Classroom Tips for Going Green (Teach Two Reach)

Hi Guys. I definitely need to work on going more eco friendly in the classroom! Here are some ideas I have used and some I would love to do in the future!

I apologize for the lack of pictures of my own classroom. My laptop is giving me major troubles - doesn't let me open my pics, and I'm not in the classroom this year to take some new ones!!! :(((

Recycling Cereal Boxes:

Picture from simplehomestuff.blogspot.com

One thing that I do consistency each year is assigning projects using cereal boxes. I have students take their old cereal boxes and cut them up to create different items. We do a cereal box cover story. So the kids take the characters on the cover of a cereal box and use them in an adventure story. The "cover," of the story is the cover of the box. 

We also do a country report project every year and the way the students have to present it is in a cereal box. So they cut the cover of the cereal box and make it into a flap door. They cover up the box with pretty paper and put the title and some pictures on the outside. On the inside they use index cards to write down various facts and glue pictures as well. This is much more appealing to them than writing reports on regular paper!

Recycling Show

During Earth Day Week, we would do a recycling project where students would find items around their house and put them together to create something new. We would get tons of cool submissions such as recycled robots. We'd have a "show," where everything would be displayed outside the classroom and other classes could come take a look throughout the day. Here is a picture from MollyMooCrafts to give an example of something that can be done. 

Scrap Paper Bin

We rarely throw out construction paper scraps in our classroom. I have one of those large bins from Dollar Tree in the corner of the classroom. Whenever students use construction paper for projects, they throw usable scraps into the bin. We can use these later on for other projects or students can use the bigger pieces to draw on or use for things during free time. Here is an example from From The Pond.

So there are just a few ways that I tryyyyy to be eco friendly in the classroom. See you next month!