Photos of Environmental Block
Environmental Weekly Jobs
E-Block students are in charge of different jobs throughout the school. These weekly jobs include waste diversion: recycling, composting, scrap-metal, Haz-Mat and re-use programs. Student teams also water plants, garden, maintain terrariums, identify birds & provide tree care.
TD Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup
In the fall and spring, the students of E-Block take charge in cleaning up the two major waterways in the school area: the Humber River and Rainbow Creek. E-Block students also take the Grade 9 Geography classes out to help clean.
Path Restoration
E-block students complete many projects on our 12 acres of property. Over several years, we have re-naturalized much of our forest environment by shutting down multiple trails and creating a few dedicated trails. Students have also removed invasive species and mulched over a kilometer of trails.
Birds
Our school property provides habitat for over 15 species of birds. As a weekly job, students go outside twice a week to look for and discover the birds. They record their findings and submit the totals to "Ebird" and to http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/
Composting and Worms
In E-Block, learning how to compost is a big thing. Each student learns how to compost and how to make an ideal soil. The class uses red wriggler worms to eat down the compost material. The soil that is made is used for gardening and planting the different shrubs and trees.
Haz-Mat
One of the weekly jobs is sorting haz-mat. The recycling team will pick up materials like batteries, small electronics and cell phones; it's the haz-mat team's job to ship them to Terracycle or to properly and safely dispose of any waste at a Haz Mat Depot. Revenue from Haz Mat collection helps fund our waste diversion programs.
Native Tree & Shrub Planting
Throughout the course of E-Block, every student is part of a shrub or tree planting project. Students have planted over 150 native trees & shrubs on our own property and over 1000 trees for other organizations. These newly planted and restored areas provide project options for future students as they maintain the newly planted trees.
Gardening
E-block students love gardening. Matthew Lise shared, "gardening is so incredibly amazing!" Gardening is a great opportunity to learn how to properly grow vegetables so that you can do it at home too. Vegetables from our garden are shared with Vaughan Hospice & are used in our School Store.
