Länsimetsän koulu, Vaasa

Marita's (superactive teacher in our energy team) notes in November

2011-11-27T06:33:00.000-08:00

In the 6th grade we had an enviromental theme in physics lessons on November. We measured about acidity and alkalinity. Then we learned about recyckling and waste. We had books which were some years old and we realized that some of the advices about recycling were old. So, recycling has been improving during some years. The best advices we found from the website: www.stormossen.fi We also discussed no to buy all that you want. We reminded pupils first to think that "Do I really need a new?" item as well as "What to do with all the things that are home without use?" Sometimes something that is left-over can be somebodys treasure. For example when one teacher drops her telephone to toalet bin, other teacher can recycle her old but quite good telephone to her colleague. ; )

We repaired some clothes during textile lessons in the beginning of this autumn with 6th grade pupils. First girls found it quite difficult to find something which needed to be prepared. Now suddendly some pupils still take some clothes to fix during lessons. As a textile teacher I´m very happy about the change of the attitude. Last week one girl took her winter jacket and sewed the pocket and one button and was so pleased. It was her favourite jacket and with just little work it is again ready to use.

The windows in our school has now new weatherstrips and we have already noticed that it is warmer inside though it has been colder outside. Let´s hope we can save from the energy that needs to be used to heat our school.

We were making cards to fathers and I was copying for my pupil. Other teacher was laminating some instructions and cut some plastic parts off the paper and put it to the wrong waste basket. I didn´t need to say anything; my pupil was quite demanding towards the other teacher to sort papers and plastic right.

25.11. we have a special day in Finland. The name for this day is "don´t buy anything". We will remind our pupils and their parents to take part in this!
http://www.alaosta.fi/

Our energy team has been working so active that we wanted to give them a surprise. We are going on a field trip to Pori. There is a special swimming hall that works with solar energy. So we will have fun and learning at the same time. We will hear how the hall works with the solar energy and then we will go swimming. More information about this you can find: http://yle.fi/alueet/satakunta/2011/09/porin_uusi_uimahalli_2890016.html

Energy saving week at Länsimetsä School (week 41)

2011-10-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

We decided to take focus every day to one issue during this week.
On Monday teachers gave information letters to pupils about this week. There were 4 coupons to fill in during this week. By doing little tasks, pupils get to take part in four lotteries. The prizes in these lotteries are related to saving energy. On
Monday we had an exciting thing, too; a demonstration against using always cars to go to work. Energy team members made banderolls like "Use carpool!" "Bicycle is invented!" "Biking is wise!" etc.. On Monday morning (yet raining) we went with those banderolls next to roadway and stood there for half an hour. We were noticed in local newspaper; someone sent thanks to us:-)

On Tuesday we think with parents what is the most unnecessary electrical equipment; in Finnish “Turhuke”. Let´s see what kind of answers we´ll get!
These equipment got many votes: coffeemaker,tv, playstation, volumaster,..
The winner of lottery on Tuesday was Jenni and she got bicycle lamp with solar cell.

On Wednesday we focused on switching off unnecessary lights and electrical devices. If you would be active and switch off something at home or at school, you can return your coupon to lottery.
The winner of lottery on Wednesday was Jenny and she got torch with crank (batterys not needed).

Recycling was the theme on Thursday. We have a pillow in our canteen and pupils have to guess what is the recycled material that has been used in making the filling for that pillow.
Pupils thought that the filling was made of cotton wool but the right answer is recycled plastic bottles!
The happy owner of this pillow is now Hanna Ågren.

Then we had Friday left. We want to encourage our pupils to use feet and bicycles when they come to school and go back home. If a pupil have been doing that for all four days this week, they are allowed to return this last coupon.
We got 63 coupons, so we made a good job.
The winner of lottery on Friday was Nico. He also got bicycle lamp with solar cell.

Mother-Teresa patches

2011-10-09T12:03:00.000-07:00

In handicraft lessons every girl from the 6th grade knitted her own patch. Patches were made from secondhand woollen yarn. You don't have to buy new yarn every time. We put our patches together and we get a blanket! Our blanket will be sent to India.

Customizing

2011-10-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

Why is it useful to re-use clothes?
- You don't have to buy new clothes and you can save money. You also get distinctive clothes.
Some tips what to customize:
- too short jeans; you can make shorts
- ragged clothes; you can repair them
- loose buttons; you can sew or re-use them
- fleamarket clothes; you get showy clothes
(Milla, Emilia and Julia)

Week 36, every day something about energy (and saving it)

2011-09-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning the boss of our energy team started to read notes from "a diary":
"Dear diary!
I have not written anything for a long time. In June my dad told me that we are going to move to Vaasa. The name of my new school was Länsimetsä school. On the first schoolday I was a little bit afraid but everything went ok because my new classmates were very friendly.
On the first schoolweek I noticed that there was some text on every light-switch. First I thought that teachers don't care if pupils write with permanent marker on the walls but then I was told that this school wants to save energy. The text "front part" makes it easier to switch on/off the right lamps in classrooms. I noticed also that some pupils took care of switching the lights off every time we left the classroom. I told about this at home and my father said: It makes sense!!
Bye, I promise to write soon again!

On Tuesday morning pupils from 3 to 6 grades gathered together. We had a visitor from Motiva (energy experts firm :-) in Finland). Irmeli Mikkonen asked pupils about saving energy and about actions we have done at school/home. She also suggested what we could do. And then she told for example how long can you vacuum-clean with 1kWh.

After this teachers from energy team had a meeting with Irmeli Mikkonen and Merja Pakkanen (50/50 coordinator in Finland). Teachers got new ideas how to save energy and how to motivate the whole school in this project.

