~ All Saints Episcopal~DaySchool

Serving Children of All Faiths Since 1985

HOBOKEN'S STRENGTHS &CHALLENGES 2009As seen through the eyes of its fourth graders, with aspecial focus on litter

Nicole ClarkeAustin ConteTessa DeFranco

Morgan FieldsGabrielle GangasarranChe Leonhardt -Garcia

Jaskeerat MannDelphine McCannDakota Rogers-MyersAaron Singleton

Researched, written and presented by the Fourth Grade class, All Saints Episcopal Day School:

Introduction

Good evening members of the Hoboken City Council. We are in the fourth grade at All Saints EpiscopalDay School. We are here to give a report to you that we wrote about litter in our Action Research class. Inaction research, we learn how to investigate and research a problem in Hoboken to make it better. Wewant to take this opportunity to thank you for your time and for allowing us to come to the City Hall andpresent our research and findings.

We have researched Hoboken's strengths and challenges. We think litter is a big problem in Hoboken. It isbad for the environment, it's ugly, it stinks, and it is pollution. In our Action Research class, we havecompleted many activities to research this problem. We went on a tour of City Hall, a walking tour ofHoboken, conducted man-on-the-street interviews, interviewed the Mayor of Hoboken and City Councilmembers, surveyed all Fourth Graders in Hoboken, and we went on a trash walk. We hope you find ourresearch interesting and that you will use it to make Hoboken a better place.

Our Survey

We sent student surveys to all of the Fourth Grade classes at Wallace, Calabro, Connors, Hoboken Charter,Elysian Charter, Hoboken Catholic Academy, All Saints Episcopal Day School, Stevens Cooperative, andMustard Seed School. All the schools responded to our surveys, which was 199 student responses. Wewere really surprised and happy with this response because we feel that kids really care about Hoboken,since every single Fourth Grade class took the time to respond. We read through each survey andanalyzed the results. On the surveys we asked Fourth Graders questions such as "Do you litter?" and "Doyou recycle?" to see if kids care about litter. For the question "Do you litter?" 4% of students answeredyes, 27% answered usually and 25% answered sometimes. In addition, 114 kids said that they recycle,which is 57% of all Fourth Graders in Hoboken. Only 39 students said they didn't recycle, which is 20% ofFourth Graders in Hoboken. 13 students, or 7%, said they usually don't litter and 33 kids, or 17%, said thatthey sometimes recycle. All together, 80% of Fourth Graders recycle at least some of the time.

The surveys also showed us that Hoboken has both strengths and weaknesses. Here are some things thatkids like in Hoboken. According to our Fourth Grade survey results, 66% said parks are the best part ofHoboken, 63% said restaurants and 57% said street fairs. Now here are some things kids don't like inHoboken. 75% of the kids said litter was a big problem in Hoboken. In addition, 72% of the kids thoughtdog poop was a big problem and 66% said too much gum on the streets and sidewalks was a big problem.Here are some things kids would like to have in Hoboken. 68% would like an outdoor pool, 67% said askating rink and 61% said a movie theatre. We're not surprised that people would want these because askating rink would be nice in the winter, an outdoor pool would be great in the summer, and a movietheatre would be fun on any weekend. In the future, it would be great if we could have these in our city.

Project Litter

We researched this project because if you walk down any street in Hoboken I bet you'll find at least onepiece of litter. Now we know that might be a downer, but it is the truth and the truth can hurt, so if we donot take action now the truth will start hurting our town. Referring back to the surveys, we asked kidsquestions about Hoboken and we were pretty surprised with the results. For example, our first questionwas "Do kids litter?" 4% of students answered yes, 27% answered usually and 25% answered sometimes.So then we asked ourselves: How many Fourth Graders litter at least some of the time, usually, and all ofthe time combined? The answer was surprisingly 43%! First of all, 43% of litter from just Fourth Graders is alot. That's almost half of all Fourth Graders in our city. But just think that is only 4th gradel How many moreother people might there be littering in Hoboken? Our 2nd question was "Have kids seen people litter?"69% said yes, 9% said no, 8% said usually not, and 15% said sometimes. This means that all together, 92%of Fourth Graders in Hoboken have seen people litter at least sometimes, if not all of time. Wow; that isentirely too much. These are the reasons why we have chosen to research the litter problem in Hoboken.We really hope our research will help to improve the litter problem in Hoboken.

