What can we do about the litter in our schoolyard?
Outdoor play was a very important part of the Kindergarten day! The Kindergarten learners did not share a recess time with the other learners in the school and were often outside after recess time had ended. After reading some books about taking care of Earth and doing a schoolyard cleanup with their learning buddies, they were shocked that they found litter in the schoolyard in the days following!
The teacher provided the learners with gloves, garbage bags, and grabbers, and the class did a cleanup again the next day. This time, when they were finished their cleanup, the teacher brought the bags inside and opened them up onto the tables. Learners sorted the litter and noticed a pattern. Most of the litter that they found outside was food wrappers!
The teacher posed the question, “I wonder why people are leaving their food wrappers on the ground?” Then she asked, “How might we help?”
Learners came up with many answers and, the next day, the teacher chose to highlight two: “Maybe they don’t know that it’s bad!” and “They can’t find a garbage.” The teacher prompted them to think about what they could do to address these answers. She also shared some stories and videos of young change makers. The class decided that they would make posters encouraging other learners not to litter and to share them on the morning announcements before posting them around the school. The teacher helped learners write their messages, which included “Don’t litter!” and “Put your snack in the garbage!” The class also invited the principal in, and the class explained their reasoning and rationale for needing another garbage can closer to the playground.
As the following weeks passed, the Kindergarten learners kept their eye on the playground to see if their campaign had made a difference, and they found there was far less litter on the playground!
