Florida Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1999

Kristi Saunig
R.R. Moton Elementary School
Miami, Florida
Bags decorated: 700
Comments: R.R. Moton Elementary School in Miami, Florida decorated over 700 grocery bags donated by the Sone Container Corporation in Jacksonville, Florida. Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade students were awarded Earth Day Stickers for participating. Each class had a winning bag/and or slogan and were awarded a pencil, eraser, and book mark from the school book fair. The local Publix Grocery Store distributed the decorated bags on Earth Day . The Miami Herald Newspaper published an article congratulating the Earth Day Grocery Bag winners and the success of the project.
R. R. Moton Elementary pledges to "Use the Can, not the Land" in 2000!
Thank you for Mr. Bob Hinton's assistance and "The Recyclers".
Kristi Saunig
Bonnie Jeroslow
Miami, Florida
Bags decorated: 400
Comments: Our Science Specialist found the article about the grocery bags project by chance and with the help of a very interested teacher was able to launch the program quickly. The students and teachers were very excited and did a beautiful job decorating the bags. The store owners (two) were quite impressed with the outcome and have asked to participate again next year.
Gail Clawson and Bill Clausen
Oakridge Middle School
Naples, Florida
Bags decorated: 300
Comments: This was our first year in the project so we started with 5 eighth grade and 5 seventh grade classes. Our local Publix managers were very receptive and accommodating and the students just loved decorating the bags. They really became works of art with important environmental messages. When we took a group of students to Publix to deliver the bags, the managers were very impressed with the quality of the work and both sudents and Publix are enthusiastic about expanding the project next year.
Cameron Lewis
Maclay School
Tallahassee, Florida
300 Bags decorated for our first year participating
Comments: Earth Day has never been such fun! Maclay School, a private K-12 school here in Tallahassee, Florida, participated in the 1999 Earth Day Groceries Project. Most all of our incredible, creative Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders decorated grocery bags for the nationwide project. We spread the message to our families and friends in Tallahassee that Maclay School is doing what it takes to care for our environment. With the enthusiastic support of both Albertson's and Publix, we successfully communicated many messages encouraging reducing, reusing, recycling, and treating the Earth we live on with respect. Thanks for your grand idea. The expressions and feedback from the community members receiving the colorful Earth Day bags make it all worthwhile. I can't think of a better way to promote environmental awareness. We'll see you next year!
Students at Lake Mary Elementary in Lake Mary, FL had a great time decorating bags for Earth Day and discussing ways they can help protect the envirnoment. The whole school ( 750 students) participated in this project. The grocery bags were donated by four local grocery stores, Albertsons, Goodings, Publix, and Winn Dixie. The bags were delivered on Wednesday so they could be used for groceries on Earth Day. Our school enjoyed the project and we'll definetly participate again next year. The attached photos are from Lawrence's Fifth grade, Mrs. Nelson's Third grade, and Mrs. Groover's Second grade class. More photos will be on our web page in May. You can visit us at http://nt1.scps.k12.fl.us/site/lkmaryel/
. Thanks for providing the internet project,
Dr. Jarvis
Tech Specialist, Lake Mary Elementary
Mrs. Barbara McMillan
American Bankers Satellite Learning Center
Miami, FL USA
2nd Grade
Students from both of our schools are involved in a telecommunications project called: Key-Pal Power. Our students enjoyed sharing in this Earth Day Groceries activity. Together our students decorated approximately 200 bags. The bags were distributed at our local Publix. Our Earth Day activities included:
decorating Publix grocery bags
a composting demonstration
planting flowers
a recycling storyteller
eating "dirt cups" (crushed cookies layered with pudding and gummi-worms)
eating "ocean cups" (blue gelatin with gummi-fish)
View our Key-Pal Power Project Page.
Missy Geraine
Winston Park elementary
Coconut Creek, Florida, Broward
Bags decorated: 1,200
Comments: This was a great project that allowed all of our students a chance to participate. The students had a great time. Our small local newspaper ran a story on the project. Everyone had a great time. Thanks for the great idea. Your site was very helpful. Great Job!!!!!! Everyone is excited and can't wait until next year.