On Wednesday we heard new stories again(the diary):"We have had track and field lessons. I was quite good in throwing the javel. After the lesson we took shower. I was wondering how other pupils were so quick - I was used to take a looong shower in my old school. Afterwards I noticed notes on the walls which told not to stay too long in a shower. I was so ashamed!!"

On Thursday and Friday we had a competition between classes; we counted how many pupils in each class rode by bike or walked to school (not using car or bus). The winner (or winners) will get something..:-)

Long term measurements in May

2011-09-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

We measured temperatures for one week in May. There was not very warm weather but the sun was already shining and maybe it warmed classrooms a little bit.
Comparing results with those taken in October there were no improvements.
In October 2010:
24 out of 37 classes/rooms got "green result" = (temperature between 20 and 22C)
1 out of 37 classes was too cold "blue result" = (temperature below 20C)
12 out of 37 classes got "red result" =(temperature over 22C, in gym and canteen over20C)

In May 2011:
16/37 got green result
1/37 got blue result
20/37 got red result (too hot comparing with base value)

On spring the windows were fixed so that warmth doesn't run off anymore.
We were not satisfied with the results that showed that gym is still too hot as well as the distant parts of school building. Also the second floor is too hot all the time..

Länsimetsä club on Tuesday afternoons

2011-09-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

We used old comic books to make stands for pens and pencils in our school club. Emmi wanted to be a chinese girl during our club.

Good results - we have saved energy!

2011-09-11T10:45:00.000-07:00

We saved this year:
Heating -3,2% = -724,42e
Electricity -2,4% = -384,63e

We didn't manage to save water. We used 1,0% more water compared to mean value
= +24,9e
Altogether we saved 1084,08 euros and the amount for school is 50% = 542 euros.

So, we reached our goal which was -2,5%.

What happened just before summer holiday..:-)

2011-09-11T10:18:00.001-07:00

We usually make a field trip before summer with class. This year we didn´t choose to go to any amusement park. We wanted to make a trip with the idea of 50/50 and saving energy. First we visited a farmer in Ilmajoki who has build a windmill to his own garden. We heard than he bought it from Denmark. He had to ask permission from every neighbour and then he built it. It has cost a lot of money and it takes about 15 years to get profit out of it. It was fun to see it and I suppose the funniest thing in that visit was the echo inside the wind mill. : )
Then we continued to the teacher summercottage and did a lot of activities in the nature! Pure adventure to children who live in town. We fished, rowed canoue and boat, swam and went to sauna, barbequed, played all kind of field games... We had a memorable day!

Other actions to save energy

2011-05-30T11:18:00.000-07:00

On May we have done some actions in school to save energy:
- we collect coloured pencils and use them next year (so we have to buy new ones not until after three years)
- we don't throw notebooks away if there are pages left (we continue with the same notebook next year or we rip "clean" pages off and use them in different ways)
- in common-room we have old sofas (we don't buy new ones, we only change textiles)
- we order notebooks which are made by recycled fibre paper
- energy team classes have ordered shared coloured pencils

Feedback from teachers about 50/50 -project

2011-05-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

We discussed about our school year with our teachers and we asked also about our 50/50- project. Some teachers were very pleased about it. They wrote that pupils and also adults in our school have changed their own acts to more egological way. Some teachers were irritated and annouyed about saving energy. They complained that there have been too little lights and electrical devices have been shut too often and too cold temperatures in classrooms. So, it seems to be easier to affect to pupils than to adults. Anyway most of us wanted to continue our 50/50 -project in autumn.

Clean up -campaign in Finland

2011-05-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

On Friday, the 6th of May, we took part in national Clean up -campaign (which is a part of an international Let's do it -movement). The aim of this campaign is a clean country, where lives happy nation:-)
From 9 to 10 in the morning whole school picked up carbage around the school yard. It was direct action!
Pupils were hardworking and we got good results; the school yard and surroundings got very clean.

Walking event

2011-05-08T09:37:00.000-07:00

We took part in a walking event on 28th of April. About 100 hundred pupils walked about 5km route in Gerby. We drank some juice in the middle of that walk. We had many adults from The Walking club in Vaasa. We wanted to emphasis how healthy, easy and ecoligical is it to walk!

Chat

2011-04-17T11:38:00.000-07:00

Marita took part in an international chat about, how to teach environmental and energy issues. It was organized by U4energy. It was on the 13th of April. There were teachers from many countries; Latvia, Romania, Greece, Finland, Spain, Malta, Poland… We discussed about good practices to teach about energy and nature, where to find material, how to get parents to join the acts… The chat took about one hour and it was interesting and a new experience.

Temperatures of refrigerators

2011-04-10T11:20:00.000-07:00

Emilia Tiensuu wrote:
On the 28th of March we measured temperatures of refrigerators. We chose two pupils from energy team to measure fridges with class of water and thermometer:
First: we took glass of water
Second: we put thermometer in the glass of water and put it into the fridge
Third: after two hours we took glass of water away from the fridge.
The result: Arithmetic mean of temperatures was about 6-7C.
We found out that temperatures were ok and we don't spend too much energy.

61 % were physically active

2011-04-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Next day (the 5th of April) energy team members went to every class and asked how many pupils had walked or cycled to school. 154 pupils out of 250 had spent their own energy. This means that 61% came to school walking or cycling, not by car.

Activity Adventure: A campaign to increase and encourage kids to physical exercises

2011-04-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

Eetu Puronvarsi wrote:
Almost all classes in Länsimetsä school has taken part in Activity Adventure (from the 4th of April to the 21st of April). Pupils get checks when they are active. The aim is to exercise two hours a day. Pupils check the box every time when they have exercised 10 minutes. Today we started this campaing by telling why it is so important to spend your own energy, not gasoline. Members of energy team read some slogans to all pupils. The aim is to get pupils walk or cycle to school, not using car. These were the slogans:
"The nature says thank you!"
"It doesn't spend gasoline!"
"You will be in better shape!"
"You can walk or cycle together with your classmates!"
"You get many checks!" (one check means 10 minutes exercise)
"You get fresh air!"
"Your parents are satisfied!"
"It saves money!"
"Energy-agents will be happy!"
"You will be more active!"
Tomorrow (on Wednesday) energy agents will go round every class and ask how many pupils came to school either by bike or by foot.

