Getting classroom support for environmental programs at an elementary school

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Abstract

Schools are a perfect place to teach composting and recycling habits that can last a lifetime. However, sometimes busy teachers and students can use additional motivation and support. At the Metropolitan Learning Center Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, AmeriCorps members come into the classroom to help participants remain focused and intent. Jennifer Rasor shared this effective practice with the K-12 S-L (service-learning) e-mail discussion list in May 2003.

Issue

Schools that have recycling or composting programs in place may find enthusiasm waning after the initial project activity has died down.

Action

Using members and volunteers for support can bolster the recycling efforts of students and teachers. At the Metropolitan Learning Center Elementary School, effective practices include:

Recycling

Through the Northwest Service Academy (NWSA) in Portland, Oregon, AmeriCorps members are placed with local schools to help with recycling programs.
Members teach instructors and students how to conduct a "waste audit" to generate baseline data regarding the volume and content of daily school waste from every room except the bathrooms (for sanitary reasons paper waste from the bathrooms is excluded).
- Members work with the entire school to set up recycling stations and design a procedure to rotate pickup and separation duties throughout the classrooms.
- Each classroom has a recycling station for colored and white paper as well as a separate bin for scratch paper that has been used on one side only. Classroom monitors check the bins to ensure that students and teachers are separating white and colored papers and that no "trash" is in the bins.
- Members target teachers who expressed a desire to change but were having a hard time thinking of "one more thing" in their busy days.
- Once these teachers are comfortable with the procedures, members are shifted to another classroom.
- Reference to best practices in the curriculum after the introductory unit of instruction is completed helps students stay focused and intent on the program.
- Periodic evaluation and reflection of concepts and practices helps to permanently change habits.

If your school doesn't already have a recycling program, check with AmeriCorps or the city waste department to see if resources exist in your area to help teachers put this infrastructure in place.
In Portland, Oregon the regional government ("Metro") has a recycling outreach person that will assist schools.
Your local recycling company may have curriculum materials or even real statistics describing local waste data that teachers can integrate into a math or science unit. If you aren't aware of a recycling company near you, call your city government or look in your local phone book to find the closest one.

Composting

In Portland, Oregon, Metro has a program that sends environmental educators into schools to help with building vermiculture bins for the classroom or compost bins for outside. Schools are able to compost most of their organic waste from the lunchrooms this way and use the compost in the school gardens.
Another idea for getting classroom support is to contact local gardening clubs to see if someone can help to set up composting stations. If there is someone in your area who does vermiculture on a commercial basis, that person may be helpful in developing curriculum and hosting a fieldtrip to their site.
If there is a university nearby that has an agricultural extension office, they may have some good composting resources.

Context

The Metropolitan Learning Center (MLC) is a well-established, long-term (35 years) alternative educational program. MLC offers a unique academic program focused on experiential learning, character development, service to the community and the pleasures of lifelong learning. The kindergarten program prepares students for school through developmental reading, math and social skills activities and in-depth subject studies. Elementary students spend mornings and some afternoons in core academic subjects. Other times are devoted to exploring areas of special interest in a wide-range of student choice elective classes and in class expeditions. Middle grade students work with specialists in language arts, math, science and social studies and participate in weekly adventure and service activities as well as electives. High school students build their own schedules based on graduation requirements, service opportunities, personal interests and the development of a portfolio of quality work.

Through the Northwest Service Academy (NWSA) in Portland, Oregon, AmeriCorps members are placed with local schools, community-based organizations, and government agencies. They are usually placed one per sponsoring organization, and serve with that same sponsor for their entire term of service. NWSA projects are developed by project sponsors and selected through a competitive process. Service activities vary from site to site, and generally focus on restoring watersheds, enhancing public lands, conserving resources, increasing awareness through environmental education, increasing community stewardship and volunteerism, providing educational support, and strengthening communities. Teams of members meet monthly to provide one another with support, networking opportunities, and a connection to the NWSA community. Each team of NWSA members has a Team Leader or staff member to provide support to members and their projects. Project sponsors provide on-site supervision and support to members.

Metro is the directly elected regional government that serves more than 1.3 million residents in Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington counties and the 24 cities in the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. Metro is governed by a council president elected region-wide, six councilors elected by district, and an auditor who is elected region-wide. Metro manages regional planning (urban growth, land-use, transportation); parks, trails, and green spaces (Metro and its partners plan and restore the region's parks, trails, and green spaces); garbage, recycling, and waste prevention (offers recycling help for businesses, nonprofits, and schools).

Outcome

According to Jennifer Rasor, having AmeriCorps members come into the classrooms on a regular basis to help implement the recycling program put some external pressure on teachers to be better role models with regard to composting and recycling. Jennifer stated, "One of the reasons we found this support so helpful is that many of the teachers were having a hard time changing their own habits. Once a teacher's habits seemed to positively shift, the members were moved into other teacher's rooms. Additionally, with the members as role models, the kids themselves would eventually put pressure on teachers to be more conscientious about recycling practices."

Posted On

April 13, 2004

Resources

Green Schools Energy Project: A Step-by-Step Manual (3.2 MB), created by YES! (Youth For Environmental Sanity), is a PDF document containing inspiring information about how to make a school's campus environmentally friendly. The YES website contains all kinds of great information ranging from composting and recycling to working with kids to develop strategies for energy use reduction, to data about tropical rainforests.

The Rodale Book of Composting: Easy Methods for Every Gardener, by Grace Gershuny and Deborah L. Martin is a useful tool for working with third grade students.

Worms Eat My Garbage, by Mary Applehof is a book of activities that can be used in conjunction with the worm bin composting or vermiculture done in kindergarten through third grade classrooms. There is a teacher guide that comes along with the book.

See: Standards and Indicators for Effective Service-Learning Practice, National Service-Learning Clearinghouse K-12 Fact Sheet.