What a wonderful year! Thank you to all the Earthlings and their parents, who made all our events such a success, and possible in the first place! We enjoyed our end of year Picnic and Hike day, with a scavenger hunt and just hanging out in the outdoors! We hope to continue this club next year, but regardless, you can still be green because Every Day is Earth Day!
Have a great summer,
Mrs. Brewer, Mrs. Carlson, Mrs. Cotten, Mrs. McGowan, and Ms. Smock

Dear Earthlings,
     Our next meetings will be: April 16th at 7:45, with the topic of Arbor Day, and April 22nd AFTER SCHOOL from 4-5:30 pm, to plant flowers and enjoy the outdoors for Earth Day. We have a special guest coming to school on the 25th (during school hours) for an Arbor Day presentation, and another special guest coming in the month of May to one of our meetings.
     Our May meetings will be: May 7th and May 21st, both at 7:45 am. 
      You and your parents are invited to meet us for our NON-SCHOOL SPONSORED Stafford Landfill Tour. It will be on Saturday, April 26th at 1 pm. Please make sure that you come with a parent, as the school will not assume any responsibility.
   Our Earth Day activities: 
-Vote for your favorite Virgnia Endangered Animal
-Adopt a School Yard (classes sign up to keep it clean!)
-Earth Day Grocery Project (http://www.earthdaybags.org/).
-and of course, join the community at the annual Earth Day celebration at Alum Springs Park, April 19th from 11am-3pm! 

Remember, Earth Day is every day!

What an awesome experience our Dragon Swap Day was! In the days leading up to it, children swamped the PTO room, where teachers and members of the Earthlings club took in used toys and books in exchange for swap day tickets. On Thursday of last week, the children with tickets came to the two swap rooms to look at the items that others had brought int. The look on their faces as they 'shopped' for their 'new' items was priceless! We hope to have an article in the local newspaper about this great event. Teachers and students have already asked when the next one will be (sorry, not till next year!). This exchange is a great way for children to learn about reusing things, and how we can keep items out of the landfills. A HUGE thank you to all the parent volunteers and Mrs. Cotten, who gave of their time to make the swap day happen!

   

It’s New to You!

Dear Anthony Burns Family,

     Do you have toys that lost their luster after Christmas? Books that you’ve read a million times? The Earthlings Ecology Club is excited to announce a solution with their next event: Dragon Swap Day! All ABES children are invited to bring in gently used toys and books, and trade them for others! This way, the children learn that you don’t have to throw away old play things because you don’t like them anymore, which prevents our landfills from filling up and helps declutter your house. They also will learn that getting even slightly used things is fun, because… it’s new to you!

     Here are the rules:

1)      Everything must be in nearly new condition. This means stuffed animals are very clean, board games are not missing parts, video games work properly, books have all their pages with no coloring or tears, etc.

2)      One for one. The children who drop their items off on designated days (see below) will receive one ticket for each toy or book they donate to the swap. If they donate a toy, they will receive a ticket for another toy only, and a donated book will earn them a ticket for only another book. They will save these tickets at home or in the classroom, to use on Swap Day.

3)      Maximum of two. In order to allow time for each class to “shop” on Swap Day, each child will only be allowed to “buy” a maximum of two items (2 toys, 2 books, or one of each). Of course, this depends on what they drop off to swap.

4)      The more, the merrier. However, in order to give the children lots of good things to choose from, and not leave the last class with slim pickings, we strongly encourage the children to donate more than two items to the swap! Toys and books leftover from the swap will be donated to Goodwill or to a local shelter.

5)      No violence or weapons. Of course, the donated books and toys must abide by school policy, and contain no violence or weapons. DVDs and videos must be rated G.

     Here are some ideas of things that the children might want to swap: books (no coloring books, please, unless completely new), outdoor toys such as balls or jump ropes, video games (see above rules), DVDs, videos, stuffed animals (very clean!), dolls, action figures, board games, card games.

     And here are the dates:

• Drop off for donated items: 8:30- 9:00 a.m.-Monday, Feb 25^th, Tuesday, Feb 26^th, and Wednesday Feb 27^th. Location: The PTO room by the lobby. Children must check in with their classroom teacher before going to drop items off.
• Dragon Swap Day: Thursday, Feb 28^th, 12:45-3:15 p.m. Swap Day: Children will go with their teacher on Thursday to Swap Day Rooms.

 

     Thank you for your enthusiasm with this event! We hope it goes well. And, if you don’t care to participate, please recycle this newsletter! J

Sincerely,

The ABES Earthlings

and their sponsor teachers: Mrs. Brewer, Mrs. Carlson, Mrs. Cotton, Mrs. McGowan, and Ms. Smock