Urban Assembly Green Team

Thank you Teagle!

2010-06-14T09:29:00.001-07:00

As most of you know, the Green Team is one of the programs that is made possible with the support of the Teagle Foundation. We would like to thank them for the wonderful program and activities we have done so far and we really look forward to stuff to come!

THANK YOU TEAGLE FOUNDATION!!

For more information about the Teagle Foundation, check out their website at http://www.teaglefoundation.org/

See you this summer!

Congratulations!!!

2010-04-23T07:53:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the girls who participated in the Green House contest during the Earth Day Expo. (Sadia, Armanie, Camielle, and Maya) They were one of two winning teams that was awarded a beautiful "earth-friendly" plaque! Go to the trophy case at the UA Institute to check it out!!

Earth Day Shirts

2010-04-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, the girls and I decided to create Earth Day shirts to wear around the school. We decided to take the class outside (in the courtyard) since it was so beautiful out. We took regular white shirts and, using markers, created t-shirt masterpieces.

No Impact Man

2010-03-09T13:50:00.000-08:00

Today the girls from The Green Team watched the movie, No Impact Man. It is a documentary about how Colin Beavan and his family examine their lifestyle to see how they can alter it in a way to provide no net impact on the environment for one whole year. Though the changes may seem drastic, it showed how one family's actions can make a difference. By blogging about their experiences, it created mass media attention. Even though there was much criticism, they managed to do their part in "impacting" others to examine their lifestyles and see what they can do to have less impact on the planet.

Earth Day Expo

2010-02-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome to the new semester of the Green Team! Last week we talked about our new project, the Earth Day Green Expo! We're very excited that National Grid and NYU-Poly are supporting our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Over the next weeks we will be working on how to "Green the Home you Have" competition so stay tuned for some tips and updates on our progress!

By Tonlyna McNair

Elizabeth Adesanya

2010-01-20T13:08:00.000-08:00

Today in the green team, we are talking about fixing our school for the better and using unwanted materials to make new things and the company that embraces this process is called TERRACYCLE. We are also talking about improving the sustainability rate in our school. We are thinking of planting herbs in our school kitchen, constructing a green roof, making a recycling shoot, etc.

Great Green New Year News

2010-01-13T12:47:00.000-08:00

In this newspaper story we learned that we are not limited to one type of brick. We can also use fire clay or even better we can use GREEN walls. A green wall is a wall that allows you to grow plants and that is way better to keep a garden. A green wall is made up of metal and steal. It is designed to allow plants to be watered upside down. It lets you have clean air and a fresh garden. In new york city there is more space for gardens on walls than on roof tops. We were surprised to find out that the amount of wall space is equal to land from new york to california!

BY SLOAN HANDBERY AND JORDAN OLIVIER

Climate Quilt

2009-10-01T16:28:00.001-07:00

Our girls were part of an environmental global awareness project, the climate quilt.
Check the girls out in this video. We had 15 green team students at our event.

Green Team: service day

2009-09-03T05:46:00.000-07:00

Through Girl's Inc. the green team volunteered at a local roof top farm. Watch the video below.

Goodbye 4 now

2009-08-13T07:14:00.001-07:00

This summer we did amazing things. For the two weeks of summer that we been here we've planted sages,lettuces, broccoli, and oregano but during the process finished the courtyard but everything looks really good

FAREWELL!!!!!

2009-08-13T07:09:00.001-07:00

This summer 13 girls from the uainstitute has gathered to start a go green summer program. In this program we learned how to make and keep the environment and planet we live in green and clean. we also took our plain courtyard and turned it into a green beautiful place that our fellow students including ourselves will enjoy with the help of ms. ellen the designer of our courtyard in which we really appreciated. I would also like to to thank ms. kelly o'connor, and mr. noam pilliscn for teaching us how to become more green, and different ways of living to keep our planet safe. thankyou to ms. kelly D and ms. kiri soares for getting us interested in the go green program, last but not least i would like to thank ms. mara for supplying our materials and helping organizing all of our trips especially the habanna outpost trip that food is delicious. Well thats it for now until next time

by: surquonna soleyn

go green

2009-08-13T07:09:00.000-07:00

Goodbye for now

2009-08-13T07:01:00.001-07:00

Well maya is going away for a little while because she has school and has done very hard work and will continue working though out the year. This is her long time dedication to finish this court yard and bring it to life. She will be working on it for the next four years until she knows she has done all she can.

