Maryland Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1999

Cheryl Watt
Friendship Valley Elementary School
Westminster, Maryland, USA
Bags decorated: 504
Comments: This was the first year Friendship Valley Elementary participated in the Earth Day Groceries project. The activity was coordinated by first grade teacher Cheryl Watt. K-4th grade students used their Intelligent Behaviors of problem solving, flexibility in thinking, and creativity to decorate 504 grocery bags with an environmental message about saving the Earth. Grocery bags were donated by our local Metro Food Market. FVE is thankful for the opportunity to work with and involve the local community with its educational projects. A highlight for the students was seeing their classmates on the front page of the local newspaper, "Carroll County Times". A reporter and photographer visited Ms. Watt's class as they worked on their bags. FVE looks forward to participating in future Earth Day Groceries projects.
Pat Volrath
Riverside Elementary
Joppa, MD 21085
Bags decorated: 400
Comments: This project was part of an enrichment project by a fifth grader at Riverside Elementary. His project is about how we can make people aware of the perils of the wetlands. For his project, he developed a letter that was sent to the teachers. We developed a rubric for the bags and asked the teachers to be ] part of the project. The students at Riverside did a super job. The fifth grader then developed a thank you note to send to the teachers and will create an article for the school newsletter. Our thanks to the Mars Supermarket for their donation of 400 bags.
Julie Tracy
Hollywood Elementary
Hollywood, MD
Bags decorated: 271
Bonnie Phelps
Manor View Elementary
FT. Meade, MD
Bags decorated: 602
Comments: Michele Noble and Bonnie Phelps, 3rd grade teachers at Manor View Elem., used this project as a way to involve the entire school student body of 589 children. We recieved our bags from the Ft. Meade Commissary. All of our children have parents in the military. The students were thrilled at how they could do their little part toward Earth Day 1999.
Ruth Mooney
Greenview Knolls Elementary
Great Mills, MD, USA
Bags decorated: 210
Comments: Our 2nd, 4th, & 5th grade students enjoyed decorating the bags for Earth Day. Our local grocer, who gave us the bags, displayed them throughout his store. We were disappointed that he could not reissue them to the public due to health regulations.
Mrs. Karen Lawrence
Potomac Elementary School
Potomac, Maryland USA
Bags decorated: 150
Comments: This was the first time we did this, and the students really enjoyed it. We did have the grocery store report their corporate headquarters did not want them used, because they thought markers would run....anyway they were distributed and we look forward to doing again next year.
Michele Lee
Norwood School
Bethesda, MD, USA
Bags decorated: 519
Comments: Sent to two grocery stores, decorated by students in grades kindergarten through sixth. We will be submiting pictures.
Ms. Caroline Theye
Summit Hall ES
Gaithersburg, MD USA
Bags decorated: 90
Comments: Our third graders participated in this years Earth Day Groceries. We had a fun time making these. We submitted our bags to Weis Supermarket, located in Gaithersburg, MD. Next year we hope to include more grades! Thanks for the wonderful Earth Day activity.
Deanna Antonio
Ridge Elementary School
Ridge, Maryland 20680
Bags decorated: 300
Comments: What a great idea! The amount of reading sparked by this project and the increased environmental awareness among the students and community was gratifying. We will likely participate next year.
Michele Noble
Manor View Elementary
Ft. Meade, Maryland U.S.A.
Bags decorated: 602
Comments: Everyone in our school participated from Kindergarten up to Fifth Grade. Our third graders had a great time coordinating the project. They had to edit the bags, count them, and graph the number of bags completed in each grade. They particularly enjoyed creating certificates of appreciation for each of the classes using the computer. The first grade used this project to help reinforce persuasive writing. My class received 50 letters trying to convince us that each of the first grade bags deserved to go to the grocery store. Our third grade received many thank you's from teachers who were appreciative of our willingness to coordinate the Earth Day Bag Campaign.
What a great project!! I am a science teacher at Norwood School in Bethesda, MD. Our kids (K-6) participated in this project this year with so much enthusiasm that I hope to do it for a second, third, etc. year.
I checked out the website - which was very helpful, by the way. I'm having my students sign the guest book tomorrow so that you'll have our total. In addition to this, I'm wondering if Norwood School could add some project photos. I took numerous digital images of the process. Also, I have a friend who is willing to design a few pages of pictures. Is this possible? My kids are psyched about this prospect since we did a scavenger hunt through the Earth Day Bags website. Let me know.
Thanks . . . and Happy Earth Day,
Michele Lee
Norwood School
8821 River Rd.
Bethesda, MD 20817
Yvette Mass
Beall Elementary School
Bags decorated: 400
Comments: We enjoyed decorating our Earth Day Grocery Bags. Four hundred students in kindergarten through fifth grade participated. We had a great time!
Bags decorated: 32
Our first grade did this wonderful project in art class. We had a lot of fun and we learned many things about how to save save our planet. Next year we hope to have more classes participate and to send in a picture of our work. Thank you for letting us know about this event.
Cheryl Dyer
Holy Redeemer School
College Park, MD 20740
Bags decorated: 190
Comments: This was a fun project. I'm happy to report to you that the 4th grade students of Riviera Beach Elementary School, Pasadena, Maryland, Anne Arundel County, have decorated 190 bags for the Earth Day Celebration. Teachers, Shirley Wilson and Ruth Baker, have returned the bags for distribution by Lauer's IGA in Riviera Beach. Thanks for a great opportunity to take part in this activity.
Ruth Baker
Riviera Beach Elementary School
Pasadena, Maryland,USA
Bags decorated: 200
Thank you for the wonderful idea of the grocery bags, and your other other ideas on your website.
Stella Letras
Mechanicsville Elementary
Westminster, Maryland USA
Bags decorated: 850
Comments: We received our bags from Freestate Giant in Bowie, MD. The entire school - K through 6, decorated the bags in their science classes. Great idea!
Teresa Sadeghin
Samuel Ogle Science, Math, Technology Magnet
Bowie, MD
Bags decorated: 350
Comments: Little Flower participated with three local grocery stores to further the Earth Day Groceries effort. McKays, Food Lion and Super Fresh grocery stores each donated bags for the students to decorate. The kids had a fabulous time decorating and sharing their Earth Day messages.
Angela Gizzi Funya
Little Flower School
Great Mills, Maryland USA
Bags decorated: 500
Comments: Students in grades K-4 will decorate grocery bags donated from Safeway, Ft. Washington, Maryland and Food Lion, Accokeek, Maryland. We looking forward to participating in this project.
Jeanne LaRoque
St. Mary's of Piscataway
Clinton, Maryland
I have been put in charge of Earth Week projects for my school. I read about your Earth Day Groceries project and thought it was great. I have contacted a local grocery store and our school, Featherbed Lane Primary School in Baltimore, Maryland, will be participating. We are hoping to complete 500 bags before April 22nd. Thanks for the idea!
Kathy

