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Introduction
What would intelligent friendly Aliens from outer space who visited
Sheffield, think of how well we humans are looking after our planet, its
people and all other living things? Would they think that we humans are
doing well or not so well?
We think the intelligent Aliens would be worried about how Planet Earth seems to
be getting warmer and its climate and weather is changing. They would say that
the evidence suggests that we humans are partly to blame, particularly from our
burning of energy fuels such as oil, coal and gas. They would be amazed that
thousands of people do not even do simple things to help such as switching
electrical appliances off standby, walking or cycling instead of using the car,
recycling or even switching the tap off whilst brushing their teeth.
Alien Invasion week is organised by the City Council’s Eco-Schools Team and
Sheffield is My Planet (SIMP) our City’s very own climate change campaign. This
Alien Invasion Activity Pack includes lots of ideas ranging from lesson plans and
Eco-Schools advice to a whole range of exciting competitions with attractive cash
prizes. See the competition section for more information.
Remember your school can take part in Alien Invasion week in any way you wish,
for example;
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The whole school, involving all classes coming to school dressed as aliens
and taking part in all activities and making lots of Eco-Promises or
Just one small group of pupils taking part in one activity
We think the Aliens would be very encouraged by the number of Eco-Schools in
Sheffield. At the beginning of 2004 our City did not have a single school
registered with the International Eco-Schools scheme. However, today 128 (64%)
of Sheffield’s schools are registered. These schools form a growing network of
millions of pupils in thousands of Eco-schools in 47 countries around the world. Of
our Sheffield schools 83 (42%) have now gained the Bronze Eco-Schools award or
above, 30 have gained Silver and 15 (8%) have achieved the top International
Eco-Schools Green Flag award!
Alien Invasion is for every school whether you are a Green Flag Eco-School or a
school just getting started. The activity pack has something for everyone whether
to kick start your progress on the scheme or to help with your continued success.
Sheffield’s Eco-Schools officers will be available as always to answer your
questions; they could even help your school plan and run activities such as Alien
Invasion Assemblies.
Yours sincerely,
Abby Wilson, Luke Williamson and Wendy McLoughlin
For further information on Alien Invasion and Sheffield Eco-Schools
contact the Eco Team on 0114 2735390 or e-mail [email protected]
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CONTENTS
Use the Resources in this pack to help you fit Climate Change into the Curriculum
over the Alien Invasion Week or in your own time. It is also a great opportunity to
get your school on board with Eco Schools. Follow our 5 day guides to take your
school to the next Eco School award level!
Assembly Ideas- Use these ideas to run various Eco themed assemblies.
Eco Alien Assembly 1 – Climate Change
Eco Assembly 2 – Litter and Waste
Eco Assembly 3 – Energy
Eco Assembly 4 - Water
Lesson Plans – Use these lesson plans to help introduce the various
environmental themes into the curriculum.
Water Lesson Plan
Energy Lesson Plan
Transport Lesson Plan
Waste Lesson Plan
Food Miles Lesson Plan
Poster Lesson Plan
Poems Lesson Plan
Code Lesson Plan
Eco Schools – How to become an Eco School in 5 Steps
How to Become a Bronze School in 5 steps
How to Reach Silver in 5 steps
Is your school a Green Flag School?
Intergalactic CompetitionsEco-Poem, Eco-Poster, Alien Costume & Carbon Promise competition information
Design an Alien competition sheet
Make a Carbon Promise competition examples
Extra Activities
More activities to hold in school
Easy Eco tips for your School
Glossary
Glossary of Eco Terms
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Assembly 1 – Climate Change!
You are the Alien or have a group of older children to dress as Aliens. Explain that you
have come to earth to see what we are doing to combat climate Change. You recognise
that this is a serious problem and you are concerned that Earthlings are not doing enough
to protect Earth.
Show a documentary of what happened the last time aliens visited earth. The film lasts
approximately 5 minutes and was made by a School in Sheffield.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdiuDpoHPt0
You (as an Alien) have come to see how this is going and if we are working at reducing
Greenhouse Gases in Sheffield and what else can be done to protect earth. The children in
the video recognised that it is better to walk and cycle than to travel by car everywhere.
Can the children tell you other things that they are already doing to help protect the
Environment?
Can the children suggest any more actions they could take help protect the Environment?
Can they include any of these actions in School? Pick out some key points and ask the
school if they all promise to help with these actions.
See the Top Tips for Schools for some examples.
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Assembly 2 - Litter and Waste
1. Set up a row of three or four chairs and label as park bench. Have a bin (prop)
placed at an edge so that it is visible but not obvious.
2. Have a few older pupils prepared. Explain to them that they are going to act like
lazy, rude people who don’t care about littering. They are going to pretend to walk
through the park and litter everywhere including around the bench. Use a mixture
of paper, cardboard cartons, plastic bottles and tin cans as litter.
3. Sit on the bench looking shocked whilst watching the children litter. When the litter
droppers have left ask the children “What has happened here?”
4. Extract answer of “Littering”. Ask children to share their ideas of what they think
about people who litter and why they litter.
5. Explain to children; Ok so we’ve agreed it’s a bad thing yet it still happens and we
see it everywhere. Ask children whose responsibility is it to tackle littering?
6. Share ideas but twist conversation around to Local Authorities and Councils who
have to spend a lot of money to tackle littering explain that this money could be
used for something much more beneficial if people didn’t litter.
7. Ask the children what the volunteers should have done with their litter. Extract put
it in the bin if you cannot take it home but ideally we need to… at this point give
children time to think whilst you fetch some boxes labelled paper, metal, glass,
material etc.
8. Use volunteers (preferably younger children) to collect the litter and organise into
the correct boxes.
9. So the first and one of the most important things we can do that is eco-friendly is
recycle. We can all do it.
10.Explain to children we only have one planet and it is all of our responsibility to look
after it not just by changing our actions but by changing our attitudes as well.
Follow up activity
11.Tell children that you are now going to read them a story that shows just what sort
of impact one person’s actions can have.
12.Read ‘Dinosaurs and all that Rubbish’ by Michael Forman ISBN 978-0-140-55260-7
13.Now talk to the person next to you. Tell your partner what you thought about the
story. Share some thoughts with the school.
14.Finish by showing children a ‘thought for the day’ poster: “Every person has an
impact - it’s up to you if it’s good or bad.”
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Assembly 3 - Energy
1. Display a large photo of chimney producing waste gases using a digital projector or
make printouts of the photo to give out to the children.
2. Ask children what they can see in the photo. Why do they think the black smoke is
being produced?
3. Give children a short introduction about the energy we use at home and school.
Heating and lighting, cooking our food, turning on the TV and using a computer all
use energy. We need to energy to travel by car, bus, train and plane as well. This
energy is produced by burning, coal, gas or oil. At the same time as we use energy
we produce waste substances, such as smoke in the photo that are harmful to us,
to the air we breathe and everything around us. We cannot see some of the waste
gases that are produced as they have no colour, but they can still be very harmful
to people and the environment.
4. Introduce children to the idea of saving energy in school. There are many small
ways we can all save energy and so really make a difference to the amount of
energy we use in school and at home. By saving energy we are also cutting harmful
substances put into the air.
5. Ask children for their ideas on how we can save energy in school and at home.
Discuss these with the children and build up a list of actions to save energy on an
interactive white board or flipchart. The children will probably guess some ways of
saving energy. Help them with some tips to obtain a good list energy saving ideas.