P.S This summer was the best except for the rain because I felt I did something great and in the end it will be beautiful.

GoodBye For Now From Quaisan P.

2009-08-13T07:00:00.002-07:00

This has been an overwhelming journey. For the past 5 weeks, we learned how to build, plant, and how to work with others. The class "Go Green" teaches us more about our environment, and taking step by step to learn the basics of going green and saving the earth. This environmental class has showed us how to plant, recycle, and other sources of

making the world a better place.

Thank You, Quaisan P.

Goodbye For Now

2009-08-13T07:00:00.001-07:00

For the starting of this program I began a week after. When I came we were painting outside in our backyard with green and yellow paint in a pattern like way. After a few weeks pass we started to paint water bottles so that we could put the plants that are growing could go in there. After we went into another room to build boxes so that the plant could fit. My favorite part of this program was when we painted out side. I say this because it was very fun and every one came together to do something that they all liked even though we got some paint on us!!!

By: Rema Bryce

Good Bye For Now

2009-08-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

This past five weeks has been an overwhelming journey full of joy, excitement, anticipation, and finally disappointing departure.

I can still remember the first day when we were all ecstatic over the thought of what was to come later on in the program. During the program we learned how to save energy, reduce reuse, recycle, how to interact with others, saving the environment and having fun at the same time. I can't wait for next time.

~Emoni Logan~

Goodbye for Now....

2009-08-13T06:59:00.000-07:00

Wow its over?! Hmm time does fly by fast.... We have accomplish so much from painting for weeks, planting our garden that is filled with oregano, lettuce, sage, and broccoli, building our benches and plant boxes. While working on the green team we have shared some good times and bad times, like visiting (to me) the most beautiful green roof in wall street. Also i have gain a lot from this process, like just one person can make a very big difference in the world....MAJOR CARTER wow she is one AWESOME black woman!! Through out this course one thing thats stuck with me is just one person can make a very big difference with a great mind and heart.

By: Kayonda Marshall

Green Team Logo

2009-08-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

The display of a go green project

People viewing the displayed projects

Tawana presenting her project to the crowd

People talking and asking questions at the green team logo presentations

A student presenting her green team logo project

Our building pictures

2009-08-12T05:40:00.000-07:00

Mr. Seal and the students shifting the flower bed to make the diagonal measurements of the flower bed accurate.

Blue tape showing the parts where the flower beds are supposed to be placed

Emoni, Quaisan and Rema painting recyclable bottles for the new plant pots.

Our finished product.

Oneesha putting together the joints of the wood

Kayonda and tamara smoothing the edges of the flower bed

Tamara smoothening the edges of the flower bed parts

Mr. Seal, Tamara, Elizabeth and Kayonda measuring the parts of the flower bed to make sure that they are correct.

Solar 1 trip and photos

2009-08-11T06:25:00.000-07:00

Sarah shows us the clams that they put in the east river

Shows us a crab that eats the oysters of nature causes because of there prey(they use these osyters to test how clean the water is and to filter the water)

Up-close version of the small crab (note that these crabs have one claw due to evolution)

Iyliyya shows another classmate at solar one how the turbines work to create eletricity

Mosi was reading a card that shows how electricity is created

Oneesha shows us her solar card as it spins when sunlights hits our miniature solar panel

Chrislene shows her almost finish solar car that has a little motor,gears and a piece of wood to hold it all together

