The Everything Green Classroom Book

From recycling to conservation, all you need to create an eco-friendly learning environment

Tessa Hill

• Publisher: Everything
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781440501739
• Topic: Didattica
• Subtopic: Gestione della classe

This book is the essential guide for teaching children about nature and environmental protection. This guide shows teachers how to incorporate "green" concepts into everyday lessons, activities, and field trips. Also included are ways to send the lesson home, with clear steps for teaching children how to make saving the earth a part of their daily lives. Features information on:

• The best ways to address issues like global warming and the disappearing rainforests
• Sustainable school supplies
• Eco-friendly fundraising
• Inspiring field trip ideas (from the local farm to the local landfill!)
• Innovative ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle

Teachers, students, administrators, and parents will learn to take green practices from the classroom to the larger world outside. By using teacher-tested activities and the inspiring stories of real kids, this book will motivate teachers and their students to turn education into action.

CHAPTER 1

Green Schools 101

Green, sustainable, environmental, eco-friendly, Earth-friendly. What does it all mean? However you say it, it means you are taking action to protect the planet and all of its inhabitants, including people. It sounds like a big job — and it is — but if everyone works together, it'll be a job well done. At a green school, everyone plays a part in protecting the planet. From the youngest student all the way up to the principal and the superintendent, everyone can do something.

Making a Difference

This is a pivotal time in human history. People have pushed the planet to its brink and it's time to change old habits in order to create a brighter, healthier future. To make these important changes, people need to understand what's going on and how their actions impact the planet.

What the World Needs Now

The planet needs help. People created the problems, so it's up to people to solve them. The atmosphere is warming up, leading to serious storms and causing the ice caps to melt. Pollution from factories, cars, and people makes the air and water dirty. Chemicals that are made in laboratories and used in everyday products end up in the bodies of polar bears and humans alike. Species are going extinct faster than at any other time in history.

It's a pretty dire picture when you examine it all at once, but if you look at it piece by piece you can quickly see how many opportunities there are for people to turn things around. It's time to set aside differences and come together for the common goal of a healthy future.

Many people all over the world have already begun making the changes necessary to protect the planet, but there is still much, much more to do. Every day is a new chance to teach another person, spark another solution, and create a better tomorrow.

How can you create a green classroom if your school isn't thinking green yet? Make the transitions easier by making your intentions transparent. Write letters to the school administrators and parents. Let them know you feel it's important to raise responsible global citizens who care for the Earth. Invite them to share ideas for teaching the students or making changes at the school. If they need additional convincing, tell them that going green is not just about protecting the planet: It also protects human health and saves money. The monetary savings are generally a clincher for schools.

Still, you know your principal, and perhaps the best way to get started is just to do it! Let the administration come to you if they have any concerns. A key to communicating your intentions in a less-than-hospitable community is by making sure you are using positive language instead of coming off as judgmental. Remember to pat people on the back for every small act and every little idea. It's much harder to teach adults to change their behavior (that's why it's important to start with children), so take things slow and encourage cooperation by keeping things easy. It's all about patience, persistence, practicality, and positivism. Before you know it, the children will be leading by example and the adults will have no other choice but to follow.

Children Are the Future

As all good teachers know, children are the future. If you're reading the daily headlines about global warming and pollution, the future can look pretty unappealing and downright scary. Yet there are already scores of teenagers and children who have gotten a glimpse of that future and decided it is unacceptable and avoidable. These young people are making significant changes all over the world. They are an inspiration, and they represent just a fraction of the imagination and hope the next generation has to offer. For example, Kids for Saving Earth (KSE) has been in existence since 1989. The first members have now become adults. Over and over again, KSE receives letters from former kid members — now adult teachers who are continuing to spread the spirit of Earth-saving.

Teachers are some of the most influential people in society. You hold the power to transform young minds. You lay the foundations for tomorrow's leaders. What you teach is what will be carried forth. Whether it's math, history, or sustainability, if you don't plant the seeds, the concepts will not grow. Even though living green is not a core pillar of today's curriculum, it is an imperative concept for maintaining a healthy planet for generations to come.

