Celebrating Environment Week in classes 1 to 5

The Environment Week provides the opportunity to teach and enhance both environmental science and nature of science activities. The idea is to bring environmental issues to life, as it were, for the children through a wide range of fun, interactive educational activities.

Our School organized it's annual Environment Week from 8 to 12 July, 2013. The children were sensitized towards their environment through various activities spanning the week. The children enjoyed the week and learnt many new things about our environment. Different activities were organised for each class throughout the week with all students participating in them.

The Environment Week also included the initiative to sensitize and make our students aware of the recent Uttarakhand disaster.

The concept of SHRAMDAAN was introduced to the students across the School in the course of their through participation in a variety of competitions during the Environment Week. Each competition carried a cash prize of Rs.1000/ for the first position and Rs 500 for the second position and prize winners were given the option of donating their reward money or keeping it.

The idea being to inculcate generosity by giving away something earned through personal effort. Not just donating something taken from their parents.

The various activities conducted in the classes were:-

Class I Recycled paper craft Scrap paper box

Class II Citizen of an eco- friendly environment- Students worked in groups to decorate and write slogans on cut- outs of human figures creating a human chain. Drop- water mobile- Children created drop- water mobiles with emotions. The water droplets depicted the emotions of anger, sadness, happiness as reactions to wastage, pollution and conservation. Poster- making competition Students made posters on water- conservation.

Class III The children made paintings on pollution on the first day of the week.

The children were also taught about the harmful effects of plastic bags on our environment. Keeping this in mind, the children displayed their creative skills by making paper bags from newspapers, thus making Best Out of Waste.

The story does not end here. To break the monotony, No Paper Day was celebrated on Wednesday the 10 July, 2013. Throughout the day the teachers and the children made a conscious effort not to use paper. The children were engaged in numerous oral exercises, games and quizzes throughout the day. School also organised an assembly based on conserving our environment. The children were able to comprehend the sensitive issues of our environment because they got to see a short play based on environment as a part of this assembly.

On 11 July, 2013, we organised a competition in which students were asked to make a nature-scenery using pasta. This activity really added to the success of Environment Week because the children put in their best efforts to decorate with their favourite ingredient!

CLASS IV Students of class IV collected pictures and information on the recent tragedy of Uttarakhand.They made collages of the pictures and discussed how it was more of a manmade disaster than a natural one. The collages were then displayed on the display board.

Each student was told to find out two amazing or lesser- known facts about the Lion and represent their information on an A-4 size sheet with pictures. This activity generated a great interest among the students in 'the king of the jungle' and the need to protect and conserve him.

Each student participated in the Best out of waste' contest wherein they brought from home materials that had been discarded as waste and used them to create beautiful and useful products of these.

CLASS V Students of class V collected information and pictures of the common sparrow. They tried to probe into the reasons for it's disappearance from our environment and need for the conservation of this common specie.

They also created beautiful nests using twigs, grass, pieces of cloth etc and placed these at various places in the School garden.

Apart from the above activities the whole school observed No Paper Day on 10 July. On this day the students did not use their books or notebooks to study. Infact no paper was used for any purpose. Oral learning by ways of quizzes, games and board work happened across all classes. It was an effort to make the students realize the importance of trees and the urgent need to stop their depletion by the rampant wastage of paper.

The entire week was eventful. The children looked forward to the activities each day, participating, learning and working together.