Bronwyn Tongue
BAKER SCHOOL
BAKER,FLORIDA,USA
Bags decorated: 625
Comments: Hi, Bronwyn Tongue here. I'm a second grade teacher at Baker School. We have pre-kindergarten through 12th grade here. We decorated 625 grocery bags - all our elememtary students decorated a bag. Our High School art students judged the bags and picked a winner from each classroom (27 winners!!) Those students got the opportunity to walk to Kelley's Food Center here in Baker (about a four block walk) to deliver the bags on Wednesday. It was a lovely sunny Florida spring day and a drink awaited us at the end of our walk. Kelley's Food Center is displaying our winning grocery bags. We surfed the internet to find answers to questions about Earth Day. Our library read Earth Day stories during the week to students. We decorated our hallway bulletin boards with Earth Day themes. The Forestry Service provided every elementary student with a longleaf pine seedling. We really enjoyed Earth Day activities at Baker School this year.
Shirley Campbell
East Marion Elementary
Silver Springs, Fl
Bags decorated: 829
Comments: This is a wonderful program. The students loved it and the parents were very supportive. Special thanks goes out to our local Winn-Dixie grocery store for all their help and cooperation. I discovered this website very close to Earth Day. The manager of the store (Mr. Webber) came to my aid and provided the needed bags quickly and cheerfully.
Laura Campbell
Poinciana Elementary School
Key West ,Fl. USA
Bags decorated: 120
Comments: Students in the third, fourth, and fifth grades decorated bags this year. They enjoyed this project very much, and next year we hope to have even more classes involved.
Marc Charpentier,Jeanne Menke,Jo-D Roth
Lauderhill P.T. Elementary
Lauderhill, Florida
Bags decorated: 850
Comments: Our school is located just west of the city of Ft. Lauderdale in Broward County, Florida. We chose this activity because it allowed us to reach out into our community and join hands with Publix Supermarket, our Partner in Excellence. Our children loved it!! We decorated 850 bags and our entire school participated. The Earth will be very happy!!
Barbara Hawkins
Carrollwood Day School
Odessa, FL
Bag Count: 176 CDS participated in a very successful “Earth Day Groceries Project” We obtained large paper grocery bags from the Publix at Van Dyke and Dale Mabry and students in all grades decorated the bags with beautiful environmental messages and pictures. The children’s artwork was truly exceptional. Finally the bags were returned to the store were they were distributed on Earth Day. A reporter from the Carrollwood News was present at the store when four of our children presented the decorated bags to the manager. He interviewed the children and took many pictures of the event. We sincerely thank the manager of our local Publix for participating with us in this project. As a result of this project, third grade students have begun an aluminum can recycling project at CDS. Funds raised from the recycling will be used to adopt an endangered or threatened animal through an environmental organization.
THANK YOU! for inspiring us.
Just wanted to let you know that Redland Elementary School located in Homestead, Florida implemented the Grocery Bag Project. Most of the entire school participated and had a great time doing so. We had approximately 740 brown paper grocery bags which were decorated with ways to help the Earth. Publix in Homestead was gracious enough to donate the bags and then reuse them on Earth Day. Thanks for the idea.
Gina Geiger - Grade 4
Victoria Angelotti
Diplomat Elementary School
Cape Coral, Florida, USA
Bags decorated: 1000+
Comments: Students in our Pre-K through 5th grade classes decorated bags donated by Albertson's. With over 1000 bags in hand, several students, staff and family members arrived at Albertson's on April 22, to help bag groceries and spread the Earth Day Message. A fabulous time was had by all!
Judith Bowen
Our 28 kindergarten students decorated 120 grocery bags to be given out at the Winn Dixie store on st, rd, 84 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. We can't wait to find out the national total! Thanks for the idea-we really enjoyed the project.
Mrs. Bowen & Mrs. Stansbury
Karla C. Euell
J.C. Mitchell Elementary
Boca Raton, Florida
Bags decorated: 420
Comments: Thank you for the wonderful idea. The children (Kindergarten - 5th) did a wonderful job decorating the bags, and were thrilled to know that the people of the community would be receiving their Earth Day messages. Thanks to our local Publix for donating the bags!
Julie Brady
Miami Shores Elementary School
Bags decorated: 1100
Comments: Our students and teachers enjoyed this project and felt that it was a good way to let our community know that we think Earth Day is very important, every day!
E. Thomas
Pinecrest Elementary
Lithia FL
Bags decorated: 680
Sandra Rudolph
Skyline Elem. School
Cape Coral, FL
Bags decorated: 400 more
Comments: Originally we registered that Skyline was decorating 500 bags.....that has now been updated to 900 bags. Thought you'd like to change your data.
Marlene Taylor
Rainbow Elementary
Winter Springs, FL
Bags decorated: 185
Comments: Publix Grocery Store supported our program and made sure we had enough bags for all our fifth grade students. Next year we hope to involve more classes in our school.
Marc Charpentier, Jeanne Menke, Jo-D Roth
Lauderhill Paul Turner Elementary,
Lauderhill, FL
Bags decorated: 850
Comments: Our school is located just west of Ft. Lauderdale in Broward County, Florida. We chose this activity because it allowed us to reach out into our community and join hands with Publix Supermarket, our Partner in Excellence. Our children loved it! We decorated our bags and the entire school participated. The Earth will be very happy.
In this message I am quoting from the newpaper article which appeared on Friday April 16th in the Fort Pierce News, in Fort Pierce, Florida, our hometown. I have also attached three JPEGs of our students making and showing their bags.
"The students in Dan Gelardo's art lab at St. Lucie ELementary School looked like they were having a great time painting grocery bags from Publix supermarket....All kindergarten through fifth grade classes at the school are taking part in an Earth Day project - painting pictures and slogans on between 500 and 550 Publix bags that will be used at the stores on Earth Day, Thursday April 22.....The idea came from a website found by kindergarten teacher Mar Lou Jennings, who thought the project would be a fun learning exercise for students. For the students, painting and learning made the project fun. Audrey Pierson drew a flower with a face and the slogan "Save Our Earth". "I used the flower because it is important to save the flowers while saving the earth." Audrey said. Jesse Reiter hopes his bag and the message it carries will stay around with its owner. "We have had a lot of fun painting and helping out the earth," Jesse said. "I hope the personwho gets my bag keeps it." Juan Moran, age 10, siad he hopes the project can help save the planet. "We want people to use the bags so they don't litter," Juan said. "If they litter, then we won't be able to live here and there aren't any other planets to live on. Also, littering will cause all the animals to become extinct."
Thanks for this wonderful opportunity. You can contact me at CaroleSLE@yahoo.com.
Carole Roberts
Danielle Grombol
Metrowest Elementary
Orlando,Florida U.S.A.
Bags decorated: 80
Comments: This is to inform you that Ms. Waterman's,Ms. Muldowney's, and Ms. Compalango's classrooms have collectively decorated bags to help the enviroment.
Susan Thompson
Cutler Ridge Elementary School
Miami,FL 33189
Bags decorated: 60
Comments: My second grade class decorated 60 bags for Earth Day. The bags were donated by Publix Supermarkets. We returned the bags to Publix, so that they would go home with their customers on Earth Day with a very important message!
Delia Zepeda
St. Stephen's Episcopal Day School
Coconut Grove, Florida - USA
Bags decorated: 224
Comments: I sent you an e-mail with an attached photo of our students, this is a back up We contacted Scotty's Grocery in Coconut grove and they donated the bags for our students to decorate. Grades PreK-6th designed 224 bags. See the photo of Mrs. Julia Cornide's 3rd Grade class and a few Junior K students holding their bags. Thanks for a great idea and we plan to participate every year.
Karen W. Gant
Carol City Elementary School
Miami, Florida
Bags decorated: 250
Comments: I had just about given up on participating (neighborhood stores had no bags to loan)...but I spoke with a parent that found a store to participate....Next year we hope to do many more! Thanks for the wonderful idea
Gloria Miller
Southside Elementary School
Bags decorated: 25
Comments: We were excited to participate in this project because we have been involved in an internet project this year on endangered species with our focus on the manatee. We were the only class at our school this year to participate in this project but next year we hope to have the whole school participate. This idea is great because of the message and the fact that it costs nothing but a little time to implement. Thanx. Mrs. Miller and the Awesome Achievers at Southside Elementary School, Sarasota, Florida
Sallie Patton
Bay Point Elementary
St. Petersburg, FL
Bags decorated: 400
Comments: Our 7 kindergarten classes and 6 first grade classes loved this project and had wonderful messages to put on their bags. We have an Albertson's around the corner so I got the bags from the manager there. I was glas to see Albertson's on your website as a partner in this project and have one close by our school. Great idea!!!
Bags decorated: 500
Comments: We are located in Southwest Florida on the Caloosahatchee River--which leads into the Gulf of Mexica. Our students in grades K-5 enjoyed creating Earth Day messages and decorations on 500 bags. Our local PUBLIX grocery store will be using the bags to pack groceries on Earth Day.
SANDRA RUDOLPH
Skyline Elementary School
Cape Coral, Florida
Bags decorated: 200
Linda Ketchum
Village Pines School
Miami, Florida
Bags decorated: 500
This is our favorite Earth Day Project! So simple, but such a great way to share our environmental messages with our community.Great idea!
Karen Johnson
Callahan Elementary
Callahan, Florida
Just wanted you to know that we have expaned our Earth Day Program from the first grade only in 1998 to school wide in 1999. We will be docorating 660 grocery bags for distribution in our community of Perrine, Florida. The Jacksonville, FL Grocery Bag council was donated the bags, shipping & handling. They are great!! I'll let you know how it turns out. We are in the decorating process now.
Kristi Saunig
R.R. Moton elementary School
Miami, FL
Bags decorated: 800
Comments: This was a great idea. The whole school got behind this project and the grocery store we worked with couldn't have been happier when they got all of our bags.
Rachel Snyder
Pleasant Hill Elementary School
Kissimmee, FL USA
Bags decorated: 200
Comments: We are a small but immensely charming private school. All of our students, PK 3-year olds through 6th grade, participated. Our grocery store partner was the Winn-Dixie Marketplace in Bartow, FL.
The students were enthusiastic and took great pride in decorating their bags! It was a fun way to share the Earth Day message!
Lynn Baker
The Oaks School
Bartow, FL USA
We are reporting to you from the Sagemont School in Weston, Florida. Our school consists of children in preschool through the eighth grade. There are 276 children in our school. All of our children decorated Earth Day bags and we returned them to the local grocery store. The supermarket was going to display some of the bags and distribute the rest of them to the customers. We are very excited to have had the chance to participate in this exciting event!
Teresa Salafrio
Bags decorated: 500
Comments: I think this is a great activity to promote environmental awareness within the school and community. I sent a memo to all teachers inviting them to participate in this activity. The response was very positive, and most of the teachers are participating!
I have designated a drop-off area for the bags in school, and I will deliver them to our local grocery store, Publix, on Wednesday, April 21. The store managers think that this is a wonderful idea and are excited to see all of the decorated bags.
Sarah F. Gandarias, 2nd Gr. Teacher
Ocean Palms Elementary
Ponte Vedra Bch., FL , U.S.A.
Our school decorated 75 bags for the program. Fifteen of our students took the bags to the store and bagged groceries for the customers.
Chris Lynch
I would like to update our count on the project. We opened a booth at our school carnival and extended our invitation to other classes, and to our surprise we were able to contribute 275 bags this year. Some of the students in my class participated in a school to work field trip and bagged groceries in the bags for a local Winn Dixie. We heard many positive comments from the customers. Floral Avenue Elementary
Bartow, FL
Winn Dixie Marketplace
Lake Wales, FL
Bags decorated: 1,000
Comments: We are working with the particpation of Publix Groceries located in our community for this Earth Day Project. Both Westchase Elementary and Publix are brand new to this area and we feel this is a great way for us to make a positive connection to our community.
Jacquie Singleton
Westchase Elementary
Tampa. FL USA
Bags decorated: 500
You had a great idea with this earth day thing. People at our local grocery store love them. Thanks for great ideas.
Allison
School/Organization: JCDS
Jacksonville, Fl, USA

Florida Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1998

We participated last year in the Earth Day Grocery Bag Project. Approximately 300 bags went to area gracery stores. The Students had a wonderful time and felt that they were making a difference.
Vanessa Johnson vvandyne@yahoo.com
Cushman School
Florida
Our kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade classes have decorated grocery bags for the past 3 years. We have gotten such positive feedback that we hope to make it a school-wide project this year! 250 bags were donated each year by our local stores and they displayed several in their store as well.
Mary Mertins Redapplek@yahoo.com
Kindergarten
Pea Ridge Elementary
Pace, FL
Based on information received from the Paper Bag Council of the American Forest and Paper Association:
11,000 bags!
-- Community-wide event (25 schools, 23 grocery stores)
-- Jacksonville, FL
Based on information received from the Paper Bag Council of the American Forest and Paper Association:
120 bags
-- R.R. Moton Elementary School
-- Miami, FL
Based on information received from the Paper Bag Council of the American Forest and Paper Association:
--Central Florida Zoological Park (Seminole county)
-- Lake Monroe, FL
OUR STUDENTS LOVED DECORATING THE BAGS. THERE WERE 625 STUDENTS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE PROJECT . OUR LOCAL WINN DIXIE STORE LOANED US THE BAGS AND THEY ARE DISTRIBUTING THIS WEEKEND. THANK YOU!
LINDA M. GOLIGHTLY (GOLINDAGO@AOL.COM)
HAMMOCK POINTE ELEMENTARY
BOCA RATON, FLORIDA
Students (grades K-8) from St. Luke's Lutheran School in Oviedo, Florida decorated 500 bags for our local Publix supermarket on Winter Springs Blvd. in Oviedo. We are proud to be a part of this program and hope that our efforts have made others in our community more aware of environmental concerns. We also hope we brought smiles to many faces!!
Kim Tenney, Third Grade Teacher (tenneyc@srynet.com)
St.Luke's Lutheran School
Oviedo, Florida
The fifth graders at Starlight Cove decorated 150 bags which were returned to Publix supermarket and distributed on Earth Day.
Kerrie Kaler (ckaler@gate.net)
Starlight Cove Elementary
Palm Beach County, Florida
Cutler Ridge Elem. 20210 Coral Sea Road in Miami,Fl. has decorated 400 bags for Earth Day.
Grades that participated were Pre-K -3rd. Mrs. LInda Aldridge and Mrs. Susan Thompson were in charge of this project. The bags were donated from Publix Supermarket on Old Cutler Road. Everyone involved was very enthusiastic!
Sue Thompson sthompson@cre.dade.k12.fl.us
Our school has decorated 450 grocery bags and have given them to Winn Dixie to distribute to their patrons. Our ESOL class decorated posters to hang in the windows to let the community know who decorated the bags. This is our first year as we are a brand new school. We had a great turnout!
P. Gunter (gunterp@elc.ocps.k12.fl.us)
Southwood Elementary
Orlando, Florida
This is the second year our school has taken part in the Earth Day grocery bag project. We are a rural PreK through 8th grade school located on the Florida-Georgia border.
Again this year our Junior Beta chapter coordinated this as their Earth Day project. We did 439 bags this year. The bags were supplied to us by a local Winn Dixie store just over the state line in Georgia.
Betty Sue Zant (ZANT_B@popmail.firn.edu)
North Hamilton Elementary School
http://www.asd.com
Jennings, Florida
We decorated 420 bags for Winn Dixie located in Delray Beach, Florida. K, 4th and 5th grades and The Nature Club participated. We had local Media attend the actual decoration of the bags in my class. (K) Thank you for making this worthwhile project available to us, we really enjoyed participating in the project and will continue to do so in the future,
With thoughts of reduce, reuse, recycly every day,
Sandy Doherty (mdoherty@emi.net)
Banyan Creek Elementary
Delray Beach, Fl.
Hi! This is our 2nd year with the Earthday Project! We hope to get out at least 400 bags this year! We ran into a problem of finding "just" brown bags this year! I guess next year we'll have to start looking earlier! Good Luck!
Jackie Wimberly (booklvr818@aol.com)
WA Chapman Elem
Miami, FL
Our Pre-K through second grade school decorated 600 bags for a local grocery store to use to encourage our community to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Linda Petteway (Pettyl@aol.com)
W.W. Irby Elementary
Florida