Earth hour at home

2011-04-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

It was Saturday evening when Earth hour took place. Two pupils from energy team tell us what was it like at home without electricity.

Tanja wrote:
"On Saturday, the 26th of March at 8.30 pm we switched lights off at home for one hour (including also tv). I lighted candles in hall and on tables. First it was wierd but I think it would be possible for me to have one day without electricity every week. Although it was quite easy to have one hour without lights because it was evening and time for bed. I tried to read but it didn't work with candles. In other ways evening was ok and it was fine without electricity."

Silja wrote:
"At home we switched the lights off and burned many candles. I wasn't whole evening at home but went to my friend's home where we switched off the lights, too. Instead of one hour we were a couple of hours without electricity."

Earth Hour 2011 at Länsimetsä school

2011-03-28T23:24:00.001-07:00

Halfway information

2011-03-27T11:36:00.000-07:00

We have now got intermission information about our energy saving campaign. Here follows the information of water, heating and electricity consumption. We have done a good job and these fine results certainly inspire us to take more active actions - both students and adults!

HEATING
So far we have decreased heating consumption 3,2%. It means 600 euros. With this money you can heat detached house for one year. Excellent job!
You still have to remember:
- air quickly
- don't twist thermostats in barracks
- shut front doors and communicating doors
Window seals are now fixed and we remind evening users not to keep front door open.

ELECTRICITY
So far we have decreased electricity consumption 2,4%. This means 450 euros. With this money you can pay electricity usage of one detached house. Very good job!
You still have to remember:
- turn off unnecessary lights and apparatus
- don't leave "rest electricity" on
- pay special attention to lights in copier room, switch them off!
It easy to save elctricity if only you are active. Don't blame others, act yourself!

WATER
We have not get any savings in water consumption - instead we have consumed 1% more water than earlier.. This is irritating, naturally.
You have to:
- take quick showers
- wash the hands in the way you save water
In future cleaners and kitchen personnel have to pay more attention on water consumption, too.
Our goal is to get savings also in this area!

Recycling weekend

2011-03-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

On 25.-27.3. we had a special 50/50 - weekend at our school. Our parents comittee organized a fleamarket at school. Everybody was able to come and sell all kind of things that are useless for them but maybe a treasure for someone else. As you can see in the picture, there were many people and over 20 families were there for selling. This is real recycling things. In many families, actually children were there to sell and buy. We also carried all the "lost and found" clothes to the fleamarket and everybody could check if there were familial clothes or even just some clothes that you would like to use. In the end of the fleamarket some parents wanted to donate some skates and children books to our school.

We also got big containers for electric waste and metal junk in our school yard. Everybody could throw metal and electric waste in to the container for free. We made co-operation with Iki-Metalli company. The containers were there the whole weekend and we are actually getting some money from the metal junk. As you can see in the picture, a lot of broken bicycles and old computer monitors are now in right place.

The last but not the least action for the same weekend is to take part in Earth hour -campaign to help nature by swiching the lights off in the evening for one hour. You can see a video about that action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMwArLkF0oU

Heidi, active member of our energy team, wrote:
"In our school there was recycling happening whole weekend. On Friday we got two big containers in school yard. You could bring there metal and electric waste. We get money out of this junk; for example 5e/kilogram for copper. We took junk from home with my father and brought it to both containers. We carried there two old televisions, four computers, toaster, pans, lantern and metal garden chairs. Just after that we went to P.E. hall. There was a fleamarket event. There were about 25-30 sellers and they were selling for example clothes, books, cups, toys and some bikes. In the evening I went to icehockey match, but my mother and my brother took part in Earth hour -campaign. So we saved energy the whole weekend!"

Let's play eko or ego

2011-03-25T14:01:00.000-07:00

We got great board games to our school. The name of those games are eko or ego. The idea is to start to think how different activities effect to you and to nature. You can choose from four different alternavites; good for you and nature, good for you but bad for nature, bad for you and good for nature and the last is bad for both you and for nature. The activities are for example switch the lights off, use train to travel to Lapland, dry your clothes in a dryer... We had a lot of dicussions during that game. It really made pupils to think! There are actually no right or wrong answers. Those board games were free and anybody can order them via Internet: http://subjectaid.fi/

Our energy team & a handy man:-)

2011-03-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

Here are the Boss, Kirsi Autio with pupils from our energy team.
Here is Saku from Finland, Vaasa.
We had a meeting where we discussed about how to save more heat. We realized that insulators in some of the windows were very poor. Here is a picture of a handy man. He is going to move window frames just a little bit so that the whole window would fit better to its place. Let´s hope this plan will work.

U4energy -project

2011-03-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

We decided to take part in an international project; U4 energy. We recieved a big envelope. There were 2 posters, some stickers and other important information. We put posters to school walls to remind us how to save energy. Two pupils (Sanni and Hanna) have been very effective on switching lights off from toilets and other areas. They decided were to put those 4 stickers. There are 2 toilets were there are often unnessessarily lights on.
You can find more information on Internet:
www.U4energy.eu

Thank you for your answers!!

