Illinois Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1998
Based on information received from the Paper Bag Council of the American Forest and Paper Association:
400 bags
-- Moweaqua Elementary School
-- Moweaqua, IL
Based on information received from the Paper Bag Council of the American Forest and Paper Association:
400 bags
-- Hales Franciscan High School
-- Chicago, IL
I teach Jr. High science at Bartonville Grade School in Bartonville, Il,
which is close to Peoria. We decorated 400 Earth Day sacks and
delivered them to the local grocery store during Earth Day week. The
students enjoyed the project and hopefully they and the community were
reminded to take care of our Earth. Thanks for the idea.
Linda Roberts llkroberts@hotmail.com
This was the first year for us to participate in the
Earth Day Grocery Bag Project, but we will do it again
next year.
We decorated 150 bags to be used at a local grocery.
The local paper and word-of-mouth made it exciting for
the kids to see who got their bag. We put first names
only on the bags. Since this is a very small town,
we often heard who got our bags!
Next year, I hope to involve more grades and distribute
the bags through both our grocery stores. Our recycling
service urges paper bags be used to separate items put
in the recycling boxes, so we are hoping more of our
citizens will get in the habit of asking for paper, a
renewable resource.
Thanks for starting such an easy, yet worthwhile project!
See you next year!
Penny Thacher (pthacher@roe8.lth2.k12.il.us), Kindergarten Teacher
Mt.Carroll Elementary, k-3
Mount Carroll, Illinois
I decorated 26 bags for the Earth Week project. I also went to our local
Jewel-Osco and persuaded people
to use paper bags not plastic for Earth Week. I would like you to e-mail me
and tell me how the project went.
Erin M.
St. Michaels Elementary School
CH, IL
Children from the Clara Peterson Grade School (K-3rd grades) decorated 243
grocery bags in celebration of Earth Day. The local Paxton IGA donated and
distributed the decorated grocery bags during "Earth Week." In addition, Youth
Action Kits were obtained from the American Forest and Paper Assocation and
distributed to all children at the school (K-5th grade). The Paxton Jr.
Woman's Club coordinated the event.
Susan Heyen (lolo@net66.com)
Clara Peterson Grade School
Paxton, Illinois
Our school participated in the Earth Day Grocery project. We have
K-4 students. We decorated approximately 100 bags.
Thanks,
Mary Downs (mdowns78@hotmail.com)
Humboldt Elementary School
Humboldt, Illinois
Hi-
This is the second year Northwest School in Lincoln, Illinois participated.
We had a great time decorating 189 bags and delivering them to our local
Krogers. Thanks again for sponsoring a great project.
Tamara L. Barcalow tbarcalo@abelink.com
(Picture!)
Raymond Marquith, East Galesburg, IL decorated 150 bags for Eagles in
Galesburg, IL. The children so enjoy doing this and the store says the
customers love them. This is are second year of doing this. Attached is a
picture of our students delivering them.
Sally Nelson
Raymond Marquith School
marquith@galesburg.net
Thomas Jefferson School decorated 500 grocery bags for the Larkin
Avenue Jewel Store. Our whole school participated. Our 5th grade class was in
charge of delivering the bags to the classrooms, and gathering them again, and
checking the spelling. It was a lot of work, but it was fun. We decorated the
bags with pictures of the earth, and environmental slogans. We have put some
of them on this web page:
http://web.isbe.state.il.us/rcoleman/EarthDay.html
Ruth Coleman (rcoleman@mail.isbe.state.il.us)
Thomas Jefferson School
http://web.isbe.state.il.us/rcoleman
Joliet, IL
It was a pleasure for our high school's Future Homemakers of America
chapter to coordinate this project for our school district. We again had 100%
participation at our three elementary schools: Green Garden, Peotone, and
Wilton Center. We also added the Jr. High this year, through the cooperation
of the science teachers. Our total was 1,250 bags. Our thanks to everyone for
making this a huge success!
Chris Halweg, FHA Adviser (chalweg@mail.peotone.will.k12.il.us)
Peotone High School
http://www.peotone.will.k12.il.us/ch/EarthDay/
Peotone, IL 60468-0399
This is the second year of participation in this most worthwhile
activity. Our entire K - 5 school, Ridge School in Oak Forest, IL,
decorated 500 bags which were given to us by the Jewel-Osco in Oak
Forest. We returned them to Jewel-Osco a few days before Earth Day so
they could be used to carry the groceries with messages of environmental
awareness. The kids really enjoy this project and are quite interested
in making others aware of their concern for our environment.
luvtoteach@earthlink.net
The students at St. Linus decorated 490 grocery bags. the bags were
recieved from the local Jewel/Osco and distributed the week of earth day!
