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Sponsored By:
Green Living Consulting
Green Spur
McLean Chamber of Commerce

Come join us for a morning filled with GREEN activities centered around:
• Fitness
• Nutrition
• Greening Your Home
• Organic gardening
• Halloween activities

Fun for all ages!

Enjoy:
• Pony Rides, Face Painting, Pumpkin Painting, Live Entertainment, Halloween games and more!

Also:
• Supervisor John Foust will speak about our county's GREEN initiatives.

• Meet GREEN vendors and learn how to save on your energy costs.

• Learn from GREEN builders, architects and specialists on how to make simple GREEN changes at home and at work.

• Watch a demonstration on composting and organic gardening.

• Enjoy healthy treats that will boost your family's intake of antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and more!

• Network with McLean families and business owners to learn about what's happening in our community in terms of fitness, nutrition, and greening efforts

• Meet local farmers too!

Hope you can make it!

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Brooksfield's Upper School Anthropological Express Performance on Tibet aired on Voice of America TV.  Kunleng News aired the production on June 11th.  Click here to see the clip.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x-ztyRRvTQ

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For more information visit:  http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/partners/partners/brooksfieldschool.htm

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"Our children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way." I'll never forget these lyrics, and the more work I do in the green sector, the more powerful they become to me. Many of us are making changes as adults to have less impact on the earth and live healthier lives. But it is not always easy, especially when it requires making changes in our daily behavior when we are already used to do things a certain way. 

What if you grew up being conscious of how your daily actions impact the earth? What if recycling and unplugging your electronics every day was as much a ritual as brushing your teeth? Most of us did not grow up living green because our parents didn't know the impact our daily lives have on the quality of our air and water and how many resources are consumed to support our lives. We didn't know that using bleach and other cleaning products were harmful to our health and the environment. We weren't taught to think about the life cycle of a product - what something is made from, how it is made, how it is used, and how it is disposed. 

But things are different today. Living green is not just a trend or luxury. Living green is living smart, for people and the planet. It saves money, keeps us healthy, improves quality of life, and helps preserve resources for current and future generations. The future generations - our children - are learning about living green as early as preschool now. Educators all over the country are embracing eco-education, including Brooksfield. But we can't put all the responsibility on our teachers.

The Zero Footprint Kids website has some great ideas for eco-educating your children. Many of the footprint calculators are based on practices that your younger children may not by engaged in yet (cell phones and video games for example), but the more you know, the more you can educate your children as their own lifestyles and behaviors change.

Areas they focus on include:

• What you eat
• What you throw away
• What you use

Educating your children about green living will ensure healthier a healthier people and planet for their children, and children's children.

be well. live green. 

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The Lower School Classrooms at Brooksfield School are beginning to look festive!  One 3 to 6 year old classroom is studying Kwanzaa.  They had fun lighting the candles on the Kinara and celebrating the seven principles like unity (umoja) and faith (imani).  They even made their own Kinara to hang up in the classroom!

 In another Montessori classroom the children are studying Ansel Adams.  Ansel Adams did not create art with paint but instead with photos. He was a photographer who primarily took black and white photos of nature. One of the teachers even brought in a 35 mm camera that the children can use to take photos!  On the art shelf, there is work that allows the children to set up their own landscape and take photos just like Ansel Adams. The children can set up a winter scene or a summer scene. This work is very popular!

In the organic garden this week......the rye is coming along nicely. Its growth will improve the soil by replenishing nutrients used over the past growing season. As the winter draws near, we will turn our attention to in-class gardening and growing lessons. We will be choosing which seeds to plant in the spring, talking about starting them inside, etc.

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Organic Gardening tips from the students at the Brooksfield School:

The students at the Brooksfield School, a private Montessori School located in McLean, Virginia, worked and toiled in the campus gardens this week.  If you are gardening this fall remember garlic can be planted now!  Fall is also a great time to prepare the soil for the winter by mixing it with organic manure!   

 In the Montessori preschool classrooms our Lower School students are focusing on Author of the Month, including Ezra Jack Keats and Maurice Sendak.  Both authors have wonderful books that the children are enjoying.    

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Here you will find updates about the progress on our new GREEN SCHOOL.

     

3:28 PM

Exciting adventures are popping up at the Brooksfield School, a private Montessori School located in McLean, Virginia. As new members of the U. S. Green Building Council, we began the school year with a focus on decreasing our carbon footprint and building a green community.  This year we started a compost, and we have plans to install a rain barrel to collect rain water which will be used to water our gardens. The children have been busy planting in our sensory garden and learning about plant care. In the classroom, the children are talking about recycling and are excited to plant vegetables in a new organic garden that will be planted this Spring.

Our Upper School Outdoor Adventure program is in full swing. We began the year with a campout at Pohick Bay. Upper School children and their families pitched tents, cooked dinner, slept under the stars, and hiked.  In an effort to expand our ODA program we have formed an alliance with the Future Fisherman Foundation and will take fishing lessons in October which will also include other areas of environmental studies.

In the few weeks since school started the Upper School students traveled to the Capitol, met Congressman Wolf and toured his office. Congressman Wolf and the students discussed Tibet and its culture and Brooksfield’s commitment to studying Tibet in our Anthropological Express Drama program. The students will be studying Tibet throughout the year and will be creating a performance to celebrate its wonderful culture and traditions. 

Our art program was honored by the McLean Project for the Arts: Art Walk held at the beginning of October. The McLean Project for the Arts proudly displayed the Upper School students’ black and white photographs of Brooksfield’s campus. We were the recipients of countless words of praise for our artistic abilities. This year, our art program is also going “green”. Children are creating masterpieces with recyclable materials as well as working with elements from nature.

In less than a month we have accomplished so much!  What a wonderful year ahead of us full of adventure and exploration as we focus on honoring our earth and teaching environmental sustainability to our Brooksfield students.

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