2011-03-20T12:36:00.000-07:00

At the end of year 2010 Marita (very active teacher in our school:-)) wrote to other 50/50 -schools and asked them to answer questions about the project and energy saving actions. We thought that maybe we will get only few answers. But, you have been so active!! You can read some answers in our blog. We have not put all the answers there, but we have read them to our energy team members.
I thank La Tordera school (Catalonia, Spain), Rosa Luxemburg school (Potsdam, Germany), Altalanos Iskola - Balatonerdred and Polan Dabrowa Gomicza for the answers. It has been so interesting to hear from you!

Entrepreunership education

2011-03-13T12:18:00.000-07:00

We have had a project about entrepreneurship education. Pupils first made profiles about customers and then planned a cover for a notebook. We had over 100 suggestions for covers and we voted 9 of them. We have been thinking about marketing and how to sell those notebooks. We have made commercials and planned press handouts. We wanted to link this project to our 50/50- project and we decided to use only recycled paper and carton for these notebooks. We can then help nature. We also emphasise that detail when we sell these notebooks. We will add 50/50 -logo to each notebook and add the knowledge for saving energy and nature with these notebooks. We are planning to sell 600 notebooks and gather money for fieldtrips.

Here are some examples of notebook covers!

Consumption monitoring

2011-03-07T03:35:00.000-08:00

We get monthly consumption readings of electricity, warmth and water. There (from the top: water, warmth and electricity)are consumption tables for each month (year 2010). There we can check if we have saved energy or not..

Comments about sorting

2011-03-07T03:30:00.000-08:00

This spring we have focused on sorting.
What do you think, have we proceeded lately?
Osmo, the caretaker:
- Yes, I think we have done it quite well. Now we have got fine trash cans for garbage. Sometimes it is hard to remember how to sort but I think it works in our school.
How could we decrease the amount of rubbish?
-We must try to choose products with little packaging, but it is quite difficult because almost every product is wrapped properly. So if you buy a product you also get much garbage.

How has sorting gone lately?
Cleaners(Arja and Roosa) of our school:
- There is still things where to improve.
What effects have new waste containers had?
- We have moved ahead:-)
What advices do you give to teachers and pupils?
- You have to be more pedantic what to put in each trash can = waste you can burn, recycling paper or waste you can't burn.

Correspondence between Escola El Turo (Spain) and Länsimetsä school

2011-03-06T11:15:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Here you have our answers to your questions.

1.Where do you come from?
We're from Montcada i Reixac, Barcelona.

2.Tell us about your school?
Our school is “Escola El Turó”. It's a small school. There are about 200 pupils.

3.Why did you start the 50/50 energy saving project?
Because our school is a “green school”.

4.How have you saved energy so far?
We switch off the lights when we do not need them or we just switch on half of the classroom lights because we try to use natural light.
We close the doors and windows to keep the rooms warm.
We switch off the computers and the monitors when we do not use them.

5.Do you have new ideas for how to save more energy?
No, just the ones we said in the previous question.

6.Have you been writing to your blog in the Internet?
Not yet, but we had a look at other school's blogs and wrote some comments.

7.If you have, can you tell what do you have in your blog?
We just have the school's mascot, which has the shape of a small mountain or hill. We also have a small article about a visit we did to the schools installations.

8.Have you had any special theme days or school gatherings about the 50/50-project?
No, we haven't.

9.What do pupils and teachers think about this project?
We think that the project is very good because we save energy and this is good for the planet.

We got also some questions and here are our answers:

What can you tell us about your school?
-Our school is quite big, we have about 260 pupils. The school building is yellow and made of wood. We like our school and think it’s the best in the world!

Why do you take part in the 50/50 project?
-We want to save energy because we are worried about the nature. And of course we want to the money too .

What do you do to save energy?
-There are many ways to save energy:
We don’t waste water: we wash our hands quickly and after P.E. we go to shower quick. We also check the toilet taps in case they leak.
We check that the lights are not on when not needed. We open the blinds in the morning and close them in the afternoon. And we don’t joke with the light switchs.
We close the doors and windows. And we air the classrooms very quickly.
We measure the indoor temperatures and check that they are just right: not too hot or too cold. And we control the radiators too.
We try to recycle things.

What do you do to keep warm and at the same time save energy?
-The winters are cold here in Finland so it’s important to wear warm clothes, woolly socks and jumpers are nice.
We try to avoid to overheat the radiators, the suitable classroom temperature is about 20 degrees. We keep the doors and windows closed. It’s very important to seal the window cracks so they don’t leak.

School gathering

2011-03-06T05:50:00.000-08:00

Just before our winter holiday, on 24.2. the whole school gathered together to hall. We saw 2 energy saving videos and we reminded everyone to make sure that all the electrical equipments are shut down for the holiday week. In the afternoon 5 girls still checked the whole school. Let´s hope this will save more money for us!

Lots of snow!!

2011-02-02T12:16:00.000-08:00

We have had very hard winter this year and we have a lot of snow here. We need much energy to warm our school this winter.

Energy video

2011-01-31T02:53:00.000-08:00

We made our own energy video.

Energy blackout at Länsimetsä school

2011-01-23T10:20:00.000-08:00

We have got a lot of snow this winter. Sometimes snow is on the brances of trees. Snow is quite heavy, specially when it is wet. Brances bend. Usually it is not serious but sometimes it can even cause electricity blackouts. When trees are too near to electric cable, the brances can press the cabels and cause electricity blackouts.
On the 21st of January we had one blackout in our school. It last only some minutes but anyway we had an interesting discussion what does it mean if we would not get electricity at school for a long time. We were playing acustic guitarrs, so everything was ok. We just rose window blinds up. In computer class pupils were in Internet. It was good that they were not for example writing with Word. They would have lost their text. Pupils in handicraft lessons might have difficulties. We were most worried about food. We get free lunch everyday and many pupils were already hungry. We thought that in worst case we could have eaten only bread. We were lucky. The blackout took only some minutes.
Other 5th class was skiing during that lesson and used their own energy to ski and didn´t know anything about electric blackout.