Luckily, a green education can be woven into the general lessons of reading, writing, arithmetic, and all other curricular areas. The most important thing about teaching sustainability is to empower the children through action. There are already countless examples of teachers engaging children in environmental activities that inspire the students to initiate a wide variety of other actions in all arenas of life — at school, at home, and in the community. Children almost instinctually understand the importance of protecting wildlife and the Earth. They have to live in the future we created, so they know they must change that future. All they need is a little direction about how they can help.

Going green from the get-go saves a school a lot of green. According to a report for the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, the cost of building a green school can be 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent more expensive than a conventional building, but the financial savings after twenty years are about $70 per square foot. That's more than ten times the initial cost.

Walk the Talk

Having a green classroom does not simply mean that you incorporate environmental concepts into your curriculum. It's not just about teaching sustainability; it's about trying to live it every moment you spend together. It sounds tough at first, but as you venture down the green path, you'll find that it quickly becomes habit. New ways to discuss it, learn it, and live it will continuously emerge. You'll also find that walking the talk strengthens the educational outcomes by making the learning process experiential.

Making a Green Classroom

Your classroom should reflect the concepts of green living and planetary protection that you intend to teach. It's nearly impossible to transition to a totally sustainable building in the blink of an eye, but there are many small ways you can make the classroom embody what you teach.

Sustainable School Supplies

When you're shopping for the basic supplies for your classroom, look for Earth-friendly options. Here are some examples:

• Choose paper that has been processed chlorine free (PCF), to avoid dioxin and mercury pollution from the bleaching process, and choose the highest percentage of recycled post-consumer waste (PCW) available.
• Opt for folders and binders made of recycled cardboard and paper instead of PVC or other plastic products.
• Find recycled pencils, recycled plastic pens, soybean crayons, and nontoxic unscented markers.
• Pick paperclips, scissors, and other incidentals made with recycled materials.
• Use the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool found at www.epeat.net to help you select the most environmentally friendly computer for your classroom.

Green office and school supplies are becoming increasingly available through major retailers, but you may still run into difficulty depending on your location. Shop online and you'll find everything you need and products made from materials you never would have imagined, like paper made from bamboo. Make your purchases “speak” to your students by posting signs by each item that explain what they're made of and how that's better for the planet.

Use your green classroom not only as a model for your students, but also as a model for the rest of the school, the parents, and the community. Take every opportunity possible to have people tour your room to look at what you have and do. Invite a local newspaper or television station to do a story on it. Spread the word!

Keeping It Clean and Green

Many conventional cleaning products have ingredients in them that pollute the air inside your classroom. They can also cause headaches, asthma and allergy attacks, and other health problems. Keep your classroom clean by using products that don't hurt the Earth or human health. You can find safer products at www.healthyschoolscampaign.org in its Green Clean Schools resources. Green Seal (www.greenseal.org) is another national nonprofit that certifies products for offices and institutions.

Beware of what the Center for Ecoliteracy calls “hidden curricula” in schools. These subliminal messages can undermine the good lessons you teach in your classroom. For instance, if your cafeteria uses Styro-foam plates and cups, this contradicts what you say about the harm they do to the environment. What are the hidden curricula at your school?

Taking It Outdoors

As much as possible, take your students outside. Getting in touch with nature makes people more apt to want to protect it. Even if you're not specifically teaching an environmental concept at the time, just being outside in the sunshine is important. You can sit in the grass and read a book or work on math equations. It might be difficult at first to keep everyone focused on the task at hand, but the more often you do it, the more the children will become accustomed to it and appreciate their time outdoors.

Another way to get a quick glimpse of the natural world is to take an outdoor route when you're going from one area of the school to another. It might be a longer walk to find the nearest exit to your classroom and then traipse around the building until you find the nearest entrance to the cafeteria, gym, or library, but the time outside is a tiny opportunity to enrich your class. Did anyone see a bird or some other type of animal? Did anyone see a bug? What types of plants are growing? What was the weather like? The first couple of times, you can devote a little class time to discuss what the students experienced. Make a large bulletin board showing your school and grounds. The students can regularly draw pictures of what they saw and add them to the board. Each time you take a quick walk, pick one or two students to add a drawing during th...