Last Monday I had the pleasure of speaking to over 100 third graders at Foster Elementary School in Hingham, MA. This was my first time speaking to elementary school students about ReUse, besides my plethera of nieces and nephews of course. Surprisingly, these kids already knew a great deal.
I had a great time with the students, and was amazed at how much they knew about reusing already. I couldn’t believe it when I asked the first group of 60 students how many of their parents use paper or plastic bags at the store and only about 4 or 5 raised their hands! When Vice Principal Betsy Connolly had told me that all of the students had taken the school’s “Green Team Pledge,” she really meant it.
After a brief discussion about ReUse, as well as the school’s amazing recycling program, we broke into different groups and made some Reuse art projects. Some of the students took the empty boxes that our ReUse bags come in and made ReUse “people” out of them. One student in each group laid down and the other students traced the outline of their body. Then the students added their own artwork to the project. Some “people” had reusable bags or mugs, some had ReUse t-shirts, and some of them were performing environmentally friendly actions like recycling. But as shown in the picture to the right, all of the people were very unique!
While some of the students were busy creating the ReUse people, others made ReUse Father’s Day Card envelopes. I have a massive collection of junk mail “Business Reply By Mail” envelopes and the students made their own artwork on the envelopes. Then they took the envelopes home to finish the project and make a ReUse card to give to their father for Father’s Day.
My experience at Foster certainly makes me want to work with kids even more. They are the future of this world and if they grow up respecting our Earth, then the planet can have a long and prosperous existence.
I would like to thank Vice Principal Connolly, the third grade teachers and students, and Parent Representative Eileen Pouch for arranging everything.