Here are some suggestions:
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•
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•
Switch off lights when you leave the room or when you don’t need them.
Switch the TV or computer off when you are not using them. Don’t leave them on
stand-by with the red light glowing as this uses half the amount of energy as when
they are switched on.
If you are in a shirt and the heaters are on, then ask your teacher or the people
you live with to turn down the heat a little and put on a jumper.
Close the door after you enter or leave a room – this keeps the heat inside.
Don’t open a window when the heating is on. Ask your teacher or the people you
live with to turn down the heating instead.
Persuade the people you live with to use energy-efficient light bulbs at home. As
well as using much less energy they last eight times longer than ordinary light
bulbs.
Have stickers and posters put up around the school to remind other pupils and
teachers to switch off lights when not needed.
Re-use and recycle paper, glass, aluminium cans, tin cans, plastic, clothing and
plastic bags. It takes a lot of energy and resources to make these.
Only turn on the tap when you really need water. It takes lots of resources and
energy to purify the water that we have in our homes and schools.
Ask the people you live with if you could walk to school or take the bus instead of
going by car.
6. Appoint a pupil energy monitor for each class who is responsible for checking lights
are switched off in the classroom when not needed.
7. Encourage the children to try as well as they can to carry out the energy saving
actions you compiled together during the assembly. Ask them not to stop at the
end of Energy saving Week. These measures will benefit everyone in the school as
well as the school itself.
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8. Encourage the pupils to keep their energy saving measures ongoing when the week
is over.
Assembly 4 - Water Conservation
You will need a 1 litre bottle, interactive whiteboard and calculator.
Explain that Water is a precious resource and we should use it wisely at all times because
it's not as abundant as you might think. You may wonder why saving water is important
as it appears to rain all the time in the UK. Wet summers and even wetter winters seem
to keep the garden nice and green and our rivers flowing. Despite having a seemingly wet
climate some parts of the UK are experiencing water shortages. The South East of
England has less water available per person than Sudan and Syria. We can never predict
when it might rain and when it might not, especially with our Climate becoming more
unpredictable due to Climate Change.
Using water, especially hot water, also uses energy and increases emissions of
greenhouse gases contributing to climate change.
Saving water will not only save the environment, but it will save you money on your water
bill, and it will save you money on your energy bill if you reduce your hot water
consumption. The average person in England and Wales uses 150 litres of water a day,
show a 1 litre bottle - that’s 150 litres of water or imagine 264 pints of milk. By 2020,
with increasing population, the demand for water could increase by 5% - that’s 800
million extra litres of water a day.
Explain that the table on the whiteboard (included) will help us calculate how much water
we use each day.
Ask the children and staff present how many times they do each of the activities listed on
the chart each day, take different answers and make a guess somewhere within the
ranges expressed. For each answer ask a teacher or older pupil to multiply the number
given by the audience by the number of litres indicated on the chart. At the end, add up
the totals to see how many litres of water we use. Then ask if we can think of ways we
can waste less water. Draw out some of the following suggestions.
Turn the tap off when you brush your teeth – a running tap wastes 6 litres of water a
minute. If everyone in the UK who currently leaves the tap running when they brush their
teeth turned it off instead – we would save 446 million litres of water – enough water to
supply 2.9 million people for one day – that’s the entire population of Leeds, Birmingham,
Glasgow and Sheffield (the UK’s 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th largest cities) for one whole day.
- Don’t use your toilet as a dustbin – an unnecessary flush uses another cistern full of
water. Put your face wipes, cotton wool balls in your dustbin rather than down the toilet.
If everyone in the UK who currently uses their toilet as a dustbin, stopped doing this, we
would save 27 million litres of water a week – that’s enough to supply the population of
York or Portsmouth for one day.
- Use the left over water from your night time drinks to water houseplants – this
saves new water being poured into the plants and your drink being poured down the
plughole.
- Invest in a water butt and connect it to your drainpipe in your garden - this can
then collect some of the 85,000 litres of rainfall that falls on your roof every year. This
water can be used to water your garden, clean your car and wash your windows
- Install a cistern displacement device in your toilet – these can be obtained free of
charge from your water company and displaces water in your cistern so that the volume
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of water in your flush is reduced by between 1 – 3 litres. Please note, that you do not
need a cistern displacement device if you have a dual flush toilet.
Bathers beware: A bath typically uses around 80 litres, while a short shower can use as
little as a third of that amount. But beware since many power-showers may actually use
more than a bath. You can minimise your water use by reusing your bathwater to water
your houseplants or garden.
Short, sharp, showers save water: By using a shower timer you can increase your
awareness of the amount of time you spend in the shower. Try taking shorter showers to
reduce the amount of water you use.
Wishy-washy machines: Before starting your washing machine, wait for a full load - a
full load uses less water than two half loads; so, you'll be able to save money on energy
and water.
Frigid water: Fill a jug with tap water and leave it to cool in your fridge. This way you
don't have to run the tap for ages just to get a cold drink.
Burst pipe preparedness: Check out where your main stop valve is and make sure that
you can turn it on and off. If ever a pipe bursts, you'll know how to cut off the flow.
Sparkling asparagus: By washing your fruits and veg in a bowl rather than under a
running tap, you could cut down on water waste effortlessly. And as an added bonus, you
can use the leftover water to feed your houseplants.
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Activity
Uses
Shower
50 Litres
Or bath
80 Litres
Brushing teeth with
tap running
4 litres
Or brushing teeth
without tap running
0.5 Litres
Washing machine
load
80 litres
Washing hands
3 litres
Drink (per glass)
0.25 litres
Boiling a full kettle
2 litres
Flushing the toilet
10 litres
Dishwasher load
35 litres
Bowl of washing up
8 litres
Multiplied By
Total Litres Used
Total amount of
water used each
day
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Water Conservation Lesson Plan
Session Objectives:
• To explore the importance
and water and the necessity
to waste less water
Session Success Criteria:
• Use geography skills
• Ask questions
• Critical thinking
• Investigative Skills
Starter:
Ask the students to guess how much of their bodies are made up of water- the answer is
65% Then ask the students to guess how much of the earths surface is covered by
water, the answer is 70% therefore it is very important to us.
Despite there being so much water on the earth, we can only use a tiny amount of it.
Either with a tank of water that holds 10 Litres or a picture depicting all the water on
earth/ pie chart (2 examples below are from Google images) explain that 97% of this
water is salty sea water that we cannot use. That leaves only 3% of freshwater but 2%
is frozen as ice caps, therefore we only have 1% of the earths total water supply to use
for drinking and cleaning.
The freshwater available to us depends on rainfall (water cycle) but this can be
unpredictable and at times we may have shortages, not only here but all over the world.
It is very important therefore that we don’t waste the water we have
Main:
Do a water audit of the school to establish where water is used in school, what it is used
for, how it is used i.e. push taps, dishwasher, hosepipe, and finally can the children
identify ways to reduce wastage and excessive use.
Activity:
Divide the class into smaller teams and send them off to different areas of the school
including the school grounds to see where water is used in school, where it is potentially
wasted and how it could potentially be saved. Consider how taps are used, do you turn
them on and off or are they push taps? Do the toilets have low volume flushes or hippos
to save water flushing? Are any taps left dripping? Is there a dishwasher in the staff
room? Do they use a kettle?
