Recycling

Oaklawn 4th graders have a big responsibility in helping our school be environmentally friendly.  It is our job to empty all of the classroom recycling bins into the big collection bins down by the custodial office.  This requires a great deal of independence and self-control on the part of the 4th graders.  With their recycling partners, they scatter throughout the building.  They visit classrooms, the guidance office, the main office, the teachers' workroom and the library.  They need to go about their business quietly and be respectful of others who are working and learning.

To that end, we have had some 4th graders forget about the importance of being quiet and taking their job seriously.  My initial thought was that we would take a break from recycling until the class was ready to do it correctly.  Of course, a few of the kids reminded me that, in the first place, it's not fair to punish the whole class for the misdeeds of others, and, additionally, recycling is our responsibility and it still needs to get done.  (Your kids are pretty smart!)

To solve our problem, we did some re-teaching and reminding about what it looks like and sounds like to do recycling pickup in a responsible and respectful way.  Then we set out to take care of business!  I followed them around and took a little video (of course, I was really just making sure everyone was doing the right thing!)  I'm happy to report that they did a great job!

Here's the very rough video footage (not everybody made the final edit...):