Through our nature school program, the children developed a deep relationship with the park and a sense of civic responsibility to take care of nature.
One day, we noticed pieces of glass at the base of an oak tree. The children were surprised and concerned to see this. They then took walks in the park and found litter throughout it – plastic gloves, beer cans, paper, and plastic bags just to name a few – all kinds of objects that don’t belong in nature and showed a lack of care for the environment. We spent some time as a group asking ourselves what we could do to keep the park clean, and the children eventually came to the conclusion that we should pick up the trash and throw it away. Next, we considered what we could do so that everyone would respect the park. The children suggested ideas to ask others in the park nicely to keep it clean and to write a letter that we could hang in the park expressing this message.
We put their ideas into action – cleaning up the park as a school community, as well as writing a letter with their thoughts about caring for nature.
The children have become very invested in cleaning up the park to prevent animals from getting hurt and to allow nature to stay as pure as possible. We have also talked about urban nature and have wondered if we would witness a similar situation with trash in forests or at the nearby beaches.
Their ideas developed into an art project, including both photos of the children with pieces of trash they have found in the park and a letter sharing their thoughts and ideas about caring for nature.
In this letter, we ask our community to take a pledge along with us:
–Nous promettons de ne pas jeter nos déchets par terre.
-Nous promettons de ramasser les déchets que nous trouvons.
-Nous promettons de voir la vie en vert.
Thank you to our photographer, Géraldine Pierson, as well as our LLS families and teachers who translated our French letter into Russian, Spanish, Chinese, and English.