Regroup and ask each group to describe what they found and what they would
recommend doing differently to waste less water.
Plenary:
Come together as a class and produce a list of actions that we as a school could reduce
water waste.
Examples include: fix dripping taps; turn of the tap whilst brushing your teeth; fill the
kettle only with the water needed; use a watering can or a bucket and sponge, not a
hosepipe; put a water butt in the garden. See more tips on Eco Assembly 4 Water or the
following websites www.water-guide.org.uk www.thewaterschool.co.uk
www.yorkshirewater.com
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Energy Lesson Plan
Session Objectives:
• To learn how to
reduce energy waste
Session Success Criteria:
• Use scientific knowledge and understanding
• Use of scientific vocabulary
• Observation skills
• Drawing
• Making Notes
• Discuss and explain ideas
• Teamwork
Starter:
Ask children to go around the classroom and list or draw anything they can find
that uses electric energy. Give children clipboards and paper and 10-15minutes.
Return as a group and create a class list. Look carefully at our list. How
important are all of these things to our learning? Ask children to discuss with the
person next to them.
Main:
Use the internet to find some images of classrooms from different time periods.
Give children time to look at each one, what do you notice? What sort of
equipment is in the room? How much energy is being used? Discuss ideas.
Extract that we use a lot more energy now that we used to. Many of our
electrical devices are really important but are there things we could do to reduce
energy waste in our classroom.
Activity:
Ask children to return to groups. Give each group a giant light bulb shaped piece
of poster paper. Explain to the groups their mission is to list or draw ways in
which we could save energy in our classroom. Groups to be made of mixed
ability children. Teachers and TA to rotate and support/question all groups.
Plenary:
Each group to present its findings to the rest of the class. From listening to all of
the groups ideas that class has to suggest which ideas they thought were the
best and should go on our main class poster. Teacher to support children in
selecting the most suitable and appropriate ideas and write up on a class poster
at front of room. Expand the discussion to include the home. What can the
children do at home to save energy? The energy pages of the Sheffield Is My
Planet website may help you with this
www.sheffieldismyplanet.co.uk/advice/home-energy.
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Transport Lesson Plan
Session Objectives:
Session Success Criteria:
• Understand the problem
• Recognise problem
with school traffic and
• Design an advertisement
understand the benefits of
• Consider their contribution to school
walking or cycling to
traffic
school
Starter:
Mind map all the problems associated with the traffic outside the school, are
there any positives to having the traffic outside school? Who is in the traffic
outside school? Do a show of hands of how people travelled to school. Follow this
with the benefits of walking or cycling to school or using public transport and
what are the drawbacks? Can you do anything to overcome these drawbacks?
Main:
Write a script for a 1 minute radio advertisement (1 A4 page of writing) for your
school. The advertisement should:
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Tell people why cars are not a good thing
Choose information that will make people listen
Have a slogan that people will remember
Give ideas on other forms of transport and why they should use them
Talk about both the local and global impact
Here are some points that may help you:
• Relying on a car causes reduced levels of fitness; Traffic is dangerous,
particularly for children; Thousands of deaths and injuries occur on the
road every year; Traffic congestion is very bad in and around cities; Air
pollution and the way it aggravates asthma; The release of carbon dioxide
from cars, which adds to global warming; Road rage. Worksheet
Activity:
Plan and deliver a one minute radio advertisement. Record the advertisements if
possible and share with the rest of the school and send to
[email protected]
Plenary:
As a class discuss general findings. Explain to children that the government are
trying to tackle the over use of cars by introducing congestion charges, high
parking charges, toll charges etc. How do you think we could encourage people
to travel less by car? As a teacher try to extract ideas of walking or cycling if
possible, car sharing, public transport etc. Produce a class list of ideas, these can
be shared with the Eco Schools Action Team.
The travel pages on the Sheffield Is My Planet website may help you
http://sheffieldismyplanet.co.uk/advice/travel. A five-minute video about
reducing car usage and promoting walking, cycling, using public transport is also
available to show pupils. ‘Shadow of a Dinosaur: Climate Change - A Child's
View’ was produced by Sheffield City Council and can be viewed at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdiuDpoHPt0
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Waste Lesson Plan
Session Objectives:
Session Success Criteria:
• Understand the problem
• Consider consequences of our
with waste and the use
behaviour
of natural resources.
• Write and present a play
Starter:
Look at different items of rubbish and decide what material they are made
out of. What resources are used to make these materials? Does the class
think that these resources are renewable or non renewable? Could they be
either avoided in the first place therefore reducing our waste, Reused
after use, or Recycled. Unfortunately not all of our waste is reused or
recycled and we continue to use the Earth’s resources to manufacture
more. When materials are not reused or recycled what happens to them?
They are incinerated or buried in landfill.
Main:
In groups of 3 or 4 ask the children to write a short play about the rubbish
and resources and then
A. What would Aliens see if they visited earth in 100 years if we carry on
using lots of resources and burying or burning most of our waste. Think
about what people in the future might have to do without if some
resources run out. You could also think about what it would be like to live
in a world where most of the land is taken up by rubbish tips. Each person
in your group should have a character (either human or non-human) so
that you can act out your play to the rest of the class.
Or
B. What would Aliens see if they visited earth in 100 years if everyone
reduces, reuses and recycles as much as possible from today. Think about
how much cleaner and prettier the world would be if less rubbish was put
into the ground and fewer resources are used. Each person in the group
should have a character (either human or non-human) so that the play
can be acted out to the rest of the class.
Plenary:
Spend time in groups discussing the scenario they have chosen and write
a short play. Deliver the play to the class, perhaps to the school in
assembly and why not record the performances and share with us at
[email protected]
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Food Miles Lesson Plan
Session Objectives:
To explore the concept of food
miles.
Session Success Criteria:
• Investigate food miles
• Explore impacts such as carbon
emissions etc
• Importance of Fair Trade Products
Starter:
Ask children what they like to eat, what their favourite foods are. Ask them to
get in pairs/groups and choose one dish. What are the ingredients? Do you know
what all of the ingredients are? Where in the world do they come from? Come
back together as a class and work through a class example such as a packed
lunch box. Run through the list of ingredients and using a large map or an
interactive board, locate where ingredients are from. Can we calculate the total
food miles of this lunch box? Use either the table included or follow the link
http://www.organiclinker.com/food-miles.cfm
Main:
Discuss with class how many of the products we use everyday come from
around the world. Explain that you are going to read the story ‘The World came
to my place today’ by Jo Readman ISBN 9781903919026 (Eden Project Book).
In this a boy who is ill at home learns from his Granddad where lots of the food
he eats comes from. Whilst reading, use the maps with children and find all the
locations of produce.
Explain why high food miles are a bad thing. Half the vegetables and 95 per cent
of the fruit eaten in the UK come from beyond our shores. Increasingly, it arrives
by plane - and air travel gives off more CO2 than any other form of transport.
Differentiate by giving older children world maps with no place names so they
can find the location and offer different levels of support to children.
Activity:
From the story we can clearly see how lots of the food and drink we use comes
from around the world. Explain to children their mission is to design an evening
meal using ingredients as close to home as they can to give their meal a low
food miles score. They can use computers and books to research. Perhaps
provide a range of recipe books. For younger children you could provide a class
list of ingredients and food miles for them to create a recipe with. Children can
work independently in pairs or groups depending on age and ability.
