Contact
Rhonda Mace, School Outreach Coordinator
802-872-8100 x 214
Programs
Trash Talkin’ & the 3 R’s
Learn about where your unwanted items go when you are finished with them and why it is important to practice all 3 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle in this hands on program about what it means to reduce, how to reuse items others no longer want, what is recyclable and compostable. Learning is reinforced with activities focusing on what unwanted items go in which bins. This program can be tailored to individual schools to also serve as a refresher course on how to properly sort materials at lunch and in the classroom.
Length: 1 hour
View presentation on Prezi (notes to Prezi available upon request).
VT Standards: NGSS: ESS 3, PS 1, LS 2
CCSS: Math Practice (MP) 2, Math Practice (MP) 4, K-5 Measurement & Data (MD)
What Goes Where?
Learn what materials go in which bins to make your school champion sorters! This is a hands on program and concludes with a practice activity: recycle rally. This program can be tailored to individual schools to serve as a refresher course on how to properly sort materials at lunch and in the classroom. This a great way to start the school year on the right foot.
Length: 30 minutes
VT Standards: NGSS: ESS 3, LS 2
CCSS: MP 2, MP 4
The Ins and Outs of Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD)
Who is CSWD? This overview of Chittenden Solid Waste District (CSWD) dives into materials management in Chittenden County including how CSWD came to exist, how we manage all of your unwanted materials generated in the county, and all of the facilities owned and operated by CSWD.
This is a great lead-in to touring CSWD facilities or training for school staff.
Length: 1 hour
Appropriate for: for adults and upper grade levels
VT Standards: NGSS: ESS 3
CCSS: MP 4
Worms Alive!
Looking for an ongoing science experiment that can demonstrate the scientific method, data collection, nutrient cycling, responsibility, and more? Vermicomposting, composting with worms, is a hands-on means to composting raw food materials right in your own classroom while allowing students the opportunity to explore worm anatomy, discover how compost adds nutrients to soil by conducting growth rate experiments, and how to care for living beings. CSWD will provide the bin, worms, and personal education necessary to get your worm farm up and running.
Length: 30-45 minutes
VT Standards: NGSS: LS 1, LS 2, LS 3, LS 4, ESS 3
CCSS: MP 2, MP 4
Compost Critters
Dig in to the cyclical journey of your lunchtime leftovers from the compost bucket to nutrient rich soil and back to the food on your plate. This program incorporates biology, chemistry, local issues, and a whole lot of fun into discovering who is doing the composting, what is compostable and why it is important to collect food scraps for composting. This program can be used in conjunction with to the Worms Alive! Program.
Check out this video made by Pointers Point School during the Compost Critters program.
A good lead into touring Green Mountain Compost.
Length: 45 minutes
VT Standards: NGSS: LS 1, LS 2, LS 3, LS 4, ESS 3
CCSS: MP 2, MP 4
Activities
Great Locker (Desk, Classroom, etc.) Clean Out
This is an opportunity for schools to reduce what they landfill at the end of the year, recycling more, and collect materials for the next school year that the school can offer to students free of charge! CSWD will provide project management, extra bins, and day-of supervision. Schools will provide some volunteers and collection bins. This program can tie nicely with summer programs offered through schools where kids can put together reused ‘Welcome Packages’ for incoming students for the start of the next school year.
Trash On The Lawn Day
Trash on the Lawn Day (TOLD), also known as a waste sort, is an engaging event to determine where your school excels in resource recovery (i.e. how well everyone sorts the trash, recycling, and compost) and what areas may need improvement. The data collected can help schools evaluate ways to save money, raise awareness of the economic and environmental impact of sending ‘usable’ materials to our only landfill, or provide classrooms with real-life data to analyze.
CSWD will provide all needed supplies as well as direct the event. The school will provide student (and adult) volunteers to assist during the sort.
VT Standards: NGSS: ESS 3
CCSS: Math Practice 2, Math Practice 4, K-5 Measurement & Data, ELA-Literacy.W.6-12
All About Paper
Investigate the paper-making process while recycling your own classroom paper. Students will learn about the natural resources that are conserved when we all recycle paper before getting their hands deep in their own paper pulp to make their very own piece of paper, just like the Chinese did nearly 2,000 years ago.
CSWD supplies all materials needed for paper making activity.
Length: 1 hour
VT Standards: NGSS: LS 2, ESS 3
ReUse T-Shirt Bags
Have you ever had that one T-shirt that is stained or maybe lost a sleeve along the way but you just can’t quite get rid of it? And how would you responsibly dispose of this prized possession anyway? Turn that fabulous relic into a reusable shopping bag! Students bring their unwearable T-shirt into class, learn how to convert it into a bag and discover why it’s important to reuse and recycle textiles instead of tossing them into the landfill.
Check out this video made by C.P. Smith Elementary School about the ReUse T-Shirt Bags program.
Materials needed: scissors, rulers, T-shirts.
CSWD supplies instruction and will bring a few spare T-shirts for those who forget.
Appropriate for: 2nd grade +
Length: 1 hour
VT Standards: NGSS: ESS 3, LS 2
CCSS: K-5 Measurement & Data