Every spring and fall my husband teaches Outdoor Education to local 5th and 6th graders.A part of the educational process includes teaching about food waste and composting. On an average day 100 students fill about 1 trash drum full of food waste. During the week of the food waste challenge,they end up with 20lbs for the entire week of food (including breakfast, lunch and dinner), and then it gets composted and used in the garden. Happy Dance!
We begin the food waste challenge by talking to the students about what happens when you waste food. When you waste, it goes into landfills. In the landfill it gets closed into a plastic bag and produces methane gas. Methane gas when released absorbs the suns heat, warming the atmosphere.
We also share about stewardship and the resources God has given us. Our hope is to increase their awareness of the people around them, noticing that when we consider our waste we may have more to share with others in need.
Kids can learn to be less wasteful and better stewards of the land.
Here are some easy steps to to teach kids about the importance of conserving food:
Food Waste Challenge Tips For Kids
1. Appeal to the “why” of less food waste. Brief your students in the environmental impact of wasting food. Be sure to include the importance of not using more than we need. Place pictures of children in poverty areas in your food waste station and talk about what you can do to help. Think about making a donation based on how much your class can conserve. Talk about the importance of caring for others as we care for the land.
2. Set up a “food waste challenge” station. This can be set up in your classroom or cafeteria. Chart how much was wasted at lunch time before the challenge started. Challenge students to only take what they will eat. Students will weigh in their food scraps and tally up the ounces every day for a week.Think about making a goal chart and having rewards for each goal point that relate to helping others who may have less.
3. Place scraps in a bucket with a lid every day (may need to store outside of classroom door).If possible add these scraps to a composting station on campus. If that’s not possible, ask around for a local gardener or community garden that could use the scraps in their compost.
4. Build a simple compost bin like these! Involve your students in the daily composting routine. Start with a pile of carbon materials (anything brown 🙂 paper, cardboard, leaves, grass etc), then add your food scraps daily and cover with more carbon materials.For more in depth composting check out this Composting 101 article.
An important part of caring for our earth includes decreasing food waste. Helping young people see the importance of resourcefulness with food can be easy and fun. An added bonus is the joy of sharing our resources when we only use what we need.
For continued age-appropriate Earth Day activities check out:
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I thought it would be a perfect time to focus on LOVE (I want you all to know that I’m writing this article just as much for myself as for you).Genuine, caring, heart-felt love for our students can be a game-changer in their lives..and in ours as well.
We all know the education system from our childhood isn’t near the same as the one today. Gone are the days of big teacher hugs, pats on the back, and most physical displays of affection in a lot of our school settings.
Most educators I know are passionate about teaching and deeply care about their students and their well-being.It’s one of the main reasons they teach, to make a difference in the life of a child.But how do you show your students that you care about them, when you can’t even give them a hug when they’re feeling down??
Here are 7 easy ways to show your students they are safe, adored and all is well:
1. Give eye contact with a smile. Connections most definitely come through eye contact and what follows. It sends the message of acceptance and love, or disapproval and rejection.Think about the random smiles you receive from those you love. They definitely create that warm and safe feeling inside.The same will happen for your students. Make a point to look your student’s in the eyes and smile.
2. Speak kind words. As educators you most definitely know the difference between your students saying “Yes, Teacher” with a loving tone, or “Yes, Teacher” with a grunt and eye roll. Speak love into your students lives. Be mindful of the way you speak your words and the tone you choose to use.Even a simple “Good Morning Lexi, How was your evening?” in the right tone can create the atmosphere of kindness and love you are looking for in your classroom.
3. Be interested and ask questions. Think about a time when someone has met you several times, yet the questions they ask certainly confirm “You don’t know me”. Get to know your students. Ask them questions about their hobbies, favorite foods, books, sisters, brothers…them! If you need to, keep a journal with answers they have given you so you can reflect on them later. Throughout the year, ask them questions about the topics earlier discussed (How is your dog’s foot after he stepped on that spur? Did your brother throw his broccoli on the ground during dinner AGAIN last night?) Showing a genuine interest in their lives will go extremely far in showing that you truly care.
4. Be present. I feel that as educators it can be one of the most difficult challenges to be present with each child. We are amazing multi-taskers and are usually thinking of 100 other things while we are teaching each class and each student (Uh oh, Johnny’s out of his seat again…Did I pass out the correct worksheet?… Who’s on after school duty?…Did I start the crockpot before I left this morning?) It is so important that our students see and know we are present with them.This means focusing in on staying in the moment when possible.Everyone knows what it is like to be with someone that seems to want to be somewhere else.Give your students the gift of being in the moment. Be Present.
5. Have a special routine. Connections are really amplified through three main areas: eye contact, physical touch and fun.Since most of us can’t go mauling our students every morning with a huge hug and thousands of kisses… we need other appropriate ways to connect through physical touch. There’s nothing like a good ole high-five or the sweet old-fashioned “secret handshakes” of our childhood (we seriously rocked the “Say Say My Playmate” chant in 3rd Grade). Why not come up with a fun “Good Morning Handshake” when your students come in the door or right before you leave. You could really jazz this up with serious knee clapping, finger snapping, spinning around and the whole shebang. Even older students would love to participate in coming up with their own celebration “handshake”.
