Resources
This page has helpful resources that I use in my classroom to promote environmental awareness and sustainability. Some of these items are on my blogroll, but here I can add images and a little more detail about them.
I’m currently reading a book aloud to my class called “Judy Moody Saves the World” by Megan McDonald. It’s pretty funny and brings up many environmental topics and facts. There aren’t many environmental fiction story books like this out there. “Hoot” by Carl Hiaasen would be example for older readers, but it’s not as chock full of info as this one. Judy is great for 3rd and 4th grade. Hoot is more a 5th or 6th grade text.
My class reads many texts about recycling early in the year. It’s a perfect topic for 9- and 10-year-olds in that it’s approachable, understandable, and something they can DO to help the planet. There are many recycling books out there and they all bring up issues of saving natural resources and energy while reducing waste. A series that I like a lot I call the “Why Should I…” series by Jen Green and Mike Gordon. “Why Should I Recycle,” is one book. “Why Should I Save Energy,” is another. There are four in the series. They are quick reads with a class and easy to discuss. Great illustrations and dialog bubbles in the images.
A super website for children to have fun on while learning about ways to protect the environment is called MeetTheGreens.org. I highly recommend the videos on this page. The story and wit behind the writing is brilliant, not to mention the Green family’s ability to hold the attention of kids and adults, alike.
A video that’s making the rounds (as it should be) is called The Story of Stuff. This is not for my 4th graders, but I’d recommend it for middle and high school students. Most importantly this is for the adult consumers out there. In all of my reading, the one thing that keeps coming up in environmental books is that we need to slow down our material consumption (i.e. shopping) if we are going to heal this planet. This video is the clearest explanation of WHY this is necessary that I have come across. Find 20 minutes, watch the film. Then forward it to your friends.
Free Range Studios, who produced The Story of Stuff, also created hits like Store Wars and The Meatrix. Store Wars is perfect for 4th Grade and up. Each year, my kids LOVE it. The Meatrix is better for 6th or 7th and up, especially The Meatrix II or II1/2 which are a little disturbing. Free Range Studio’s new video about PVC taught me a lot. But again, most of Free Range Studios work is more for adult consumers than for our classrooms. Meet the Greens is better in school than FRS.
If you want to start a composting program at your school, check out this great video I made from a lesson Park kindergarten teacher Kat Callard taught to her students!
Of course, one of the greatest things we can do is get our students outside connecting with nature. Last summer, I helped chaperon a 7th-9th grade trip to the Grand Canyon. Take a peek at this video if you want to see the moving power of nature. I think this might be the best video I’ve ever made.
An amazing resource for big picture planning work, curriculum, and more is The Green Schools Initiative.
This site deserves much attention and may be helpful in greening your school. On their Resources page, I found and really like the ideas from Antioch New England Institute, especially their PDFs on “Green School Guidelines Overview.”
The “Low Carbon Diet” by David Gershon is one of the best I’ve read to improve my home’s (and life style’s) energy efficiency. It is full of tips that help the Earth, but also save you money! After reading a book much like this two years ago, and doing most of the steps recommended, my wife and I cut our energy bill almost in half!
A book I’ll read later in the year, after the class knows a more about global warming and are a little older and more able to think abstractly, is called “Why Are the Ice Caps Melting?: The Dangers of Global Warming” by Anne Rockwell. The topic of global warming is a scary one, but even our young students are hearing about it and want to know more. At the very least, we should talk about it with kids to correct any misunderstandings (I had a student this year who thought the world was going to explode in ten years because of global warming and it was critical to help her understand that this would not happen). Having a book like this one, along with an optimistic outlook as a teacher is recommended (even if you are not optimistic…but if you truly think we’re doomed, you might want to find a new profession). “We’re going to solve this challenge” is important to note while talking with children about global warming. “How do you think we can help?” is a super next question.
Then get started! Use any of the books above to start this conversation. “How can we help?” “How can we use our hands, hearts, and minds to make this Earth more healthy and beautiful?” Write that on a poster chart and see what the kids come up with.
If you want ideas: Have a Catalog Canceling Challenge, start a recycling program, plant some trees, pick up litter in a park, write letters to a mayor or the president, write a play or movie, have a bake sale for the rain forests, walk in the woods and have each student partner up with a tree to study for the year, organize a walk to school day or a no meat day, the possibilities are many and beyond what I can ever brainstorm, but get started. Let the kids be part of the solution. It’s what they want. And it’s what they need.