January

Environmental Projects:

Lowell Community Awareness Project

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
“Be the change you wish to see in the world”. What do those words mean to you? Every day we walk past things in our community that may bother us. Things that may make us think to ourselves “that needs to change”. How many of us take that first step toward change? One inspired elementary class took that first step and it led to a wonderful environmental project that impacted a whole community!

The fifth grade Expanded Learning Program class at Lowell Community Elementary School in Waterloo, Iowa, led by ELP teacher Stacey Jambura, designed and carried out a plastic bag community environmental project. The students brainstormed ideas, and decided to focus on plastic grocery bag litter. They conducted research to develop their project. They learned that not only do plastic bags look bad along the roadways and in ditches; but that they cause multiple problems once they enter our waterways.

The project expanded and eventually grew so big that the fifth grade class decided to ask the third and fourth grade classes to join them on the project. During the process the students wrote and published their own book “The Day I Got Thrown Away: A Diary of a Plastic Bag”. They held a community-wide event that showcased their project, it included displays, and demonstrations. The students sold reusable t-shirt bags made from old t-shirts that they had gathered from donations (and sewn themselves!). All of the proceeds from the sale went to organizations that they chose.

The students also have plans to expand their project in the future!

Watch this inspiring environmental project story on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZNFARWBBiI&list=PLP_s_GPHuWDfGCoD4E-1ax9n-mf-10lx1&index=7