Florida Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1997

In Pensacola, Bell South's volunteer group, Bell South Pioneers, delivered 400 grocery bags to schools & back to stores. SS Dixon Elementary, Pace Florida is the only school they have reported to us by name, but two other schools were involved. We'll track down the info & send it along. It's a great project!
Amy Belanger GCEDFL@aol.com
Earth Day Pensacola
We decorated 500 grocery bags for Earth Day. We wrote things like "Have a great Earth Day" and "Don't pollute the earth". We drew pictures of the earth and recycle bins with trash in them. We sent the bags to Winn Dixie. We spent about three days making them.
Lori Kelly and Megan Dodd, 2nd grade
lktice@peganet.com
Alva Elementary School
Alva, Florida
Our class is was very excited to have been involved in such a world wide project. Our second grade class worked with two other classes, Mrs. Pina's and Mrs. Fajet's first grade classes. We had the students decorate their bags and returned them to the local Publix supermarket. This activity was implemented after the students had written an environmental gazette on the different problems and concerns about our environment. The students were thrilled to put into action all they had learned while researching for their gazette. We had a total of 100 grocery bags decorated but look forward to planning ahead and making this a school-wide activity next year. Thank you for providing such a simple, yet very meaningful project for the students. It truly did show them that they can get the word out and make a difference in their community.
Cristina de Cardenas decarc@wmlehman.dade.k12.fl.us
William Lehman Elementary
Miami, Florida
http://wmlehman.dade.k12.fl.us
Kinloch Park Elementary School truly enjoyed participating in the Earth Day project. 921 bags were decorated and returned to the supermarket who supplied the bags. Not only were the students and teachers excited about the project, but the store manager was thrilled. Since Publix Supermarkets is one of our partners in education and donates often to our school, this was a nice way of shoeing our appreciation. We are looking forward to our participation next year. Thank you for a wonderful idea that blends education with community involvement!
Dr. Kim Rubin sunaid@aol.com
Kinloch Park Elementary
Dade County Public Schools
WE HAD A GREAT TIME. WE ARE A PREK THROUGH 8TH GRADE SCHOOL IN EXTREME NORTH FLORIDA. A WINN DIXIE STORE JUST OVER THE STATE LINE IN GEORGIA DONATED THE . THE BAGS TO US. OUR JUNIOR BETA CLUB COORDINATED THE PROJECT. OUR STUDENTS DECORATED 371 BAGS, AND RETURNED THEM TO THE STORE.THE STORE THEN SACKED GROCERIES IN THEM. WE HAVE SOME PICTURES WE WOULD LIKE TO SEND TO YOU.
BETTY SUE ZANT ZANT_B@POPMAIL.FIRN.EDU
NORTH HAMILTON ELEMEMTARY SCHOOL
JENNINGS, FLORIDA
Park Maitland School, in Maitland, Florida, has decorated 450 bags for Goodings Supermarket. All grade levels participated, and students decorated their bags during science class with Earth Day conservation tips and drawings.
In addition, all students and staff will be celebrating this special day by wearing Earth Day t-shirts, and by attending songs, skits, and presentations by each grade level of their special Earth Day projects.
After Earth Day, our computer students will visit the Earth Day Groceries website, and graph the number of bags from each state using spreadsheets!
Thanks for such a wonderful project! Our kids loved it!
Please visit our web site at http://www.parkmaitland.org
Email us at: PMS@socrates.parkmaitland.org
--Laura Cohn, Technology Coordinator
Just to let you know that the students at Plantation Park Elementary School in Plantation, FL (just outside of Ft. Lauderdale) made and delivered 694 bags to our local Publix Grocery store. We had 6 students help bring them to the store and the manager, Mr. Rhodes, was very excited. He put up a banner about our concern for Earth Day &conservation (3 Rs) etc. People really seemed to get a kick out of seeing the artwork that the students had done. We have kindergarten to fifth grade and each student at school made a bag with the help of our art teacher, Mrs. Martineau.
Thanks for the info on this project and we look forward to doing it again next year!
Please let us know the results of this year's effort.
