Briarcliff Manor Kindergartners Explore Recycling And Reusing

Press release from the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District:

Todd Kindergartners can now add a new set of tools to their toolbox: they recently learned how to sort objects and decide if they can be recycled or reused, or if they belong in the trash.

Dan Novak, a naturalist with Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES Center for Environmental Education, visited all kindergarten classes to show students how they can learn to reduce, reuse and recycle.

“We are all part of nature, and it is our job to take care of nature and keep trash where it belongs,” he told students in Jeanne Dal Piaz and Mary Huber’s class.

He discussed the different types of ways to keep trash from winding up in nature, such as reusing and recycling, and he showed students how various objects, such as a pencil or cardboard, can be repurposed or recycled.

“The idea of recycling is that these items can get turned to something new, like a glass jar can be made in the factory into some other kind of glass jar,” he said.

He also discussed reusing a glass jar, and students shared their own ideas for repurposing it, such as using it to trap fireflies.

“Reusing is actually better than recycling,” he said. “We can give our clothes that don’t fit us anymore to someone else. That helps more people right away, and then we don't need to turn them into something else; they just stay clothes.”

He gave students a challenge to sort items and decide what could be recycled, what could be reused, or if it belongs in the trash, with the goal of putting as little as possible in the trash.

He showed them how a cardboard egg carton can be reused to make plants by filling it with soil and seeds.

Ultimately, the only items that ended up in the trash were used tissues and napkins.

Mr. Novak brought special guests – worms that turn garbage, such as food scraps into soil. Students were able to examine the worms closely in their cups.

“These worms are a big part of the living cycle, where food becomes soil and then more food can grow in that soil,” he said.

He ended the lesson inspiring students to recycle and reuse more often.

“Can you guys do this at home? Yes! Can you do this at school? Yes! Can you do this anywhere you go? Yes! Can you teach other people about it? Yes! Because sometimes adults forget too,” he told the students, “and they love to learn from you.”

This press release was produced by the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.