Back to School Time: Teachers, Green your Class!

The school bus is going ’round and ’round… which means for a lot of us, more traffic on the roads and an influx of students walking through Philly to class.

But for that special breed of the population responsible for the development of our future leaders, it means time for to educate our youth.

While we gave some tips for Teacher Appreciation Week, it’s time to  remind teachers to try to remember eco-friendly themes in the classroom. After all, you’re the ones molding our children and can help them be environmentally-conscious individuals!

Here’s a few more ideas of what you can do:

• Set up a recycling bin and teach kids what you can recycle
• If you can get permission, set up an outdoor compost
• Incorporate upcycling art projects – have kids bring in a ‘disposable’ item and create a work of art from them
• Grow plants
• Have a school “Clean up” day – whether at a local park or area close to school
• Adopt an endangered animal – and inform kids of what we’re doing makes an impact
• Get kids to use both sides of the paper – something they can get used to and continue to do
• Have students turn off the class computer at the end of the day (I should implement this in the office, too…)
• Calculate your class’s carbon footprint
• Plant a tree and measure its growth over the year
• Make it fun: Set a class “competition” to who can recycle the most (or a specific green goal like reducing the carbon footprint).  Track it and ‘award’ the class with a green themed gift like a recycled notebook

Teachers, any other projects you’ve done or can suggest?  Good luck this school year & thanks for your dedication!

Posted by Julie

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Julie Hancher is Editor-in-Chief of Green Philly, sharing her expertise of all things sustainable in the city of brotherly love. She enjoys long walks in the park with local beer and greening her travels, cooking & cat, Sir Floofus Drake. View all posts by Julie Hancher