Alisa Minarik
St. Linus School
Oak Lawn, IL
Thank you for your project idea. Our school, Richland Grade School, in
Crest Hill, IL joined with you in observance of Earth Day. We have about
280 students from grades K-8. All classes had the students decorate bags
from our local Jewel grocery store. The store is using them today for their
customers. It is too early to know if we will get any feedback. The kids
created their own designs. I felt many were very clever.
Judy Brown jbrown@kiwi.dep.anl.gov
1005 Valley Lane
Lockport, IL
Greetings from Wheaton, IL!
At Carl Sandburg School, students in grades K - 5 decorated 427 bags with
colorful messages and pictures. This was the school's first official year in
participating in this project, although several teachers had previously heard
of similar activities. Everyone reported that this was an enjoyable activity
at each age level that piqued awareness of environmental issues. Thank you for
your easy-to-use information to help us get involved in this wonderful
worldwide event.
Christina Hull Hullz@aol.com
(1st grade)
-------------
I am writing from Carl Sandburg School in Wheaton, IL. We sent in our report
this morning, but I am writing with an update. We hope that the information
included here will possibly prevent other schools from encountering the
problems that we did.
We received, decorated and returned the bags to a local grocery store. On
Earth Day evening, I went to shop at the store. At that time, I was told that
the bags would not be given out because using bags that had been removed from
the store was a violation of the county's health regulations. They were
planning to throw the bags away. I collected the bags and have since been able
to distribute them to a food pantry and a resale shop. Both places were
grateful to receive them.
The project was still a very positive experience, but perhaps this information
can save some time and effort at other schools in the future.
(Picture!)
Dear Earth Day Grocery Project Organizers:
Kruse Cares!
In partnership with our local Jewel/Osco Store, students received paper
grocery bags to distribute in classrooms to decorate for Earth Day 1998. Kruse
Education Center is part of Community Consolidated School District 146
incorporating sections of Orland Park and Tinley Park, Illinois. Our student
population is 452.
Our students decorated a total of 437 grocery bags for Earth Day 1998!
21 classrooms participated in the event, including students from Kindergarten
through 6th grade. Students included individual messages on the bags that
showed that Kruse students really care about our earth. They learned that part
of being earth conscious is to share their message with the community. Students
were very proud of their work. Student Council officers delivered the brightly
decorated bags to the grocery store in time for Earth Day distribution.
This is the first year Kruse Education Center participated in this
great project. Thanks for starting this great idea! We look forward to
participating again next year.
Debbie Brennan Brende04@ccsd146.k12.il.us
Our school decorated 200 hundred bags. In my classroom we also took
the opportunity to to visit a nearby forest preserve. The forest ranger
explained to us what we can do to take care of the forest. Thanks for
organizing such a fun project.
Cristina Gillanders (cristigill@aol.com)
C.I.Johnson School
Aurora, Illinois
Raymond Marquith, East Galesburg, IL decorated 150 bags for Eagles in
Galesburg, IL. The children so enjoy doing this and the store says the
customers love them. This is are second year of doing this. Attached is a
picture of our students delivering them.
Sally Nelson
Raymond Marquith School marquith@galesburg.net
Our 45 sixth graders brainstormed Earth Day sayings and ideas and then made
bags for our nearby Jewel/Osco stores.
Mrs. Schambach and Mr. Sisler (schambach_j/hl@dns.u46.k12.il.us)
Hillcrest School
Elgin, IL
Number of bags decorated = 307
Mrs. Stephanie Lemery headed the Earth Week Project at Galena Primary School.
The grocery bags were gotten from/used at the local supermarket, Dick's, that
enthusiastically supported this project. It has been 'great fun.' All week
there have been activities related to Earth Day involving students in all
grades (K-4). These included a poster contest, a field trip to a community
exhibit and many other activities. Plus, each day students from a different
grade have done Earth Day related readings over the school P.A. during the time
for school announcements. One of the culminating activities will be the
planting of a tree which has been donated by a local nursery. Students
interest and enthusiasm for this has been growing with each year it is done.