Interviewing other 50/50 schools

2011-01-23T08:03:00.000-08:00

50/50 in action at schools

We are taking part in energy saving project 50/50. It has been fun and we have saved energy. We have switched the lights from toalets, using less water and recycling. There are many countries and schools with this project too. We have been interviewing them. We have been suprised that so many school want to be interviewed. Right now we are waiting for answers and it is interesting and fun to compare acts and blogs between other countries. We have asked these questions:

Dear 50/50 friends! Here are some questions about 50/50 project. I wish you have little time to answer. Thanks!

Interview 50/50

1. Where do you come from?

2. Tell us about your school?

3. Why did you start the 50/50 energy saving project?

4. How have you saved energy so far?

5. Do you have new ideas for how to save more energy?

6. Have you been writing to your blog in the Internet?

7. If you have, can you tell what do you have in your blog?

8. Have you had any special theme days or school gatherings about the 50/50-project?

9. What do pupils and teachers think about this project?

10. Do you want to tell something more or send greetings to Finland?

WE GOT ANSWERS TO OUR QUESTIONS FROM SPAIN(Barcelona):

1.We are from a school called Benviure located in Sant Boi de LLobregat, Barcelona, Spain.

2.We are a public nursery and primary school, ages 3 to 12 years old, and we belong to the green school network of Catalonia, and actually we form part of the Euronet 50/50 project.
If you want more information we invite you to our website: http://phobos.xtec.cat/ceip-benviure/

3.Due to a proposition from the department of the environment which coordinates the Euronet 50/50 project and who knew about our green school background We thought it would be appropriate to include it in our environmental action program complementary to our education labor.

4.As a school we have sudied how to use and save both water and electricity. After studying each topic with the students, from nursery to primary, we spent a whole day without water in the school. The sudents had to collect the water for day from the public fountains.
A study was conducted on the use and need for water through history and its global distribution. With the use of electricity we did a similar task.

5.We believe that the Euronet project will help all the educational community to take more conscience about the Earth’s global warming
The measures are being developed and implemented as the project goes on, until now we’ve set up posters in the classrooms, signalled the light switches and regulated the taps’ water flow.

6.Yes, you can visit it.
http://phobos.xtec.cat/ceip-benviure/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=24&id=125&Itemid=209

8.Yes, we’ve carried out periodical meetings with all the implicated agents The environment committee is formed by teachers, parents, pupils and the Department of the Environment representatives.

9.It means for us quite a lot of work, as it is carried out during the entire course and has to be combined with the syllabus.
In general, the pupils participate enthusiastically because they like to move around the school controlling the consumption of energy.

10.You are invited to visit our school and to know at first hand how we work.

ALSO ONE SCHOOL FROM POLAND ANSWERED TO OUR QUESTIONS:-)

Here are the answers:

1. We come from Poland.Our village is in the eastern part of Poland. It is called Jadachy.

2.Our school consists of primary school and gimnazjum(grammar school).They function as one school complex.There are 147 pupils, 20 teachers and 4 people in the staff. We have been taking part in ecological and healthy projects and programmes like: EURONET 50/50, “School for Ecodevelopment”, collection and segregation of recyclable materials, bicycle races. At present we are putting in an application to get the title of “Local Centre of Ecological Education” and”Green Flag”. A lot of children take an active part in ecological circles(“The League of Wildlife protection”, “All-Poland Society for the Protection of Birds”, “Friends of the Earth”). They also take part in ecological compaigns like “Save the Primeval Forest”, An Hour for the Earth”, “Cataloguing of fire-bellied toads”.

3.We started EURONET 50/50 because we care about our planet and we want to reduce the consumptionof thermal energy and electricity. Projects like EURONET 50/50 help children and adults to realize that everyone can do something for our planet.

4. Before we started EURONET 50/50 we didn’t have any organized actions in aid of environment.We tried to do something and we acted on our initiative(turning off the light and water , reduction of heating). We drew everyone’s attention to the necessity of saving.

5. We are going to install solar panels. But at present we can’t afford this. We haven’t got enough money.Regularly we replace common bulbs into low energy bulbs. We are going to install perlatories on the tabs and screens reflecting heat from radiators everywhere in school.

6. We have realized that there is an absolute necessity to start our blog.We are in the middle of doing this.

7. We will insert all our work connected with ecological and healthy actions and share our ideas with other schools.

8. We have ecological assemblies every Friday. From time to time we have trainning sessions for teachers and parents. We have so called “ecogroup”. Pupils from ecogroup every day at different times with the help of measuring devices check the progress in saving energy and the consumption of it. In April we celebrate “The Day of the Earth” connected with the show of ecological fashion, ecological marches in the neighbourhood and stage some plays about saving energy.

9. Teachers and pupils understand the importance of taking part in different programmes, for example EURONET 50/50 . More and more children save energy.

10.In the future we want to cooperate with you and share our ideas and experience.
And warm greetings from Poland to Finland!!!

ANOTHER SCHOOL FROM SPAIN (Catalonia) WAS ALSO ACTIVE AND ANSWERED US:

1.We are from Cardona (Catalonia, Spain), it’s a beautiful village with a wonderful castle and a salt mountain.

2.Our school is a very nice place to be in. We like the building
and also the different spaces inside: library, playground, sports court, gym,
computers room.

3.We started this project because we were concerned about the environment and saving energy. When the Department of Education suggested we participate we thought it was a good way to acquire correct habits to achieve a more clean and livable planet.

4.We close all the blinds of our classroom every afternoon when we leave the
school, in order to keep the building warm, not loosing the heat accumulated
during the day.
We always turn the lights off when we change to a different space inside our
school.
The highest temperature allowed in our school is 22º C, that saves a lot of
energy!!!.

