Clean up that Mess!

What does a messy entrance say about the room beyond that threshold? Classroom 135 did an experiment to open our new Science unit on pollution. Students collected litter off of the playground a couple of weeks ago and categorized the types of litter they found. As this was done with a sub, I wanted to discuss their findings and what they felt we could do to help be proactive.

One of the students made a very astute observation. She said, "If everyone thinks that their one piece of litter doesn't matter, what would happen if everyone felt that way about one piece of litter? We'd have a messy world!" So, we tried our hand at this. Each student took a piece of paper and imagined it was an object that we might find thrown around our playground. We gathered in the hallway and as each person crossed into the room, they left their garbage in the hallway.

We watched our doorway start as a host to one scrap piece of paper and then suddenly we had a huge pile. It was a pretty interesting experience. The most telling part of the experiment was the reaction of other 5th grade classes. We left our pile and talked about how this might impact the way people think of our class. The answers ranged from disorganized to dirty. Every time a class walked by there were at least a few students who stopped in their tracks and perused our pile. One student asked, "What's up with the trash?"

I hope it made an impact. The more cognizant we are about putting trash where it truly belongs, the more likely our environment will be spared. Help keep our world clean!

Ask your student what they have pledged for their pollution awareness promise.