Mrs. Stephanie Lemery & Mrs. B. Mellskog (bmellskog@galenalink.com)
Galena Primary School
Galena, IL
This was the first year that Auburn Elementary participated in the
Earth Day Groceries Project. We are a Pre-K through 6th grade building.
Everyone participated!! The bags were donated by a local grocery store
(Harmons) and a local convenient store (the 104 store). We appreciate
their help in making this important project so successful. The students and
staff decorated 635 bags. We think that is pretty impressive
for our first year doing this project. Through this project, the students have
realized that each of us has to do our part in taking
care of the earth. They have also learned that the message of Earth Day is a
message worth spreading!! We hope to do this project again
next year.
Melissa Miller (mmiller2@roe51.k12.il.us)
Auburn Elementary
http://www.sangamon.k12.il.us/auburn
Auburn, Illinois
For the second year the first graders at Manteno Elementary School
worked together with Manteno Foods to decorate grocery bags. We decorated 140
bags. Manteno Foods will start distributing them to customers on Earth Day,
April 22, 1998. We hope to remind people in our communitiy to take care of our
planet. We had fun making our bags look beautiful. We hope our parents and
friends will look forward to getting our bags. We'll be there again for the
grocery bag project in 1999.
Barbara Wenzel (b_wenzel@yahoo.com)
Manteno Elementary School
Manteno, Il
Our school delivered 228 Earth Day decorated bags to the
Eagle Grocery store in Kankakee, Ill. Our local newspaper
came and took a picture for the newspaper the Daily Journal
We also displayed our project at the Showcase of Kankakee
schools at a nearby mall.We really enjoyed participating in
this project and would like to do it again next year.We hope
to be sending you a picture soon. Thank you for giving us
the opportunity to participate in this project and the
internet.We invite you to visit our school at our website.
Mary Nachtwey (nachtwmar@k111.k12.il.us)
Lafayette School
http://k111.k12.il.us/lafayette
Kankakee, Illinois
We wanted to let you know that Jane Stenson Elementary School at 9201
Lockwood in Skokie, IL 60077 decorated 375 bags to distribute at our
local Jewel food store. We did this as a Student Council Earth Day
Project.
http://www.sd68.k12.il.us
Ellen Gruenberg elleng@SD68.K12.IL.US
Earth Day Greetings! Here at Prophetstown Elementary School in
Prophetstown, Illinois, our students decorated 367 paper bags for the
Earth Day Groceries project. We all had a great time and are plannig
on doing it again next year.
Paulette Clements pclement@cusd3.k12.il.us
The third grade decorated 150 bags.
Niles Elementary School
Niles, Illinois
Today, we delivered our 500 bags to Wilb Walker Grocery store.
My special education class and the sixth grade class made it an inclusion
project with both classes. It was also an excellent internet activity. We
made the
front page of the newspaper and hope to have pictures to send soon. What an
excellent idea.
Bonnie Kinney and Kim McQueen (bkinney@mattoon.k12.il.us)
Hawthorne Elementary
Mattoon, Illinois
Illinois Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1997
Dear Earth Day Groceries Project organizers:
Here it is, FINALLY! This is our report from April 18, 1997. Our school
decorated 480 paper grocery bags for Earth Day. Nineteen different
classrooms participated on the event, including students from preschool
to fifth grade. Our Kindergarten room colleted all the bags and sort
them according to store (we had five community grocery stores helping
us). Then, the kids counted from 1-10 MANY times working in cooperative
groups.
We were all very happy to see so many bags all together. The children
decided that they wanted to line them up to see if they could cover our
main school hallway with them. After asking our principal, we predicted
if we had enough bags to do that task, or if we thought we were going to
be too short on bags. With 360 bags we made a huge line from our South
door to our North door. Our assistant principal went by and said, when
we were halfway to meeting our goal, "It looks as if you ARE going to
make it!" Some of the older students count the bags as they were
passing by after a drink of water or running errands for their teachers.
After Earth Day weekend, many of our Kindergarten students came back to
school telling stories about the bags they saw inside the stores, of
which students, from which teachers etc. Thank you for doing such a
great project. We hope we can participate next year. Here is a link to
our page with pictures (some are still to be added on):
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/4616/earthday.htm
Sincerely,
Nelida M. Frontera NelidaMFrontera@chicago.avenew.com
Jardin Mundial Kindergarten
C.M. Bardwell Elementary
Aurora, Illinois, USA
This E-Mail is on behalf of Ms. Michelle Williams who teaches at Midwest
Central Primary School in Manito Illinois. Due to some technical
difficulties at our school we do not have Internet Access from there at
this time which explains why I am sending this from my home computer. If
a reply is appropriate please feel free to reply to this location and
I will be certain the message is delivered.
