School is back in session! Start off the school year right. Encourage teachers, students, office staff, and custodians to take part in minimizing your school’s ecological footprint. Want to learn more about being a team member and playing your ecological role? Request a green team or environmental club workshop!

Workshops are a great way to educate yourselves on recycling practices, participate in activities that reinforce learning, and teach others how to reduce waste and improve recycling. Some past green team projects include implementing substituting disposable utensils with metal ones in the cafeteria, and reusing Keurig coffee cups for craft projects. Get more ideas here.

If you have participated in a green team workshop, tell us on the Green Team Facebook page what your team has done to reduce waste at your school.

Here are some other ways to participate in programs from King County:

If your elementary school signs up for the Going Green Together assembly show, it is eligible to receive two to four classroom workshops. You can find a list here.

Here are a couple of new workshops for elementary school classrooms:

• Let’s Talk Trash (Grades 5-6, 1 hour)

A workshop on the impacts of garbage on natural resources, energy and climate change. Participate in a talk show, while working in small groups to become an expert in recycling and waste prevention.

* There will also be an optional pre-workshop which will give the opportunity to apply the ideas and solutions learned to your own school and community.

• Recicla Más, Spanish Language Recycling Workshop (Grades 3-5, 1 hour)
  Taught entirely in Spanish, will teach on waste reduction practices. Such as helping sort everyday items that can or cannot be recycled in a fun and engaging way. This workshop will allow students whose primary language is Spanish, the knowledge of how to think about their choices and help reduce waste.

(Una clase, que enseñará a los estudiantes cómo puedo ayudar al medio ambiente a aprender a reciclar. Esta clase está diseñada para estudiantes de grado tres a cinco, durante una hora.)

Be sure to see the list of workshops for middle and high school classrooms.

Here’s a popular one that’s been updated for 2017:

• Earth Impacted Workshop: Overconsumption or Sustainability?
  Explaining the how and why we choose what we buy, and the impacts on the planet. An interactive workshop rotating through lab stations to examine overconsumption, our ecological footprint, and explore a product’s life cycle. Gain the analytical skills to lead a more sustainable shopping experience and lower your ecological footprint!

Teachers can request a workshop for their class at workshops@triangleassociates.com. For information on Green Team workshops or project assistance, contact greenteam@triangleassociates.com.

Helping the environment can be fun!