On Saturday, September 25 it is coastal cleanup day!! From 9 am to noon you can go to a beach, creak, lake, or river and help with the 26th annual coastal cleanup day. Some ideas of places to volunteer for coastal cleanup day in Marin: Muir Beach, Ocean Beach, Stinson Beach, Rodeo Beach, Corte Madera Creek, Blackies Pasture, Belvedere, McNears Beach, Paradise Park, Pickleweed Park, Marin City Marsh, Gallinas Creek, and many others. If you are volunteering and are under the age of 18 you will need a waiver form signed by your guardians which you can get here. Come and help support. For more information visit the California Coastal Commision website. Hope to see you there!
Beat the heat,
Mimi Wyatt
Monday, August 16, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
We are back!!
It's been exactly 2 years since the last time I updated our Beat the Heat blog. Sorry guys. Although since then, we have gotten ourselves up and running once more! Ali and I are sophomores at Tamalpais High school and have created a Beat the Heat club at our school with the help of our lovely advisor Ms. Abrue. This year we were able to create a project to raise awareness about global warming.
We contacted elementary schools in our local district and set up dates in order to do presentations to the 5th grade classes. We were able to present to both classes at Strawberry Point Elementary, and one class at Edna Maguire and Tam Valley Elementary. What we created was a fun and basic PowerPoint that's goal was to express what global warming is, what it is doing, and how we can change what is happening. It was 30-40 minutes, but the students loved it and were asking questions and were in to discussing what we were talking about. After that we gave them the option of a game, or us spending the rest of the hour and a half talking more about global warming. Can you guess what they chose? That's right, the game.
The game we created was a trivia Jeopardy like game about the information we had just reviewed in our presentation. Our Jeopardy had the categories "Global Warming," "Random," "Consequences," and "What You Can Do To Help." There were point levels of 100, 200, 300, and 400, but instead of having a Daily Double card, we created a color wheel one. We got a wheel (similar to the Wheel of Fortune wheel) and made it that if you chose a color wheel question you had the option of spinning the wheel. When you spin the wheel, depending on the color you land on, either your points will double, lose the points, or stay the same. The kids got super into it and actually learned a lot from what we presented to them. Once we finished everyone got a piece of chocolate for a job well done.
Our closing activity was something called DOT (Do One Thing). Find more out about DOT by going to ACE. We made circles for all the kids to write one thing they will do in their life to make a difference towards the issue of global warming. We also made DOT boards which they taped their DOT circles too, making a colorful expression of the changes our youth create.
The kids and teachers loved us and we are expecting to go back next year. I promise to update the blog with information on what we are doing.
Beat the heat,
Mimi Wyatt
We contacted elementary schools in our local district and set up dates in order to do presentations to the 5th grade classes. We were able to present to both classes at Strawberry Point Elementary, and one class at Edna Maguire and Tam Valley Elementary. What we created was a fun and basic PowerPoint that's goal was to express what global warming is, what it is doing, and how we can change what is happening. It was 30-40 minutes, but the students loved it and were asking questions and were in to discussing what we were talking about. After that we gave them the option of a game, or us spending the rest of the hour and a half talking more about global warming. Can you guess what they chose? That's right, the game.
The game we created was a trivia Jeopardy like game about the information we had just reviewed in our presentation. Our Jeopardy had the categories "Global Warming," "Random," "Consequences," and "What You Can Do To Help." There were point levels of 100, 200, 300, and 400, but instead of having a Daily Double card, we created a color wheel one. We got a wheel (similar to the Wheel of Fortune wheel) and made it that if you chose a color wheel question you had the option of spinning the wheel. When you spin the wheel, depending on the color you land on, either your points will double, lose the points, or stay the same. The kids got super into it and actually learned a lot from what we presented to them. Once we finished everyone got a piece of chocolate for a job well done.
Our closing activity was something called DOT (Do One Thing). Find more out about DOT by going to ACE. We made circles for all the kids to write one thing they will do in their life to make a difference towards the issue of global warming. We also made DOT boards which they taped their DOT circles too, making a colorful expression of the changes our youth create.
The kids and teachers loved us and we are expecting to go back next year. I promise to update the blog with information on what we are doing.
