Bike To School Week - Update

Another Bike To School Week is in full swing at Jackman.   And it's been a huge success.  

On Monday, 110 bikers made their way to school (in the rain).   

On Tuesday, the promise of home-baked muffins attracted 170 bikers (even with threat of more rain).

And on Wednesday, an impressive 200 riders packed their bikes and scooters into Jackman's bike racks.  

On Thursday, we had a record 220 bikers at school.   The bike racks were jam packed.   

Finally, on Friday, there were 210 bikers.   All in all, a great bike week.  

But let's not stop at one week, keep on biking.   It's a sustainable way to get around.   

Here are some pics from the week's events...

Bike To School Week

There’s nothing better than biking to school.  It’s lots of fun.  It’s great exercise.   It’s eco-friendly.  Yep, it’s GREEN!   Just leave the car at home.  Bike to school (or scooter or skateboard) during Jackman’s Bike To School Week, May 29 ⇨ June 2.  You can participate in these great events (rain or shine).

Monday ⇨ Stickers!  Bike to school on Monday morning and get a cool bike sticker to wear.  Then everyone will know that you love biking. 

Tuesday ⇨ Breakfast!  Bike to school on Tuesday morning and enjoy a tasty mini-muffin.  Biking and baking… a great way to start your day.

Wednesday ⇨ Decorate!  Bike to school on Wednesday morning to make your bike look cool.  Come early so you have enough time to decorate.

Thursday ⇨ Create!  Bike to school on Thursday morning and create some bike art.  Come to school early so you have enough time for this craft.

Friday ⇨ Prizes!  Are you feeling lucky?  Bike to school on Friday morning and enter a draw to win some cool bike prizes. Good luck!

P.S.   Did you know?   There are two new bike racks on the south side of the kindergarten playground.   

'Switch' Your Thinking

Jackman's Eco Team (a.k.a. the JETs) has an important question for you. Do you turn off the lights when you leave a room?

Well, we did an official inspection of Jackman's classrooms, gyms, library, office and staff rooms. We even checked the bathrooms. We discovered that only 60% of the rooms at school have lights turned off when no one was in them.  That means 40% did NOT turn get their lights off.  We think Jackman can do better than that!

So, we've got some suggestions for you.

1. The teacher can turn off the lights at the front of the line before the class leaves the room. 
2. One student can have the responsibility of being the 'caboose' and turn off the lights as the last person leaving the room. 
3. Keep a sign near the door or near the lights to remind students and teachers to turn the lights off.
4. Make up a little rhyme to help your class remember, rhymes like...  Turn off the light! It’s too bright!   Let’s Shout, Lights Out!   Do it right!  Off with the light!

And here are some other ways you can save energy in your classroom.    

1. Make sure your fans, computers, Smartboards and other electronics are turned off when not in use.   
2. If it’s bright outside, turn off all of the lights in your room and use daylight instead.
3. If you’re working in half the classroom, turn off the lights in the other half of the room.

Let's work together to conserve energy at school. Time to 'switch' your thinking, Jackman!

Energy Conservation @ Jackman

You may have noticed some spies roaming around the school on Friday.  Don’t worry.  There's no reason to be alarmed.  It was just Jackman’s Eco Team on a secret mission.  Their task? -To investigate how well Jackman is doing with energy conservation.  

Here’s what they discovered…

• 60% of rooms had all lights off when there was no one in the room.

• 21% of rooms had some lights off when there was no one in the room.

• 19% of rooms had all lights left on, even though no one was in the room.

• Some rooms (like rooms 104 and 201) had the lights turned off while working inside.  They prefer the natural light coming in from the windows.  Why not give it a try?

• Some rooms (like rooms 208, 209, 102 and 311) were working with just half the lights on.  It seems to be just enough light.  Why not give it a try?

• Similarly, other rooms (like the library, P1 and room 313) use ‘task lighting'.  Their lights are turned on in targeted areas where the work is going on.  Good idea.

• Some rooms have motion sensors that turn off the lights after a few minutes.  That’s easy.

• The office has so many small rooms and so many light switches and so many people coming and going.  It’s hard to get them all off.  But they’re trying.   Keep it up.

• The light in the kitchen on the 1^st floor is frequently left on.  We’ve got to do something about that.  

• The 2^nd floor kitchen and staff room had lights off most of the time.  That’s an improvement from last year. 

• The 2^nd floor gym, for some unknown reason, doesn’t even have a light switch.  The gym teacher needs to use a circuit breaker to turn the lights on and off.  What a hassle.  Call the electrician... it's time to renovate.    

• Every classroom had their lights off at lunch.   Bravo.     

• Jackman is such a busy school, it's actually hard to find empty classrooms with lights off at any time of the day. 

• All of Jackman’s computers are set to go on stand-by in a reasonable amount of time.  That’s great.  

• From what we could see, Smartboards and other electronics are usually turned off when not in use.  Well done!   

• Apparently Jackman is obsessed with electric pencil sharpeners.   What every happened to the good ole fashioned manual pencil sharpeners? 

Way to Go Jackman.   You are doing well with energy conservation.  Of course, there's always room for improvement.  

We want everyone at Jackman will make a greater effort to use less energy at school.   Let’s create some new energy saving habits.   It's time to 'switch your thinking' about energy conservation.