To get your students interested in green activities, involve them in starting a school-wide recycling program. Set up bins in convenient places where they will be easy for students to find: in the lunch room, by garbage cans, and in classrooms. Encourage everyone to participate in the program by holding sessions in each classroom that explain what type of material goes where. Talk about the good that recycling can do and give statistics for your area that explain the impact on the places students know.
Elementary school-aged kids have the tendency to let the water run for a long time when they wash their hands. Save your school some money and reduce water waste by starting a water use awareness program. Help young kids understand how much water is too much: set a time limit, like one minute, and have each kid come in and wash their hands to get an idea of how much time it takes. To keep the project fun and get kids involved, install timers in classroom bathrooms.
Elementary school classrooms can have a significant amount of paper waste. Based on individual class needs, devise ways to reduce paper in the classroom. Teachers can put homework assignments online, have students write blog posts for a classroom blog on computers instead of paper, or put some content in MP3 format to work with music players or home computers. You can also encourage students to use both sides of the paper and use old pages for scrap paper. Teachers can participate by decreasing the amount of handouts they distribute.
To involve students in the process of going green, have each class do a green audit. Set up a checklist of common areas that contribute to environmental waste and have each class check for wasteful things in each classroom. Make it a contest for the class that makes the most progress. Common solutions include putting appliances and computers on a timer so they can be switched off and not leach power, checking faucets for drips and windows for leaks, and replacing light bulbs with energy-efficient versions. By turning the green audit into a class project, you can engage students and give a hands-on lesson.