The Midwest Central Primary School decorated 700 bags for the Earth Day
grocery project. This school is part of the Midwest Central Consolidated
School District #191 with the Primary and Unit Offices located in
Manito, Illinois.
The school may be contacted by E-Mail through me
Maury Crain
mrcrain@ibm.net
We decorated about 300 bags in conjunction with the Cub Foods
store in our neighborhood. The management changed this year
and I felt some resistance but I'll continue to pursue!
Roberta Franzen rfranzen@kiwi.dep.anl.gov
Dorn Primary
7840 W. 92nd St. Hickory Hills, Il 60457
Reba O. Steck School, in Aurora, Illinois participated in the project
for our second year by decorating 669 bags and delivering them to Omni
Food Store for distribution. Special credit goes to the class 3S for
organizing the project, distributing and collecting bags throughout our
building, and helping to deliver the bags to the store. See you next
year!
Kirk Samples kirksamples@usa.net
Students at Gwendolyn Books Elementary School were happy to
participate in the 1997 Earth Day Grocery Bag project. We are a K-5 school of
650 students. We did not involve the kindergarten in this project. 480 bags
were decorated by first through fifth graders. The bags were used at an Omni
food store on Earth Day. We have earned
an "Earth Flag" by our participation in a recycling program and by having
"No-Waste"
lunches.
Joyce Schar, LMC Director
joyce_schar@ipsd.org
Gwendolyn Brooks Elementary School
2700 Stonebridge Blvd., Aurora, IL 60504
This was the first time we participated in an "Earth Day Project"!!
66 - Fourth graders, 76 - Fifth graders and 17 P-K students decorated paper
bags for our local grocery store.
Students were very proud of their work!!
We would like to do this again next year - but involve more classes.
This was the first time my class participated in an "internet" project.
Thanks!!
Charlotte Liefer cliefer@randolph.k12.il.us
Red Bud Elementary
Red Bud, IL
Earth Day Greetings! I represent the Ecology Club at
Northwest School in Lincoln, Illinois. (This is the only
town to be named for Abe Lincoln before he became famous.
Abe even christened our town with the juice of a watermelon.)
Last month while surfing the WWW for Earth Day sites to
share with the other teachers in my K-6 building, I
found your site. The teachers liked adding the idea to our
Earth Week, so I picked up some bags from The Kroger Co. and
made them available to everyone. The kids had a lot of fun
relaying their important environmental messages to the local
shoppers. My class also enjoyed delivering the **227**
decorated bags to Kroger located only two blocks away.
Thanks for the GREAT PROJECT IDEA. We are looking forward
to participating again next year while we are encouraging
the people of our town to be aware of their environment.
T. Barcalow tbarcalo@abelink.com
Northwest Elementary School
Lincoln, IL
http://www.abelink.com/dist27/
This is the third year that the K-8 students of Immanuel Lutheran School
in Palatine, IL participated in this project. Dominick's Foods was once
again our willing partner in donating 500 bags and distributing them on
Earth Day. The students decorated the bags the week before as one of the
projects on "Grandparents Day" at the school. The conversations between
the student and the grandparent as they decorate the bag help the child
understand how the world has changed in the last 50 years and help the
grandparent to understand how working together, the world can be changed
for the better. We also learn that grandparents are good artists. This
is such a great project!
Karen kbauder@flash.net
Immanuel Lutheran School
Palatine, IL
Thanks for your help in getting grocery bags ordered, etc. We are
thrilled with the project and plan to participate again next year.
We had 100% participation at all three of the elementary schools in
Peotone Community Unit School District 207U: Green Garden, Peotone, and
Wilton Center. Our total was 905 bags.
The URL for our project report is:
http://www.peotone.will.k12.il.us/ch/EarthDay/
Be sure to check out the pogs hot link on the "Decorating the Bags"
page!
Thanks again for your help!
