Here's a wonderful activity to involve students and their communities in Earth Day (April 22). My classroom of third graders will be the facilitators for our school, and would love to hear from you/your school if you decide to participate in the project.
Grocery Bags on Earth Day!
Each student in the school decorates a large paper grocery bag from a
local store with a picture of the earth, the words "Earth Day, 1994" (or
similar), the name of their school, and possibly some catchy Earth Day
slogan (ie, Re-duce, Re-use, Re-cycle).
When the bags are decorated, they are returned to the store to be
distributed to shoppers on Earth Day.
That's all there is to it - past response has been very positive, both
from the school and the community. As a matter of fact, SO positive, that
we at Arbor Heights Elementary want to spread the word to get as many
Earth Day Grocery Bags passed out as we can! So..... please let us know
how many bags you passed out on Earth Day. If you respond, my students
will tabulate the total and send you back (by the end of April) the total
number distributed (and the names of participating schools). Imagine all
the thousands of Earth Day Grocery Bags people will be unpacking in their
kitchens!
If you would like more info on exactly how one might go about this, let me
know, and I'll send you a brief "how to" note.
Please remember to respond to me directly, and not the whole list.
Mark Ahlness
Arbor Heights Elementary School
Seattle, Washington
mahlness@quest.arc.nasa.gov