6. Find out your student’s “Love Language”. The five love languages of children are: Physical Touch, Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Gifts and Acts of Service; as laid out in Gary Chapman’s book The 5 Love Languages of Children. Check out the book “The Five Love Languages of Kids” by Gary Chapman for an in-depth look at each love language.You can even group your students into each category for a quick and easy love check list.Once you have a list you can check it daily.Then go through your list and speak words of affirmation to those that need it, spend one-on-one extra time etc. with each student according to their specific need. Intentionality doesn’t equal fake, it means that you are wanting to meet those needs and show love to your students.
7. Love them. Ha! This one is a little bit of a tricky play on words. On a serious note though, sometimes it’s hard to love and care about some students that are…well…a little difficult to love and care about. Can you find one thing today that you like or appreciate about each student? I would suggest making a list to help bring some of those positive things to the front of your mind.Even if you are struggling with what to write for a particular student, keep in mind that in reality you don’t need a reason.Each child deserves to be loved, regardless of whether they act like it or not.
Looking back I can distinctly remember my teachers that were kind and showed me genuine love. That love and kindness made more of an impact on me then all of the Math, Language, Science etc. ever could.
P.S. Don’t be surprised if your students start doing some of these same things with each other. When a culture of love and acceptance in cultivated, there’s no telling where it’s impact will end.
If you’re looking for a craftivity to use around Valentine’s Day to connect with your student’s hearts and to teach them how to be more loving to others, check out my THANKFUL HEART CRAFTIVITY. It’s all about heart-felt gratitude and helping your students learn to show appreciation to others.
Click on the picture for this FREE Bible verse printable.
Thanksgiving is such a warm holiday in the middle of some possibly not-so-warm weather. As a child I absolutely loved Thanksgiving; the table full of amazing food (aka stuffing and pumpkin pie…extra whip cream please 😉 ), the togetherness of family, giving hearts…and we can’t leave out the amazing next day leftovers (stack them all on a sandwich? anyone else? no?)
It’s also a time of year where I can’t help but realize our abundance and in turn some other’s lack. Lack of food, lack of warm clothes, lack of shelter, lack of family and close friends. What do we do with that? What are we called to do? As brothers and sisters in Christ we are called to do quite a bit actually. In James 2:15-16:
“If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?”
I don’t know about you, but this can feel overwhelming and completely paralyzing for me… after all, I realize that I can’t possibly help every person poorly clothed or lacking in daily food. I do know one place to start though, and that is ME and my heart. I can start by recognizing the blessings in my own life and being thankful for them.
I recognize that what I am focused on can be in turn what my children end up focusing on. It has been on my heart lately more than ever to help my daughter focus on kindness and thankfulness. We’ve started writing down what we are thankful for every day and putting it where we can see it.
I created this family blessings printable that you can use for your family or in your classroom (There’s a printable that just says “Give Thanks”). You can write each person’s name at the top and then every day write something new (The easiest way to do this would be to laminate it, stick it in a page protector sheet or in a picture frame with glass over it. Then use a dry-erase marker or visa-versa and reuse it daily.
Click on the above picture for the FREE Family Blessings Download.
Click on the picture to head to the craftivity.
I also created this hands-on craftivity that helps children focus on thankfulness.
I also want my kids and I to focus on others and their needs. No matter how big the need is we can all do something. 🙂 This year we focused on filling a bag for a family in need for Thanksgiving.
I would also like to be prepared when driving around town and seeing someone in need with a bag of food or supplies. I found this neat link for some great ideas:
Click on the above picture to head to “CoolProgeny” for this homeless care package idea.
My hope is that we can instill thankfulness and a giving heart in this generation of young people. I know that it needs to start somewhere, it needs to start with Me.
Do you have any thankfulness ideas to share? I would love to hear them in the comments below.
As a kid I remember shopping for tear-out Valentine Cards with silly sayings, then writing the names for my entire class on them. At school we would decorate little shoeboxes for our peers to deposit our cards on. The day was filled with exchanging cards, endless heart shaped candies with words like, “Be Mine” and teasing & speculating over who liked who. Ever wonder where these Valentines traditions came from? I did too!
I have to be honest, I’m really hoping that Punxsutawney Phil does not see his shadow this year! I love warm weather and I’m already ready for some sunny days and gardening.
I created this Groundhog Day Unit as a fun way for students to learn some facts about groundhogs and make an enjoyable craft at the same time. I almost squealed with delight the first time I had the groundhog pop in and back out of his burrow with the craft stick.
I absolutely love the quote by Dr. King where he says “…they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Based on this quote this fun craft will help students explore different attributes that make up good character, discussing why it’s important not to judge others on their outside appearance.
Thanks so much 3AM Teacher for sharing this adorable picture!
We are recouping from a fun-filled Holiday weekend with amazing food, family chats, nature hikes and late night hang-outs. Mmmmmm good!
I’m excited to gear up for tomorrow’s huge TPT CYBER sale (Dec 1 & 2)! WAHOO!! My store is going to be on sale along with many other great sellers. Be sure to use the code: TPTCYBER at checkout for an additional 10% off the already reduced prices.
Every spring and fall my husband teaches Outdoor Education to local 5th and 6th graders. A part of the educational process includes teaching about food waste and composting. On an average day 100 students fill about 1 trash drum full of food waste. During the week of the food waste challenge,they end up with 20lbs for the entire week of food (including breakfast, lunch and dinner), and then it gets composted and used in the garden. Happy Dance!
