Earth Day

Home

Chat

Blogs

Collection

Directory

Home : 2002 : May : 11

Earth Day
By Darci

Earth Day can be a very exciting unit. I do several things to prepare for the day, but the part the kids find to be the most exciting I will share now. I make recycled hats for each child! You will need two sheets of newspaper
(large sheets) for each studens,lots of masking tape, and a stapler (lots of staples). I learned how to do this at a convention one year and have done it ever since.
1)With the child sitting in a chair, double the newspaper (both sheets together) and place the middle of the newspaper on top of the child's head.
2)Take masking tape and go around the top of the newspaper

so that it forms the top of the hat. (the tape will look similar to a ribbon that would go along the base of the hat..like a band).

3)Now, begining at the front of the hat, roll the edges of the newspaper up out of the face of the child and just staple wherever to hold it in place and to make the beginning of the rim of the hat.

4)Continue rolling and stapling around the hat until you have gone completely around the child's head and the hat is finished!

OPTIONAL: I have brought in a big box of "clean" trash such as scrap paper, kleenex, toilet paper tubes, etc and let the children glue and staple "trash" on their hats. They love it if their is time! And, I have also taught myself how to make different styles of hats....such as huge baseball hats, cowboy hats, etc.....Takes practice and if you do this just be prepared for everyone to want a different style.

5) We then have a "Recycled Hat Parade" throughout the school. What fun!

NOTE: While I am making the hats, the students watch two short videos on Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. I also send home a "Scavenger Hunt" page to do with parents to find things around their home that could be recycled.
A pledge that they copy for their poem books was taken from one of the videos. It goes like this:
No job is too big,
No action too small,
For the care of the earth,
Is a task for us all.