Resolving to Be More Eco-Friendly in S. Kingstown

South Kingstown, RI — November 2008

Claire Hall, president of The "Did You Know?" Foundation, took the stage at each of South Kingstown's four elementary schools to inspire students to "make eco-friendly choices in their everyday lives." Addressing sustainable behavior in the context of S.K. schools new Community Learning Project, Claire animatedly illustrated why it matters, and iterated simple, concrete steps each student could take.

Claire first stresses the three R's of sustainability — reduce, reuse and recycle — as she walks students through choices they make with their families every single day. Asking students to imagine they’re on a trip to the supermarket, Claire calls a student up to help choose which potato chips to choose from the shelf. With help from schoolmates, the volunteer selects one large bag of loose chips over one large bag filled with many smaller bags. In order to minimize our effect on the environment, we have to make less trash—and that means reducing how much packaging we buy.

Another opportunity to reduce, Claire suggests, is when we brush our teeth. If you run the water during those recommended 2 minutes of brushing, did you know that you waste more than 4 gallons of water each time? And what about the water we waste as we wait for our shower to warm up? Why not capture it in a bucket to water our plants and flowers later!

Next comes the challenge of packing a waste-free lunch. Did you know that every year the average student throws away more than 90 pounds of trash from their lunches? (Just imagine 350 of one bigger student ending up in the school’s dumpster at the end of each year!) Claire goes one by one through a typical brown-bag lunch; what can we eliminate in the way of waste and trash? The brown-bag itself can go—use a reusable lunch box or bag instead. How about a reusable drink bottle rather than a juice box? Why not use reusable plastic containers instead of disposable plastic snack and sandwich bags? Bring real utensils (remembering to bring them home again!) instead of disposable plastic ones. And how about cutting up an unpopular old bed-sheet into reusable, washable napkins!

Finally, students examine different types of plastics to learn that those marked with “1” and “2” inside the triangle on the bottom can be recycled in Rhode Island. Other plastics, such as “5”, are good for reuse. Many are surprised to find out that we have to take caps off all bottles before putting them in the recycle bin. If left on, the bottles will end up in the landfill after all.

Claire closes by asking students to write down what steps they plan to take to reduce waste in their own lives.

What can YOU do to become more eco-friendly?

Here what some students at Matunuck Elementary School resolved in response:

• “What I will do differently to help the earth is to not recycle bottle caps. Use reusable containers for my lunch, and take a shower for 5 minutes instead of 15 minutes.
  



• “I am going to do a trash-free lunch. I am going to use a reusable cloth napkin. I am going to use a reusable bag and more. All I can to give back to what makes me live!
  
  
• “I learned that recycling is important. I will save some water somewhere at home or the shower because the things that I learned were cool at school. I liked that it was good!
  



• “I am going to recycle. And I will take the cap off of the water bottles. I will reduce, reuse, recycle. If it does not have a “1” or a “2”, reuse it. Now that [Claire] came and talked to us, I’m going to check the bottom of my water bottle and see if the number on the bottom is a “1” or a “2”.
  



• “I will try to recycle more of my water bottles, bring water in a water container, and tell my mom to turn off the water when she is brushing her teeth.
  



• “Do not leave the water running when you brush your teeth. Number 1 and 2 are recyclable. Number 5 is not recyclable. You can reuse it. You have to take caps off to recycle.




• “I learned that you should use the least amount of packaging. I also learned that the school produces 300 "Logans" [schoolmate weighing approx. 90 lbs.] each year for garbage.
  
  


• “I learned to try to use less packaging. I learned to not use plastic bags.
  



• “I am going to buy big packages instead of little ones.
  



• “I am going to recycle and reuse as much as I can!




• “Reuse, reduce and recycle. Use reusable bags at the supermarket. When you brush your teeth, don't keep the water on because you are wasting 4 quarts of water. 1 & 2 are things that you can recycle. 4 & 5 are not, but they are reusable. Buy things that have less stuff to throw out.

By John Pincince & Rian Smith

S.K.’s Community Learning Project’s fall segment entitled “My Place” will continue with history, marine life, shellfish aquaculture, agriculture, watersheds, and land conservation in and around Narragansett Bay. This winter the segment entitled “My People” will address basic human needs and diversity; and “My Environment” will focus on natural processes and local flora and fauna in the spring.

S.K. Students Learn How to Help RI Wildlife

South Kingstown, RI — October 2008

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service brought their mission — and an extraordinary array of specimens and artifacts — into South Kingstown’s four elementary schools throughout the month of October. Participating in the first round of S.K. School’s new Community Learning Project, Janis Nepshinsky, Visitor Services Manager, taught 1st through 5th graders about Rhode Island's National Wildlife Refuges.

