Solving the Waste Problem
We have been talking about waste and recycling.
Jacob shared what he had learned about sorting and recycling and Archie shared photographs of food waste at home.
Isabella and Ethan had decided to repurpose the boxes they had at home. Isabella used the boxes to make a home for the cats in her compound to keep them warm during the winter. Ethan used his boxes to store objects.
The children recalled seeing similar waste bins around the school. A small group walked around the campus looking for and documenting the different locations the bins were at.
These conversations helped us think more about what ‘WE’ might want to do about the things we waste at school.
Paper and Card Waste:
- Suzy “You can write small letters on the small paper.”
- Shemo “If we don’t want to use this paper again and don’t want to throw it into the bin, then what can we do?”
- Archie “Maybe we can make a recycle box for putting this kind of paper in.”
- Riccardo “We can make new paper with it.”
- Archie “We can erase it and cut it then you can draw on it. We can make paper from the leaves. People cut the tree and workers make the paper, they can use a machine to put the tree in.”
- Isabella “Is the tree inside soft or hard?”
- Archie “It’s hard so you put water to make it soft.”
- Isabella “You can put the paper in the water so the mark will go, then we can reuse it.”
Snack Fruit and Vegetable Waste:
- Riccardo “We can give the waste fruit to the worms outside, there are many more worms outside.”
Lunch Food Waste:
- Jacob “You don’t put the leftover lunch food into the trash, give it to Rosy, Ms. Hannah’s dog!”
(We asked the children to consider other possible solutions to the problem.)
Wastewater:
- Isabella “After the water go down the sink and drain, maybe some people can collect the water so we can reuse the water again.”
Next Steps:
Our brainstorm highlighted many different ways we can take action to solve some of the issues we found with waste.
- Riccardo “I have a shop and they can come and buy my toys and I get money.”
- Archie “When I was in India my mum said I have too many toys and I gave some away.”
- Euno “I eat all of my rice. When there is too much my mum throw in the bin.”
- Riccardo “Or you can keep it and then eat it later.”
- Shemo “What can we do with the fruits and vegetables we remain at school?”
Ms. Shemo “What can we do with the fruits and vegetables we remain at school?
The children decided to take the fruit and vegetable snacks to Ms. Hannah to ask her for some advice.
Over the next few days, the children will work in small groups to explore some of their theories about paper and seek more information about wastewater and composting at school.
We wondered what snails eat and how they live…The students began to share their theories. 
Franz “We need a swimming pool because if the city don’t have a swimming pool, then they will not be able to swim.”
He decided to collect some data. He asked for a large piece of paper. He drew a line in the middle and wanted the two characters written at the top of the paper. Ms. Hannah helped him.
He placed the poster outside the classroom with a bucket of pens. 
The students went back to the pond to look for frogs. They brought some back to class. They enjoyed observing them and shared their understandings.