Plenary:
Each group to present their meals and food mile totals to class. Which group has
the lowest food mile score? Which groups’ meal sounds the tastiest?
A circle time session could follow this lesson. Ideas for a circle time:
You have just learnt about food miles and we have tried to create a meal with a lower
score. Is that always possible? Explore how many convenience foods use ingredients from
around the world. Could we make something similar using local produce instead?
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Extract a list of possible implications such as food waste, carbon footprints etc. So how
could we make small changes in our lives to help improve this? Discuss the idea of fair
trade products, not wasting food, composting leftovers instead of sending to landfill sites,
growing our own fruit and vegetables etc.
FOOD MILES
1cm = 25Km
Example foods and sources
Food Product
Sugar Cane
Where it is found in
your lunch box
Biscuits and yoghurts
Country where it
is produced
India
Distance to
London(Km)
6,701
Cocoa
Chocolate biscuits
Ghana, Africa
5,088
Bananas
Bananas
Belize
8,547
Milk
Yoghurt
Manchester
Strawberries
Yoghurt
Argentina
11,082
Cheese
Sandwich
New Zealand
18,960
Margarine
Sandwich
Turkey
2,505
Tomatoes
Sandwich
Spain
1,630
Wheat
Bread
Canada
7,604
Wheat
Biscuits
Canada
7,604
Potatoes
Crisps
Lincoln
108
50
Total Distance:
69,983 (Km)
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Eco-Poster Lesson Plan
Session Objectives:
• To design an
eco-poster
Session Success Criteria:
• Develop eco-aware attitudes
• Use Art & Design skill
• Use of Persuasive skills/Slogans
Starter:
Prepare word Eco-Awareness on Interactive Board or Whiteboard. Show
children and ask them what they think eco-awareness is? Discuss in
pairs/groups. Regroup and explore ideas drawing out that eco-awareness is the
ability to understand eco-friendly actions that create a better world for us all to
live in. Ask children to return to their tables and mind map ideas for eco-actions.
What can we do to make the world a better place? Share ideas from all the
groups and create a class mind map of ideas on the board.
Main:
Explain to children that we have a long list of possibilities and actions such as:
• reducing water waste (e.g. shower v bath)
• reducing energy use (e.g. not leaving electrical appliances on standby,
switching off unused lights, drying clothes on a washing line instead of
using a tumble drier)
• recycling (e.g. paper/plastic/glass, composting food scraps)
• travel (e.g. walking or cycling to school instead of using the car, using
public transport)
You can find facts and information to help pupils at
www.sheffieldismyplanet.co.uk/advice, or you can get older pupils to look at the
website themselves. Perhaps explore the Eco School Topics for poster themes.
Explain that they must choose one of those ideas and that their mission is to
create and design a poster aimed at encouraging the school community to be
more eco-friendly. What does the poster need? Model the process of designing a
poster. Focus on posters needing to be bright, bold with simple clear messages.
Model use of slogans and rhetorical questions with older children.
Activity:
Depending on age and ability children could work independently or in pairs and
using a range of art equipment or ICT to create posters. Different classes around
the school could design for different purposes. Y1/2 children could design
classroom posters. Y3/4 posters for school corridors etc. Y5/6 posters for hall,
entrance hall or eco-display board.
Posters could be judged overall by head teacher some could be passed onto a
printing company and made into durable outdoor posters to go on school gates
and fences where they can be seen by parents and local community.
Plenary:
Class or whole school gallery session. Give the children the opportunity to bring
all their work together and look at everyone’s contributions. Ask children to think
about which ones capture their attention and why?
Posters can be entered into the competition- see details in the Competition Section of this
pack.
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Eco-Poems Lesson Plan
Session Objectives:
Session Success Criteria:
• To create eco-themed
• Develop eco-awareness
poems
• Explore eco-issues through poetry
• Suggest eco-friendly actions through poetry
• Use of metaphor/rhyme
Starter:
Play A-Z Game either individual/pair or group teams depending on age. Children
need to write the letters A-Z down the side of the page. For each letter explain
they must write a word or words associated with the environment or being ecofriendly. Time children for 10 minutes. Mark as a class explaining to children that
they get 3 points if they get an answer no other team has and 1 point if
someone else has it. The highest team total wins. For younger children this
game works well with big group teams and an adult working with each team to
prompt ideas or an older child from another class.
Main:
Depending upon age and ability model to children how to write a basic Haiku
poem or acrostic with a clear environmental theme. Work with your class to
write a class poem on Interactive whiteboard using their ideas and modelling
how to make interesting word choices etc. Differentiate to your classes needs,
simple rhymes for younger pupils or explore metaphor with older pupils.
Activity:
Children to choose an aspect of the environment or being eco-friendly and plan
and write a poem. They could write a poem that would go with the poster they
have made. Poems can be handwritten and illustrated or designed and produced
using Microsoft Word or Publisher. Each class could collate their poems together
in a class eco-scrapbook that could then be put on display in the school entrance
hall or eco-display board.
Plenary:
Choose some pupils to read their poems aloud to class. What is the message in
this poem? What did you like about it? Is there anything you might have added?
What do you think about the design? Share thoughts and ideas.
You can send your best eco-poems to [email protected] for inclusion on the
Sheffield Is My Planet website. Please include the names and age of the pupils, and the
name of your school with the poems.
Poems can be entered into the competition- see details in the Competition Section of this
pack.
- 19 -
Eco Code Lesson Plan
Session Objectives:
Session Success Criteria:
• Creating or updating
• Consider governments’ role in creating and
an Eco Code for your
changing policy
Eco Schools.
• Use persuasion
Example of how you
• Use of Technical Vocabulary
can involve the
• Be involved in discussion
school in forming an
• Explain Ideas
Eco Code.
Starter:
For younger children have a general discussion, older children could represent
the different political parties. Tell the children to imagine that their class has just
been transformed into the houses of parliament and thought now means they
have powers to make laws and change things. However before a law can be
passed it needs to be agreed upon and so an Eco Code must be written. Tell the
children that they are going to, in their teams, select environmental issues that
they think the school, city or country needs to focus on. Pick themes from the
Eco School Topics.
Main:
Allow children time to discuss and mind map a range of environmental issues
they want to explore and address in their Eco Code. They can research and use
the internet to locate ideas and relevant information. Children will need to be
supported to create a focused mission statement such as “We want to reduce
our impact on the environment” and then develop a range of actions they would
like to see carried out which would lead to the achievement of their Action Plan
and Eco Code. Teacher to try to steer each group to investigate a different Eco
School topic. This can then be fed to the Schools Eco Action Team.
Activity:
Each group in the class creates an Eco Code and a separate list of actions. Once
planned out it needs to be written or typed up clearly, maybe illustrated so that
it is eye catching and grabs the readers’ attention. Younger children could have
an older child from another class working with their group to act as a scribe. KS1
should create a list of short and snappy statements of actions whilst KS2 could
produce their Eco Code and actions in more of a report format.
Plenary:
Each group’s aims and actions are collated together and shared with the whole
class. Once read they can be collated together and shared with the schools Eco
Action Team as possible new or revised Eco Codes for the school. An Eco Code is
a requirement of becoming a Silver Eco School and must be refreshed
periodically during the schools Eco School Journey. The Actions the children have
written are a great way to feed ideas into the schools Action Plan.