5.Yes, there are lots of families who bring their children to the school by car.
We will suggest them to walk the kids to the school or to use their bike to get
here.
We also recommend to our students their compromise with the environment asking
their families to be aware of environmental questions and also making a
sustainable use of energy (saving it) at home.

6.We may not write to our blog as often as desirable, but we try to go entering our activities. Our web is http://www.xtec.cat/ceip-mdpatrocini-cardona

7.For the moment we are writing about activities in order to achieve to save energy in our school.

8.No, but we try to talk about it every two weeks to go looking for new actions.

9.Pupils and teachers are really enthusiastic about sharing their experiences with
students from other countries and nationalities.

10.All of us say hello very friendly to the Finish students. And we are happy if you can explain something about your school and country.
Energetic group from Mare de Déu del Patrocini school (Cardona)

THE THIRD SCHOOL FROM SPAIN (Catalonia, Odena) AND HERE ARE THE ANSWERS:

1.We are Rosó and Mª Mercè, we come from Òdena, Catalonia.

2.School name’s is Castell d’Òdena, it has got 297 pupils.

3.We started this project because we wanted to save energy.

4.We look at light meter every week and we calculate the energy that we have saved and we have spent.

5.We have had new ideas: we have prepared one game to promote that people save energy.

6.We haven’t written in the Òdena’s blog, but we will.
The blog is:http://schoolcastelldodena.blogspot.com/

7.There is an explanation of our meetings and the project.

8.Last year we had one special theme day: we counted how many lights, heaters, windows and doors that we have. And then, we planed how to start the project.

9.Pupils and teachers think that the project is very good of school and for nature.

THANK YOU FOR BEING SO ACTIVE!!

THE FOURTH SCHOOL FROM SPAIN, SPANISH SCHOOLS HAVE BEEN VERY ACTIVE!!!

1.We're from Montcada i Reixac, Barcelona.

2.Our school is “Escola El Turó”. It's a small school. There are about 200 pupils.

3.Because our school is a “green school”.

4.We switch off the lights when we do not need them or we just switch on half of the classroom lights because we try to use natural light.
We close the doors and windows to keep the rooms warm.
We switch off the computers and the monitors when we do not use them.

5.No, just the ones we said in the previous question.

6.Not yet, but we had a look at other school's blogs and wrote some comments.

7.We just have the school's mascot, which has the shape of a small mountain or hill. We also have a small article about a visit we did to the schools installations.

8.No, we haven't.

9.We think that the project is very good because we save energy and this is good for the planet.

10.What can you tell us about your school?
Why do you take part in the 50/50 project?
What do you do to save energy?
What do you do to keep warm and at the same time save energy?

THANK YOU FOR THE QUESTIONS, WE ARE GOING TO ANSWER QUITE SOON.

Interviewing pupils at Länsimetsä school about 50/50 project

2011-01-23T07:56:00.000-08:00

Opinions about 50/50 project.

Jere (on the left)
Emilia(on the right)

Who are you? Jere Hintikainen and I´m in 6th grade.
Do you like our 50/50 -prjoject? Yes, I like.
Have you learned how to save energy? I have learned a lot.
Have you saved water or electricity? I suppose electricity.
Why do you need to save energy? Because otherwise we spent too much energy.
How do you save energy? We shut the lights when we leave and we wash hands quicly.
Who have saved most energy in your class? I can´t decide.
Will you save more energy in the future? Yes, I will!
What is your opinion about this interview? I got some options about 50/50 -prjoject.

Who are you? I´m Emilia Tiensuu and from 5M class.
Do you like our 50/50 -prjoject? Of couse.
Have you learned how to save energy? Yes.
Have you saved water or electricity? We have saved more electricity.
Why do you need to save energy? We save nature by saving energy.
How do you save energy? I swich the lights and use less water.
Will you save more energy in the future? Yes, I will.
What is your opinion about this interview? It was OK!

15/15 liked the 50/50 project.
7/15 have saved water at home.
8/15 have saved electricity at home
6/15 are saving electricity because then you save money.
6/15 save energy to help nature
3/15 save energy because for some other reason
13/15 save energy swiching the lights.
12/15 save energy by washing hands quicly
Almost everybody want to save more energy in the future!

Heidi ja Jenni

Some funny videos about How to save energy:-)

2011-01-18T09:08:00.000-08:00

If you use humour it may be easier to teach people how to save energy.
You don't have to understand Finnish to get the point.

http://www.youtube.com/helsinginenergia

Long-term measurements

2011-01-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

In November energy team made measurements of temperatures for two weeks. Every day at ten o'clock pupils went to all classrooms and other rooms and measured the temperatures. At the end of this period one pupil calculated the average temperatures of each room. Two pupils (Eero and Aleksi) colored floor plan green, red or blue. If the temperature was ok (20-21C), color was green. If it was too warm (22C or more), color was red and if it was too cold (19C or less), the color was blue.
Results were told to personnel and hopefully also to them who can fix the situation..

Now in January we are going to carry out long-term measurements again.

A message from our headmaster to evening users of our school

2011-01-16T10:52:00.000-08:00

SAVING ENERGY

DEAR EVENING USERS OF LÄNSIMETSÄ SCHOOL

The use of heating, electricity and water in our school during the years 2010-2012 is followed very accurately. We participate in the international EURONET 50/50 energy saving project which target is to reduce the energy consumption as much as possible. In this way we in our little share want to take part in reducing the carbon dioxide emissions and slowing down the global climate warming.

The evening users have a great effect on the energy economy of our school. Therefore we hope that all the instructors of groups devote care to actions which affect the energy consumption. Saving energy is at least made by means of following measures:

1.If not necessary, avoid keeping the front door open.
2.Turn off the lights in the changing rooms and corridors as well as the hall after the last turn.
3.Observe: It’s not always necessary to use the full lightning in the hall.
4.Use the showers quickly.

