9 Step Directions
Set up a “big and bold” Catalog Canceling Challenge in a school between multiple grades or in a Girl Scout Council. These steps will ensure a successful, fun project!
1 - Talk to your principal, teacher, troop leader (or whoever is in charge of you!) about this project. Get permission to proceed.
2 - Schedule a kick-off meeting for all involved.
3 - Build a storage bin to drop canceled catalogs into (or turn a bookshelf on its side). Some groups reuse copy paper boxes and put these labels on them for storage and display.
4 - Print out parent letter and math sheets and get your bin or boxes in a safe, visible place.
5 - Kick-off meeting! Watch the helpful introductory slide show and snazzy movies, and show how to use GreenDimes.com or CatalogChoice.org on a projector. End with an adult and a child canceling by speakerphone! Answer any questions. Pass out parent letters. Get your group pumped up!
6 - For 30 days kids bring canceled catalogs back to your bin or box.
7 - (Optional) Have the kids research and make posters, poems, or reports about saving trees and other resources. You can have a math lesson on place value and data using the math sheets. Participants could write a song or make movies!
8 - Keep it up! Some friendly competition between grades, schools, or Girl Scout troops can help, but encourage kids to understand that we’re all on the same team!
9 - Send in photos of piles to tedwellscatablog@gmail.com. Include group name, location, number of catalogs canceled, and number of children participating. I will post results and stories and might help pick a “winner” that might appear on NBC’s Today Show!
272 Hutchison Farm Elementary School “Huskies” in South Riding, Virgina canceled 1,710 catalogs, smashing their 1,600 catalog goal! Teacher Caroline Kuhfahl asked me if we’ll have this “Challenge” again in years to come. The answer is “YES!” Last year was the test drive. September of 2008 to April 2009 will be the second and more serious stage of The Challenge. We’re hoping the idea spreads around the country even more. Perhaps we can save 1,000 trees by canceling 80,000 catalogs (only 70,000 more to go!)