~ All Saints Episcopal~DaySchool

Serving Children of All Faiths Since 1985

HOBOKEN'S STRENGTHS &CHALLENGES 2009As seen through the eyes of its fourth graders, with aspecial focus on litter

Nicole ClarkeAustin ConteTessa DeFranco

Morgan FieldsGabrielle GangasarranChe Leonhardt -Garcia

Jaskeerat MannDelphine McCannDakota Rogers-MyersAaron Singleton

Researched, written and presented by the Fourth Grade class, All Saints Episcopal Day School:

Introduction

Good evening members of the Hoboken City Council. We are in the fourth grade at All Saints EpiscopalDay School. We are here to give a report to you that we wrote about litter in our Action Research class. Inaction research, we learn how to investigate and research a problem in Hoboken to make it better. Wewant to take this opportunity to thank you for your time and for allowing us to come to the City Hall andpresent our research and findings.

We have researched Hoboken's strengths and challenges. We think litter is a big problem in Hoboken. It isbad for the environment, it's ugly, it stinks, and it is pollution. In our Action Research class, we havecompleted many activities to research this problem. We went on a tour of City Hall, a walking tour ofHoboken, conducted man-on-the-street interviews, interviewed the Mayor of Hoboken and City Councilmembers, surveyed all Fourth Graders in Hoboken, and we went on a trash walk. We hope you find ourresearch interesting and that you will use it to make Hoboken a better place.

Our Survey

We sent student surveys to all of the Fourth Grade classes at Wallace, Calabro, Connors, Hoboken Charter,Elysian Charter, Hoboken Catholic Academy, All Saints Episcopal Day School, Stevens Cooperative, andMustard Seed School. All the schools responded to our surveys, which was 199 student responses. Wewere really surprised and happy with this response because we feel that kids really care about Hoboken,since every single Fourth Grade class took the time to respond. We read through each survey andanalyzed the results. On the surveys we asked Fourth Graders questions such as "Do you litter?" and "Doyou recycle?" to see if kids care about litter. For the question "Do you litter?" 4% of students answeredyes, 27% answered usually and 25% answered sometimes. In addition, 114 kids said that they recycle,which is 57% of all Fourth Graders in Hoboken. Only 39 students said they didn't recycle, which is 20% ofFourth Graders in Hoboken. 13 students, or 7%, said they usually don't litter and 33 kids, or 17%, said thatthey sometimes recycle. All together, 80% of Fourth Graders recycle at least some of the time.

The surveys also showed us that Hoboken has both strengths and weaknesses. Here are some things thatkids like in Hoboken. According to our Fourth Grade survey results, 66% said parks are the best part ofHoboken, 63% said restaurants and 57% said street fairs. Now here are some things kids don't like inHoboken. 75% of the kids said litter was a big problem in Hoboken. In addition, 72% of the kids thoughtdog poop was a big problem and 66% said too much gum on the streets and sidewalks was a big problem.Here are some things kids would like to have in Hoboken. 68% would like an outdoor pool, 67% said askating rink and 61% said a movie theatre. We're not surprised that people would want these because askating rink would be nice in the winter, an outdoor pool would be great in the summer, and a movietheatre would be fun on any weekend. In the future, it would be great if we could have these in our city.

Project Litter

We researched this project because if you walk down any street in Hoboken I bet you'll find at least onepiece of litter. Now we know that might be a downer, but it is the truth and the truth can hurt, so if we donot take action now the truth will start hurting our town. Referring back to the surveys, we asked kidsquestions about Hoboken and we were pretty surprised with the results. For example, our first questionwas "Do kids litter?" 4% of students answered yes, 27% answered usually and 25% answered sometimes.So then we asked ourselves: How many Fourth Graders litter at least some of the time, usually, and all ofthe time combined? The answer was surprisingly 43%! First of all, 43% of litter from just Fourth Graders is alot. That's almost half of all Fourth Graders in our city. But just think that is only 4th gradel How many moreother people might there be littering in Hoboken? Our 2nd question was "Have kids seen people litter?"69% said yes, 9% said no, 8% said usually not, and 15% said sometimes. This means that all together, 92%of Fourth Graders in Hoboken have seen people litter at least sometimes, if not all of time. Wow; that isentirely too much. These are the reasons why we have chosen to research the litter problem in Hoboken.We really hope our research will help to improve the litter problem in Hoboken.

Man on the Street Interviews:

We walked around Hoboken and asked people walking down the sidewalks about litter. We interviewed 84people! The first question we asked was: "If there were recycling bins on the streets do you think peoplewould use them correctly?" 69 people said yes and 12 people said no. The 2nd question we asked was: "Doyou think litter is a big, medium, or small problem in Hoboken and are you concerned about it?" 35 peoplesaid litter is a big problem, 40 people said medium, and 20 people said small. 69 out of the 84 people weinterviewed are concerned about litter and only 15 are not. Question #3 is: "How do you think we canimprove the litter problem?" 8 people said the city should have more recycle bins on the streets, 8 peoplesaid more trash cans on the streets, 8 people said more education, 3 people said enforcement, and 3people said more caring and responsibility. The last question was: "What kind of litter do you see mostoften and where?" The.litter people said they see most often includes: cigarettes, cans, fast food, bottles,pizza plates, napkins, flyers, gum, bags, paper, wrappers, newspapers, dog poop and glass. Ten peoplesaid Washington Street is where they see litter the most, 5 people said parks, 3 people said the Path, 3people said back streets, and other places such as downtown, restaurants, Park Ave., sidewalks, 14th St.,bus stops, bars, and streets.

