New CCA ExCo!

In order to establish ourselves as a proper CCA, it was proposed that the CCA ExCo be selected as soon as possible. The candidates were the four Secondary 2 members. Since there were four of them, each one would have a post in the ExCo. 

After much consideration by the two teachers and the Secondary 1 members, plus short interviews, it was finally decided that Grace Khoo (2M 2011) would be taking on the role of the President. Li Yuan (2M 2011) would become the Vice-President while Celine Poon (2O 2011) and Jasminejeet (2O 2011) take on the roles of the Secretary and Treasurer respectively.

The newly elected CCA ExCo gave short impromptu thank-you speeches of their own and expressed their willingness to work hard and build up the foundations of the Environment Club. 

Meanwhile, the position of each member in the ExCo is not yet confirmed, since they are currently under a 6-month probation by the teachers. Updates will be given if there are any changes in the ExCo.

Let's give them support and encourage them to do their best in their new roles!

- Blog Admin

Official CCA T-shirt!

The year is coming to an end, and the members of the Environment Club spent some time during CCA sessions to come up with designs for our official CCA t-shirt!

As the Environment Club is not officially recognised by Cedarians yet (since this CCA was only established this year), we definitely hope that as we become more known to the other students next year, this t-shirt will represent us and our CCA.

In the end, we decided on a design by Lushna Gunter and Kam Ning Yih. Since the End-of-Year Examinations have finally come to an end, CCA will be resuming on Tuesdays, so watch out for the debut appearance of our CCA t-shirt!

- Blog Admin

A New Garden... IN SCHOOL?!

The Environment Club has been working on a new garden beside the Home Economics kitchens. With a border made up bricks lain by our Cedarians, the plots in the garden will feature herbs, spices and flowers! Some plants that we have decided to grow include lemon grass, orchid, sunflower and more! The students of the Environment Club are continuously putting forth suggestions on what flowers or plants we can grow in our garden. Meanwhile, the club will be putting up information on the different kinds of plants and flowers we are growing.

While the club has yet to find a name for this garden, the students will be working hard at growing new plants, so let's wish them the best of luck!

- Blog Admin

Hole for the Tree-Planting Event Successfully Dug

In preparation for this Friday's tree planting ceremony, 2A, 2M and a few other Sec 2 students worked together to dig a 1m x 1m x 1m hole at the area near the container classroom.

In the process, the 2M students found a huge rock in the ground and they were deciding whether to dig a new hole at another spot instead of moving the rock. They finally came to a decision: to move the rock. They worked hard at digging the soil around the rock, then finally lifted the rock out of the hole. 2M has decided to engrave their class name onto the rock.

After hours of hard work, everyone's efforts finally paid off when the students of 2M put the young tree into the hole. 

Congratulations and thank you, 2A, 2M and other volunteers from the Sec 2 level!

Do come down to the area to witness the ceremony this Friday at 10am!

- Blog Admin

Green Wave 2011

This year, schools around the world will plant a tree at the same time to commemorate Green Wave 2011.

As for Cedar, we've selected a rare tree, also known as Malang Malang. This tree is appropriate for parks and gardens.

Here are some special features of the tree:
- young leaves are pink, so the tree is useful as an ornamental tree
- its timber is better than teak
- roots can be used to treat rheumatic pains
- leaves can treat urinary tract infection

Why do we need to plant a tree? Trees help to reduce the greenhouse effect on Earth and also prevent soil erosion. In addition, a tree in a rainforest can house up to 2000 species of insects, fungi, birds, mammals, etc.!

- Blog Admin

Water Filtering Membrane Workshop by Dr Adrian Yeo

This week, during CCA session, Cedar Environment Club invited Dr Adrian Yeo from Singapore Membrane Technology Centre to organise a  hands-on workshop for all our members.

First, Dr Yeo did an introduction on membrane technology and how water could be filtered using hollow fibre membranes.
Then, the Sec 3 students who were taking part in the inter-school water filtering competition gave a presentation on their experience in water filtering as well as the conclusions that they had reached after trying out different glues and lengths of membranes.
After that, Dr Yeo's colleague brought the members some membranes, glue and transparent tubings. As soon as the glue dried, everyone queued up to test their membranes by trying to filter diluted Milo. Only about 2 or 3 out of 14 students managed to filter clean water out of the diluted Milo.

The Environment Club members definitely had a great time trying to make their own water filtering membranes!

Cedar Environment Club would like to thank Dr Yeo and his colleague sincerely for specially coming down to our school to give us this exclusive workshop.

- Blog Admin

Cedar's Community In Bloom

Did you notice the orchids outside Home Economics kitchens? The Cedar Environment Club has been potting them together with students from 2A and 2M. The orchids were donated by Mandai Orchid Garden as they were moving to a smaller location. Cedar Environment Club is intending to create an orchid garden while the other students will try creating hybrids of the orchids in the future.

5 easy steps to starting a Community in Bloom in School

Step 1. Form a gardening club
a. Gather interested participants among the teachers and students to form a gardening group.
b. Appoint a leader for your gardening group.
c. Get a support from your school principal for your community gardening project.

Step 2. Identify a suitable site for the garden
Contact NParks to help you select a suitable location for the proposed community garden. The following points should be considered when selecting a gardening site:
a. Obstruction to other common amenities
b.Ready water source
c. Amount of sunlight that the site gets
d. Level or sloping ground
e. Inherent ground condition eg: water-logging
f. Other safety considerations

Step 3. Organise a talk/workshop for teachers and/or students involved
a. Organise a talk/workshop for the participants where NParks can share tips on good gardening practices and ideas on setting up their garden plots.
b. Visit an established community garden in other schools to learn and exchange tips.

Step 4. Plan your garden
With guidance  from NParks, determine the following details:
a. Garden theme - eg: Fruit garden, Kitchen garden, Edible Garden, Ornamental Garden, etc.
b. Plant selection - eg: Fruit trees, Vegetables, Herbs, Spices, Flowers, etc.
c. Garden scale - Number of participants that determines the size of the garden.
d. Garden design - Schematic layout of the gardening beds according to the garden theme and the location of the different types of plants.

Step 5. Plant your garden
Once the garden plan is approved by your principal, prepare the groundwork through DIY or by engaging a suitable contractor.
a. Purchase plants, gardening materials and tools.
b. Start gardening immediately, to avoid hardening or erosion of soil.

- Blog Admin

Thursday (07/04/11) Assembly Programme

Today was the first assembly slot allocated to Cedar Environment Club and we're proud to announce that the assembly programme was rather well received by the Cedarians.

The four scenes, 'Misery', 'Indifference', 'Possibilities' and 'Hope', were very successful. From these four scenes, we hope that Cedarians have learnt:
- About the recycling bins in school as well as Pulau Semakau
- That keeping the environment clean is everyone's responsibility
- What we choose to do now will affect our future and there will be different possibilities
- It is not too late to save the Earth and just by doing little things to help save the environment, there will be hope

Heal the World Video


Many thanks go to Mrs Tan Tsui Fung, Ms Bernadette Dulko, Ms Priscilla Lim, Cedar Environment Club, 2S, as well as Esther, Charlotte, Cheryl, Sowmya, Nayli and Varenya of 2M.

- Blog Admin

CGSS Adopts Marina Reservoir on World Water Day 2011

Cedar Girls' has officially adopted Marina Reservoir as part of 'Our Waters' Programme.
Objectives of the Adoption:
Create (Awareness)
Enjoy (Water Resources)
Discover (Our Water Story)
Appreciate (Sustainability)
Reach (Out to the Community)

- Blog Admin

Green Stories Competition

Tanjong Katong Girls' School, South East CDC and the National Environment Agency have organised "Green Stories" Competition 2011 for all primary, secondary, JC and ITE students in the South East district.
All you have to do is submit entries based on the theme 'Managing our Environment, Saving our Future'.
- Students can work individually or in pairs
- No limit to the number of entries students can submit
Your entries can come in 3 different formats:
a) Short Stories - word limit: 150 (primary), 250 (secondary, JC & ITE)
b) Poems - no word limit
c) Photo stories - one photo + a caption of not more than 30 words
The deadline for all entries is Friday, 29 April 2011. Kindly email Cedar Environment Club for the application form.

- Blog Admin

Plant A Tree, Commemorate Earth Day

To commemorate the upcoming Earth Day in April, all Green Representatives are invited to suggest a native tree that we can plant in Cedar. Tell us what tree you think we should plant, and why (symbolism, uses of the tree, appearance, etc.). After we collect all the entries and select the best few entries, we will put a poll either here or on the LMS. Cedarians will have to vote for their favourite entry. 

Go Green Reps!

- Blog Admin

World Water Day 2011

During Wednesday Morning Reflections, it was announced that this year's World Water Day would be celebrated at Marina Barrage, as Cedar Girls' Secondary School is adopting Marina Reservoir.

Here are the details:

Date: 20 March 2011 (the Sunday of the March Holidays)

Venue: Marina Barrage

Time: 08 00 - 11 00

Activities: Dragon Boating Race, Mass Step Exercise, ABC Waters Through My Lens Photography Competition Prize Ceremony, Singapore River Clean Up, Kite Flying, Paper Plane Activity

Guest-of-Honour: Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong

This event has attracted many Cedarians as there will be a free T-shirt and goodie bag given to all participants. To avoid disappointment, sign up with your Green Representative now! Please also indicate your T-shirt size! (Deadline for Consent Forms: 11 March 2011)

- Blog Admin

Southeast Connects - Schools Networking Session

On 1 March 2011, 3 Environment Club members and 2 teachers represented our school in the Southeast Connects - Schools Networking Session. Schools in the Southeast district sent representatives to this network, where the representatives were to come together and share the Green programmes their schools had. It was a time for exchanging ideas as well as picking up some suggestions. Mr Matthias Yao, Mayor of the Southeast district, was also present to address the questions during the dialogue (Q&A) session.
Here are the reflections the Cedarians:

The Networking Session was very informative on the upcoming events and how we can collaborate on 'green' ideas with other schools. I think that the green portal is a good idea because schools can share ideas and keep track of what they have done thus far. Schools can even gain inspiration from projects done in other schools to make our projects more creative so that fellow students would want to get involved. The portal also shows us areas with more greenery and schools can schedule trips there to learn more about the environment. The Networking Session also provided a Question and Answer section with Minister of South-East District, Mr Matthias Yao Chih, where he would answer questions about our concerns of the environment. I think that was really helpful as our answers would be replied just then and we could clarify anything we had in mind.Jasminejeet, 2O

The network has really changed my mindset on how much people actually care for the environment. Seeing that so many people actually care about the environment and do so many things to help save the environment, I'm greatly inspired by that and also want to do my best for the environment too.
Li Yuan 2M

I find that this networking session had been very beneficial and enriching. I realised that even though Cedar is really 'green', Cedarians are still unable to change their style of living. Also, Cedarians live rather comfortably and they would not really have thought about green living. Thus, we need to work harder to convince Cedarians to be personally motivated to go green. I learnt that we should do more outreach, not only to our Cedarians, but also to other youths and children. For example, Tanjong Katong Girls' School planned workshops to reach out to young children, so that they can help to cultivate the habit of green living in them. I find that they truly think out of the box, as many of us would not have thought of working with younger children. Cultivating green living in little children would be successful as they would have experienced so much of that 'comfortable living'. I also learnt that there are many organisations that would be willing to work with schools to promote green living. It would also be good to approach them for some help if necessary. Organisations like NEA and Southeast CDC also hope to assist schools not only through funding, but also through other ways. I am very glad to have been given this opportunity to represent the school in this networking session and I hope that I can further contribute to the Environment Club as well as the Cedar Green Plan. Grace Khoo, 2M  

- Blog Admin

ASDA 2011

Here's another contest to take part in!

AVELIFE SUSTAINABLE DESIGN AWARDS 2011
This year's theme is 'Asia 2020' where all entries must be infused with contemporary Asian elements. Take part individually or in a pair and create a model of any scale based on the following themes:
Fashion
Home Decor
Furniture
Eco-Home Designs
Take note that 80% of your model should be made up of sustainable materials!
Submit a photo of your model to asda2010@avelifefoundation.org by the 5th of March 2011.
Email Cedar Environment Club for the application forms!

- Blog Admin

Green Wave Environmental Care Competition 2011

DOODLE SAVE IDEAS
Get creative, think green, and help sustain our environment! Gather your fellow green-minded friends and brainstorm on ways to protect Mother Nature and her precious resources. Doodle down your ideas - big and small, innovative or crazy - once inspiration strikes. Spruce these up into award-winning projects and send them to us. The best entries stand to win attractive cash prizes! Closing Date: 31 July 2011

For more information, please log on to Sembship Green Wave 2011. You can also download the entry form from this website.

- Blog Admin

I'MM A DESIGNER Contest

To kickstart the New Year, IMM Singapore has organised a T-shirt designing contest for all the youths. You can take part (i) individually, (ii) in a pair or (iii) in a group of 3 or 4 (maximum). All you have to do is to design a plain white T-shirt based on theme 'ECO'. 

Details:

Dates: 9, 10, 16, 17 April 2011

Venue: IMM Singapore (Garden Plaza Level 3)

Time: 1pm to 8pm

Guidelines: Participants are to turn up at IMM Singapore with their materials and express their creativity about 'ECO' onto a plain white T-shirt. 

Winners of the competition will receive up to $35,000 of cash vouchers and attractive prizes!

If you're interested, please email Cedar Environment Club for the registration form. Instructions will be given on how to submit the form.

- Blog Admin

ABC Water Through My Lens Photography Contest

The NYAA Council, PUB and the Keep Singapore Beautiful Movement are organising a photography contest called the 'Active, Beautiful, Clean Water Through My Lens' Photography Contest. This contest is held annually in celebration of World Water Day.

"The objectives of the photography competition are to raise awareness among Singaporeans about the Active, Beautiful, Clean (ABC) water sites and its related activities to motivate them to take photos that will help position these sites as a community asset for leisure and recreation."

James Soh PBM MBE
Executive Director and
Chairman, Organising Committee 

All you have to do is to submit a set of two photographs featuring at least two of the ABC Water Sites in a CD to the NYAA Council. All submissions must be enclosed with an entry form.
For more details, please visit this website: http://www.ksbm.sg/water_through_my_lens.html. You may also download the entry form from this website.

- Blog Admin

Art Installation on Display

Greenest Greetings,
Here is photo of the art installation on display!
We hope that the Green Reps will do their part by encouraging their classmates to take part in the contest. The prizes are really attractive!

- Blog Admin

What's the Big Idea Contest

Over the past two weeks, the Environment Club girls have been collecting recyclables from all the four levels to make an art installation. This art installation is now on display beside the Theatrette, next to the recycling bins.
As announced today (16/02/11) at Wednesday Morning Reflections, we have organised a contest for all the Cedarians. Here's what you can do to participate in What's the Big Idea Contest:
1. Tell us your interpretation of the idea in less than 50 words.
2. Type out your answer on the forum on LMS or pass your answer to your Green Rep.
3. Kindly indicate your name, class, register number and email address.

The best entry from each level will win a prize!

Remember, Green is the new Black!

- Blog Admin

A New CCA

Hey,
We are the Cedar Environment Club! Recently established by Mrs Tan Tsui Fung, the club aims to educate Cedarians and beautify the school. As a new CCA in Cedar Girls', the Cedar Environment Club consists of 2 teachers and 9 Cedarians.
This blog will be updated each week to let Cedarians know about the club's activities and events. Other than that, we will have polls and discussions.
Visit us again soon!

- Blog Admin