Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!
Here at Teacher's Discovery, we celebrated by gathering all of our employees and we spent the afternoon cleaning up around our building. Ryan even climbed into the trees to pull out those offensive plastic grocery bags that cling to branches. We picked up trash, raked (my grandma used to say that raking in the spring was like "scratching the Earth's back"), and swept. It was made more enjoyable by loads of sunshine and laughs. Thanks to Pat, our operations manager who coordinated the effort and rewarded us all with a BBQ lunch!
There has been much publicity about "Earth Day," but we think every day should be Earth Day. Our Global Warming Traveling Exhibit takes a positive spin on the controversial issue by empowering viewers with ideas for easy lifestyle changes that benefit both the Earth, and your pocketbook!
Have you seen or done anything cool for Earth Day?

Global Warming AEP Finalist!

Big News!

Our Global Warming Exhibit is a finalist for a prestigious AEP Distinguished Achievement Award!

The official press release:
LOGAN TWP., NJ--APRIL 1, 2008--The Association of Educational Publishers (AEP), the nonprofit professional organization for educational publishers and content developers, is proud to announce the finalists for the 2008 AEP Awards. The program's Distinguished Achievement and Golden Lamp Awards recognize the year's most outstanding materials in the field of teaching and learning.

We are incredibly proud of our Global Warming Exhibit. We we set out to tackle this topic, we realized that Global Warming is a "hot button" in scientific and political circles. Instead of siding with any group or scientifically proving a theory, we decided that most people would agree that human activities have consequences. We may not agree what, or how severe, those consequences may be. But, we can lessen the consequences.
One of the arguments about discussing Global Warming in school is creating fear. Fear can impact in a positve or negative way, but why take the chance. We chose to focus our Global Warming Exhibit on positive changes that individuals can make to help the environment and even save money. Empowering with knowledge is our message.
The Global Warming Exhibit is filled with bright images and ideas. We have set up over 30 web pages with suggestions and links to find more information. In a classroom setting, you could assign each student an images and have them report to the class.
Challenge students to find information that supports and information that contradicts popular ideas. An example is biofuels. The demand for fuels made from corn is growing enormously. Why? Better for auto emissions. So, farmers plant more corn to keep up with demand. Now there is a shortage of wheat (have you noticed bread prices lately?). Every action, positive or negative has a reaction. Our students today will be the professionals tomorrow dealing with these problems.
And if none of that appeals to you, consider the savings in your pocket when replacing a regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb saves you money every year. According to GE, you can save $36-$59 over the life of each bulb!
A step further? At www.lightbulbsamerica.com
you can arrange a fund raiser selling bulbs and making money while saving money. That fund raiser could even...
fund your Traveling Exhibit!
The AEP Award winners are announced in June, of course we'll keep you posted!