- 20 -
- 21 -
How to become a Bronze Eco-School in 5 Steps
Step 1
Register and Recruit
Register your school on Eco Schools at www.eco-schools.org.uk and Recruit an Eco Action
Team. Why not do this in assembly or with the newly recruited action team.
You will need a team of students to lead on
making your school more ‘Eco’ friendly.
They will be responsible for representing
the views of all school users and
communicating the projects you undertake
with the whole school and wider
community.
The Eco Action team will carry out an
Environmental Review of the School and
then decide upon what Actions they would
like to take. The team must be made up of
pupils, members of staff, a member of
school management if possible and a parent and or governor either now or at a later stage. We
recommend the team includes between 4 and 10 members but there is no format - use
whatever works best for you - remember to come up with a name for your Action Team!
- 22 -
Ideas on forming an Action Team.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
An Action Team can be recruited by holding an election.
Hold a competition - ask each interested candidate to make a statement as to why
they should be on the Action Team – a selection process could be used then to form
the team.
Ask for the students to apply for the position as a job application.
Are there any budding wildlife enthusiasts who want to take part?
Any champion recyclers?
Any budding Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall
Any cycling enthusiasts?
Think about who will be needed to help take action e.g. staff members, parents,
governors, cleaners, kitchen staff, buildings supervisor, caretaker, bursar etc.
Remember to get the Head teacher on board!
By involving the whole school in the recruitment of this team, the school is aware of their
existence and they will know how they can feed their own ideas into the team.
Ongoing Evidence….
It is important to keep evidence of all your Eco-Schools activities. An assessor will ask to see
this when you apply for your Green Flag. We recommend you keep a simple timeline of each
meeting and activity. Other useful evidence would include photographs, posters, pupil
accounts or statements, minutes of Action Team meetings etc. Your evidence can either be
saved in an electronic file or as a hard copy. It is also important to record where you have fitted
any of the 9 Eco School topics into the curriculum.
- 23 -
Step 2
The Environmental Review
The Environmental Review is a fact finding mission and should be carried out by the Action
Team, but they may need to ask questions of other members of staff within the school, i.e. the
Site Supervisor.
The Review looks at 9 different topics that are covered within the Eco Schools programme.
Using the Environmental Review available on www.eco-schools.org.uk/links/ follow the
questions to reveal what your school is already doing and what more it could possibly do.
It should take approximately 1 to 2 hours to complete in total, don’t worry if there are questions
you can’t answer at this stage - try and cover as much as you can and finish the review over
the coming weeks as you aim towards your Silver Award.
If you don’t have enough time to do a full Environmental Review, ensure you have at least
attempted to cover the topics of Energy, Waste and Water.
Remember to save any evidence of this for your file; ask a pupil to write a summary of what
has been done and take a photo to evidence this - add your actions to your timeline.
- 24 -
Step 3
Action Plan
Having completed the Environmental Review, the Action Team can decide 2 or 3 actions they
would like to adopt to make the school ‘greener’. Include any ongoing actions your school may
already be doing that relate to the 9 Eco School Topics i.e. gardening clubs, litter pickers,
Healthy Schools, Travel Plans. This does not mean that you have to stop there though, if your
Action Team would like to do more in the way of improvements in that topic then go ahead.
Ensure there are 2 or 3 new actions that the school can work towards.
The Action must state what you want to do, how you intend on doing it, how you will record
and evidence its progress and who will be responsible in carrying out these actions. We
recommend completing the Action Plan electronically as it is then easier to update at Silver
and Green Flag level.
Example Action Plan.
Below is part of an example action plan
Note - an extra column has been added entitled ‘communication’. The template on www.ecoschools.org.uk is a guide but it can be adapted to suit to your setting’s needs.
Topic
Action
Measure
Timescale
Responsibility
Communication
Energy
Stop Wasting Energy- Switching off
lights, closing doors, turning off
electrical equipment when not in use,
switching off White Boards during
breaks. Have energy monitors in each
class to perform energy checks every
day. Collect energy meter readings
and put them on a chart situated on
Eco Schools Notice board.
Energy
meter
readings-
Ongoing, to start
with immediate
effect
Each class to
allocate 2
monitors.
Action team to
allocate 2
energy monitor
meter reading
recorders.
Hold poster competition
for turning off lights.
Switching off computers
etc.
Energy
Acquire an energy meter to assist with
meter readings
Children to
write to local
business’s to
ask for funds
for an energy
meter.
Before Easter
holiday.
Yr 4 to write
letter
Involving the wider
community (local business)
Transport
To ask more people to walk to school
with the aid of a walking bus. With
help from school travel planner to
organise this
Newsletter to
ask for
parents to
volunteer
To have a walking
bus start after
Easter half termongoing
Action team,
school council
and newsletter,
School Travel
Planner
Announce in Newsletter and
ask for parents to volunteer.
Healthy
Living
To continue with the schools Healthy
Schools Plan.
To maintain
an enhanced
Healthy
Schools
status
Ongoing
Healthy
Living
Fruit Tuck Shop- open during
breaks.to encourage healthy living and
ideally use locally sourced fruit and
veg
Record take
up- Do
survey with
studentshow many
portions of
fruit and veg
do they have
each day.
To start After
Easter- ongoing
project. To do
survey before and
after the tuck shop
opens.
Actual Result
Healthy School
Status achieved June
2008
To be run by
volunteers, Mrs
White to
manage the
tuck shop. Use
fruit not eaten
and produce
from garden
club.
Posters up on notice board,
announce in assembly.
Please Note: it is highly recommended that you cover Energy and one of either Waste or
Water in your Bronze Action Plan.
- 25 -
Step 4
Notice Board
It’s time to share all your announcements on the Eco School Notice Board. This should be in a
prominent position within the school where staff, pupils and visitors can see your goals and
achievements.
Ideas of what should be included …
Who is in the Action Team?
What is on the Action Plan?
Photos?
Have a suggestion box so other members of the school can share their green ideas.
A copy of your schools DEC Rating
Make a start if possible toward your Actions on the Action Plan, take the first recordings,
gather evidence to show before and after results.
Remember to save all evidence for your file. Take a photo of your notice board.
- 26 -
Step 5
Assembly and Bronze!
Announce what has happened over the past week and what will be happening in school. This
ensures the whole school is involved. Also the assembly might be a good time to go online and
hit the Bronze Award or print this off before the assembly and award it to the action team.
Perhaps a local Councillor or Governor can award the school its certificate. It is always worth
sharing your success with the community. Find your local Councillor
www.sheffield.gov.uk/your-city-council/councillors
.
Take a photo for your evidence file.
- 27 -
How to become a Silver School in 5 Steps
Step 1
Where are we at?
Assembly - Announce what has been achieved to date and ask the school for suggestions on
what can be done to achieve more. Take these suggestions to an Action Team meeting.
The Action Team should then meet and look at the current Environmental Review. Ensure it is
complete and up to date.
•
•
•
After updating or refreshing the Environmental Review, look at the Action Plan.
Have you been working toward your targets?
What else would you like to achieve?
