Sixth Graders at Roosevelt Children’s Academy Simulate a Landfill!

The sixth grade students here in Roosevelt were very confused about what happened to our garbage. The students felt that they threw away so much garbage a day and they did not understand what happened to it all. In technology class with Ms. Gallo the students were asked to bring in some garbage that they would normally throw out. Students brought in plastic bottles, paper dishes, cardboard boxes, plastic silverware, juice pouches, cookie wrappers, an old tee-shirt, clothing tags, and a broken cell phone, lots of paper, pens and pencils. Ms. Gallo brought in food items including a school breakfast, a school lunch, chicken bones, carrots, cucumbers and old cold cuts. We then put all of this garbage in a plastic container. We got some free dirt from a neighbor of our school; we covered the garbage with dirt, closed the container and put it out back. We plan to check back with our landfill in a few months to see what has decomposed and what hasn’t.

Classroom Earth

High school teachers will find loads of resources at ClassroomEarth, a site that features teaching about the environment. Even though the stress is on environmental science, the site includes sections that promote learning in social studies, the arts, mathematics, and language arts. All the information at Classroom Earth is available in both Spanish and English. Resources can be searched by subject area or topic (such as climate, pollution, water, government, urban environments, energy); language arts material is divided into Grades 9-10 and 11-12. There's a section to help with teaching about the environment and a list of some really nice professional development opportunities for teachers.

Check Out These Environmental Education Grants

ClassroomEarth has a list of grants for those interested in environmental education. Grants and awards include the Irwin Andrew Porter Foundation grants (available in seven states, $500-$3000), due 06/01/09; SCA Green Your School Contest for high school projects (awards of $2,500 to $5000, due 10/09/09; GreenWorks Grant for student-led service projects (awards up to $5000), due 10/31/09; Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Training, K-12 math or science teacher, ($10,000), due 05/01/09; NEA Student Achievement Grants for improving achievement ($5000), due 06/01/09; and a number of others. Some of the deadlines have passed, but if you are interested in these grants, be sure to be on the lookout for the 2010 announcements.