Laurie Halpern halpernl@ix.netcom.com
Miami Gardens Elementary, of Dade County, Florida(Miami, Florida) decorated 400 bags in recognition of Earth Day. These bags were provided by Publix Supermarket, our Dade Business Partner. Everyone involved in the project enjoyed reminding ourselves and shoppers of the importance of preserving the Earth.
The effort was coordinated by teacher John Hunt.
Miami Gardens Elementary miagrdns@icanect.net
M.K. Rawlings Elementary in Gainesville, Florida participated in this wonderful project!!!Approximately 150 children participated schoolwide and are involved in many other Earth week activities, such as adopting a manatee, designing posters and getting involved with recycling activities. We even have an environmental wishing well with children dropping their environmental wishes into the well..."My environmental wish is...................." Every child who participates in the grocery project ( and makes an environmental wish ) receives a certificate, whch states our environmental pledge( I pledge to take care of our planet Earth). The excitement and awareness level is very high...Thanks for the wonderful idea!!! Our local Publix supermarket (Main Street location) donated bags to our school. Manager Don McIntyre said that although they could not reuse the bags for packing store bought goods, he would be willing to display them on the storefront windows!!Hats off to him! We have also invited him to speak at our Earth Day program on the 30th of April (scheduling conflicts!) at which time we will present him with a plaque!! We also hope to get the Gainesville Sun (newspaper) involved and give him some recognition!!!! If you need some more info, just let me know!!!!Thanks again!!Happy Earth Day!!!
Ms. Ronnie Brunny brunnyr@mail.firn.edu,
Earth Day Coordinator and Recycling Captain!!
Hello! We have just finished decorating 625 bags! They look beautiful. The teachers and students really enjoyed the project. I hope the customers at the local supermarket will enjoy them as much as we did!
Jackie Wimberly Booklvr818@aol.com
W.A. Chapman Elementary
Miami
I saw your idea on the internet and thought is was wonderful! Our K-5 grade elementary school, Plew Elementary, in Niceville, FL decorated 600 grocery bags for Delchamps. The children had a wonderful time and it was a great way increase their awareness of Earth Day. Thanks for sharing your ideas via the internet! Looking foward to tracking the progress of the other schools who are participating.
Judy Corbin, 4th grade teacher
c23k17@gnt.net
Hi!
Everyone in our school is so excited about the Earth Day Groceries activity! We have decorated 493 to deliver to Kelley's IGA. The store was more than willing to give us the bags, and hand them out on Earth Day. Our local papers are also covering the story. We are a PreK-5th grade school in Niceville, Florida (near Panama City Beach, Florida.) Thanks again for the wonderful idea. Please send me, via email, the results of the project and the other schools participating.
Christy Corbin, c23k17@gnt.net
4th grade teacher
I am a student in the seventh grade in southern Florida and a member of Kids FACE. I thought your Earth Day project was a great idea! I suggested the idea in my school and recieved a great response. Many teachers were very enthusiastic and willing to get involved. Our local grocery store, Publix, will donate 500 bags. We will begin decorating them this week. Besides coloring the bags I will also teach lessons about recycling and littering to the "special"(retarded and handicapped) children. A news channel and possibly a newspaper will cover this! I will mail you further to give you the project's progress.
We finished about 600 bags. Unfortunately we had no television or newspaper coverage, but we still had fun! Happy Earth Day!
Thanks again for a great idea!
Pammy O'Leary PATRICK_OLEARY@prodigy.net
Save the Earth and send the message in your locality. Have your classes join in the fun to protect our environment. In the city of Opa Locka 150 students from North Dade Middle School will be celebrating Earth day by decorating a grocery bag. Show your Neighborhood how to reduce, reuse and recycle. Come and join us. Save Mother Earth, Now!
Julie Orsini Shakher omnamashiv@aol.com
North Dade Middle School
Opa Locka, Florida