Maryland Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1998

Hello,
The third grade children at Boonsboro Elementary in Boonsboro, Maryland recently participated in your project. They decorated 100 grocery bags and distributed them to Boonsboro Produce. They were interviewed on our local TV station and an article was written in our local newspaper.
Third Grade Teachers
Karen Keppel
Judy Kerns
Karen Johnston
John Miller
Jeanne Ecton jmecton@umd5.umd.edu
Greetings from students at Cromwell Valley Elementary!
430 beautifully decorated bags were delivered to a nearby supermarket for use on Earth Day. Every student in our school, grades K-5, helped make the project a success by making a bag with a personal message on it.
Thanks for helping to organize this effort. We are glad to be a part of it. Regards,
Maxine Shindel (cve@clark.net)
Technology Specialist/Webmaster
Cromwell Valley Elementary
http://www.clark.net/pub/cve
Towson, Maryland
South Penn Elementary School completed 586 grocery bags. I found the project through a search engine while looking for Earth day projects. I am a junior at Frostburg State University in the Elementary Education program. I think this is an excellent program and it gets the children involved in Earth Day in their communities. As part of the curriculum, we are required to complete a "service learning project" - getting the students involved in the community at an early age. After my graduation I plan on instituting this in my own classroom.
Melanie Daymude (iseibert@erols.com)
South Penn Elementary
Cumberland, MD 21502
Greetings,
Dr. Mudd Elementary School in Waldorf, Maryland decorated 337 bags that are being used by our local Food Lion store. They were very cooperative in donating bags and are currently urging people to reuse our beautiful bags. This was a great schoolwide project! We'll be using your site to do follow-up activities such as reading and interpreting charts, reinforcing map skills, and math calculations. We look forward to participating next year!
Bonnie Helfrich bhelfrich@ccboe.com
Coordinator Earth Day Project
Our school received 800 brown bags from Klein's Supermarket. Approximately 750 were decorated with Earth Day Messages by students in grades K through 5. The bags will be returned to Klein's tomorrow (April 17) for distribution on Earth Day. Our students really enjoyed this activity!
Cindy Stone (cystone@erols.com)
Hickory Elementary
Bel Air, Maryland

