundup The National Geographic has created this amazing game to help you recycle. Do you have two minutes to spare?

• Recycle Works Kids Connect the paper chain, learn when trash is really trash, and play more recycle games.

• Kid's Recycling Zone Learn an awesome magic trick, sort out the truths, and train to be a super hero.

• Meet the Greens Green fashion, green garbage, green games, and a green planet!

• National Wildlife Federation for Kids Recycling helps the planet and all the animals that live here. See how you can help make the Earth a better place for everyone.

Learn More Fun Facts

• Recycling This site will tell you interesting facts about recycling and then you can test your knowledge with these fun quizzes.

• Hey! Don't Throw That Out! Read what Dr. Watts and Dr. Edwards have to say about recycling.

• The Green Squad First you get to meet the squad. Then learn if your school is doing its part. Take an interactive tour. And encourage your school to do more.

• Kids Recycle Your school can become a Zero Waste School and you can help. There is a section for teachers, too!

• Green Planet 4 Kids Meet a family that recycles. They are not exactly what you think. Plus, you might find a section full of comics.

• NIEHS Kids' Pages Do you know what the 3R's are? Check if you're right.

• Wonderful World of Waste Check out five fun steps to making waste go away in an Earth-friendly way.

• Natural Resources Kid's Page This page gets to the point. Learn what you need to know now!

• Recycling Facts & Trivia When was the first piece of recycled paper made? What are tin cans really made of? How long can a 100-watt light bulb work from recycling one glass bottle?

• Kids Booklets to Recycling Check out 8 recipes for reuse and other many other activities

• The Rotten Truth about Garbage Follow the arrows through this website and discover what garbage is, how to recycle naturally, and making choices.

• Commonly Recycled Materials Have you ever seen those little recyclable symbols and wondered what they mean? Click here and find out.

• Compost is Mulch Better You can use garbage to make your garden grow better. This guide can show you how.

Organizations

• Roscoe's Recycle Room Come and meet my friend Roscoe! He is really excited about recycling. Click here to find out why.

• Keep America Beautiful Kid's Zone This KAB is an important organization that works very hard to keep the world we live in beautiful. Check out how.

• Kids Ecology Corps Become a real member of this club that is dedicated to protecting the environment. Kids can make a difference.

Learn About Saving Energy

• Kids Saving Energy Learn to Save energy from Tinkerbell and her friends! Learn how to make your house more energy efficient and discover what renewable energy is.

• Container Recycling Institute for Kids Check out how one kid can make a difference.

• Energy Kids Energy is an important part of recycling. This site can tell you how.

Arts and Crafts

• Create Art from Any Old Thing Click here and learn to make a bird house, a locket, magnets, wind chimes, and much more.

• Recycling Crafts and Projects Check out even more crafts here. See what you can do with your old jeans, CD's, t-shirts, and bottle tops.

Non-Point Source Pollution

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss