UNION COUNTY, NJ — From June 6 to June 10, schools in Union County were given the opportunity to participate in the Crayon Cleanout, a charity event where crayons are donated and prevented from entering landfills. Students were encouraged to gather crayons from home and at school to donate during this time. The winners will be awarded a STEM prize. Union County winners are St. John the Apostle School in Clark and St. James the Apostle School in Springfield.
Both schools are among the 10 top-collecting schools per student, and will choose from one of three prizes donated by Bedtime Math; a drone, a 3D printer or a telescope. St. John the Apostle School saved 156 pounds 14 ounces of crayons; and St. James the Apostle saved 107 pounds 8 ounces. Nearly 75 elementary schools in 18 counties throughout New Jersey participated in the initiative, which ran June 6 to 10. More than 25,000 kids joined the effort, saving 5,000 pounds of crayons.
“Any elementary school can participate,” said Sandy LoPiccolo, director of communications for Bedtime Math Foundation, a Summit-based charity. “Students will gather up used crayons from their homes and classrooms, saving them from the landfill. Bedtime Math’s free kit will guide teachers and students through colorful math exercises, in which the kids will count, sort and weigh the crayons to learn basic statistics. Top-collecting schools will vie for one of 10 grand prizes. Best of all, crayons will be recycled into new ones by The Crayon Initiative and donated to children’s hospitals all across New Jersey. Not only is this a great way to get kids thinking about numbers, but we’re saving the environment and helping other kids!”
The Bedtime Math Foundation announced a new partnership with The Crayon
Initiative to launch the Crayon Cleanout this April. The event ended on June 10, when crayons were weighed and sorted. Then winners were announced on June 21-22.
“Crayons will be weighed and sorted before we announced the winners,” LoPiccolo told LocalSource. “The top 10 collecting schools will receive their choice of a telescope, 3D printer or drone!”
Bedtime Math works to enable parents and students to become more comfortable with the often-dreaded subject of mathematics. The group delivers quick, engaging math problems to parents and students for them to solve together. So far, many students are benefiting from the math app created by Bedtime Math.
“In a given year, kids spend three to four times as many hours outside school as in it, so their parents have a huge effect on their learning,” said Laura Overdeck, founder of Bedtime Math, in a recent press release. “Parents are a child’s most important educators, and by using Bedtime Math, even the most math-anxious parents can add a little ‘math talk’ to their daily routine. With the support of school districts across the country, we’re hoping to help even more kids learn to love and embrace math.”
Studies have recently shown that students that use Bedtime Math are excelling in the subject as far as three months ahead of their peers. Parents that chose to participate in Bedtime Math had children excelling as much as half a school year ahead of their peers. The Bedtime Math Foundation has a positive impact on students and is now making a difference helping save the environment by partnering with The Crayon Initiative.