Have a Green Christmas!

I think almost every education magazine and journal that I subscibe to has had at least one article (or in some cases, whole issues) devoted to being "Green" this year. I know that conservation of our natural resources is important (as I write this, Georgia is in an extreme drought and talk of our water supply drying up is a reality!) but I often wonder if the education world is talking about this topic because it is the hot "buzz word" of the year or if we believe that going green should be taught to our students so that maybe in 20 years we won't have headlines such as the ones daily in the Atlanta paper about our water crisis. I think it is a little bit of both. I do think the sudden interest is in response to what is going on in the word around us, but I do think that we need to integrate talks with our students about conservation and recycling and not just have those conversations on Earth day!

This year as part of my month long holiday celebration I am doing a week on having a "green" Christmas. I will be reading the book Night Tree by Eve Bunting (which she wrote in 1994, way before being "green" was fashionable). After we read the story we will be making Christmas ornaments for our feathered and furry friends. I had a hard time coming up with an ornament that was not so messy (think, peanut butter and birdseed) so, with the help of my daughter, we came up with making froot loop cereal ornaments. The kids will string froot loops onto pipe cleaners and twist them together. Then they can go home and hang their ornament on an outside tree. Not sure how much birds like froot loops, but I am sure that the squirrels will love it!