Boston Changed the Margins!

Here is the text of the letter we rec'd today after our exposure on wbur
Dear Ms. Dooley-

I am writing to let you know that after Mayor Menino and I received the letters from your students encouraging us to change the margins and use less paper, the City of Boston has in fact begun an effort to change default margins at city buildings. Thanks to Bill Oates, our CIO (and Watertown native) all computers at Boston City Hall were reset in early May. Together we are helping save paper, increase environmental awareness and Green Boston!

Please thank all of your students for their tireless advocacy. Their efforts are making a big difference in the City of Boston and around the world. Keep up the good work.

-Jim Hunt
__________________________________
James W. Hunt, III
Chief of Environmental and Energy Services
City of Boston
One City Hall Plaza, Room 603
Boston, MA 02201
(617)635-3425, f. (617)635-3496
james.hunt@cityofboston.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: Hunt, James
Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2008 9:26 AM
To: Oates, Bill
Subject: Change-margins

Bill-

Remember that in life it's often the little things that can make a big difference. Here's a small home cooked idea from school kids (I'll send up a copy of a sample the letter) about changing default margins in Microsoft word. By changing margins from 1.25 inches to .75 we increase available space per page by nearly 20%, improve the environment and reduce paper costs and taxpayer dollars.
Let's see if we can do this.
Thanks,
-Jim

wbur-fm - Interview with Robin Young

Interview with Robin Young:
Here are some pictures, Turns out Robin Young knows our school and came to our Auction once. She was wonderful and her staff- Jill Ryan and Doug were kind and solicitous.

Watertown Commits to Changes Margins!

Joseph Mahoney, the IT director for the City of Watertown came to our class today to thanks us for sending a good idea and to say that he would instruct all Watertown offices and agencies to "change the margins" to save paper. This includes the schools, public works and all at City Hall. He expects this to happen in 2 or so weeks. Mr. Mahoney was clear that he would monitor how our "change the margins" measure was working and would create methods to analyze the results. Mr. Mahoney said he also would encourage more double sided printing, when replacing older machines he would buy machines that printed doubled sided and implement other methods to use less paper. He promised to report to us through the summer and even into next year, if we wanted.

Thanks to the work of all the 4th grade, Ilana and Eric in particular, we have made a real difference in our community. Special thanks to Watertown Council Member, Susan Falkoff, for being in our corner from the very beginning. Her advice and encouragement have been invaluable.

Haudenosaunee and Colonial Voices on youtube

Part 1 and Part 2 - essentially the podcast with visuals including clay figures and other student generated images.

Part 1


Part 2

Podcast of Haudenosaunee and Colonial Voices

4th grade recording and final project can be heard here:


Once you get to storypodnewengland you will need to click on the POD icon in upper left of blog entry at that site, to hear the podcast.

Haudenosaunee and Colonial Voices
Sat, 7 June 2008

Red Handed Zorag - upper grade opera project

Haudenosaunee people and the early colonials

In the hallway you will see some wonderful panoramic landscapes displayed by the Inventors.

The 4th grade has been studying the Haudenosaunee *people and the early colonial period in the United States. The Iroquois nations' political union, their Great Law of Peace and democratic government have been credited as strong influences on the United States Constitution.
Students studied colonial and Native American history, family and community life and created characters in words (first person narratives) and in clay figures.

* The Iroquois Confederacy (also known as the "League of Peace and Power", the "Five Nations"; the "Six Nations"; or the "People of the Longhouse") is a group of First Nations/Native Americans that originally consisted of five nations: the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, and the Seneca. A sixth tribe, the Tuscarora, joined after the original five nations were formed. Although frequently referred to as the Iroquois, the Nations refer to themselves collectively as Haudenosaunee (Akunęhsyęni in Tuscarora). A few finished examples are below.

We said good bye to Mark Son

We said goodbye to Mark Son on Friday. After a class lunch generously provided by the Corrigan family we went out to Celebrity Pizza for ice cream followed by a short visit to the park. We presented Mark with an author signed copy of Anne Sibley O'Brien's Hong Kil Dong - the Korean Robin Hood.