City Council Interviews:

We also interviewed some of the City Council members; they are Peter Cammarano, Theresa Castellano,and Nino Giacchi. We asked them these questions: "Do people complain about litter?", "Is there a placein your ward that has more litter than the rest?", "What is the most common complaint that you hear inyour word?", and "Is the problem of litter in your ward getting better or worse?"

Mr. Giacchi said the most common complaint he hears in his ward is about taxes and parking. He also saidthat there is a place that has more litter than the rest; he said it was Washington Street.

Mr. Cammarano said that people do complain about litter but not too often. He also said that when hesees a person litter he has a calm and direct conversation with them and reminds them not to do it again.

Ms. Castellano said that the litter problem in the ward is getting better because schools are giving kidsbetter education about litter. She also said that she sees a lot of cans and bottles on the streets.

Interviewing our Mayor:

Our class was very excited to get to interview Mayor Roberts. When we interviewed the Mayor we askedsome questions like, "Is littering against the law?", "Why aren't there recycling bins on the street?", "Dopeople in Hoboken complain about the litter problem in Hoboken?" and "Is the litter problem gettingbetter or worse in Hoboken?"

We learned a lot from our interview with Mayor Roberts. We learned that littering is against the law andthere is a fine. There are no recycling bins on the street because in the past people would mix therecycling with trash in the recycling bins. Overall, the Mayor said there are not a lot of complaints aboutlitter. The problem of litter seems to be bad at times and other times it is better.

We also asked if there is "More litter in one place than the rest?" Mayor Roberts said that restaurants, barsand near homes were the worst litter spots. Another question we asked was: "What kind of litter do yousee the most often?" As a response, the Mayor said" Paper, plastic items, and bags." The last question weasked Mayor Roberts was: "Is the problem of litter getting better or worse?" The Mayor said to keep aneye out for litter and Mr. Ranga, the man in charge of the cleanliness of Hoboken, said to spread the wordabout litter. In other words, education I

Trash Walk:

We walked up and down Washington street, looking for trash and litter on the sidewalks and streets. Werecorded and tallied all of the trash we saw, and we threw the trash out in a large garbage bag. We founda lot litter, unfortunately, and the most common types of litter are cigarettes. We counted 171 cigarettes injust 15 minutes. Within several minutes we counted 67 pieces of gum, and there was still so much so wejust stopped counting after that. We also found 29 wrappers stuck to the ground, and 5 pieces of food.Careful, don't step on the glass because we counted13 pieces of it. We also found 2 sticky lollipops. Donot cut yourself because we found 4 pieces of metal. We also spotted 4 rubber bands (probably becauseof all of the newspapers laying around). Also, we found 22 pieces of plastic, 8 pieces of rubber, and 3bottle caps. All together, we filled our entire large garbage bag full of litter. This litter was found in justone section of Washington Street.

These are our conclusions:

We care about Hoboken and want to make it the best it can be. There are many things we love aboutHoboken, such as parks, restaurants and street fairs. There are some things we think can be improved inHoboken. We are especially worried about litter in Hoboken. In conclusion, we want to summarize themost important things we learned from doing this project.

These are the most important things we learned about Hoboken:1) Kids think parks, restaurants, and street fairs are the best part of Hoboken.2) Kids think litter is the biggest problem in Hoboken.3) Kids and adults both think more recycling bins and trash cans can help the litter problem.

These are things we hope will happen in Hoboken as a result of this project:1) We hope people will litter less;2) We hope there will be recycling bins on the street;3) We hope there will be more trash cans on the street.

These are the most important things we learned about litter in Hoboken:4) Many children and adults all over Hoboken think litter is at least a medium or big problem in our

city;5) Many kids said they litter at least some of the time, if not all of the time;6) Gum, cans, and cigarettes are the most common types of litter in Hoboken.

Finally, we would like to express our appreciation for the people who have helped us:Mayor David Roberts, Councilman Peter Cammarano, Councilman Nino Giacchi, Councilwoman TheresaCastellano, Ms. Singleton, our Head of School, Ms. Nicole, Ms. Howard, our teacher, Ms. Delaney, the kidswho took our surveys, and the people on the street we interviewed. Thanks for helping us along the way!