afterschool at A.D. Henderson School

For the third semester of the Pine Jog Fellowship, I worked with a youth group of 16 third to fifth graders at A.D. Henderson School. I had never worked with such a big group of students all by myself, so I had a lot to learn!

We started off the semester talking about making changes and how we could make a difference. We learned about different environmental issues and played learning games. The students voted and decided they wanted to do a project about waste and recycling. We audited the school to see where it was in its waste and recycling. We found that, even though there are paper recycling bins in every classroom, about half the paper in the school was thrown out. We played fun games to learn more about different topics in waste and recycling and watched a video from the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County.

When we started talking about project ideas, the students decided that they wanted to do a project educating their school about waste and recycling. We considered many different ways to do this, including making posters, making signs for recycling bins, having a poster session about waste and recycling, having a general seminar about waste and recycling, making PowerPoint presentations about the topics they were learning about, and writing an article about waste and recycling in the school newspaper.
The students got into groups and researched topics such as reduce, reuse, recycle, landfills, littering, composting, and burning garbage. Everyone worked together to make a PowerPoint presentation about those topics and made laminated color signs to put on recycling bins all over the school.
The students presented their PowerPoint three different times to groups of two classes together. The audience ranged from fourth graders to eighth graders. The audience was interested and asked great questions.

The club made 62 flyers (all unique) with various facts and figures about recycling. Each one was colored with bright colors so it would get attention. The signs were laminated and placed on recycling bins in almost every classroom at Henderson.

The students in the Earth Force club at Henderson learned a lot about waste and recycling through their project. They impacted the entire school with their presentations and signs and made a great path for future environmental activists at Henderson!