Florida Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1996

Students in third grade at Miami Country Day School decorated 100 bags.
Participating Classrooms
Mrs. Barbara Brown
Mrs. Barbara Gechtman
Mrs. Shirley Harris
Mrs. Karen McMillan

MS K S MCMILLAN
FLXE28A@prodigy.com

Our entire school participated in the Earth Day Grocery Bag project this year. It was led by our Student Council and, we decorated over 700 bags. Everyone had a fun time! Thanks for the great idea and to Goodings Supermarket for lending the bags!

Hallie Salg
First Grade Teacher/Student Council Coordinator
Orlando, Florida
Washington Shores Elementary
babbler7@gdi.net

We at Bunnell Elementary School in Flagler County, FL decorated a total of 900 bags. It was a great project and we really want to participate again! Want to thank the only grocery store in our town that still uses paper bags--Harris Grocery.

Jane Harris
HARRISJ1@mail.firn.edu

I got your idea off the internet and used it in my final internship of teaching. The whole first grade team loved it. Thanks for making my experience a bit brighter!
Report:
approx. 100 bags
Perkins Magnet Elementary, St. Petersburg, Fl.
(Winn Dixie bags)

Thanks,
Monica Hensley
HeyMon22@aol.com

My name is Lisa Weaver and I teach a 5th grade SLD class at Callahan Intermediate School in Callahan, Florida. We decorated 200 bags from our local grocery store. The kids had a great time. We live close to the east coast of Florida and they included beach scenes on their bags in addition to the pulp and paper scenes from our area. This was a great idea!

Thanks!
Lisa Weaver
lweaver@junix.ju.edu

Florida Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1995

Our school, Cypress Elementary, Miami, Florida, decorated 500 bags. They were distributed to a Public grocery store. We had great fun decorating the bags. We hope to do this again next year.

Heather and Adriel, 5th grade students
MCNAMAJ@mail.firn.edu

Florida Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1994

Our school, Wendell Watson Elementary in Lakeland, Florida, also participated in the "Earth Day" project. Our second and third grade classes sent a total of 250 decorated grocery bags to our local grocery store, Publix. We enjoyed this project and wanted to thank you for the wonderful idea!
Sincerely,
Rhonda Zuehlke
Tawn Walls, etc!!!
From: "Tawn P. Walls 813/853-6060"
I do not know if the total from my school was sent in or not. I am the tech coordinator at Lakeview Middle School in Winter Garden, FL. I passed along the kidsphere activity you designed to the science teachers at my school. They had EVERY student (that's 800) design a bag for our local Publix supermarket. The kids loved it and the store manager thought it was wonderful!
Thanks.
Kelly V. Pounds Technology Coordinator
Lakeview Middle School
Winter Garden, FL 34787
Internet: poundsk@mail.firn.edu
Applelink: poundsk@mail.firn.edu@internet#

WWW.EARTHDAYBAGS.ORG