Our school Playgrounds What can WE do to

Our school Playgrounds What can WE do to help?

How can the school community improvement the quality of the playground for the environment? ? How can it be linked to the students learning? How can the students contribute?

Ideas… Planting tree’s Student rubbish collection Rewards for students Minimum effort on side of the school Maximum benefit for the environment

Production… Our playground is not just a product but a program that encourages students to help keep their playground and the surrounding environment clean and healthy. Each week one class is assigned to clean the playground area at the end of lunch by picking up rubbish. The amount of rubbish that each class collects for the week is recorded so as to be assessed at the end of term. How the school would like to record this is up to them. The teacher of the class can be counting out the rubbish as they go or taking photos of the bags of rubbish that they collected. At the end of the term the class who collected the most rubbish gets a reward.

Production… For collecting the most rubbish the students were allowed to choose a plant/s to plant in the garden surrounding the playground. When picking the plants they were given information on how these plants help local wildlife. The students then get to plant and care for them. As well as cleaning up rubbish to keep the school tidier and the animals healthier and safer the reward introduces more plant and animal life to the playground area and makes the students more conscious of the plants because they know how they impact the wildlife and they are responsible for them.

Evaluation… Positives It Improves the health of the playground and the surrounding flora and fauna It encourages the students to keep the playground clean It provides a draw for animals and keeps the plants healthy and there are more of both Minimal cost It teaches the students about plant and animal life Negatives It requires constant care and participation from students and teachers