A complete system of a power plant that we use in New York City

Mosi shows us how to compress the wheels on a metal small rod

All our materials that we need to used to create our solar cars (solar panels, four wheels, 2 gears,motor, a thin piece of wood to hold everything together)

Iyliyyla is taking out all her materials to get started on her solar car

Chrislene shows off her fabulous solar car that moves a little on this cloudy day

Maya and Oneesha show off there fabulous solar cars that move somewhat in the cloudy day

Sarah shows us how the motor is going to be attached with a glue gun

Go Green Pictures: Sweat Equity

2009-07-30T07:47:00.001-07:00

Sweat Equity is an arts design course. It is part of the UA Institute summer program. One of their projects was to create a logo for the Green Team. Today they ran a focus group on the logos they came up with.

Tawanna presenting her logos

Samarriah presenting her logos and getting feedback from Illyia.

Imoni thought that this logo would be great on a gray shirt.

Tawanna writing down everyone's comments.

Go Green Pictures: Courtyard Work

2009-07-30T07:40:00.001-07:00

Yesterday

2009-07-30T05:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the Green Team started building our flower beds. We also figured out the measurements needed for the flower bed. We cut up the wood needed and put then together although we did not nail them together. We put them like that so that we would have an idea of how the flower beds should be at the end. We did that for 20 minutes and we had to switch with the other group that was in our computer lab. Then when the last group came up stairs we did what the group did before us. We had to research different topics that we will have to present.

BY:MOSI HINDS

Building time

2009-07-30T05:34:00.000-07:00

Today we started building out our flower pots to gather our plants into. We learned how to create the flower pots by using mathematics for building the beds. We also did research on urban farming in cities, towns & villages. we learned that making this bed will help us finish our garden to be an beautiful outdoor spaces that are economy friendly. We also learned that building is hard work and our math had to be correct or else our flower beds might be inefficient. So, wish us luck!

by: Maya S & Oneesha D

Go Green Pictures: Research Project and Construction

2009-07-29T07:43:00.000-07:00

Today the girls started their research projects and building the flower beds. For the research project the girls were in teams of two. Their projects were on either green roofs or urban farming.

In the basement, the girls worked with two carpenters. They had to look over the flower bed plans and calculate how much wood was needed to cut.

Go Green Pictures: Majora Carter

2009-07-28T07:52:00.001-07:00

Majora Carter Part I

2009-07-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

Monday we learned about a lady named Majora Carter. She has a wonderful husband. She is from the south Bronx in New York. In the 1940's her parents were part of the migration from the South into the Bronx. She talked about the white flight and Robert Moses. Robert Moses made highways and destroyed communities.

One day she took a run with her dog. Her dog dragged her to what she thought was a dump. Behind the dump was a river. She then started to organize her community and changed the dump to a 3 million dollar park.

More to come....

By Rema Bryce

Habana Outpost

2009-07-28T07:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took a very exciting trip to a cafe called "The Habana Outpost". Its a cafe/restaurant. We had a tour of the cafe. They reuse a lot of there materials to help out environment. They use solar panels to power their kitchen and the inside of the cafe. The outdoor tables are made out of a material called Trex. Trex is recycled plastic and wood. Even the cups and utensils are green. They are made of corn and potato starch, which is biodegradable.

By Mosi

Ready Get Set Compost!! Go Worms!!!

2009-07-28T06:14:00.000-07:00

What is Compost? Compost is organic matter decompose into rich dark-brown crumbly soil material. To get compost we need a team of workers that consist of dead leaves, small twigs, grass clippings, vegetables, fruits, bacteria, fungi, pill bugs, worms and so much more! As of now the Go Green Team are putting the finishing touches on the painting for our wonderful court yard. Our next step will be is to create benches and flower pots and our very own composting bin!

