The Three R's Take On New Meaning In Island Avenue Classroom

Teaching the three R’s has required creativity and uniqueness for the past nineteen years in Renee Pardo’s Island Avenue School first grade classroom.  That is because she is not only teaching the traditional three R’s, but the environmental three R’s ~ reduce, reuse and recycle.

Sitting down in her classroom, in the small, low chairs usually occupied by her students, Pardo spoke passionately about her annual lesson on environmental awareness.  She explains that while these three R’s are not part of the curriculum, she has found ways to incorporate them into the science unit.

What she hopes, with these earth friendly lessons, is that through examples the children will learn how we all can take action to help our planet.

Hands-on projects

“They are very excited and motivated because everything I do in the classroom is hands on with these projects,” Pardo says

“We just finished a science unit on animals and how animals get their needs met,” says Pardo.  “We tie that into dinosaurs, which evolved into the word extinction.  The kids are talking about what animals are extinct today and why and that (conversation) fed into ‘people are damaging their habitats,’” Pardo explained.

Student Raymond Pan say he feels good about learning about mother nature and sees value in protecting the environment “so the animals can live and there won’t be pollution.”

Lessons are catching on

Pardo has noticed that year after year more and more children come to the classroom more environmentally conscious.

“A lot of the kids, I do find, as the years go on, are already doing recycling or composting projects at home,” Pardo says.  “So what I try to do is open their minds to see what problems are out in the world and how they can help in their own little way,”

The students learn about simple ways they can make earth friendly decisions such as carpooling, turning off the lights when they leave a room, turning off the water while brushing their teeth and using both sides of the paper.

Trash-free lunches and book swaps popular

The children are very involved with deciding on specific earth friendly classroom projects and some issues are more relevant one year than another.

On “Zero Waste Day” the students were encouraged to “pack a lunch and snack that produces no trash.”  This project came very naturally to Student Charlie Keogh.  “My mom usually packs me those plastic containers and she doesn’t pack me the plastic bags a lot.”

A book swap was something that Pardo’s classroom started two years.  Each child brings in three books they have already read and then chooses three other books to take home.

Buying for the sake of buying discouraged

The book swap sends the message to the children that “they don’t always have to buy things,” Pardo explains.  “A lot of times people are materialistic and they just want to go out and buy just for the sake of buying and they need to realize that you don’t have to do that.”

The book swap is a perfect way for Pardo to emphasize this particular issue. “You can either borrow from friends, go to the library, or go to a second hand shop.”

Getting into the habit

Pardo’s goal with all of these lessons is to get the children really thinking about their environment and how they can become environmentally savvy.

“Trying to get them into the habit at a young age is one of my main objectives here,” says Pardo. “To try and get them into forming good habits at a young age and then they can teach their parents and teach their friends and their siblings.”