Beat the heat,
Mimi Wyatt
Monday, August 11, 2008
The Green School Blog
I've just created a blog about green schools. It'll have tips and ideas about how teachers and students can make the environment more sustainable.
Ms. Newburn
Editor Thriving in the'Burbs
Ms. Newburn
Editor Thriving in the'Burbs
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Fun Energy Quiz
There is a lot of discussion about transitioning to generating 100% of our electricity from clean sources within 10 years. You may be surprised at how quickly we can make the transition and We Can Solve It has created a fun energy quiz to help show you the way. You may find the answers surprising. I sure did.
Ms. Newburn
Thriving-in-the-Burbs Editor
Middle School Math & Science Teacher
Ms. Newburn
Thriving-in-the-Burbs Editor
Middle School Math & Science Teacher
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
350 Animation
350 is the number! I'm a math teacher and think it's a great number, but everyone should know the importance of 350. It is the number of CO2 particles per million that is considered safe for life as it currently exists on this planet. Watch this video short created by the folks at Free Range Graphics for 350.org.
Live simply and thrive,
Ms. Newburn
Live simply and thrive,
Ms. Newburn
Thriving in the 'Burbs
Are you looking for a way to live a greener lifestyle and help others to do the same? Well, Thriving in the 'Burbs has some great tools and strategies to support you in organizing your neighborhood or community.
Thriving in the 'Burbs has a monthly, downloadable and customizable community newsletter that you can adapt to your community and locale. The idea behind the blog and newsletter is that we can work together to live a sustainable lifestyle and thrive in the process. Each newsletter has strategies for living simply and ways to get the community together to support the shift in lifestyle and consciousness. For example, in the August newsletter there is an article about getting people to install clotheslines and having community members volunteer to help those who can't install them for themselves. There is also a monthly garden planting list in the SF Bay Area version of the newsletter. (There is a global version of the newsletter as well.)
I created this newsletter for my neighborhood and it's been amazing to see the number of people who are jazzed about getting gardens started, compost bins installed and clotheslines up. All it takes is a conversation, some friendly people to help things shift and a little time. Help your community or neighbors to get organize and make the shift.
If you want to get an email update when the next newsletter is posted, be sure to subscribe.
Ms. Newburn
Thriving in the 'Burbs has a monthly, downloadable and customizable community newsletter that you can adapt to your community and locale. The idea behind the blog and newsletter is that we can work together to live a sustainable lifestyle and thrive in the process. Each newsletter has strategies for living simply and ways to get the community together to support the shift in lifestyle and consciousness. For example, in the August newsletter there is an article about getting people to install clotheslines and having community members volunteer to help those who can't install them for themselves. There is also a monthly garden planting list in the SF Bay Area version of the newsletter. (There is a global version of the newsletter as well.)
I created this newsletter for my neighborhood and it's been amazing to see the number of people who are jazzed about getting gardens started, compost bins installed and clotheslines up. All it takes is a conversation, some friendly people to help things shift and a little time. Help your community or neighbors to get organize and make the shift.
If you want to get an email update when the next newsletter is posted, be sure to subscribe.
Ms. Newburn
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Final Trimester and Presentation Time
The time has come where it is the end of the school year and everyone is out for summer!! Our final Assign Yourself Project is due, which is where Ali had started and came up with the idea of Beat the Heat. This also means we will be giving our last presentation to our science class about Beat the Heat. Ali and I will continue with our blog, website, pages, becoming a nationally known organization, etc., but will not be doing it as an assigned school project anymore. Hopefully you will keep us in your minds over the summer and try to beat the heat by being energy efficient and green! Ali and I have new goals for when we return back to school, by first starting a club at Mill Valley Middle School with our teacher sponsor being our current science teacher Ms. Eagle. We both will be thouroghly involved in that and will then try to spread our wings out by moving to our next school and then setting up other chapters throughout the world. Our Multi-Media Room lunch on Friday went well, with a good turn out of students and teachers. We have recieved a lot of great encouragement and are excited about continuing on.
Beat the heat,
Mimi Wyatt
Energy Saving Tip #13: If you have a spa or hot tub, put a cover on them to prevent heat loss and evaporation.
Beat the heat,
Mimi Wyatt
Energy Saving Tip #13: If you have a spa or hot tub, put a cover on them to prevent heat loss and evaporation.
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