ENVIRONMENT WEEK 2021 observed across the classes

A strength-based classroom is a place where students with all sorts of labels come together as equals to form a new type of learning

-THOMAS ARMSTRONG

The School observed Environment Week from 5-9 July 2021 in the belief that every effort makes a lot of difference. The purpose of the five day long celebration was to develop new awareness and a consciousness of the environment among the children. At each level many different activities were organised during the week.

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 the forefront for the children through a wide range of fun and interactive educational activities planned to sensitise them.

To kick off this years Environment Week, the students of classes X and XI attended a webinar hosted by representatives of SaafSaans, a non-profit environmental conservation organisation. The speakers included Mr. Aditya Singh, CEO.

The session started with a short film about the Anthropocene Epoch, which is used to describe the era in which humans made the most impact. The screening was accompanied by a brief but thorough discussion with the students about climate change, the environment, and how to create a positive impact on the world as students. This was followed by a fun and competitive quiz on the topics covered in the video where the students participated with enthusiasm. Lastly, the speakers discussed the various opportunities available to students interested in joining the programme as co-presidents or volunteers. It was a very informative and interactive session and the students appeared motivated to get to know more.

On 6 July, 2021, the students of classes 5 and 6 had a session with Mr. Verhaen Khanna, founder of New Delhi Nature Society. He showed videos regarding the work that the NGO does, for example, the de-nailing of trees, the rescue and rehabilitation of animals and organising protests for saving trees in Delhi. He told the young audience that they must do small things to save trees, for example, watering them regularly, removing nails from trees, using homemade cloth bags instead of plastic bags for shopping etc. He shared that an app called ' Save Trees' which can be used to provide information on trees being cut and helps to gather people to prevent their mowing down.

Mr. Khanna showed some pictures of trees found in Delhi and the students were asked to identify them. Towards the end of the session he said that today's children know much more about nature than adults and one can learn a lot from them! It was a very interactive session.

On 7 July 2021, the students of classes IX and X had an online webinar with Ms. Madhavi Goswami, Environment Ambassador at Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, Vasundhara Ghaziabad on the topic- Experiential Learning on Environment. Ms. Goswami explained that the students need to empathise with the problems around them to understand why humans are affected by them. They must create an authentic connection with the problem. The process requires students to empathise with and define the problem, brainstorm, ideate, create prototypes and solve the issue.

It was an inspiring and informative webinar. Ms. Goswami motivated the students to become passionate about environment education and she shared new ideas about the same. It was a great opportunity for students to understand the steps they can take to help replenish the planet.

Students of classes VI to VIII participated in activities during the Environment week like Badge making, Best of waste /Natures tray etc. To make it more interesting a documentary, a self-composed poem and an animated video made by students was shown on climate change. Discussion around newspaper articles along with peer teaching by classes VIII & IX students on environmental issues like land degradation, air pollution and water pollution was also conducted for junior classes. It was a treat for the eyes to see many young minds working towards spreading awareness for a greener planet.

Excited students of classes 3 to 5 learnt and enjoyed the week with a number of fun-filled and joyous activities including compost making, a puppet show on How to save our environment, Power Point presentations on SDGs, posters making, slogan writing and a short video clip on Environment Day and Sustainability. They learnt segregation by making 3 different coloured waste boxes out of old shoe boxes and newspapers to collect different types of waste (wet, plastic, e-waste). Quizzes were also conducted to check their understanding of various environment related topics.

Students of class II started the week with an audio-visual discussion on the environment, its challenges and what can be done to save the planet. They also participated in an environment quiz. The next day, a discussion was held in Hindi on the ecosystem where students recited short poems on the theme.

A day was devoted to the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and students prepared masks and headgear using recyclable material. The next day, students conducted a guided scientific experiment aimed at elucidating the concepts of water pollution. They meticulously penned down their observations and conclusions. On the last day, the students were shown a presentation on the time taken by different materials to decompose fully. The underlying theme was to emphasise the need to use easily biodegradable materials.

Class I was engaged in activities like sowing seeds, watering plants, saving paper and learning different ways of segregating garbage. They also made posters on Life on land/Life under water, and spoke lines about the same in class. A slogan writing activity was done on a self-made paper mache sheet depicting the theme, SAVE TREES FOR THE FUTURE''.

We try to inculcate a sense of awareness amongst our students from an early age. There was not a face spared of enthusiasm in the Pre-Primary during Environment Week

On day 1, a brief discussion was done with the students making them aware of what the environment consists of, its importance and how to protect it. Videos were shown to the students during the class.

Day 2, Rooneys Adventure (the friendly octopus) was shown to them depicting how one should not litter the beach and save underwater creatures from hazardous waste. Songs like Earth is my home and Ped lagao were sung.

Day 3, The little ones enthusiastically drew an underwater scene keeping the story (Rooneys Adventure) in mind. They drew pictures of the octopus, star fish, jellyfish, crab and the tortoise. They even made a fish with origami paper. At the end, the children sang, The waves in the sea go up and down.

On Day 4, an art & craft activity involving making a wall hanging was undertaken in which four illustrations were made on paper- Save Energy, 'Save Water, Recycle, Reuse, Reduce, Save Trees. This was then attached to a picture of the earth on which the children had to tear and paste green paper to show the land.

On Day 5, a recap of the entire week was done in class with the children singing songs. The teacher had a conversation with the little ones in which they volunteered answers on how they would protect Mother Earth in their own small ways.

In Pre school, an introduction to Environment Week was done by podcasts which were shared for the little ones.

On Day 1, for an awareness about the 3rs [Reduce, Reuse and Recycle], our pre-schoolers made beautiful stationery boxes, reusing waste material easily available at home like stickers, cut-outs, pencil shavings etc.

On Day 2, a video relating to saving the environment was shown to the children.

On Day 3, the children did a flower blooming experiment with paper in the class. Afterwards they indulged in a cotton dabbing art activity, in which they coloured an outlined tree, green with cotton dabbing.

On Day 4, a PPT was shown on how the children can help society by segregating waste following which a similar activity was conducted in the class. The tiny tots promised to segregate wet waste and dry waste at home.

On Day 5, our creative pre-schoolers made birds, animals, fish and butterflies with paper tearing and pasting.

The week was eventful. The children looked forward to the activities each day, participating, learning and working together. They participated in all the activities in great enthusiasm and excitement. Their work was later artistically displayed on the School website.

For us at The Indian School, Environment Week is not an annual event but a way of life. As we truly espouse the words of the Dalai Lama, "It is our collective and individual responsibility. To preserve and tend to the world in which we all live. Every day is Earth Day. Every hour is Earth Hour. We endeavour to make Mother Earth a better place for everyone.