Taking an active role in caring for our environment

Children in the Moane Room have been exploring an interest in cars, garbage trucks and recycling. What began as role play, ‘being the garbage collector’, soon turned into an elaborate learning experience involving many children.

Across a month (and still continuing) we explored the use of traffic lights, created a car wash, attached bins on the back of our bikes, made a parking machine from recycled materials and set up a car track with blocks and ‘bins’ for a small world play experience.

We incorporated technology into our learning by using the interactive screen to watch some clips of how garbage trucks worked. We also visited the Newcastle council website to check the calendar to see what days our bins were collected from the suburb that we live in. During lunchtimes, we have been discussing the different types of food packaging, and whether or not they can be recycled. We are sure to use the red bin for waste, and the yellow bin for recycling.

On Wednesday, we invited Alicia from the waste management at Newcastle council to come in and speak to us. Alicia brought in some different packages which we took turns sorting into the correct bins. Alicia also shared with us some books about recycling, ‘Recycling is fun’ and ‘Let’s learn about recycling’.

In relation to the National Quality Standard, we are taking steps to be sure we are taking ‘an active role in caring for our environment and to contribute to a sustainable future’ (NQS Standard 3.3). We are also embedding sustainable practices into our operations to support children to ‘become environmentally responsible and show respect for the environment’ (Element 3.3.2).

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Toni Warburton Image
Toni Warburton

Toni Warburton is the Director of St Nicholas Early Education Newcastle West.

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