Unfortunately according to the measurements (considering the weather conditions) the energy consumption during the late autumn rose a bit. Let’s try to get it down again straight after the New Year. The hall will be opened again after the Christmas break on 10.1.2011.

Matti Autio

50/50 as part of the entrepreneurship education

2011-01-16T10:35:00.000-08:00

In November 2010 there was an international seminar called Exellence in Entrepreneurship Education at Vaasa Polytechnical University. I (the headmaster of Länsimetsä school) was asked to speak about entrepreneurship education in practice for the participants.

Entrepreneurship is not really a school subject in Finland, but it is one of the cross-curricular themes in our national curriculum. Actually the cross- curricular theme is called Participating citizenship and entrepreneurship. In a primary school the purpose of entrepreneurship education is not to make business but to increase enterprising attitude.

I think that 50/50 is not only a good way to save energy. It is also a very good entrepreneurship education project. Our students are main actors. They have been very creative even in this kind of thinking and they have really showed enterprising attitude in finding out so many ways to decrease the consumption of water or electricity.

The 50/50 –project has made good results so far, but there is still work to do. In November we noticed higher consumption in heating compared to earlier years. That is why I wrote an appeal to those, who use the school building in the evenings and during weekends. Our gym is available for after school use about 50 hours a week,so it really can be possible to get savings if we get sport clubs and other groups involved - with positive, enterprising attitude of course!

Hope that 2011 will be successful for our project! Happy New Year!

Matti Autio

And what else have we done?

2011-01-09T10:18:00.000-08:00

After the visit of waste advisers we got guide books. We (energy team) read those books at home and then we had a test.

The wind energy firm (The Switch) donated us kites. Every class had to decide who had been the most active agent in the class during energy saving week. And, as you see from the picture - pupils were happy about the awards!

In November we had Father's day.
We made cards and we used only recycling materials in those cards.

Sorting theme is about to begin next year (2011) and we already made collages (grey, black and red ones). There you can check if you have forgotten how to sort.

Nelli and Silja are painting the cardboards (picture above).

Helmiina is sticking carbage into the collages (picture on the right).

Teachers have claimed that they can't get cold water from the faucet. The solution was easy - we bought two water jugs and put them into the fridge!

Reducing copying expenses easily: from November each family got only one briefing (only the oldest one in family gets the note). It means that nowadays we copy every time 50 less copies than earlier.

Waste advisers from the local firm

2010-11-18T10:09:00.000-08:00

In November (from the 9th to 11th of November) advisers from the local waste incinerator firm (Stormossen) visited our school. They visited every class. They told us how to sort waste and we did it in practice, too. Here Hanna, Julia and Tessa are sorting waste (picture below). Every class has now got three waste containers: grey one for the waste you can burn, red one for recycling paper and black one for the waste you can't burn. There is a slip of paper on every container - there you can read the list if you have forgotten how to sort.

Comments of our school cleaners

2010-11-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

Our cleaners have been very delighted of our 50/50 project. Especially sorting of rubbish. This month every class has got their own new wastebaskets and we have had lessons where pupils have learned what you can put into these wastebaskets.
"This is cool and something that should be a standard practice today!"

The day without electricity (the 5th of November)

2010-11-13T11:42:00.000-08:00

Sanni wrote:

It was only our energy team (two classes) who took part the day without electricity.

In the morning we came normally to school. When the bell rang we went in and there was a dark corridor in front of us. Teachers had put a small pieces of paper on electric light switches so that no-one could put lights on. There were candle lanterns on teacher's desk. Each group got their own lantern.

We had a special day called "piecework contract day". Each group had a same task; we had to make an aerial photograph out of a farm (including map, list and drawings of animals and crops etc.). We were not allowed to use papers or cartons out of new packages. Instead we got to use remains of cartons and papers which were donated to our school. We noticed that it is not necessary to have new materials to accomplish fine results! And it was fun and easy! We were very satisfied because we had saved energy.

At about eleven o'clock we cycled to Villa Gerby (youth center almost next to our school). Every pupil got one juice, one mandarine, one bread roll and one and a half piece of sausage from the school kitchen. There was a camp fire waiting for us and we started to grill right away. Our teacher also taught us how to grill dough :-) After we had our lunch some of us went in to play billiard, table soccer, table tennis or cards. We didn't need any electricity to play those games and they were still fun. Some of us stayed out and played tag and the rest of us just hanged around.

When it was time to leave we gathered together and talked about the day. Many of us had liked this day without electricity very much. After the school day everyone took his/her own ride home.

The comments of school secretary about 50/50 project

2010-11-09T11:33:00.000-08:00

"The changes I have made so far: Nowadays I switch off the toilet lights every time. Earlier I kept them on the whole day and switched them off just before I left home. The lights of coffee room are on only when we have a break and only a part of corridor lights are turned on.
Before this 50/50 project I have
- had only one lamp on in my office
- shut window blinds on the afternoon
- turned off the computer and printer at the end of the day
In other words I have already had actions which save energy but still there are things where to improve."

The Switch

2010-10-31T13:00:00.000-07:00

Anna Lydia and Jasmin wrote:
On Friday, the 15th of October, we made a trip to a wind energy firm called The Switch. We were told about wind energy and wind turbines and what it is all about using renewable energy. We also visited the place were they make parts of wind turbines.
The world's biggest wind turbine is in Germany. It is over 100 m high. Mostly the turbines are 100 m or less. In Finland there are not many wind turbines so far, only about 2% of Finland's energy comes from wind power. We were also told how the wind energy develop.
The parts of wind turbine are very heavy. We thought that parts are small but they were huge! The Switch doesn't make the whole turbines, only certain parts. The Switch sells parts to the factories which build wind turbines.
After a while buss came and took us back to school.