Look at adding some more action points to work towards. Try looking at one major and two
minor projects. Either update the existing action plan if it is an electronic copy, or translate the
existing plan to a new one. Ideally use an electronic copy so it can be easily updated, adding in
any new actions you have started or have decided to take as a result of the updated
Environmental Review. It is a good idea to distinguish any new actions with a different colour
font or date each action.
Finally, does the Action Team include a Parent or Governor? You will require the support of a
Parent and/or Governor for the Silver Award - they do not have to attend every meeting but
must be kept informed and they must be able to contribute as much as possible.
It may be possible to recruit a parent by advertising the post in the school newsletter or ask
parents at the school gate at home time. Ask the school office to ring or email the governors.
Aim to have recruited someone on the team by the end of the week.
Ask teaching staff for any lesson plans where they have fitted sustainability into the curriculum.
Using the lesson plans from this pack can be included in this evidence.
One suggestion is to provide a large diagram of all the different eco-school topics in a staff
meeting. Ask staff to write in the appropriate box where they have included this topic in the
curriculum. See the following diagram
- 28 -
Transport
Water
School
Grounds
Biodiversity
Healthy
Living
Eco School
Energy
Global
Perspectives
Litter
Waste
- 29 -
Step 2
Eco-Code Competition and Student Questionnaire
Your School needs an ECO CODE- This is a statement of what your school wants to achieve it could be a motto, song, poem or rap for example. It is best to invite the whole school to take
part and think about what it means to be focused and green.
Classes could be invited to put in an entry and incorporate the activity into a lesson, or invite
individuals to take the challenge home.
Entries need to be in by Friday so a winner can be announced and the Eco Code can be
displayed.
Who will judge the competition? Would you like to ask a member of
school management, the Action Team or an outside party such as
a local Councillor (find your local councillors at
www.sheffield.gov.uk/your-city-council/councillors)
If your school has already made an Eco-Code, spend this time
ensuring it is widely recognised throughout the school.
Carry out a student Questionnaire to establish if the school knows
about the action plan?
•
•
•
•
•
Are they involved?
What would they like to see happen in their school?
Can this be incorporated into the Action Plan?
Do they recycle at home?
Do they use energy efficient light bulbs? etc
- 30 -
Step 3
Share Your Work with the Wider Community
It is important to share the work you are doing with the wider community. This may be a good
opportunity to recruit a parent to the Action Team.
Here are some suggestions
•
Send a Press Release to the school newsletter.
•
Make Posters advertising the school’s work to display in local shops and libraries.
•
Put a display up at the school gates and
inform parents of what is happening.
•
Add an Eco School page to the school’s
website
- 31 -
Step 4
Update Your Notice Board
Make sure the Notice Board is up to date.
Include photos and evidence of what has been achieved so far and what the new actions are.
What has been recorded and have improvements been made? For example display your
energy readings; can you point out changes i.e. summer, winter variations or water usage, how
much waste are you throwing away.
Gathering the results of a student questionnaire. This is a good opportunity for a class to look
at the results and put them into a graph. Look at the results; would the Action Team like to use
any of their suggestions? Use the results in the evidence file.
- 32 -
Step 5
Adopt an Eco Code and Silver!
Announce the winning Eco Code in Assembly. This will be the schools mission statement
towards becoming as green as possible. Place copies up around the school and of course, on
your Eco Notice Board.
Has sufficient progress been made to become Silver?
Question …
Has the Action Team
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Met on at least four occasions?
Recruited the support of a parent and/or
governor?
Carried out a full Environmental Review?
Completed a detailed Action Plan?
Made progress on the Action Plan from when it was first developed for Bronze Award?
Shared the Eco School work with the wider community, i.e. parents and local residents
and groups?
Is the notice board up to date?
Is sustainability included within the curriculum?
Has an Eco Code been agreed, adopted and displayed?
Hit the Silver Award button and share this with the school. Perhaps a local Councillor or
Governor can award the school its certificate. It is always worth sharing your success with the
community. Find your local Councillor www.sheffield.gov.uk/your-city-council/councillors
Remember to save evidence and take photos for the file. This is vital for the application for the
next step; a Green Flag!
- 33 -
Is your School a Green Flag School?
Follow these steps to get your Green Flag application on track …
Step 1
Collate your Evidence and carry out a follow up Review
The Green Flag Application can be sent as an electronic document or as a hard copy.
Evidence for the award can also be kept both electronically (which saves energy and paper) or
where necessary, in a file which can be shown to the assessor on their visit.
At this stage it is a good idea to draw together all the evidence required to illustrate your
progression towards being a Green Flag School. Use the Suggested Evidence list (enclosed)
to help you put your file together.
The Action Team, at Green Flag level, should take significant responsibility over the meetings.
Evidence should include minutes of meetings which show the input of the team. As the Action
Team has to have met at least six times for the Green Flag it would be good to include a
minimum of six minuted meetings or a summary of what was discussed. There will be plenty of
opportunity for the Action Team to meet several times as the Environmental Review is updated
and the Action Plan is expanded.
The Action Team needs to do a follow up Environmental Review from the first full Review or
even a third to ensure it is current and relevant, ensuring any changes have been accounted
for. These changes might be as a result of an action point in the Action Plan or an outside
influence.
Eco-Schools Action Plan
Topic Action Target Timescale Responsibility
Date Action Plan Developed………………………….
Action Plan Developed by…………………………….
- 34 -
ECO-SCHOOLS EVIDENCE
1. Suggested evidence for Section 1 – Eco-Action Team
a. minutes and other meeting reports
2. Suggested evidence for Section 2 – Environmental Topics Review
a. The Environmental Review documents themselves
b. minutes and meeting reports
c. photographs
d. pupil accounts
e. Suggestions Box
f. data collection sheets, etc.
3. Suggested evidence for Section 3 – Action Plan
a. Please send two copies of your current Action Plan with this for which should
include targets and methods of measuring the targets set.
4. Suggested evidence for Section 4 – Eco-Curriculum
a. Lesson plans
b. pupils own work records
c. wall displays, etc
5. Suggested evidence for Section 5 - Communication
a. The notice-board photograph
b. assembly plans
c. press releases/press cuttings
d. minutes from governor meetings
e. AGM agendas
f. letters to/from business contacts
g. Newsletter
6. Suggested evidence for Section 6 – Eco-code
a. The Eco-Code itself
b. Eco-Code competition
c. Suggestions, ideas
d. notice-board photos
e. lesson plans etc
7. Suggested evidence for Section 7 – Monitoring and evaluation
a. Before and after photographs
b. meter readings
c. waste audit data
d. pupil attitude questionnaires etc. etc.
- 35 -
Step 2
Update the Action Plan
Either update the existing action plan if it is an electronic copy, or translate an existing Action
Plan onto a new one, adding in any new actions that have been started or decisions that have
been made as a result of the updated Environmental Review. It is a good idea to distinguish
any new actions with a different colour font or date each action.
There should be at least one large scale action and at least two others underway. The topics
these actions fall under should be well understood within the school. This can be evidenced
where the topic has been covered within the curriculum. There should be a whole school and
wider community understanding and involvement of the work having been carried out.
Use photographs to show what you have achieved …
- 36 -
Step 3
Communications
Have the actions been communicated with the whole school and wider community?
Take time to address what has been done in the past and ensure it is evidenced. Spend some
time ensuring all tools at your disposal are used and plan some communication campaigns to
share the Actions and to recruit the support of the whole school and wider community.
