Sylvester Elementary Recyclers: The Venture
Fourth and fifth grade Life Lab students brainstormed, designed, organized , and implemented the Sylvester Elementary Recyclers project; a real life, meaningful experience . After their in-depth research, students realized that through recycling they could make a difference in enhancing and preserving the environment and lives of residents of Sylvester, Worth County, and the World
After much brainstorming and collaboration , students began to connect their ideas and develop a plan. They utilized parent and other adult resources to assist with the project where needed. They had real titles and developed job descriptions for each specialty: Project Manger; Publicity and Education Specialist; Collection and Monitoring Specialist; and Landscaping and Maintenance Specialist. The result was respect and dignity for everyone in the group as students selected roles based on their interests, talents, and skills. They learned to set goals, develop plans, and utilize resources to reach their goals. They developed an "I Can Do Attitude", leadership skills, and social responsibility.
This project afforded perfect opportunity to involve students in a real-life project incorporating all curriculum areas. It provided a wide range of options for them to explore their interests and talents, They used the internet to research information and communicated this information to the entire school population through their creative Power Point presentations, skits, and art projects. They used and developed social science, math, and language arts skills.
The student Publicity and Education Specialists were interviewed by our local newspaper and an article was published in the paper promoting the recycling program. Students presented their Power Point program on recycling to the local Kiwanis Club urging members to begin a recycling program in the community.
The money earned from recycling the aluminum cans was used to landscape a portion of the school yard near our recycling processing site.
Students began to understand that they can make a difference through experiencing the results of their leadership and hands-on-participation in a project that makes our community and world a better place to live. The venture doesn't stop here! As students graduate and enter the adult world , the habit of recycling will be passed down from generation to generation.
Below are a few pictures depicting our recycling venture.
Buddy Calhoun (Dad) and Austin Calhoun begin the process of taking the small aluminum pieces out of the box to build our storage building. His entire family helped to complete the building. (Note: Austin also demonstrated excellent leadership and skill as the project manager and computer technologist.)
Kalyn Graddy's grandfather ( Mr. Causey) designed and built our community drop-off center for our recyclables.
Students constructed and decorated cardboard boxes that were placed in every classroom and used as recycling containers.
Dustin created a poster to promote recycling. His Recycling Man was made from 100 percent recyclables.
Students visited every classroom educating both students and teachers in the why, what, and how of recycling through student-designed research and creative Power Points and skits.
The Collection and Monitoring Team collects, sorts, rinses, crushes and bags recyclable material to be taken to a certified recycling center.
Landscaping and Maintenance Specialists create a transformation with the money collected from recycling aluminum cans.
