As part of their Unit of Inquiry on Sharing the Planet, the Grade 1s have been exploring how the choices people make can either protect or harm their environment. To help them with this central idea they were joined by Elements Society for their multi-day Zero Waste Place workshop.
The Grade 1s’ unit focuses on three lines of inquiry: how living things depend on the environment, what are the effects of garbage and pollution, and what are the responsible actions that support the environment? All of these questions were explored in this interactive workshop.
Learning Sustainability through Action
The series of workshops began with a discussion on how animals help take care of nature, which led into an exploration of how humans impact nature. Students participated in in-class games like This-or-That and Eye-Spy to practice identifying the choices we can make each and every day to help the planet.
To apply their learning the students participated in a park cleanup. After an important safety briefing the students embarked to Green Slide Park, a frequented favourite spot of our Junior School students, armed with pinchers, buckets and safety gloves. The students worked together in pairs and small groups to pick up rubbish around the playground.
After returning to the school, the students used their acquired knowledge of waste categories to sort the trash so it could be disposed of properly. There were lots of smiles as students got to be hands on with both service and sustainability in our own community.
Students’ Thoughts
Following the end of the program, the students reflected on the activities and how humans can both help and harm the environment. When asked how they felt following the workshop, there was a range of emotions:
“I felt sad because animals could have eaten the garbage.” — Maggie
“I felt happy because I helped the Earth.” — Abby
“I liked helping the environment by picking up garbage around the school” — Cayden
“I thought that it was super interesting to learn that worms eat compost” — Lorraine
This hands-on experience helped our Grade 1s connect their Unit of Inquiry to the real world in a meaningful way and to be empowered to take meaningful steps toward sustainability. Using their approaches to learning in thinking and collaboration, these young stewards have demonstrated that even small, daily actions can make a big difference.
