New Minas Elementary
3-4 Planet Protectors
- 17 Challenges Completed
- 0 Challenges not completed
A Green-Powered Canada
Completed
Description
We watched some children Youtube videos about renewable energy and non-renewable energy to provide a quick overview of various renewable energy sources. Students then partenered up and chose a renewable energy that they were interested in learning more about. They were provided the worksheet and went to Epic books to research their energy source.
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Buckle Up
Completed
Community Connections
Completed
Description
Our class made a Google Slides presentation to share with the teachers of our school. We discussed as a class what attainable actions could children do and be responsible for that would have a large effect on our energy use. We came up with eliminating/reducing our usage of plastic bags in our lunch boxes. Most students help their families pack their lunches and could easily encourage their family to help in this initiative.
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Do You Really Need It?
Completed
Description
We had a class discussion about energy needs and wants. The students filled out their forms (partly in french) and we decided to try going without overhead lights for a whole day in class. Then we discussed it and decided while we could turn the lights off more often than we have in the past, that we do need to have the lights on some of the time. This led nicely into our tracking of how many hours a day we could turn out the lights (ongoing).
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Get Growing
Completed
Description
We are growing seeds to plant in our school garden! Each year different classes can sign up to plant various items in our garden. It is still too early to sow outside which is what we will do for many of our vegetables in late May. However, we started basil and cucumber seeds and will be monitoring their progress while incorporating our science unit about plants and their needs. We will also be physically building a butterfly garden this year with our winnings from last year, but it is still too cold for that. We have all the materials from recycled home projects and will be planting Milk Weed, Bee Balm, and other polinators! We started our Milk Weed in a reused take-out dish and will also be monitoring the growth and learning about the benefits of a greenhouse.
How Big Are Your Carbon Feet?
Completed
Description
Our class completed option 2 and found ways to reduce our carbon footprint. First we learned what it meant and then used the available websites to calculate some carbon footprints. We came up with ideas as a class on ways that we can help reduce our footprint and students completed their personal page.
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Limited Edition: Game Time!
Completed
Description
As a class we discussed food waste and all the impacts involved in making the food that has also gone to waste. We compiled a list of all the ways that we could think of that waste food. We then looked at our list and found ways that we could avoid wasting. Students filled out their pages and then we used our list to play pictonnary as a class.
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One Hour No Power
Completed
Description
The class has been fascinated by power usage since learning about phantom power. We discussed ways that we use power in the classroom, including when and when we do not really need it. We talked about our weekly schedule and found times that would could make a conservative effort to not use any power.
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Round and Round it Goes
Completed
Description
Students brainstormed what they thought a circular economy meant. This was very new to them and no one had a clue. We then learned about a linear economy model using plastic straws. Then we returned to what they thought a circular economy model may be and they were able to figure it out. We modelled both the plastic straw and the paper straw and the differences after they are finished being used. We looked at a few local examples from a plant that takes recycled paper and turns them into drink take out trays as well as egg cartons. We also looked at our egg farms and egg consumption and how egg shells also give back to the process which keeps flowing around.
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Story Time
Completed
Description
This fit perfectly into the begining of our Comic Book unit! We talked about some energy related issues and how our planet is affected. We discussed animal habitats in length as it came just after our non-fiction research about animals. Students then created short comic strips and shared their work with classmates. Attached are a few examples!
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Take-Home
Completed
Description
We have great recycling habits in Nova Scotia. We reviewed our recycling and composting, explained the challenge and sent the recording pages home.
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The Phantom of the Classroom
Completed
Description
We learned all about phantom power. Suprisingly not a single student had heard of phantom power before, but all were able to explain it by the end of the lesson. We watched the provided video, made a digital map of our classroom and looked at every socket to find out what was plugged in. We determined the items that are essential and need to always be plugged in and those that we can unplug. We then chose to have 2 helpers responsible each week for helping manage our devices that do not need to always be charging.
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Tips and Tricks
Completed
Description
As a class we came up with a list of advice that would could share/remind students of at our school. We aimed our advice at kids and things that they can help control. Then we delegated parts to those who wanted to read the tips over the announcements for the week leading up to Earth Day.
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Video Challenge
Completed
Description
Our class just loved learning about phantom power during the phantom power challenge. The class voted on many steps of the journey about the topic, how to present it, what the stop motion would look like (once we chose a stop motion intro), etc. Students each signed up for different roles to either be in the video, helping with the stop motion intro, shooting the video or editing the video.
Water Works
Completed
Description
We talked about water usage (reviewed as we cover every fall with some good books and a water walk). We looked at the table included and discussed the different functions and how much water they use. We filled out the worksheet over 2 days and calculated our usage and savings.
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What’s For Lunch?
Completed
Description
We looked at food that is grown or made within Nova Scotia. We really understood what grows here and the kids learned about some local companies that provide other foods. We brainstormed different dishes that could be made with local ingredients only. They involved their parents in helping them come up with an idea for a recipe and then used the provided form to submit recipes.
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What’s Old is New Again
Completed
Description
We collected milk cartons from our hot lunch program and turned them into beautiful flower pots! First we washed, then cut and finally painted them. We used our classroom spider plant that was full of baby plants and each planted our own to take home. We then shared the idea with several other classes who also decided to take part and save their cartons. We were fortunate enough to have 75+ baby spider plants and everyone got to enjoy their new flower pots at home :)
Energy savings by the numbers
103,907
Litres of water conserved
2,480
Hours of no power
20,050
Items Kept from Landfill
