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Communication
Every Child Deserves a Clean and Safe World
At The Learning Tree we want to instill more than just the ABC’s and 123’s. We want to encourage our children to be healthy, make safe choices and care for the world in which they live. That is why we provide an environment meant to exceed accreditation and licensing guidelines in nutrition, health and safety, teach children to become positive role models in their community and educate them on the importance of treating others and the earth with respect. Here are a few of the steps we have taken on our quest to GO GREEN:
Crockpot Air Fresheners with Timers and Natural Products
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The Learning Tree prides itself on having fresh smelling classrooms. With so many choices in air fresheners on the market, the options were endless. However after a little research it was discovered that many of the commercially made air fresheners contained harmful chemicals such as Formaldehyde, Camphor and Ethanol. These dangerous chemicals have been implicated in cancer, neurological damage, reproductive, and developmental disorders. We decided the more natural we could go, the better. That is why each classroom has a Crockpot in it that allows teachers to add different and natural items daily to make the classrooms smell wonderful. Some of our favorite scents include: orange peels with cloves, apples with cinnamon, and vanilla with cherry oil.
Cloth Napkins
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Sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference. Recently we made a switch from paper napkins to cloth napkins. With an average of 400 children each day at The Learning Tree’s combined and three meals per day we were going through 1200 paper napkins per day. Multiply that by 260 school days and we were adding 312,000 napkins per year into the local landfills! While we realize that laundering the cloth napkins increases our water usage we honestly feel that saving the land for our children and our children’s children was the best choice for us!
Plastic Free
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Two years ago the newspapers, magazines and news broadcasts filled us with information about a harmful chemical found in many plastics called Bisphenol A or BPA. When BPA is heated in a dishwasher or microwave or used to store hot food, the BPA breaks down and leaks into our food. In many studies, BPA might be linked to causing diabetes, cancer, aggressiveness, heart disease as well as many hormonal abnormalities or sensitivities. We have begun the very long process of eliminating BPA containing plastic eating utensils from our program. Cups, plates, bowls, and serving dishes- you name it; we are getting rid of it. We even switched our sippy cups from the plastic version to stainless steel and silicone cups. We learned very quickly that this was not going to happen overnight but we have begun the initial steps of eliminating this dangerous plastic. You will soon see the children eating off of Corelle dishes and drinking their beverages out of real glasses. While other centers may see this as extreme and expensive, we believe that this is the safest option for the children entrusted to our care.
Recycle Programs
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We do our best to minimize the amount of trash we throw into the garbage cans. We are currently setting up formal recycling programs that will allow us to recycle paper, plastic, aluminum, glass, lightbulbs and batteries. While exploring our classrooms you will see recycle bins in each room. Children love to add their scraps of paper to the paper bin or the milk jug from lunch to the plastic bin. Since we serve refreshing milk to our children every day with breakfast and lunch, our four centers recycle over 50 milk jugs per day. Our teachers strive to make this part of the children’s daily routine and keep them involved in the process!
Plants in the Classrooms
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Plants do more than just brighten a room with color. Sure they are beautiful and offer a great opportunity for the children to learn how to care for something by giving it what it needs but plants also offer great health benefits as well. By just putting 3-5 plants in a classroom we are removing toxic air emissions and potentially harmful chemicals from the air such as ammonia, carbon monoxide and car exhaust fumes. By purifying the air we are eliminating outside toxins that could cause more illness in the classroom. Clean air means that children are more alert and ready to learn! We, of course, go to great lengths ensuring that the plants in our classrooms are safe for the children to touch and explore.
Turning Off Your Car
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While we understand that it may be more convenient to leave your car running while you come into the center to drop off or pick up your little ones we ask that you take minute and turn your car off. Idling tailpipes spew out the same pollutants that form unhealthy smog and soot as those from moving cars. Nitrogen oxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds are the main health-harming pollutants in vehicle emissions. These pollutants have been linked to serious human illnesses, including asthma, heart disease, chronic bronchitis and cancer. Children are especially vulnerable to the health dangers of exhaust. Remember that our playgrounds and outdoor play areas are right next to our parking lots which means if your car is idling our children are breathing in things that their little lungs can not handle.
Humidity in the Classrooms
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Mold is a fungus that feeds off of and breaks down organic material. It can be found everywhere but most indoor molds are formed when spores from outside mold get inside. To ensure that we are not creating an environment that reproduces these tiny spores that float freely in the air, each evening we place a humidity tester in a different location in our center. In the morning we check the humidity to ensure that it is between 30 and 50%. Exposure to mold can occur through inhalation, ingestion and by touching moldy surfaces. Children are at greatest risk because they inhale greater volumes of air per pound of body weight. The possible effects of mold on a person's health include: wheezing, dry hacking cough, eye irritation, nasal stuffiness, fever, shortness of breath, and respiratory illness.
Washing Fresh Fruit and Veggies
Cleaning Products
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It is a known fact that you will breathe in any substance that you come into contact with. So as you are cleaning off a table with the chemically laced disinfectant you better believe that whatever is in that bottle you have now put into your system. So we thought to ourselves… “Isn’t there a product out there that will still do the tough disinfecting that we need it to do without all the harsh chemicals?” Sure enough there was. In April of 2010, The Learning Tree began using Terefore. Terefore is a cleaner that is made from 100% biodegradable, plant based materials- which means it provides a safer living environment and is environmentally friendly. A number of studies have drawn a link between traditional household cleaners and the substantial increase in the number of children afflicted with asthma and allergies. While these cleaners release harmful pollutants in the air known as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), Terefore releases no VOC’s- meaning zero ozone depletion potential.
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