Building an Eco-Friendly School
Teacher: Amanda Hernandez
Area: Social Studies
Topic: Sustainability - Conservation
Grade: 5th
Materials:
Recycled materials
Computers
Standards:
UW-Madison Teacher Standards:
STANDARD 11: USES TECHNOLOGIES
Teachers appropriately incorporate new and proven technologies into instructional practice. They understand the major social, cultural, and economic issues surrounding their implementation.
STANDARD 6: CONNECTS SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY
Teachers use the knowledge and abilities necessary for collaboration with individuals, groups and agencies within the school and community. They base instruction of students on an understanding of curricular goals, subject matter and the community, and help the students make connections between community-based knowledge and school knowledge.
MMSD Standards:
Behavioral Science:
Participate in various groups and assume different roles in the classroom and at school.
History:
Use reference and information research skills to gather and organize information.
Wisconsin DPI Social Studies Standards
Economics:
D.4.7 Describe how personal economic decisions, such as deciding what to buy, what to recycle, or how much to contribute to people in need, can affect the lives of people in Wisconsin, the United States, and the world
Objectives:
SWBAT research sustainable structures on the internet.
SWBAT collaborate as a group or come up with individually parts that make up a sustainable school.
SWBAT use recycled materials to create a sustainable school.
Lesson Opening:
Ask students if they have ever built something before (example: with legos, family built a house, models, etc.) Tell students that building is very fun but takes a lot of time and very careful planning. Ask students that if we were going to build a house today, what supplies would we need? Think of the structure of a house. What parts are there in a house?
Procedure:
After students come up with these answers, tell them that we are going to read about a house that is very eco-friendly called the Smart House in Chicago. Have students go to computers to read the story (saves paper!) from the website: http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/news/story/0,28277,1890235,00.html. Have students write down the important parts that were added to the house to make it eco-friendly.
Give students the option of working individually, in groups of 2, or groups of 4. Each group is responsible for making a model of a school building. The object of the project is to make the school as eco-friendly as possible. Students well have a couple class periods to work on this, and they will use recycled materials. Students need to think about the structure of the school and the necessities of the school. Students should also remember other social studies lessons where they learned about their carbon footprints and the importance of buying local. Questions to keep in mind:
How will the school stay heated?
How will the school get cold in the summer?
What light sources will it have?
Does it make a difference which way the building faces?
How will students eat (hot lunch)?
What kind of flooring will you use and what will it be made out of?
Some terms that students will have to research are:
Solar panels
Compost
Roof gardens
Photovoltaic cells
Have students visit the site http://www.batteryparkcity.org/kids/green.html, which is a site for kids that talks about green buildings.
Tell students that the requirements of the school is that it needs to have a way for students to get to it, a way for students to eat, some interaction with the community, and individuals need to have 10 different sustainable structures, groups of two need to have 15, and groups of 4 need to have 20. For each item, students need to write a summary of what it is and does.
Lesson Closing:
After students have completed the assignment, have students set up their schools around the room for an exhibition. Students need to be prepared to explain their building to an audience. Invite other classrooms and staff members into the class to see what the students have done!
Assessment:
Formal assessment will take place by looking at the sustainable schools that were created. Did students create a sustainable school that is fully functional? Did all group members participate equally? Was each group member researching sustainable building structures?
Resources:
“Battery Park City.” Retrieved May 1, 2009 from http://www.batteryparkcity.org/page/page2.html
“Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority – City Kids.” Retrieved May 1, 2009 from http://www.batteryparkcity.org/kids/green.html
The London Free Press. “Eco building: teaching and using sustainable building practices”. Retrieved on April 30, 2009 from http://www.lfpress.com/perl-bin/publish.cgi?x=articles&p=262591&s=eco
“Time For Kids – A Sneak Peek at the Smart Home.” Retrieved on May 1, 2009 from http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/kids/news/story/0,28277,1890235,00.html
