Conservation is Key!

Intro
-Main focus
-Learning goals
Lesson
- What can you do?
Application
 -Action

Intro
This lesson is more self-challenging to the children and you.  After all the previous lesson I think there has been one re-occurring theme, The responsibility we have to keep the place where we live in it's original state and learn from the existing organism's around us. There can never be too much emphasis on taking care of our Earth. Another idea that has brought new light to the  Environmental Science world is Bio-mimicry. It's the idea that we are organism's that are learning to adapt to our surroundings. It's the action of observing and learning from live organism's, their habits, and habitat's. It's breaking down simple life cycles or life patterns and using it to adapt to our environment. It's letting nature educate us!

This is only the beginning in our road of education to being a more Earth conscious people. If this was the only reason to have a force behind conservation, then it would be sufficient. If it were only for the education  that we could enjoy nature for; then we would be a very smart population but a popuplation in distress. There needs to be action. We need to move. Conservation is the key!

Lesson
What can you do?
-Everyone can participate in the work of restoring their neighborhood around them. Most people just don't know how easy it is. With a little education and initiative; you can make a great contribution to nature. Don't we all want our future generations to enjoy the beautiful, rich, and breath-taking world that we have?

1. Pick up Litter- With your fellow classmates and parent teachers, you can circle your neighborhood, school, religous facity, or near by park. If you really open your eyes, you will see that litter is everywhere, just pick it up!

2. Remove invasive species- Learn and find out what kind of invasive species are in your neighbord and what attracts them. You can do removal of invasive species in your yard or on campus, really; anywhere! It's something as simple as pulling weeds and moving rocks.

3. Replant native species- Take time to find out what native species are in your area and learn what possibilities are to enhancing and enriching natural life around you. You can create your own wetland in your backyard, giving life to many organism's around you.

4. Plant a tree or a garden- You can never go wrong with planting a tree and keeping up on it's growth. Everyone should plant atleast one tree in their life as payment of debt to nature.One of the best ways to do that is creating your own garden to watch and tend to. You will be amazed how thing's you plant Grow on you!


Application
-ACTION!!!




Environmental Science: A Global Concern- Cunningham & Cunningham, Eleventh Edition(2010)

What do I eat?

Intro
-Main focus
Lesson
-What food is good for you?
- Food Pyramid
Application
-Creating a meal

Intro
In this lesson, we are going to have to really repeat and emphasize on the correct nutrition for the children. Kids never want to hear that something they LOVE could be possibly be bad for them, like CANDY! It's hard as a parent to get your children to try and like green foods, so, as a teacher it can be even more frustrating to communicate that sugars and candy can really do some damage to your body. So your job as the teacher is to educate, Yes educate the young children in what the correct foods to eat by going through the Food Pyramid. This will help them to see the Origins of foods and the difference between Processed and Organic foods.

Processed Foods- Is any food that is taken and prepared out it's natural state.
Organic Foods-  Is any food in it's original state.
Created Foods-   Are foods that are made in a factory like candies and junk food.

Lesson
What Food is Good for you?
Okay Kiddos, I want you all to tell me , What foods do you think are good for you? ( Let each child respond and encourage their true opinion). Well, today I want to show you something that helps us grown-ups and kids to make a balanced diet. A balanced diet is taking all the main food groups and make meals throughout the day that cover all of your nutrition needs. What I want to show you is "The Food Pyramid". The food pyramid helps us to organize all the different types of foods there are, so we know what to eat during Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.



There are about 6 basic different Food groups, we can classify them as:
Group 1- Bread, Cereal, Rice and Pasta
Group 2- Vegetables
Group 3- Fruits
Group 4- Meat, Poultry, Fish, Eggs and Nuts
Group 5- Milk, Yogurt and Cheese
Group 6- Fats, Oils and Sweets

JUNK FOOD

-Now Kiddos, it's not bad to eat some of these foods sometimes or on special occasions. What I want all of you to understand is that you should never eat these kinds of foods in replacement of a full meal. None of these foods can give you the nutrients that organic foods can give you.



APPLICATION


 -Take into class a stack of magazines that have the common theme of food. Let the kids cut out and paste  their favorite healthy meal. Encourage the differences in junk food and Healthy food. Have the kids present their meals when everyone is done.

See no litter, Hear no litter, Speak no litter

Intro

-Main focus

- Learning goals

Lesson

-       Questions

-       Recycling

Application

-       Bring in something from home that is recycled to be used as something else.

Intro

Approaching this lesson, we want to embrace the responsibility that we have as humans to take care of this world. We cannot learn, enjoy, or even exist if we don’t take care of mother earth. The children should be able to see the problem that litter causes and the solution that they can be. When explaining litter please be sure to emphasize that litter is anything that cannot go back into the earth after it was thrown away by a human being.

Lesson

Hey kiddos, I’m just a little curious about what you know about litter and recycling, so I have a few questions to ask you and we can work together to answer them. So here we go……..

What is litter? 

-Litter is misplaced garbage that people throw away in the environment.

What do you do when you see litter?

-You pick it up and take it to the nearest trash can.

How does litter hurt our world?

-Litter is made of stuff that cannot go back into the earth naturally like gum, candy wrappers, plastic bags, etc. Our litter hurts Plants, animals and  always hurts us.

Why do people litter?

-People litter because they don’t care about their environment and they think someone else will pick it up. And when they see litter, they also litter.

Recycling

-Recycling is taking something used and reusing it or broken down to make it into something new.

Three things you should remember…..

-Reduce: Use less water, turn off lights when your not using them, unplug electronics

-Reuse: Use things more than once, or use old containers for other uses.

-Recycle: Take in paper, plastic, and metals to the nearest recycling center to be broken down and made into something new.

Application
- As an exercise, choose a perfect time where you can take the class around the school to pick up litter or pick up things that can be recycled. Show them how easy it is to do and how much it helps our earth.