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Ideas for Teachers

Eco-Activities for Teachers

Want to get your kids enthused about the environment? Check out this list of fun activities that will help both you and your children connect with nature.

Community gardening

Growing your own food while building a community are two great ways to get active with your kids. Community gardening brings these two elements together in communal gardens where members grow vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers. It’s a great way to teach your class about a whole host of environmental issues, from local ecology to conserving water.

Growing food locally and organically does wonders for the environment, and in a community setting, it brings people together. Regular visits to the garden will help them develop an appreciation and understanding of the wonders of nature and will allow them to return healthy food to the community.

Plots can be organized privately or through your local county council/municipality:

• Check out Toronto-based non-profit FoodShare for more resources and ideas on where to get started today.

• Check out the federation of community gardening for UK programmes.

Clean-ups

Cleaning up your outdoor environment, whether with a community group or with your family, is a great way to develop an appreciation for our green spaces. Clean-ups involve picking a green space like a public park or river and spending a couple of hours beautifying the area by removing trash. Months of neglect can fill our public spaces with garbage and diminish the quality and health of the space. By cleaning up a green space, kids learn the value of these areas and acquire a sense of responsibility for their care.

Many organizations and community groups organize annual clean-ups, which help bring the community together and demonstrates to kids how the environment is valued and cared for by the community. Be sure to figure out in advance where to dispose of the garbage - there can be a lot!

Make your School Green!

• Make recycling fun! Get some schoolmates together and get your school to supply some bins, one set for each school House. Then everyone in school can bring in bags for their House bins. At each end of term, the House that collects most waste is the winner!

• Save energy by turning off electrical appliances, turning down heaters and insulating.
• Ensure your school buses are running as efficiently as possible with regular services, careful driving and the best routes. There are even hybrid buses!
• Encourage parents not to drive their kids in. Walk, cycle, take the school bus, or start a car pool with classmates.
• Start a Plant a Plant scheme at school every spring. Encourage your teachers to have some more trees around the grounds or playing fields.
• Make good practices routine so that the kids go home with good habits. e.g. collecting litter and putting it in the right bin at the end of classes.

• Have a jumble sale every term. All school community families bring in bags a few days before, promote the times for all you wish to come and sell cheaply. The aim is to reuse old toys, clothes etc for other local kids.
• Do a poster or essay competition with an environmental theme.
• Sell an environmental carrier bag with artwork from one of your pupils. They can be used as school kit bags, parent shopping bags and promote your school to boot!

Health in Schools

As many as half of all U.S. schools suffer from indoor air quality problems. Asthma affects more than six million American children, who miss a total of 14 million school days per year as a result of asthmatic attacks.

If your school may have poor indoor air quality, why not initiate cleaning with less toxic ingredients, eliminating mold in ducts, and removing carpets wherever possible. Schools (and offices) can reduce much of the dust and other allergens that trigger asthma.

For a teacher resource centre for improving the environment at schools, including lesson plans and literature, click here.

You can find the definitive magasine for green teachers at Green Teacher.

Why not start your own blogspot with Google? Visit International School of Bangkok blog and adopt some of their great ideas for your school! Promote it with your senior classes and leave them to get blogging!

Rustle The Leaf has some great teacher resources in fun format that can be downloaded.

Award-winning Eco-kids site (Canada) has not only good games and fun layout for kids, but also good resources and materials for teachers & parents.

Teacher links to American resources for environment education.