By Kayonda

2009-07-23T06:47:00.000-07:00

Today we were finishing the courtyard. we just brought in some wood for the benches. As a group we started to paint the courtyard. We tried to finish the courtyard but we ran out of paint. But mean while we are going to the farmers market. Also the plants that we planted last week grew a lot. But the sage grew for the first time.

By: Tamara

2009-07-23T06:46:00.000-07:00

Today we went over to the courtyard and we continued working on our Pythagorean theorem & compass rose paintings. But we didn't have enough paint so we had to cover it up for the rain so it wouldn't get messed up. Later on we will be going over to the farmer's market to see the amount of the things that we planted.

Elizabeth Adesanya

GO GREEN PICTURES

2009-07-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

The sight of green makes us happy.

Our lettuce is growing!

Imoni Logan measuring before her group paints.

Go Green painting the courtyard.

Who says math is useless? Our girls using their scaling skills to convert the diagram measurements into the proper dimensions for our courtyard.

Go Green student making a cutout for the triangles on a rainy day.

Stencils And Measuring Right Triangles

2009-07-21T06:16:00.000-07:00

Today is July 21 and were creating stencils for the court yard to trace and paint. We also did a quiz about what we learned in the climate change from the Museum of Natural History. We're learning how real experts scale drawings to real life places. As we create stencils we are also measuring triangles. The type of triangles that we measure are right triangles. The base of the triangle is eight and height of the triangle is six, so the longest side of the triangle is ten, which is also known as the hypotenuse. I used Pythagorean Theorum (a² +b²=c²) so (8² +6²=10²) 8 squared is 64 and 6 squared is 36 so when you add them both together you will get 100 and the square root of 100 is 10. So thats how I got a 6 - 8 - 10 triangle.

by:Tamara & iyliyya & REMA BRYCE

blue today... green tomorrow!!!

2009-07-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

Today, we were introduced to our 2nd guess speaker named Zack from "Green Guerillas." Zack briefly discussed his job promoting gardens around the Brooklyn community.

We also discussed the many reasons people grow gardens in their community and backyards. The last thing we've talked about was how much crops cost for organic and non-organic produce, and also we started our painting process in our school garden.

-by: Tonlyna McNair & Oneesha Dixon

Check out the Green Guerilla's at:

http://www.greenguerillas.org/GG_ourpeople.php

Have a green day:)

Climate Change at Museum of Natural History

2009-07-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, we took a field trip to the Museum of Natural History to see the Climate Change Exhibit. When we first walked in the we saw a long line representing the rate of change of CO2 emission going from the 1900's to now. In the 1950's there was a big jump in the rate of change. We saw a a large screen showing us not to waste time driving cars and to plant more trees. We also learned that when the ice is melting in Greenland and Antarctica how it effects the sea level. We learned that floating ice shelves act as dams to glaciers. We learned that weather is really what we get everyday like rain and sun shine and that climate is the recorded temperature over a long period of time.

by: Mosi Hinds & Kayonda Marshall & Surquonna Soleyn

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/climatechange/

Go Green's First Field Trip

2009-07-20T06:05:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, July 16, Go Green visited the Climate Change exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. Our girls went through the exhibit answering questions, provided by the museum, about climate change and sustainability. Ms. Kelly O and I were proud of their behavior. A number of museum goers came up to us amazed at how engaged our students were. This is the first of four trips that our girls will take this summer.

Our Girls Going Green!

2009-07-20T05:58:00.000-07:00

Our girls are planting organic seeds in biodegradable pots. These plants will be put in the courtyard's flower beds when the school year begins.

The White House Lawn in Downtown Brooklyn

2009-07-16T13:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, maybe we're not quite there yet, but I think a letter to the First Lady could be a cool project. What advice does she have for our initiative? Can she help get us more sun in the courtyard?

There's been a popular movement, led by Roger Doiron of Eat the View, to promote that kind of healthy local eating. Why now? Because the local food movement -- which has always prized tasty fresh and healthy locally grown fruits and vegetables -- is being bolstered by the recession. More and more Americans are planning gardens to save money.