(picture on the left: a slide show, picture on the right: Miika Reinikka explains us the function of a wind turbine)

Thursday, the 14th of October

2010-10-31T12:27:00.000-07:00

Hanna wrote:
Today we have tested how much more we spend water if we wash our hands "lazy" or "quickly but properly". Test group (10 pupils) spent 22 litres (2,2 l/pupil) compared with 4,5 litres (0,5 l/pupil). The conclusion we made: You have to wash your hands properly and with soap but not using too much water (the faucet not at maximum).
Have a nice energy saving week!

Wednesday, the 13th of October

2010-10-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

Heidi wrote:
Today everything has gone fluently. We have measured the temperatures normally. Reporter from the local newspaper came to our school and interviewed us when we were measuring the temperatures. On thursday there was an article about us and about the 50/50 project on local newspaper!!
On the afternoon when we had gymnastics I noticed that boys had left lights on in toilet and in shower room. But girls had forgotten to switch off the lights, too....
Now we have many posters on the walls which remind us about the 50/50 project and about energy saving week.

The national energy saving week, Tuesday the 12th of October

2010-10-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hanna wrote:
In classroom we talked about the 50/50 project and what we could do to save the energy. When we come to school on the morning, we have to open the window blinds so that the sun can warm the class. And at the end of the day window blinds must shut off to keep the cold out. We have to put lights off every time not needed (in toilet and in shower). We can save water by taking shower quickly. We named persons in charge who take care of these actions.
Every time we wash our hands we have to remember that faucet is not at maximum and we take only one paper when drying hands. Persons in charge also double-check that there are no unnecessary lights on in classroom and they switch off every electric machine after the school day.

The effects of the project at home

2010-10-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

My son Petteri Järvinen, age 11, participates this autumn a project in Länsimetsä school. The project is about how to save energy. Petteri has liked the project very much and he has told many things about it at home. We are a family of six persons, parents, son Petteri, daughter Juulia age thirteen and twins Ilona and samu, aged 5 so the energy consumption is quite high at our house. During this autum Petteri has taught us how to save electricity, for example he reminds us all the time to shut the lights of when we leave the house or even one room. Last week he taught the twins how to brush their teeth in the more energy saving way: the water shouldn't run the whole time while you are brushing! He has also reminded us about that we dont have to watch three tv´s at the same time or keep many computers running at our house.

Last week the class took a trip to a factory involving energy producting and it was very interesting, according to Petteri!

I think the whole project is very important and already it has changed the way of thinking and living in our family!

Sanna Järvinen, Petteris mom

The national energy saving week (from the 11th of October to the 17th of October)

2010-10-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

Heidi, one of the energy team members, wrote (on the 11th of October):

At school we (the energy team) gathered together so we could decide which are the actions on energy saving week. We called it "We manage with less energy". Today we had little lower temperatures compared with those results we got on May. We have tasks like toilet polices, shower polices, recorders, classroom polices, room inspectors and those who measure the temperatures. Toilet polices check every toilet (water, lights) and it happens every day at the end of the school day. The shower polices have same tasks as toilet polices. The recorders have divided in two groups; the others write about the energy saving week and the others write about our visit to the wind energy firm, "The Switch", on Friday. The classroom polices double-check that the lights are off during long breaks. They also make sure that window blinds are open during the school day and shut them off after the school day. Room inspectors make sure that there are not too many lights on in library, lunch room etc. Measuring the temperatures takes place every day at 10.00 a.m.

Please, remember to save the energy!!

Classroom police (Emilia) at her work, opening the window blinds.

The kick off days (the 13th and 14th of September)

2010-10-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

On the 13th of September our 50/50 team gathered together. At first the members of students' union got to know what Euronet 50/50 project really is. Then our two energy team classes told what we had done on May (measuring the temperatures of every classes, toilet/bathroom "police" activities, drawing the slogans, marking light switches,.) Together we considered the ways to save energy (warmth, water and lightning). The ideas were put on paper and the members of students' union got the task to bring the information to their teachers and class-mates.

Next day the whole school gathered together and they were told about the project. The motivation was raised up by clarifying the climate change with slide show. Also the youngest ones managed to listen :-) Then the pupils of energy team classes told what they had measured and showed the measuring equipments. At the end the chairman and the secretary of students' union read our proposals on how to save the energy. We had taken copies of the paper so every class got their own list so they could check the list and not forgetting actions.

(picture above) Emmi, Roni and Petteri are showing how they measured the temperature.

(picture below) Heidi has put the list on the wall so that the whole class could remember the energy saving actions.

Starting the blog

2010-08-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

Our project started in the end of May. Our energy team classes (two classes, 4th grade students = 48 pupils) were first told about the project. The aim was to get them interested in the project. Those 48 pupils were divided into 8 groups. Groups I-VI measured the temperatures of classes, library, staff room, kitchen,etc. (37 rooms altogether, about 6 rooms for each group) and they also checked if there were lights off/on. Group VII was named as a "toilet-police-group"; they went to every toilet (24) and inspected if the lights were off/on, the faucet or toilet bowl was dropping. Group VIII checked the shower rooms (4): lights,faucets,toilet bowls,showers,drinking sinks (if thery were on or dropping).
Two pupils went to every class and marked light switches with permanent pen ("front"/"back") so that everyone would know whitch button to push (avoiding unnecessary on/off -pushing).
The energy team drew also notes with slogans like "Switch off the lights!", "Wash up quickly!",.. They were laminated and put on the right places reminding all pupils.
A couple of days after starting the project we told to whole school about the results of our measurements and checking. We told that the project will start on August "for real".