It’s estimated that between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, Americans generate one million tons of waste a week. Holiday gift giving and decorating doesn’t have to sacrifice the environment – with some creative green thinking and action, you can have a festive holiday that is good for the planet, and maybe even your pocketbook! Here are Green Living Consulting’s tips for a Green Holiday:   Keep up the 3 R’s Through the Holidays More than 8,000 tons of wrapping paper are used for presents - the equivalent of 50,000 trees. Try these eco-practices to reduce waste: Wrap gifts with paper that is made from recycled content or recyclable. I often use the off-white paper included in shipments and decorate using colored ribbon or stamps. Comic strips from the newspaper also make great wrapping paper.Buy gifts with minimal packaging and wrap in a reusable bag.Recycle wrapping and tissue paper, bags, and boxes...

12.00 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4     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...

12.00 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4       The Lower School classrooms at Brooksfield School are alive with activity!  For the Artist of the Month, one preschool classroom is studying Claude Monet.  He was from Paris and lived more than 150 years ago.  He painted in the style called impressionism.  He loved to paint outside.  One child even commented, “He made that painting that looks like it’s wet!”  We have some astute art viewers. We checked on our organic gardens this week….why now, you might ask?  Because last week’s rye is beginning to come up!  The children are trying to understand why we are planting right before winter.  We will watch our gardens over the winter and see the effects of weather on our planted seeds. On the green scene we tried an experiment on the affects of pollution on plants.  You can try this at...

Come back for green living news and tips... Adrienne Spahr www.greenlivingconsulting.com This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Come back for organizational tips and news. Karen Gardiner www.simplifyforlife.com

Come back soon to read about healthy nutritional ideas from Anita Capizzi.

Brenda Kouyoumdjian Virginia Master Gardeners are volunteer educators who work within their communities to encourage and promote environmentally sound horticulture practices through sustainable landscape management education and training.  As an educational program of Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Master Gardeners bring the resources of Virginia’s land-grant universities, Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, to the people of the commonwealth.   As a Master Gardener, I contribute most of my hours teaching kids at Greenspring Gardens, giving docent tours, and assisting pre-schools in launching their own vegetable gardens.  I also blog about my own backyard garden successes and challenges at: http://northernvirginiagardener.blogspot.com/     

12.00 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4     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.    

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...