Yearly I search for partaking Earth day actions that I can use in my classroom which are partaking and academic. It’s a troublesome job. I normally find yourself scrolling Pinterest for hours, solely to search out craft after craft after craft. I’m not taken with crafts. I need one thing that hits residence to college students for Earth day and simply how necessary it’s that we maintain the planet we stay on. , one thing actual world. Then it hit me, why not talk about our landfills!
Prior to now, I had used the Freddie Fish exercise to assist college students perceive about water air pollution. That has at all times been successful, nevertheless it was time to do one thing totally different. This time, we have been going to speak trash!
Discussing Landfills
Collectively, we mentioned the landfills in the USA and the way they’re made. I grouped college students and had them analysis a little bit in regards to the totally different landfills and the way some states journey throughout state strains to get rid of their trash, whereas others don’t. We additionally talked about what was going into these landfills. This was additionally the right time for me to introduce my college students to the phrases biodegradable and decomposing.
After we mentioned how lengthy it takes for some supplies to decompose and the way some supplies are biodegradable, I broke them up into teams and had them create their very own mini-landfills. This was my probability to permit college students to see in motion how our landfills are filling up.
Creating our Mini-Landfills
Every group was given a big plastic container with a lid, giant craft sticks, soil from outdoors (don’t purchase the shop soil), and 5 totally different gadgets. On my desk, on the entrance of the room, there was a wide range of gadgets for them to select from. The alternatives have been aluminum cans (reminiscent of a soda can), child meals jars and different small glass containers, small plastic supplies (reminiscent of small plastic bottle caps, plastic rings, small plastic lids, and many others.), egg shells, potato peelings, banana peels, styrofoam, strips of cloth, cardboard items, outdated leaves, different items of fruit, espresso grounds, tea luggage, and so forth. I attempted to encourage college students to take a minimum of one merchandise that will take a very long time to decompose and one biodegradable merchandise. Every group mentioned which gadgets they needed to put of their “landfill” (however they may solely select 5).
Of their teams, college students then crammed their plastic containers up with a minimum of two inches of soil and divided it up into 5 equal sections. Subsequent, college students buried every merchandise, one by one, in a unique part of the soil and tried to cowl it fully (some will solely be partly coated). College students then moistened the soil totally and positioned the lid on prime of the container. The scholars predicted which of their 5 gadgets they thought can be quick decomposers and which might be gradual decomposers.
Then I positioned the containers in a darkish location and out of the way in which (in a spot much less frequented). I returned the container to every group to stir and look at every part two instances every week for about 4 weeks to look at the contents and document any adjustments (odors, organisms, decay quantity). (If desired, you can begin this at first of the yr and proceed till the tip of the yr to see the BIG variations.)
As soon as this concluded, we mentioned that always these identical supplies find yourself in our landfills and take years to decompose, inflicting them to replenish in a short time. These odors amplify with the trash and will simply be decreased. Then I used this as a segue into discussing methods to cut back trash reminiscent of by recycling, reusing, lowering, and even attempting composting.
Seize the FREEBIE!
Seize this mini-landfill freebie that features a studying piece and an commentary chart to your college students to finish this partaking landfill exercise! Simply click on right here to obtain it now. I hope this earth day exercise of making your individual mini-landfill is successful!
Joyful Instructing!