Sincerely,
Chris Halweg, FHA Adviser chalweg@mail.peotone.will.k12.il.us
Peotone High School
Peotone, IL
Humboldt School participated in the Earth Day Grocery Bag Project for the
first time. It was coordinated by the Intermediate I and Grade 2 classes
in conjunctin with an Earth Day celebration. We decorated 222 bags.
Everyone in our K-4 building had a fun time! We want to thank you for the
great idea and to Walker's Grocery Store, Mattoon, IL , for lending us the
bags. Our students and teachers rushed out after school in hopes of
getting an Earth Day bag.
Linda Pierce piercel@advant.com
Humboldt School
Humboldt, IL
This year our project grew to encompass the entire school. We picked
up a bundle of bags from our local Jewel/Osco store. (We didn't know that was
500 bags!) So every student did a bag, or more, and we finished!! We took the
bags to the store and they put up a display of a few bags, and some posters we
made for Earth Day. Some of us went to the store on that day to get groceries
to make sure they were using the bags--and they were!! It was a really fun
experience and the whole school was talking about the good ways to help our
earth. Thanks again for starting this great idea a few years ago. We have a
better time each year we do the project.
Sorry we don't have pictures to send you!
Mrs. Coleman, and 5th grade class
at Thomas Jefferson School in Joliet, IL
Ruth Coleman RuthC423@aol.com
Joliet, IL USA
http://web.isbe.state.il.us/rcoleman
Fourth and fifth grade students at Centennial School,Plano,IL,
decorated 194 grocery bags to be distributed to shoppers at Eagle
Discount Foods, in Plano, on Earth Day. Students included messsages to
shoppers on how they can help the earth.
Reporter,
Lane S., Fifth grade spark@aquila.com
This is the second year that Washington School has participated
in the Earth Day Groceries Project. This is a fun easy project for the
students, and it can involve the entire school. We decorated 550 grocery bags
and delivered them to Food Shop, the local grocery store, to be used during the
week. What an easy way to remind us to take care of our earth. A couple of
schools in the area have contacted us about participating, so this will be a
project that will continue to grow. Thank you for a great idea.
Patricia Koontz pkoontz@midwest.net
Washington School
Johnston City, Illinois
I heard about the Earth Day Grocery Bag Project from a friend
who e-mailed you- Sally Nelson. Then I read about it on your
school webpage. Our fifth graders decorated 50 bags today and
delivered them to our local Galva Food Pride store. Each bag
included a message to educate our citizens about the importance
of conserving our natural resources.
The store will use them tomorrow for Earth Day. Our students
enjoyed helping.
Thank you for the information.
Sue Schulz sschulz@bhsroe.k12.il.us
Galva Elementary School
Galva, IL
Our Pre-K thru grade 5 building located just 30 miles south of Chicago
decorated 450 bags.
Mary Boam mboam@kiwi.dep.anl.gov
Wagoner Elementary
Sauk Village, IL
Manteno Elementary first graders worked with Manteno Foods
to join all the other school children by way of the internet
to increase environmental awareness of Earth Day 1997 by
decorating 140 grocery bags. The boys and girls had fun
creating their designs and sharing their ideas. The people
of our community will certainly enjoy getting the beautiful
bags. Manteno, IL is a community of about 5,000 about 40
miles south of Chicago. We hope to join in the Earth Day
Grocery Project for years to come.
Barbara Wenzel KBW0708@aol.com
Manteno Elementary
Manteno, IL
I just happened to be cruising the net and saw this grocery project!!
I went to our local Thompson's Food Basket and they were delighted to help us
with our project. We had grades 1-3 decorate the bags, about 125 decorated
bags in all. We hope to do this again next year.Thanks!
Sue Smith ssmith@cyberdesic.com
Mapleton Elementary
Mapleton, Il
The 1st-6th grade regular education and special education students at
Fieldcrest School in Oak Forest, IL decorated 315 bags for the Earth Day
Groceries Project. Our bags were donated by Eagle Food Store in Country Club
Hills, IL. This was our first year participating in the project, and we loved
it! Many teachers commented on the enthusiam and excitement of the children.
We will definitely be participating again next year!!!
Linda Perez Lindita@msn.com
2nd Grade Teacher
Fieldcrest School
Oak Forest, IL
As I was perusing the Internet for Earth Day information, I read about your
Earth Day Grocery Bag Project and thought it was a super idea! I shared
the information with my principal and we turned it into a school-wide
activity. Our school, Ridge Elementary located in Oak Forest, IL,
decorated 500 bags which will be distributed by our local Jewel-Osco. All
students in kindergarten-grade
5 enjoyed helping to "spread the word" about Earth Day. Thanks for sharing
your very worthwhile idea!
