Student Writing
These two articles are written by 4th graders at The Park School in Brookline, MA.
Tired?
by Schuyler - December 2009
Are you tired of having your mailbox getting filled up with catalogs you don’t use? Well you can change that! The Park School 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades were having a challenge about which grade could cancel the most catalogs. 3rd grade canceled 1,289, 4th grade canceled 1,801, and 5th grade canceled 1,368. Together the division canceled 4,466 catalogs in one month! The project is very fun.
First you take the catalog you don’t want, and look on the back to call the number. You have to be polite, and have a parent near you. You call the number and they ask you some questions about the catalog, and you answer them. For example, they might ask you “Who is this catalog to?” and you would say who it is to. That’s how you cancel a catalog.
We cancel catalogs to save our earth. 19 billion are mailed per year in the USA. But also catalogs use 3 gallons of water each, and in one year 53 billion gallons of water is used, taking up 81,000 Olympic sized pools. 53 million trees get cut down, almost like cutting down 2,000 Central Parks. A 14 mile tall pile is made each day. Only 2% of that is used. THAT’S A LOT OF WASTE, and that’s why we cancel catalogs.
We asked how many catalogs Becky K. canceled in the moth. “I canceled 511 in one month,” she said. Wow!
“I feel good that I have a part in saving the earth,” said Schuyler E. Help take part in saving the earth, and cancel catalogs!!!
We Can Make a Difference by Canceling Catalogs
by Fiona - December 2008
Of course you know what a catalog is. They’re the booklets you use to order things from. But did you know these catalogs use up trees, water, and energy? Actually, too much of these things. For instance 600 catalogs are mailed out per second. And 3 gallons of water go into one catalog! I mean, if I were to stack the amount of catalogs mailed out per day, I’d get 13 Mt. Everests!
But you can make a difference by canceling catalogs! At Park School, we had a challenge to see how many catalogs we could cancel. It’s not just a competition between grades, we’re really working together to help the Earth.
We had to cancel a lot of catalogs. But soon other schools and Girl Scout troops found out. They started canceling their catalogs, too. BB&N and Shady Hill were both schools that didn’t have a competition with us. We worked together. In the end our three 4th grades canceled 4,323 catalogs!
I asked Sadie, a girl in my class, about our challenge. “I think it’s a great way to help the environment and it’s good for our planet,” she told me. “I mean if you have a catalog, recycling’s good, but if you don’t want it, you should cancel it.”
How can you help? If you want to help the rebellion against catalogs and help the health of our planet then cancel unwanted catalogs. Join us for the planet!
Park Schools Students and Teachers Lead the Catalog Challenge
by Robert - December 2008
Every day, a huge problems ends up in peoples’ mailboxes across the country. And no, I’m not talking about bills. I’m talking about the catalog problem. Every day, millions of catalogs get mailed out and that’s hurting our planet! When catalogs are printed it uses precious resources like trees, water, and energy. The Park School is trying to prevent this problem. By canceling catalogs, they hope to do their share and save the environment.
Rob Crawford, a parent of a 4th grader, has been impressed. “I’m proud of my son and his classmates. They’re saving the earth and also saving me from drowning in junk mail.” His wife, Meg, agrees: “I miss Pottery Barn and Williams Sonoma catalogs, but I guess it’s for a good cause.” 4th grader Andrew adds, “It makes a huge difference. Canceling each catalog does a little bit.”
Between November 4 and December 4, students in the Middle Division at Park School canceled over 3,000 catalogs! That’s about fifty trees of paper! The students encourage you to do your part, too. To cancel a catalog, dial the number on the catalog and request that they stop delivering this catalog to your home. Together, we can save our planet!