Michelle Obama's garden will quickly become the most high-profile garden in the country, offering an unparalleled opportunity for education about the benefits and pleasures of growing your own food.

The garden decision follows Michelle Obama's positive statements about community gardening to USDA staff in late February, when she praised Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack's People's Garden Project. Here's what she had to say about his plan to develop community gardens at USDA facilities in order to demonstrate sustainable gardening techniques:

"I was ... particularly pleased to hear that (Vilsack) is working on creating these wonderful gardens here at the USDA. ... and kicking off this effort to build these gardens all over the world in all of the facilities of the USDA, because I'm a big believer in community gardens, both because of their beauty and for their access to providing fresh fruits and vegetables to so many communities across this nation and the world."

http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/michelle-obama-gardens-47022002

blue today.... green tomorrow

2009-07-15T07:16:00.000-07:00

Today was a very active day. We had a guest speaker named Ms. Ellen she came and briefly showed us the blueprints of our new green courtyard and talk to us about energy efficient buildings. Then we did an activity that helps us to learn more about Carbon Dioxide and Fossil fuels and we also did a personal activity that we were asked the question (if you had all the money, time and support from other people in the world, what would you propose we do about the world's dependence on fossil fuels?)

BY: Tonlyna & Quaisan

blue today... green tomorrow!

2009-07-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

Today we have been able to start our new planting process, as well as quiz our knowledge of how our daily activities effect our community, and what we can do to improve. Tomorrow our plans are that we will paint the courtyard, to create a beautiful scenery for the plants to reside in, as well as to reflect healthy sunlight for our plants to grow.

We also watched a very informative film called "inconvenient truth", which was kind of bland. It was with al gore explaining the increase rate of gasoline use from the 1900's to now and about global warming.

NYT Article

2009-07-08T06:51:00.000-07:00

Street Farmer- check out this article from the new york times.

Updated Courtyard Plans

2009-07-08T06:41:00.000-07:00

These are the updated plans for our courtyard. Notice how Ellen Honigstock took our school's theme and

incorporated it into the walkway!

Summer Construction Project 2

2009-07-08T06:38:00.001-07:00

The girls will also be building benches for our outdoor classroom/theater.

Summer Construction Project

2009-07-03T09:23:00.000-07:00

For summer construction the girls will build two flower beds. They will also plant seedlings in an indoor greenhouse so that when the school year begins we can plant the vegetation in our outdoor courtyard. Below are some sketches from the flower bed blue prints.

What the finished product will look like:

Courtyard Sketch

2009-07-03T09:10:00.000-07:00

This is a sketch of what the courtyard will look like at the end of our project. One change that was recently agreed on was the removal of the grill, instead we will have more picnic benches. A long term goal is to replace the benches with a green house. Our summer goal is to construct the flower beds and paint the trail. Ellen Honigstock and Anthony Harris of Ellen Honigstock Architect PC are responsible for the design.

Thank you Teagle Foundation!

2009-06-18T06:10:00.000-07:00

We want to thank the Teagle Foundation for making this program and future STEM programs possible! On behalf of the Green Team and all UAI students, thank you!!! Keep reading our blog for updates!

Also, check out this great article from the New York Times!

Urban Farming, a Bit Closer to the Sun

We may not have a roof garden, but our courtyard will be just as exciting when we start growing their own vegetables!

Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women - Summer Courtyard Project

2009-06-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

This summer, the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women, located in downtown Brooklyn New York will embark on an exciting journey to green its courtyard while teaching its students about ecology, energy, and our environment.

We will transform the school's courtyard into a usable, educational space that provides leadership opportunities for students and engages the community in a meaningful way.

We will empower students to make personal choices based on the framework of sustainability and environmental literacy.

We will nurture a group of students, faculty, and staff who will help this project grow as a model for other schools.

If you're interested in participating or joining us on this journey, contact us-