P.S. Please send reports from all participating schools.
Linda Metz levans@kiwi.dep.anl.gov, Second Grade Teacher
Ridge Elementary School
5151 W. 149th St.
Oak Forest, IL 60452
We are a small school of 143 students. We really had alot of fun
decorating 151 bags for Eagle Grocery Store in Galesburg, IL 61401. The
Register-Mail Newspaper came and took pictures for the paper. I also took
pictures and will send them to you, when I get them back. This is a neat
project to go along with our community recycling program which we started here
at our school. We collect approximately 1 ton of recycables a month.
We are east of the Mississippi River and located between Peoria and
the Quad Cities. Please e-mail us your results as you get them.
Thank you, Sally Nelson
Raymond Marquith School marquith@galesburg.net
Today my class finished the final process in the Earth Day Bag Project. Let
me tell you how it turned out. We are from Walker's Grove Elementary School
in Plainfield, Illinois.
We first found out about the project from reading about it in the KIDS
F.A.C.E. newspaper that we receive from Wal-Mart. Being quite the
conservationist that we are in our 4th grade class, we were eager to give
this project our best. Excitement was spreading through the classroom and
eventually out into the hall ways. Before long, the four other 4th grades wer
e wanting to join in on the fun. But it didn't stop there....the five 5th
grade classes wanted to participate as well. We were up to 300 students and
300 bags to contribute to the project.
We contacted the local family owned grocery store in Plainfield, Gehrke's.
They donated a bale of paper grocery bags for us to display our Earth Day
messages on. We decided to turn the project into an overall learning
experience as well. We added it into an enviormental awareness theme for
our curriculum and have made it into a three week plan. We have also found
ways to integrate it into the science ocean unit we are covering.
Once the bags were completed, we collected them from each class. We
contacted the three area newspapers, The Enterprise, The Sun and The Herald
News, to explain to them the purpose of our project and to share the Earth
Day awareness throughout our
community. We also attached a small note and self-addressed envelope to the
inside rim of some of our bags. This note included the illustrator's name
and a request to return the envelope with a short note of where our bag ended
up and any comments on the project.
Our final part was returning the bags. Students had volunteered to meet me
after school at Gehrke's to return the bags to the store manager, Brian
Gehrke. The newspapers were there to take pictures and interview students
about the project. To see the excitement and pride in their eyes was great.
They were quite proud of their work and the messages they were sending.
The grocery store will begin distributing the bags on Saturday at 10:00 am.
We were notified by the newpapers that they plan on being there to take a
picture of our first bag to leave the store and to interview its recipient.
We have been asked to return there as well.
Thank you so much for letting us participate in this project. We loved it.
Our only regret is that we didn't take pictures of some of the fine art work
on the bags. We would have loved to passed some of our artistic abilities
along. We can't wait to hear the results elsewhere. This has given us the
extra opportunity to use the internet in a class related project as well.
Please keep us posted !!
Special thanks to the other teachers who participated:
Mrs. Stephens, Miss O'Brien, Miss Grissom, Miss Meagher, 4th
grade
Mr. Barlog, Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Douin, Miss Farkas,
Mrs. Beck, 5th
grade
and most of all THE STUDENTS!!
Chris Hoop Choop1213@aol.com
Walker's Grove Elementary School
Plainfield, IL
I learned about the grocery bag, Earth Day, project on the internet. It
sounded like fun! About 500 students here at Reed School,14939 W. 143rd,
Lockport, IL, 60441, will be decorating bags this year. Dominicks on Bell
Road in Homer Township, right down the road from us, is giving us the bags.
We're really excited that the bags will be given out during Earth Week.
In that way we feel that we are sharing our love of, and good ideas for
caring for the earth with lots of people.
We are decorating 525 bags here. My class is
decorating as we speak. They're really doing a nice job, of course!
I'll take the bags back to Dominicks next week so they can be used all of
Earth Week.
We had to go out and replant tulip bulbs today that some other students
pulled out of the ground. My kids and I were really upset since we spent a
lot of time planting them(100) in the fall. They're just starting to come
up. Hope we saved them by replanting.
Thanks for writing back. I read your letter to the class. They thought it
was great that you would take the time to write us.
