Create a "Green Classroom" for the 2009-2010 School Year
Tuesday June 23, 2009
Do you recycle paper in your classroom? Do you encourage your students to minimize waste and reuse materials, as much as possible? It's not as hard as you might think to add a splash of "green" to your elementary school classroom. Start with these eco-conscious first steps and you'll be well on your way to inspiring the next generation of citizens to think twice before wasting valuable resources. It all starts with the teacher's attitude and actions.
How do you show your green stripes in the classroom?
Comments
These are all great tips for creating an eco-conscious classroom. Many of these practices are currently employed at my school. We just received Maryland Green School status last year. I agree that the teacher must serve as a model and must be consistent in practicing eco-friendly behaviors.
Throughout the year,the students and staff at my school recycle glue sticks, water bottles, juice pouches, ink cartridges, etc. We also have a recycling club that stays after school on Fridays to collect the materials for single streaming. At our last Earth Day celebration, each student was given one of the recycled water bottles that were collected throughout the year. At one of the stations, each student made an eco-friendly green cleaner to take home to their parents. Another activity that the students really liked was when we challenged them to pack waste-free lunches. We charted the amount of waste vs. recyclable packaging that students brought in their lunches throughout the week. This visual representation resulted in a large reduction in the amount of non-recyclable material that students packed for the rest of the school year.
Lastly, our school put on a performance called “Cool the Earth” that reinforced the importance of reducing global warming. Following the performance, each student was presented with a golden coupon book full of environmentally friendly activities that they could perform at home. In exchange for each ticket, they were presented with a small token of appreciation for doing their part. This reinforced the students exercising green practices at home instead of only being green at school. Green school status has been a huge success in our school and I look forward to another green year.
Caring for the environment is everyone’s concern. In our school, we organized pupils’ organization. We tapped these to carry out programs and projects to promote environmental care. The pupils’ government together with the science club organize the recycling movement. The aim of which is to create creative projects such as pillows, vases and mats out of recycled materials. t the end of the year the teaching staff. rewards the pupil who was encouraged to do the most beautiful and functional output.
In addition to the activities I mentioned before, the teachers at my school do their best to incorporate a variety of Project Wet activities across the content areas. Our school held a professional development workshop last summer and each teacher was presented with a Project Wet curriculum and activity guide. It includes many hands-on, water-related activities for K-12 students. Many of the stations that were part of our Earth Day celebration came from this guide. For further information you can visit http://www.projectwet.org
I thought you would be interested in a new technology called GreenQuest, which is an energy tool that teachers can use to educate students about energy and the environment. GreenQuest is a personal Web-based energy dashboard that enables individuals to track the energy for their home or business for free. Teachers can use GreenQuest in the classroom and also offer it to their community, leading them to a more efficient, less costly, and cleaner future. More than 150 school districts have already signed up for FREE GreenQuest web sites.
GreenQuest includes valuable energy benchmarks, carbon footprint, weather analysis, performance charts…even a free ENERGY STAR interface for the business owners in a community! It’s an easy-to-use, informative teaching device…a FREE instructional tool with real-world application across multiple subject areas.
Since school’s out, sign up as a Basic Sponsor before August 31 and the setup fee will be waived. And, as Basic Sponsorship doesn’t cost anything—ever—so you and your community can use GreenQuest for free—forever. Get in while school and the setup fee are still out!
Check out the School’s Out promotion at