DaRaccoons2016
Teacher’sNote:Isawalotofinterestfrommystudentsinhelpingaroundtheschool
andwantingtomakechangesthathelpourworld.Iwastalkingaboutthenew
recyclingbinsschoolandonestudentmentionedthatalotoftheotherstudentsdidn’t
knowhowtosorttheirmaterials.Iaskedthem“Well,whatarewegoingtodoabout
that?”Andthat’swhenDaRaccoonswascreated…Hereistheirstory,intheirwords…
Atthebeginningofthisyear,ourGreenTeamwasjustmadeofthreepeoplewho
wentaroundonceaweektocollectandrecyclepaper.Sometimeswesortedjuice
boxesandtookthestrawsout.
Whenthenewbinscame,wedidn’thaveenoughpeopletogoaroundandtakeallof
thebinssoweaskedinourclassifanyonewasinterestedinbeingontheGreen
Team.Afewpeoplejoined.
Thenwestartedtolookthroughallthebinsandwenoticedthatalotofpeopleput
thewrongmaterialsinthebins.Forexample,alotofyoungerstudentsputjuice
boxesinthepaperbin.Wedecidedthatwewouldsortthroughthematerials
everyday.
Butthiswastakingtoomuchtime,andthatweneededmoreGreenTeammembers.
Onedaywesawsomestudentsfromtwootherclassesstandingaroundthebinsand
theyaskediftheycouldhelptoo.Theysawuswithglovesandwantedtosortas
well.WedecidedthatwewantedanameandEvansawraccoonsinhisyardlooking
throughsomecompostforfoodandwedecidedthatwewouldcallourselvesDa
Raccoons!
Sortingwasstilltakingtoolongandwewantedtotelltheschoolwheredifferent
thingsshouldbeinthebins.Forexample,whatkindsofplasticscouldbeputinthe
garbageortheplasticrecycling.Wedecidedtomakeavideoforthewholeschool
andourteacherwassurprisedbecausewedidsomuchofitonourown.Afterthe
assemblywenoticedthatstudentsweredoingamuchbetterjobofsortingtheir
materials.
Wealsomadeposterstoremindstudentstotakeouttheirstraws.
Onedayoneofthestudentsaskeduswhereshecouldputherapplecorewhenshe
wasoutsideatrecess.WemetasaGreenTeam,and30peopleshowedup!We
madeupascheduletotakethegreenbinoutsideatrecesssothatstudentswouldn’t
throwcompostintothegarbage!Oncesomeonehadleftthegreenbinoutsideandit
gotwetbutitwasfine.
Lookingbackandrealizingthatatfirsttherewasonlythreepeopleandnowthere
are30isamazing.
PS.Teachertalkingagain:Iammostimpressedbytheenthusiasmandselfdirected
initiationthatthesestudentshavetaken.IhelpedalittlebitwiththeseprojectsbutI
amsoproudthatthesestudentshavesomuchinterestandbeliefintheirown
capabilities.Ithinkthatthissortofindependencewillhelpthembecomeleadersinour
communityinthefuture.EvenmoreimpressiveisthefactthatmyGreenTeamleaders
arealreadythinkingofpassingonthetorchbytrainingnewleadersfornextyear(see
thephotoofthetesttheymadeforthenextleaders.Icouldnothavecoordinatedallof
thisworkonmyownthisyear!