Susan Tanty stanty@lrw.will.k12.il.us
Reed School
Lockport, IL
Francis Parker is K-12 independent school located in Chicago. Every
year the lower school (JK-5) celebrates Earth day. This year each grade is
involed in a special project to celebrate the earth and develop environmental
awareness. On Friday, April 25, we will celebrate Earth Day and share our
projects with the entire school. Thanks to your idea, the lower school has
also decorated 400 grocery bags to be handed out at a local grocery store the
week of April 22. Happy Earth Day!:)
Lesley Maurer lmaurer@iquest.net
Chicago,Il.
Francis W. Parker School
Illinois Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1996
We were taking a class on how to use the internet and an assignment was to
pull something from the net. We wanted something on Earth Day and you
provided it! Thanks! We made 600 bags for Cub Foods. We are a primary
center EC,K,PT and 1.
We are Dorn School, 7840 W.92nd St.,Hickory Hills, IL 60457.
Roberta Franzen
Dorn Primary Center
rfranzen@kiwi.dep.anl.gov
We wanted you to know that we decorated 400 bags as oart of Earth Eco Month.
Our students really enjoyed the project.
Arlene Ament
Computer Resource Teacher
Field Middle School
3131 Techny Road
Northbrook, Illinois 60062
(847)272-6884
amenta@field1.dist31.k12.il.us
Our school participated in the Earth Day Project. LaGrange Highlands
Elementary in LaGrange, IL. About 500 bags were decorated in grades K-5
and distributed to Dominick's Food Store. The children loved the project
and our school was featured in the newspaper. Thanks again.
Janette M. Dayton, Teacher
dayton@icebox.ncook.k12.il.us
LaGrange Highlands Dist#106
1750 Plainfield Road
LaGrange, IL 60525
I almost forgot to send you a thank you for letting us participate in the
earth day project. I Almost all of our school of 213 participated, it was
during our testing season so most of the teachers were ready for a break for
their students. Grades 3-8 participated. We are a small rural school just
west of Joliet, IL. We got the bags from our local grocery store. Most of
the bags turned out wonderful. We only had to censor one bag. This student
told the people that if they didn't recycle then they would die. Since there
are a lot of old people who shop at this store who may not have a sense of
humor we kept the bag. We all had fun.
Thank you
Kristin
Kermmie198@aol.com
Our school decorated bags for the Bradford Grocery Store.
We decorated 120 bags, with grades pre-K through 4 participating. It was
great.
Bradford CUSD #1, Bradford, IL
Peggy Burton
bradcusd@cyberdesic.com
The students of Immanuel Lutheran School in Palatine, Illinois decorated
500 grocery bags which were donated by Dominick's Grocery Store in
Palatine. On Wed., April 17th we had Grandparent's Day and the
grandparents helped the students decorate the bags. The conversations
about the environment and the exchanges on how to take care of our earth
were priceless. It was also great to have the generations working
together on a project that each valued as important.
Karen Bauder
kbauder@isbe.state.il.us
The students and staff of Reba O. Steck were glad to be a
part of Earth Day Groceries this year. In cooperation with
Omni Food Store in Aurora, our kindergarten through fifth
grade students were able to decorate 608 bags with
environmental designs and slogans. Thanks to the organizers
for putting together such a worthwhile activity.
We would love to have a copy of the final report for our
kids to see. Thanks again, Reba O. Steck School
Aurora, Illinois
Reba O. Steck Elementary
Kirk Samples
staff85@mcs.com
We decorated 415 bags for the Jewel grocery store in Glendale Hts., IL
Mary Ellen Kelly
St. Matthew School
mekelly@starnetinc.com
We had fun making the Earth Day bags for the customers at our local
Jewel-Osco Food and Drug store. Eight classes decorated 162 bags. We're
from Thomas Paine El. School in Urbana, IL, home of the University of
Illinois. (Did you know that we are only one of two schools in USA to be
named after Thomas Paine? Do you know who Thomas Paine was?)
Roderick Wwoodson Jr., Michael Cooper, Jessi Mcdade, Brandon Randle Wisdom
Pam Shallenberger
Thomas Paine Elementary
Urbana, IL
shallepa@cmi.k12.il.us
At Washington School, in Bloomington, Illinois, students decorated Schnuck's
grocery bags with environmental slogans and pictures of the Earth to remind
customers to recycle, not to pollute, and to take care of the Earth. The
purpose of this project is to involve the students and their community in
Earth Day (week) activities.