Maryland Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1997

What fun this was! Our students at Havre de Grace, decorated over 500 bags. Each grade level used a different environmental theme. The students loved the prospect of being involved in a nationwide project. The teachers loved the ease of the involvement. Our bags were provided by Valu Foods here in Havre de Grace. The manager said the comments he got from his patrons were wonderful. Positive things were said about our youngest generation and their awareness of environmental issues. Thanks for letting us participate!
Terrie Fraer mfraer@erols.com
Havre de Grace Elementary
Havre de Grace, MD
What a wonderful idea! The Children truly enjoyed participating. Every student in grades Pre-K - 5th at Bakerfield Elementary School in Aberdeen Maryland decorated a grocery bag from Klein's Supermarket. Once decorated the 517 grocery bags were taken to Klein's and given to customers on Earth Day.
Brenda Y. Greene-Hinton
ebunting@umd5.umd.edu
I think I got your internet site out of a magazine - what a find - what a great project - what a way to start a national craze!! At our school about 120 seventh and eighth graders decorated 500 paper bags for Earth Day '97.
We 'borrowed' them from the local Giant store which was more than happy to donate them. I had initially thought to get another 400 from another store - but it takes longer to decorate a grocery bag than one would expect! One of my students received one of 'her own' grocery bags while shopping at the store on Earth Day! Thanks for the opportunity to participate in a fun yet worthwhile project!
JoAnne Hoeffner hoeffner@shore.intercom.net
Mardela Middle/High School
Mardela Springs, Maryland
Salem Ave. is in the process of decorating 525 County Market bags. This is our 2nd year in the project. Beacause so many teachers are busy with testing I asked for teachers to partcipate voluntarily. Well, 100% elected to "do it agian" this year. The kids love it! The super market loves it and the teachers love it. Great project...keep it going!
Alan Zube azube@umd5.umd.edu
Salem Ave. Elementary
Hagerstown, MD
Our school will join in this Earth Day celebration. We have obtained 535 paper grocery bags to decorate from Safeway. We are very excited about this first time participating in such an earth conscious project. Please include us!
Ellicott City, Maryland
Worthington Elementary School
Mindy Lovalvo lovalvo@erols.com

Maryland Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1996

We did it! My school Salem Avenue Elementary School in Hagerstown, MD decorated over 400 bags from the County Market Grocery Store. The kids really got into the spirit. Even the pre-school kids participated. Great project! Keep it going.

Alan Zube
Talented & Gifted Resource Teacher
Salem Ave. Elementary School
Hagerstown, MD
azube@umd5.umd.edu

Thought we would pass on to you that the students in grades 1 - 5 at Barnhart Elementary in Waldof MD, in conjunction with the local Food Lion, are putting the finishing touches on 500 bags for Earth Day.

Barbara S. Palko
Science Teacher
PALKOB@aol.com

Maryland Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1995

Happy Earth Day!
Bells Mill Elemntary School in Potomac, Maryland decorated 256 grocery bags for Earth Day. We participated in this project last year and were glad to see your message again this year. There is a new manager at the grocery store nearest to our school and he wasn't too keen on taking bags out of the store and then bringing them back so I had to do a LOT of talking and made him very environmentally and educationally aware before I got the bags! Thanks for doing this again.
Sincerely, Joanie Friend
jfriend@CapAccess.org

Maryland Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1994

This was a wonderful idea for Earth Day and my school did participate! I am the computer lab coordinator in an elementary school in Potomac, Maryland (a suburb of Washington, D. C.). Every student in grades 1 - 5 at Bells Mill Elementary decorated a grocery bag and we took them to the closest grocery store to the school. I only wish I could have been at the store today instead of teaching school just to see people's reactions! About 350 students decorated bags. I was amused to see that you are located in Seattle, Washington. I was born in Washington, D.C. and still think of myself as being from there even though we live just outside the city. Your idea truly traveled coast-to-coast and I can hardly wait to see your summary to see where else in the world it traveled.
Thanks for the idea.
Joanie Friend, Computer Coordinator
Bells Mill Elementary
Potomac, Maryland 20854
jfriend@cap.gwu.edu

WWW.EARTHDAYBAGS.ORG