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Texas ISD School Guide
Texas ISD School Guide







Short Stories for Teachers

Teachers - How to Create a Green Classroom
By:Stephen Carr

There are many things a teacher can do to make his or her classroom a little greener and friendlier to the environment.

Reduce the amount of paper you use in your classroom. Go a day without worksheets. Do more oral and board work. Teachers can even incorporate games in the classroom to eliminate paper work. Call your students up to the front to work on questions on the board. Teachers can call on students to answer questions out loud rather than writing them down. Be sure and recycle papers. Teachers can collect all papers and show to parents during meetings and back to school night. Then toss these in a paper recycle bin kept in your classroom. Every worksheet you copy on a machine uses electricity, chemicals, and paper.

Classroom art projects. Teachers have always liked using various trash materials for art projects. The problem arises if these are just tossed in the trash can at home after a few days. Teachers can assign art projects that are for long-term use.

Turn off your classroom lights and appliances. If the teacher and students are out of the classroom, the lights should be off. Avoid putting big electricity wasters in your classroom such as refrigerators. Teachers can incorporate some sort of quiet time after recess with the lights out.

Teachers can also insist on students reusing water bottles. Also, be sure to have your students bring their plastic and glass bottles back to the classroom after lunch for recycling. Teachers need to make this a personal project. You do not want your students handling someone else's garbage.

Teachers can concentrate on these few ideas for a green classroom first. Perhaps other teachers in your school can get together and make it a school wide effort. Good luck on your green classroom!

Stephen Carr has over 20 years in the education field. More teaching articles can be found at: http://teachersindex.com






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