Viewing a video about the role of wildlife refuges in protecting migratory birds and other wildlife, students considered their favorite animal and which they one day might like to study. They clamored to share their choices — piping plovers, fiddler crabs, turtles, deer… Many Rhode Island refuges were featured, including Trustom Pond here in South Kingstown, Sachuest Point in Middletown, Ninigret in Charlestown, Block Island, and John H. Chafee at Pettaquamscutt Cove.

Human transformation of vast areas of Earth over time has necessitated protection of wildlife habitats. In 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt established the first national refuge on Pelican Island in Florida. The National Wildlife Refuge System has since grown to include more than 540 refuges in all 50 states and many U.S. territories, encompassing more than 94 million acres.

Students saw many birds and wildlife that live in Rhode Island— and discovered that their help is needed. Refuges rely on many partners and volunteers — including young children — to accomplish their goals of protecting and educating people about wildlife.

Next came the most exciting part of the program: show and tell. Exotic wildlife artifacts were displayed and carried around the auditorium by parent volunteers. Students touched the skull of a loggerhead sea turtle, felt turkey feathers, hooted at animal "scat," and discovered that the skin of a horseshoe crab is shed much as a snake sheds its skin.

Janis explained that as a biologist, her job basically is to learn about and protect wildlife. But the National Wildlife Refuge System has various jobs available, including special agents and wildlife detectives to help fight poaching and the illegal use of animal parts in clothing, jewelry, and otherwise. Special agents are stationed at airports to catch people trying to smuggle illegal animals into the United States, such as turtles — for barrettes — and baby alligators — for handbags.

She told students that it was her own experience witnessing the illegal use of animals that inspired her to become a wildlife biologist. She encouraged students to do their part to protect wildlife and educate others about the importance of that protection. The program concluded with students writing and drawing in their journals about one special thing they had learned that afternoon.

All reflections and illustrations are from 1st-5th grade student journals at Matunuck Elementary School, October 27, 2008.

“I learned we need to take better care of our community and natural habitats. I also learned how many animals are endangered…”


• “Never kill for fun! Don’t hunt to get fancy stuff!”


• “People would kill an elephant [to use its] foot for a wastebasket or take an antelope and make a coat. They would turn a sea turtle upside down so it can suffer. They would use a sea turtle’s shell for a barrette. Some people would kill a rhinoceros [to use its] horn to make jewelry. People would hunt animals for something on their body to get money. How would you like it if someone killed you? I liked this program.”


• “I learned that every creature is equal and you shouldn’t [poach] them just for one part of them.”


• “I learned that you can’t just kill an animal for no reason and that that’s why they have wildlife refuges.”


• “I will never kill animals. They're almost my favorite thing in the world.”


• “I learned that we should not use animals' skin and things on animals. Because if we do, more and more animals are killed each day. Then those animals are going to be extinct.”


• “Today I learned that some people use elephant feet for trashcans and use antelope feet for ashtrays. I also learned that piping plovers are the most endangered animal in Rhode Island. Some people use peices of turtle backs for barrettes.”


• “I learned that it is not good at all to harm an animal just for an item on the animal.”

“People would kill an elephant’s foot for a wastebasket or take an antelope and make a coat. They would turn a sea turtle upside down so it can suffer. They would use a sea turtle’s shell for a barrette. Some people would kill a rhinoceros horn to make jewelry. People would hunt animals for something on their body to get money. How would you like it if someone killed you? I liked this program.”

Article by Jon Pincince & Rian Smith

Student journals were made out of reuse materials from Recycling for R.I. Education, the teacher resource center!

S. County Museum Takes Students Back in Time

Jim Carothers, South County Museum’s Director, is visiting South Kingstown’s elementary schools to show what life was like 200 years ago. In britches and suspenders, vest and pocket watch, he opens by asking students to travel back in time to a school just like theirs many years ago . . .

In 1818, schoolchildren needed the same skills as you do today. Student volunteers calculate the difference between 2008 and 1818 on a board — through the exact same process of carrying digits over that schoolchildren would have used then.

Pointing to a page from an old schoolbook, Mr. Carothers asks students to imagine they are in an 1818 classroom. Schoolbooks were very different — just loose pieces of paper. You learned by taking notes. But not in a notebook! You used chalk to copy down lessons on a piece of slate. For homework, you would take the slate home to copy the lesson down again with pen and ink onto a sheet of paper.

Children had two sets of clothes. You wore one outfit every day of the week, and changed into your good clothes on Saturday for services. Your mom then washed your everyday clothes for you to wear again next week. Two new volunteers struggle into reproduction period clothing. A full-length gingham dress over a blouse with bonnet, and drop-front britches with suspenders over shirt are paraded down the center of the auditorium. How are his clothes different? Yes! He does have suspenders. No, he has no belt loops. No pockets in the back either. His mother made all his clothes for him, spinning the wool from flax first. Pockets would have been too expensive, a waste of cloth. And, no, no zippers — they weren’t invented yet — so just buttons, hooks and straps.

