23: Movers and Shakers

 A Tiny Poem for the World 

The world’s so big

and we’re all so small.

Sometimes it feels like we can’t do anything at all.

But the world can be better

In spite of its flaws.

The world can be better

And you’ll be the cause.

-Kid President

How do you teach sustainability to a kindergartener? 

This was one of the most pressing questions that I asked myself before starting our unit under Sharing the Planet. 

I knew the road to learning and practicing sustainability doesn’t happen overnight. It’s easy to understand the concepts of reusing, reducing, and recycling, but shifting our mindset and practices to make a dent in saving the world is sometimes a long and winding road -- a journey in a sense -- that we need to navigate. 

But long journeys always begin with a single step. 

For this year's STEM Week, we were posed with a challenge:

To think of sustainability problems that we currently face, and use STEM to explore ways to help preserve and improve the world for all. 

Where did we begin?

Our first step is looking at what we already know. 

After learning much about the ways that we produce and manage trash in our Unit of Inquiry, we decided that we will focus on saving trees. After all, without them, humans and most living things will cease to exist.

What was our innovation? 

Simple: recycled paper.

Our journey took us back to our first unit under How the world works when we experimented on different materials. We used what we know about experiments to test out different ways that we can use our scrap paper to make new ones. 

We already knew what it would look like if we only used scrap paper and water.

So we introduced technology (a blender) to see if the results will be different. Just as we predicted, the paper turned more mushy.

*Note: some of the children also predicted that the blender will get stuck and break because the paper is too thick.

We followed the same process as our first experiment on making paper in our Unit of Inquiry to see what the mushier paper mush will look like. 

We made paper that has a finer texture compared to the first one we tried!

We wanted to go further into our experiment to see if it's possible to make a 3D shape with our paper pulp. We decided to put something sticky in our mush to help it adhere to the moulds that we used, so we added glue.

(It's still a work in progress but we think that the paper will get hard, like cardboard, and retain the shape of the container we used.)

We truly had a wonderful time getting our hands dirty, and finding out new ways to innovate our use of scrap paper. 

The question now is...so what? 

After all these learning engagements, how exactly are we preserving and improving the world to have a better future for all? 

The answer goes back to my first wondering: by practicing sustainability.

One thing that we learned in the whole process is that sustainability lies in the simple actions that we can sustain. They need not be big and grand all the time to make a dent in creating a better world for everyone, all living things included. 

So how do you teach sustainability to a kindergartener?

I am still finding ways to answer this but here are my thoughts: 

Guide them to take the first step by empowering their curiosity; 

walk with them a mile or two by inspiring them to take small yet positive actions; 

and let them continue the journey on their own. 

In his poem, Kid President said that the world is so big. In size, perhaps it is. But I think that the world will never be too big for anyone who is empowered to make a difference and is willing to go the distance -- regardless of how small they are. 

Thank you, our dear kindergarteners, for being movers and shakers this week, and for taking the first step into your journey into making the world a better place for all.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.

Your Kindergarten teacher, 

Pam 

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