Here are some suggestions.
•
.
•
Ensure the Notice Board is up to date
•
Can some information be included on the
schools web site?
•
Can the work be publicised with posters in local shops etc? The whole school could be
involved in designing this poster and don’t forget to evidence how this fits into the
curriculum.
•
Can information be shared in the local paper? Preparing a press release could be a
class activity and remember to evidence this with links to the curriculum.
Can a regular piece in the newsletter be
included? Ideally written or co-written by a
member of the action team.
- 37 -
Step 4
Checklist
1. Pupils take significant responsibility for the running of the team.
2. The Action Team has completed a follow-up review.
3. The Action Team has produced a detailed ‘Action plan’, including timescales and
targets, and shared the plan with the school community and updated it based upon the
follow-up review.
4. The Action Team can identify progress towards achieving most targets in the Action
Plan and can produce physical evidence of data collection and analysis (graphs etc).
5. The school can identify substantial progress towards one large-scale project and
indicate involvement with two others. Identify substantial progress means that the
school has an understanding of the project topic, recognises its importance to
sustainable development within the school environment and wider community and has
implemented change.
6. The school has a prominent, dedicated notice-board detailing the activities being
undertaken towards Eco-Schools. Eco–Schools activities are being reported in
assemblies and at governors meetings.
7. The school can illustrate regular communication lines to parents and the wider
community about the good work being undertaken in the school as a result of EcoSchools.
8. The school has agreed, adopted and displayed an Eco–Code.
9. The school is willing to share good practice with other schools who wish to join the
scheme.
- 38 -
Step 5
Application Form
Although it is important to have the Action Team involved in all aspects of the Green Flag
process, adult supervision and involvement is necessary when completing the application
form. This ensures all aspects are covered and the form is completed correctly. The Head
Teacher also needs to complete section 8.
Time needs to be spent ensuring all the good work of the school thus far is highlighted – leave
no stone unturned! Ensure each section reflects whole school involvement. In section 7 do
not be restricted to just 5 targets – you may expand on this if you wish.
Remember this is your chance to show Eco Schools that you are a Green Flag school and that
they should send an assessor to verify this!
Using the checklist at the end of the application, collate your evidence. You will need to
include 2 copies of each piece of evidence (one for the assessor and one for Eco Schools).
Once your application form has been submitted, if successful, an assessor will be allocated.
This can take up to six weeks depending on the assessor’s workload. While you are waiting
why not put your application in for permission to put up a flag pole? (General Enquiries: 273
4215 - [email protected]) You could either purchase a new pole or why not be
resourceful and ask a car showroom or a new housing development if they could give you one
of their old ones rather than throw it away?
Eco Schools will arrange a mutually convenient date for both the school and the assessor.
The assessor will wish to speak to the Action Team, They will also want to look around the
school and view the evidence file. They will ask questions that everyone will be ale to answer
if everyone has been involved!
The assessor will be unable to give you a decision there and then. Eco Schools will ring
hopefully later the same day to let you know if the school has been awarded the Green Flag.
REMEMBER a Green Flag will NOT be awarded if the litter criterion is not met (see Eco
Schools website).
- 39 -
- 40 -
Intergalactic Competitions!
There are 4 competitions to enter, each has a £100 prize to spend on Eco projects
within the school. Entries to be submitted to contact details at the bottom of the
page and must be received by Thursday 24th March 2011. The 4 categories are;
Best Eco Poem- You can use the lesson plan provided in this pack with a class or
organise a competition within the school. Enter as many entries as you wish. Send
Eco Poem Entries by Email or post, address details at bottom of page. Please state
what you would spend your £100 Eco prize money on. Please ensure name, age
and school name is on each entrant.
Best Eco Poster – Using the Eco Poster Lesson plan, or organising your own
poster competition within the school, send us your entries and ensure name, age
and school name is written either on the front or back of the poster or clearly
identifiable if it is an electronic submission. Please also state what the School
would intend to spend it’s Eco Prize money on. Send to address at bottom of page.
Best Alien Costume- If your school has taken part in dressing like an Alien to
mark Alien Invasion Day, send us your digital pictures along with name and age of
child to [email protected] with details of what you would spend
your Eco prize money on.
Design an Alien – Design an Alien on the sheet attached Post entries to the
below address. Please also state how your School would spend the £100 Eco prize
money.
Make a Promise – Make a ‘Carbon Promise’ All classes taking part in the Alien
Invasion are being asked to make a pledge to carry out a particular action that will
reduce their CO2. Classes can choose from the list of ‘carbon promises’ provided in
the Making a Carbon Promise page or submit their own idea: Send entries to the
contact details below, ensure each promise includes the name, age and school of
the promise and the School must indicate how they would spend the £100 Eco
prize money.
Entries to either
[email protected]
or
Sheffield Eco Schools Team
Sheffield City Council
2-10 Carbrook Hall Road
Sheffield City Council
S9 2DB
Short-listed entries will appear on www.sheffieldismyplanet.co.uk
- 41 -
Design an Alien Competition
Why not use your artistic talents to design an Alien friend for Gooshi
Gooshi
Draw an Alien friend for Gooshi in the space below
Has your Alien got a name?
Your name, age and school-
- 42 -
Making a ‘carbon promise’
All classes taking part in the Alien Invasion are being asked to make a pledge to carry out
a particular action that will reduce their CO2. Classes can choose from the list of ‘carbon
promises’ below or submit their own idea:
•
Walk or cycle to school instead of using the car
o
•
Switch electrical appliances off standby at home / at school
o
•
Composting kitchen and garden waste will save 90kg CO2 per year. For more
information visit http://sheffieldismyplanet.co.uk/getinvolved/people-andcommunities/carbon-stories/compost-my-kitchen-and-garden-waste
Play outside instead of watching TV
o
•
By turning off the tap whilst brushing, a pupil will save 6 litres of water for
every minute. For more information visit
http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/home/campaigns/save-water/actions/turn-offthe-tap-when-brushing-your-teeth.html
Keep food and plant scraps for the compost bin
o
•
Recycling can save up to 400 kg carbon per year. For more information visit
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bloom/actions/recycling.shtml
Switch off the tap whilst brushing your teeth
o
•
By carrying out this action a pupil can potentially save 126kg per year. For
more info visit http://sheffieldismyplanet.co.uk/getinvolved/people-andcommunities/carbon-stories/switch-off-stand-by
Recycle paper, plastic, glass and cans
o
•
If a pupil walks or cycles just one day a week instead of traveling in the car,
they will potentially save 50kg carbon per year. For more info visit
http://sheffieldismyplanet.co.uk/getinvolved/people-andcommunities/carbon-stories/use-your-car-once-a-week-less-for-the-schoolrun
A pupil will save 113g of carbon for every hour they switch off the TV and
play outside instead.
http://www.carbonfootprint.com/energyconsumption.html
Wash the car with a bucket and sponge instead of a hosepipe
o
By helping parents to wash their car with a bucket and sponge instead of a
hosepipe a pupil can save 124 litres every time they wash the car. For more
information visit http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/home/campaigns/savewater/actions/use-a-watering-can-or-a-bucket-and-sponge-not-ahosepipe.html
- 43 -
- 44 -
Eco-Activities
Here are some extra activities your school could run during Alien Invasion
week.
