Year 4 Citizenship project

Recycling

This project was based on Unit 1 of the QCA Scheme of work for Citizenship - "Taking part - developing skills of communication and participation".

Children in this school are very used to participating in school democracy and circle time was used "to listen to each others and offer ideas in a structured situation" as suggested in this unit. They were keen to address issues of waste in the school and this proved a useful issue to combine Literacy, Art, Science and Citizenship.

We looked at the content of our litter bins and the containers from packed lunches. Children sorted the materials into various groups eg paper-based, metal, glass. They researched their properties using the school library and the internet and looked into recycling programmes. This fulfilled an aspect of the unit which states that children should be taught "to research, discuss and debate topical issues"(2a).

Evaluation

The children were horrified at the amount of waste they generated as they are very concerned about the future of the planet. They came up with many ideas for re-using materials, such as paper. They also felt that some materials could be used for art in collages or construction. They felt that some containers they threw away could be re-used. We are now planning to use local recycling bins and facilities.

I think the most important outcome was that children felt empowered. They believe this is a whole-school issue, and decided to make posters to inform the rest of the school community. They feel they will be contributing to improving the school environment and to the future of the planet.

This cross-curricular topic fulfilled two suggested learning outcomes- making suggestions for dealing with a real-life issue and contributing to a simple debate, listening to the views of others.

We are now looking at ways of making our classroom less wasteful.

Beth Chrystie

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