What can our sign say? What will it look like?

Today we took a few minutes and came up with some "sayings" for our no littering sign on the playground. We also drew a few pictures trying to figure out what it was going to look like. One idea - "Let's make all the playground equipment sad." I thought this was super cute! Students didn't finish their pictures in class, so they BEGGED to take them home and work on them. Can't wait to see what they come back with tomorrow!

Why is littering bad?

Today we did a mini lesson on what exactly trash was and why it's bad. Students talked about how the trash is bad for the playground and how, if it continued, they wouldn't be able to play on the playground.... which at this point, I had to jump in and explain that it wouldn't get that bad. Another comment a student made that made me smile was - "Mother nature would be sad!"

So what can we do?

Well, after a little debate, the 1st graders in room 1211 decided that making a sign to go out on the playground would be our best way to try and keep people from littering on the field. They kept wanting to just tell people to not litter, but after some scaffolding and probing, I was able to get them to realize that they personally couldn't stop EVERYONE from littering, hence the idea for the sign was born. One thing we talked about, was that if our sign kept just ONE person from littering, then it would be worth it. I'm so proud of my little activist!

"Save our Playground!"

One thing I've learned this year - never under estimate a First Grader! Today, we started brainstorming ways we could help clean up the trash left on our school playground. My students were all over this! Who knew that one little question - "Why is trash a problem on our playground?" would generate so much discussion. Unfortunately, I haven't mastered writing on the board and videoing, so here's a snippet of our our discussion....



Ideas we came up with regarding trash on the playground...
- Students and teachers could help Mr. Woods
- Go to little league practices and games and ask them to help clean up
- Purchase trash pick-up sticks to help pick-up
- Get more trash cans (need to count the number out there first)
- Make signs - "Save our Playground!"

A little background story - Garden Hills has a WONDERFUL playground and field in front of our school. The field is used on the weekends and evenings by local little league teams - specifically soccer, football and flag football. Every morning, when I get to school, the school custodian, Mr. Woods, is on the field picking up trash left by these teams. On Mondays, the 2 garbage cans by the stairs leading up to the school are overflowing with trash. Below is a short video of the field from the school.

Problems at School....

Today we discussed issues at school that the students thought were problems. We created a web of problems and came up with ways these could be solved. I really wish my camera was working because one of my students was very passionate when the topic of all the trash on the playground got brought up! A lot of my students joined in when she started voicing her concern for the playground, so, we decided to focus on "How to keep our playground clean?" for our project. Below are a few of the other topics we discussed....