You had the same basic things inside your tin lunchbox as you might today, but they looked different. What is this spoon made out of… wood? bone? It’s a cow horn spoon! (you couldn’t afford metal) for your stew, porridge, or maybe soup. You had an apple — isn’t this one weird looking? Because it’s old? No, because I picked it from a heritage tree outside the museum, the same kind they had in 1818. And you had a piece of old crusty bread … and that’s about it!

To get to school, you had to walk, or ride on a horse or in a carriage. You played in the schoolyard until the teacher rang a large bell. Assuming the part, Mr. Carothers puts on a frock coat and a top hat. You went outside again for recess and lunch. You had to make your own things to play with — there was no plastic. The volunteers played a game called Grace across the cafeteria, trying to catch a wooden hoop on wooden sticks.

The presentation concluded with students reflecting in their journals about what they had learned. So just how different are you from schoolchildren 200 years ago?

Here is one account by a 2nd grader at Peace Dale Elementary School:

"The topic is chilchin

In the 1800’s I learned about the people. They did not have any TV’s. They didn’t have TV’s because they didn’t have power. They made spoons out of cow horns. They saved the cow horns for spoons. A man wrote a paragraph in cursive, one was his math and one was notes. He wrote by himself. In the 1818’s the girls wore bonnets. Bonnets are hats that keep away the sun, but now we use them for showers. And in 1818 they used a tin lunchbox and for their lunch, they got an apple, a piece of bread, and water and a spoon. The spoon was for the water. They cut the apple in half. They put it on the bread. They rang a bell. The bell was gold it was very loud. My ears popped like a fire engine, like the horn on a truck going wild, or the giant gold bell ringing, “a-ling a-ling!” They could ride in a carriage or walk; they can ride on a horse because the horse pulls the wagon. You can walk because it does the world a favor. It keeps the world alive.”

Illustrations by 2nd graders in Mrs. Santienello's at Peace Dale Elementary School, October 6, 2008.

By Rian Smith

Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas Speaks to Students About Narragansett Tribe History

Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas of the Narragansett Indian Tribe honored 1st through 5th grade students at Matunuck Elementary with a presentation on tribal history and culture on October 6th.

Chief Sachem Thomas introduced himself as e nada wushawunun, "Seventh Hawk," in the language of the Narragansett. In partial tribal regalia, the chief explained that the wild turkey feathers in his headdress reflected high respect for the turkey, as echoed by American families everywhere during Thanksgiving. The Chief's traditional dress also featured a belt strung with white shell beads, wampum, that were used in trading. And he showed students a fan made especially for him from the wing of . . . a hawk.

The Chief displayed many artifacts, explaining their origins, uses and special significance to the Narragansett, and illuminating the context of each in the students' world today. The peace pipe, for example, was used as a means of prayer with kinnikinnick, tobacco (which is not to be abused). Weaponry used in past inter-tribal conflicts that had to be settled through war included a shield from a snapping turtle’s shell, and a tomahawk—a hammer—made of stone. Everything the Indians had, the Chief explained, came from the earth—much as most everything children have today comes from the earth in some way.

Continuing to relate tribal traditions to the students' world, the Chief presented a "talking stick" which is used to confer the right to speak upon the holder. It indicates the listener's respect for the speaker, just as the raised hand in school does today.

The kids' favorite parts were obvious: murmurs and whispers and the occasional squeal sounded whenever they were invited to touch or hold some special item from the Chief’s large black duffel. They reached out to feel the shells on the wampum belt, and stroke an otter skin that is wrapped around the head as a hat.

But the loudest ooh's and aah's greeted a wooden staff . . . with the head of an eagle perched on top. Made for the Chief Sachem to celebrate his ten years as tribal leader, he expressed pride in the honor conferred upon him. The eagle, he explained, is protected by federal law—only special dispensation allows such rare ceremonial use by the Narragansett.

He went on to compare the Chief Sachem's role in the Narragansett Indian Tribe with the President's in the United States. The Narragansett are also governed by a medicine man and a nine-member council. The tribe celebrated its 333rd annual powwow this year; the majority of its population of approximately 2,300 members live in Rhode Island, but some live in other states and countries, and many return to gather in Charlestown in August each year.

Then the Chief Sachem answered questions, such as: Is a hawk dangerous? Must Indians kill the animals they use to adorn their clothes? Do you always wear that medallion? The session concluded with students expressing their thoughts on what they had learned about the Narragansett in journals made to capture their reactions to presentations throughout the year.

Large in stature, measured and clear in speech, sharing the most sacred of his tribe’s artifacts, Chief Sachem Thomas embodied his final message to Matunuck students: I welcome all of you to our tribal events and celebrations.

(The Chief also gave a special demonstration to a few students outside the auditorium after his presentation, with NBC Channel 10's Michelle Brown and camera looking on. "I found it interesting because it’s very cool to have Chief Sachem in our school," said one of the students interviewed. NBC 10 reported the story, with video, here.)

By Jon Pincince & Rian Smith