Another "bag" project for ecology was decorating bags for The
EarthKeepers store, in Normal, Illinois, a store that specializes in
ecological merchandise. The store will display some of the bags and use the
remainder for customers' purchases. The bags will be used during Earth Week
and after - until they are gone.
Recycling project by the students in Mrs. Krueger's fourth grade class:
the students collected and recycled old telephone books in order to save
trees and landfill space.
Mrs. Krueger's Fourth Grade Class
Washington Elementary School
Bloomington, Illinois 61701
LCKrueger@aol.com
Thanks again for your leadership in suggesting the Grocery Bag
project. We did not have time to make as many this year, but between
two classes here at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School, in Joliet,
Illinois, we made 60 bags. We have been studying about the environment,
and how to keep America beautiful, and the bag project was a good way to
express our ideas about that. One of our mothers works at the local
Jewel Food Store, and picked up the bags and took them back for us.
Thanks to Mrs. Kelly. :-)
Thank you.
Mrs. Coleman, 4th grade, and Mrs. Brooks, 3rd grade
rcoleman@isbe.state.il.us
Happy Earth Day!!! We managed to decorate 182 grocery bags!! The
manager called the health dept. and found that it would be no problem!
Like you said, it helps to sometimes deal with a different manager! The
one I dealt with was more than kind and helpful.
Many thanks for your encouragement and advice on this fun project!!
Sincerely,
Scott Davis and 3rd Graders
davissc@cmi.k12.il.us
The "bag count" for Washington School in Johnston City, Illinois is 575.
Our students really enjoyed the project and produced some interesting bags.
We would like to receive an e-mail report at our school, if possible. The
address is
wash@midwest.net.
Thank you for a neat idea!
Patricia Koontz, 8th grade teacher
Washington Middle School
Johnston City, Illinois
pkoontz@midwest.net
Illinois Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1995
Count us in!
Glen Oak Primary School Peoria,IL USA.
250 bags to the Kroger on Wisconsin Avenue.
The third and fourth graders enjoyed making the bags.
Thanks Janet Quintiliani
JCBQ@aol.com
We were away on Easter Vacation on Earth Day, but I wanted to tell
you what we did before vacation to prepare and participate.
One of the mothers from my room (5th grade) who is very "into" recycling
came to our room and gave a very informative talk about how to and what to
recycle in Joliet, IL. Then she brought us grocery bags to decorate for a
local store, and returned them for use on April 22. The students really
enjoyed the project. We did about 90 bags.
Thank you for suggesting we do this, because we probably wouldn't have
otherwise. Hope you do it again next year. (We will try to!)
Ruth Coleman, 5th grade at Thomas Jefferson Elementary, Joliet, IL
rcoleman@isbe.state.il.us
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ Ruth Coleman, 5th Grade Teacher +
+ Thomas Jefferson School, Joliet, IL USA +
+-All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today-+
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Immanuel Lutheran School in Palatine, IL had 390 k-8 students each decorate a
bag donated by Dominick's grocery in Palatine, Il. A local newspaper wrote a
story about the project. Older students were buddies to kindergarten students
to teach them about Earth Day and help them write slogans on their bags and
give them suggestions on how to decorate it. Thanks for coordinating a project
that brought awareness and fun together.
kbauder@isbe.state.il.us
Because I work in the environmental field, the PTA at my daughter's
school asked me for suggestions about earth day activities. I passed
along your idea and heard from a reliable source that it was a huge
success! So I'd like to report that Madison Elementary School in
Wheaton, Illinois decorated 500 grocery bags, which were returned to the
local Dominicks for distribution. About 40 bags were also hung at the
entrance to the store - it made for an impressive earth day display.
Congratulations on your great idea for a doable, high impact activity and
for using the Internet to spread the word.
Jim Butler
jpbutler@mcs.net
Mark, Our school participated--contributing 200 decorated bags to our
local IGA store. It was a great project for our kids--they loved it!
We'd love to hear about other schools' projects, as well. TIA! Ruth
D. Ruth Esry, Principal
Pleasant Acres Elementary School
Rantoul, IL 61866
217-893-4141
"The School with the Future Inside!"
d-esry@icebox.ncook.k12.il.us
Return to Earth Day Groceries Participants
Return to Earth Day Groceries Home Page
Return to Arbor Heights Elementary School