As the winter fades into spring and Earth Day approaches, there are several opportunities to get students outside. It is a perfect time of year to learn about the environment in and around our school grounds and to engage in a meaningful clean-up campaign.

Explore Ontario EcoSchools’ School Grounds Clean-Up Kit for helpful tips and suggestions on holding an effective school-wide environmental stewardship campaign. These activities and tools are designed to help students think critically about how waste impacts the environment and what they can do to protect outdoor spaces and preserve biodiversity.

The kit includes communication tools and whole school activities for both elementary and secondary schools. It also features in- class learning activities for primary, junior/intermediate, and secondary levels in collaboration with the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.

As well, Ontario EcoSchools’ has created a template to help you plan a week-long School Grounds Clean Up campaign. Ask students to select the communication and activity cards that they think will work best, and then work together to determine when the activities should take place, how to best communicate them, and what you may need to implement them.