This year, we will be offering a round-up of upcoming eco events and special environmental days that you can celebrate with your school. Here are a few ideas to get your thinking about how to engage your school community in getting active and going green next month.
Walk/Roll to School
October is International Walk to School Month! As it cools down outside and the leaves turn glorious shades of red, orange, and yellow, it is a wonderful time to enjoy an active journey to school. You probably know of some of the benefits of walking to school – from improving concentration at school, to fitting in physical activity, to getting to know your local surroundings. Walking is a simple way to integrate environmentally-friendly practices into your daily schedule.
Planning a walking event in October? Here are handy resources:
- Be sure to register your school’s event to receive a Certificate of Participation from Canada Walks.
- Active and Safe Routes to school has plenty of activities for different grade levels – all of which are linked to the Ontario curriculum.
- For parents of younger children, it’s a great idea to get together to plan a Walking School Bus – especially if it’s your child’s first time walking to school.
- Jane’s Walk has helpful tips on leading a walking tour of your neighbourhood – an excellent way for older students to think about their connections to their local environment.
- Rockin’ and rollin’: planning your Bike to School campaign, lays out strategies and activities to make sustainable transportation accessible and fun.
- Let us know what your school is doing to celebrate the month (and beyond) by sharing a photo on Twitter and tagging us @ON_EcoSchools.
- Claim your campaign under Environmental Stewardship by inviting your whole school to participate!
Waste Reduction Week
Another big environmental event coming up in October is Waste Reduction Week! Held in the third week of October every year, this is a good chance to get your EcoSchools program up and running with a school-wide campaign around Waste Minimization.
Here are few ideas:
- The Green Action Centre has fantastic activity ideas, from media studies to art to world issues.
- Download a School Resource Kit (and other free resources) from Waste Reduction Week Canada.
- Organize a Waste-Free Wednesday to challenge students to go #wastefree throughout the school day. Find tips and resources on organizing waste-free lunches here.
- Create posters from GOOS (Good On One Side) paper to clearly label your waste bins so that the right objects go into the right bin! Get your EcoTeam together to carry out a waste audit to get an idea of how your school is doing and where you can improve on proper waste sorting. Watch our step-by-step video on how to do a waste audit.
- Avoid unnecessary landfill from electronic waste by putting out collection boxes for old cell phones, and other electronic devices, and find out where you can drop these off in your community, e.g. Staples, Frogbox.
- Claim your actions in Waste Minimization, under campaigns!
World Food Day
October 16 is World Food Day. Why not take this day to reflect on what your school community can do to support healthy food systems? A few recommendations:
- Eat Local: Encourage students to bring a lunch using locally (as possible) sourced ingredients. See what’s in season.
- Visit a Farm: For elementary students, organize a field trip to an apple or pumpkin farm, then ask students to share how they made use of the bounty to make applesauce, crumble, soup, pie…endless possibilities!
- Check out Urban Agriculture: For high school students, have students investigate a food issue in their community (or beyond), like urban agriculture or food banks. Students can share their findings and brainstorm solutions in a Food Forum.
- If you’re planning to celebrate World Food Day at school, be sure to submit your event on World Food Day Canada’s website for their new resource page so that other schools across the country can get inspired! We’d also love to hear about what you’re up to: if you’re on Twitter use #WFD16.
- Claim it under Environmental Stewardship for whole school campaigns and under Curriculum for classroom lessons about our food and the environment!
And don’t worry – we haven’t forgotten Halloween! Stay tuned for a blog post on celebrating the spooky holiday without any scary environmental behaviours.
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