Make a model Gooshi
Gooshi is the Sheffield Is My Planet mascot. Using any range of art and design media they can think of
children to create Gooshi mascots. It may be in the form of badges, posters, 3D models, textiles etc. You
can download a PDF of Gooshi to give to pupils at www.sheffieldismyplanet.co.uk/alieninvasion.
Dragons’ Den Inventor
Advertise to pupils and their families a competition in which the families’ brief is to design some kind of
water saving or energy saving device. They might not be able to make their device but teams must draw
plans and a written brief to explain what it is and how it works. School staff could organise a Dragons’
Den night after school in which a set of finalist compete to win over the staff or guest judges with their
ideas. Ideas may be passed on to local businesses or Local Authority if they seem like a real possibility.
Set up a competition within the school for classes to compete against one another and see who can save
the most CO2 over the school year.
- 45 -
Top Tips For Schools
Here are some ideas that can be easily adopted by your school to combat climate change.
Stationery Amnesty- Have a sort out of drawers and trays of unused pens, pencils, paper
clips etc and re-stock the stationary cupboard. This will save ££’s on purchasing
equipment, save waste and all the energy and resources that go into making these.
Waste Free Lunch- Ask children who bring a packed lunch to attempt a Waste Free Lunch.
The idea is to avoid unnecessary packaging for individually wrapped items. This option is
often much healthier as it involves making sandwiches, taking fresh fruit
Meat Free Monday- or any other dayConsumption of meat and dairy has a higher carbon footprint than grains, pulses and
vegetables. Organise a meat free day to significantly reduce your impact on the
environment. Visit www.mfmsupport.co.uk for more information.
Set your printer/copier default settings to black and white and double sided.
Send a team out to monitor your water usage, report any dripping taps, are there any
leaks- report them to be fixed.
If you have single flush toilet cisterns, fit a low cost water displacement device, i.e. a
water bottle filled with water. This could save the equivalent in water each and every
flush.
Identify draughts- make draught detectors and then find ways to exclude them!
Making a greenhouse (there is a greenhouse plan available online in which a school needs
to collect two litre plastic bottles and build a greenhouse from them – see
http://www.ecofriendlykids.co.uk/build-greenhouse-plastic-bottles.html).
Setting up compost bins around school.
Collecting shredded paper, soaking and making paper bricks.
Setting up litter picking rotas.
Appointing water monitors to check school for dripping taps.
Light monitors to turn off unecessary lights.
Appointing recycling monitors across the school.
Watch Newsround online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews. The daily programme is
informative and covers many ecological issues.
Raise money for and set up water butts around school.
Collecting old Christmas cards, birthday cards and old craft materials set up an eco- craft
club in which these old things are turned into something new.
Involve parents and families by asking them for old catalogues and other recycled
materials schools find useful.
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Ensure fruit/food bins are set up to collect waste that could be put in compost bin.
Development of eco-awareness posters around school designed by children, for children.
Develop an eco-display board with news, projects and events information.
Develop a termly eco-newsletter to go home to parents and families spreading the
messages.
If you have a school website add an eco-page.
Set up gardening club. Create a vegetable patch, plant up areas around school and
incorporate more plants into classrooms.
Have whole school gardening or clear up days.
Create a School Farm Shop selling fruit, vegetables and plants children have grown to
parents.
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Green Glossary
Carbon
Carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the universe. It is found in several forms
including diamond and graphite and what's called amorphous carbon, which includes coal
and soot, as well as being found in the cells of living organisms, alcohols, gases including
methane, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide.
Carbon dioxide and methane are greenhouse gases, contributing to global warming. Major
sources of carbon dioxide include the burning of fossil fuels, which releases the gas. Major
sources of methane include organic decay such as the decomposition of plants and
animals and cow manure.
Climate Change
Climate change is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth caused in the
main by the increase in emissions of greenhouse gases. Temperatures have risen by
nearly 0.74 degrees Celsius in the last century with climate model projections predicting a
rise in the 21st century of 1.1 - 6.4 degrees. The large range being due to the big
unknown – greenhouse gas emissions.
A result of this increase in temperature is the rise in sea levels. Sea levels have risen in
the past century by just under 2 mm but the rate of increase in recent years is between
2.8 and 3.1 mm a year up to 2003. The sea level rise due to climate change is a mixture
of ice melt from the poles and as water itself warms it expands in volume through what is
referred to as thermal expansion.
Climate change will also affect precipitation patterns, bring about more extreme weather
conditions, bring expansion of deserts and retraction of the ice sheets and glaciers,
changes in agricultural yields as a result in temperature and precipitation changes and risk
further the demise of rain forests.
Ecological Footprint
Ecological footprint is the measurement of human demand upon the Earth’s ecosystem. It
compares the demands of human activity to the resources available within the ecosystem.
It calculates the biologically productive sea and land area required to regenerate the
resources required to cancel out human waste activity.
Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency is the ability to provide a function or service with the minimum
expenditure of energy. In general, something is more energy-efficient if it can get the job
done while using less energy to do so. Energy efficient electric lightbulbs, for example,
can provide the same level of light as incandescent light bulbs but use a lot less energy in
doing so: they are more energy efficient. The same measurement can be applied to
energy efficiency in vehicles, buildings and other processes and services.
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Food Miles
Food miles is a measurement of the distance that food travels between the fields and the
supermarket shelves.
According to the Food Standards Agency over half of the food we consume in the
UK comes from beyond our shores. Increasingly it arrives by aeroplane -- which
produces more CO2 than any other form of transport.
An important contributing factor to food miles is the car journeys made by shoppers going
to and from the supermarket.
To calculate the true carbon footprint of food, which is what really matters when talking
about food miles, a number of factors have to be considered. Not least of these are the
season, production methods, packaging and method of transport. A report by the
University of Lincoln in New Zealand concludes that due to the farming methods employed
in New Zealand (such as using less fertiliser and using renewable energy), lamb imported
11,000 miles from New Zealand to the UK uses less carbon than UK lamb. The UK cost of
production is 2,850kg of CO2 per ton of lamb. In New Zealand this cost is 990kg per ton,
shipped to the UK. (2006 figures).
Fossil Fuels
A fossil fuel is a natural fuel formed in the geological past from the remains of living
organisms. Examples of fossil fuels are coal, natural gas and oil and in 2006 86% of the
world's energy needs was met by these sources. The remaining was made up from
renewable energy and nuclear power.
Fossil Fuels are non-renewable. When they are gone, they are gone. The burning of fossil
fuels is a significant contributor to global warming as their burning releases greenhouse
gases.
Greenhouse Gases
Greenhouses gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons
(cfc's), ozone and water vapour. Greenhouse gases are required to help maintain the
temperature of the Earth and without which we would likely perish. Activities such as
burning of fossil fuels has increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
which is causing the warming of the planet - global warming - and all that goes with it
such as chaotic weather patterns and rising sea levels.
Water Efficiency
Water efficiency is rising up the political agenda and with good reason. Due to human
demand and the effects of climate change, should current levels of water consumption
continue, then by 2025 two-thirds of the global population will be living in areas of water
stress by 2025, according to a study by the Second United Nations World Water
Development Report. The UK has less available water than most other European
countries so how we use water is going to becoming increasingly important -- and water
efficiency is key to this. Already in the South East on England there is less water per
capita than Syria, Dallas or Sudan!
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