Littering at P.S. 377Q

Graziella Esposito

gesposito5@schools.nyc.gov

 

INTRODUCTION

Mrs. Keane has come to us with a big problem happening at P.S. 377! There is a lot of littering occurring throughout our school. Students aren’t picking up their garbage, if they see something on the floor, they just walk by it, and they are not cleaning up after themselves - especially in the classroom. We have to figure out what to do to solve this problem! Our school is only 5 years old, and it’s up to us to keep it beautiful & clean for future leaders.

 

TASK

As leaders, it is our responsibility to keep our school clean. Just like our habits in Leader in Me - we have to BE PROACTIVE and SYNERGIZE to solve this issue. The question is - HOW can we solve our problem? You will be working in groups to find a solution to this problem.

 

Here is what is expected of your group by the end of this project:

  1. Posters to hang around our school building. This includes inside our building and outside of our building. These posters should

●        state the problem and convince students to stop littering at P.S. 377Q

●        should be engaging, colorful, and eye-catching.

  1. A Public Service Announcement (PSA). A PSA is a short video warning people of the issue at hand, and how the problem can be solved with the help of the community. You will find examples of a PSA in the Resources section.
  2. A survey to recruit garbage monitors for our school. This survey should:

●        be concise and easy to fill out

●        Everyone should be involved in creating the PSA

●        include the responsibilities on the survey of a garbage monitor

●        After the survey is created and responses are collected, it will be your job to determine who will be the garbage monitors for each floor of our building.

 

PROCESS
  1. Define the Problem
  2. Gather the Evidence
  3. Identify the Causes
  4. Evaluate an Existing Policy
  5. Develop Solutions
  6. Select the Best Solution  (Feasibility vs. Effectiveness)

 

TASKS/RESOURCES

Our project will be broken up into 7 days. Each day, you will have different responsibilities and you will be able to work on each part of the project.

●        Day 1: Littering & Posters

○        I will break you up into groups of 3.

○        Watch this video about littering and the issues it causes.

○        Have a discussion with your groups about the video and how it connects to the littering problem at P.S. 377.

○        Begin planning your poster that you will be creating next time.

●        Day 2: Posters

○        Discuss and review your plan for your posters.

○        Create your posters! Each group should create 3 posters. Your posters should:

■        state the problem and convince students to stop littering at P.S. 377Q

■        should be engaging, colorful, and eye-catching.

○        We will share our posters with the class and hang them up around the school.

●        Day 3: Public Service Announcements (PSA)

○        Share out if the posters have made any difference in the school since our last class.

■        If they did - why do you think it worked? If they didn’t - what can we do to continue to try and fix this issue?

○        Watch this example of a Public Service Announcement (PSA) - this PSA is about wearing masks.

○        With your group, prepare your PSA & decide who will say what in the video. It might be a good idea to write out a script for your PSA. Your PSA should:

■        State the problem

■        Everyone should be involved in creating the PSA

■        Show an example of littering (garbage on the floor, demonstrate what littering is, etc.)

■        State how we can solve this issue.

○        Be prepared to record your video next class.

●        Day 4: Recording our PSAs

○        Discuss the different parts of the PSA and what it entails.

○        Record your PSA! Use the iPads provided to record your PSA to show to our school building. YOur child should be at least 2 minutes long.

●        Day 5: Surveys

○        Share your PSAs with the class.

○         Today is the last step of our project - creating a survey to recruit volunteers to be garbage monitors! Each group will create a survey, and will send the survey to different grades.

○        Watch this video on how to create a google forms survey

○        Begin creating your google forms survey. Your survey should:

■        be concise and easy to fill out

■        include the responsibilities on the survey of a garbage monitor

■        After the survey is created and responses are collected, it will be your job to determine who will be the garbage monitors for each floor of our building.

○        Send the survey out to all teachers. The teachers will survey the class and write the names of students who would like to be a garbage monitor. Each group will post the survey to a certain grade level.

●        Day 6:

○        Review survey results & choose who will be our garbage monitors. Write out the list of responsibilities to be a garbage monitor.

○        Type a letter to students who were chosen to be a garbage monitor, and send the letters home with the students.

○        Be prepared to track our progress. Did our posters, PSAs and garbage monitors solve our issue?

●        Day 7:

○        Reflect on our project. Did our posters, PSAs and garbage monitors solve our issue? What have you noticed around the building? Is there anything else we need to do?

RESOURCES

●        Effects of Littering

●        Kids Go Green: Litter and Our Oceans

●        Creating a Google Form

●        PSA Example -  Wearing Masks

●        PSA Example - Recycling

 

EVALUATION

You will be graded on group work, your poster, quality of your PSA, and the survey you created to recruit garbage monitors using the checklist below

Task

Criteria

1

0

Poster Presentation

Did you…

●        state the problem and convince students to stop littering at P.S. 377Q

●        make your poster engaging, colorful, and eye-catching.

●         

●         

Public Service Announcement

Did you…

●        State the problem

●        Everyone should be involved in creating the PSA

●        Show an example of littering (garbage on the floor, demonstrate what littering is, etc.)

●        State how we can solve this issue.

●         

●         

Survey & Recruitment

Did you…

●        be concise and make the survey easy to fill out

●        include the responsibilities on the survey of a garbage monitor

●        determine who will be the garbage monitors for each floor of our building.

●         

●         

Group work

Did everyone…

●        Work collaboratively together

●        Make sure every voice was heard

●        Consistently and actively work toward group goals; willingly accept and fulfill individual role within group

●         

●         

 

CONCLUSION

With our efforts, we can make a change. By being proactive and synergizing, we can make our school a cleaner, safer place. With our posters, Public Service Announcements, and surveys to recruit garbage monitors, you convinced students to stop littering, and keep our school clean. If you put the effort in and speak about an issue - changes can and will be made!

 

STANDARDS

ELA:

●        2W1: Write an opinion about a topic or personal experience, using clear reasons and relevant evidence. Ss in 2nd grade should understand the difference between opinions and arguments and begin to learn how to write arguments with claims and supporting reasons.

●        2SL1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse peers and adults in small and large groups and during play.

●        2SL6: Express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly, adapting language according to context.

●        2L3: Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.