November: Community Connections

56 Environmental Community Service Ideas

1. Plant a garden or tree where the whole neighborhood can enjoy it.
2. Set up a recycling system for your home and participate in your neighborhood curbside recycling pick-up.
3. Organize a car pooling campaign in your neighborhood to cut down on air pollution.
4. Set up a seed or a plant exchange in your neighborhood.
5. Grow fresh flowers and deliver them to someone to brighten their day.
6. Pick up a trail during National Trail Day in June.
7. Make bird feeders for public places.
8. Collect Old phone books in your neighborhood for recycling.
9. Adopt an acre of a park or a mile of roadside to keep clean.
10. Elect a family "energy watchdog" to shut off lights, radios, and TV's when not in use.
11. Help everyone in your family conserve water.
12. Clean up trash along a river or in a park.
13. Create a habitat for wildlife.
14. Create a campaign to encourage biking and walking.
15. Test the health of the water in your local lakes, rivers or streams.
16. Got places to be? Burn energy on your bike instead of taking the family car.
17. Participate in the Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program.
18. Start a butterfly garden at home, at a community center, senior home or school.
19. Sponsor an environmental slogan contest in school.
20. Build a bluebird trail.
21. Collect aluminum cans and donate the money to a favorite charity.
22. Get together with friends and make conservation posters for the community center.
23. Encourage your parents to buy products made from recycled materials.
24. Conduct an energy audit at your school.
25. Monitor the indoor air quality.
26. Organize an asbestos check.
27. Test the drinking water for lead.
28. Adopt an acre of rainforest.
29. Plant a commemorative tree to honor someone.
30. Create a children's nature garden, labeling plants and trees and scheduling guided tours.
31. Replace trees that have died.
32. Take household toxic waste to a proper disposal facility.
33. Check indoor radon levels.
34. Adopt highways and clean up clutter.
35. Volunteer to separate recyclables.
36. Organize a hazardous waste collection.
37. Start a recycling center at school.
38. Host a recycling fair.
39. Hold an invention contest with entries made out of recycled goods.
40. Form a volunteer lawn mowing service with your friends.
41. If you see a tree that's in trouble, try to save it. Pamper it, water it, or don't water it as the case may be. Find our what's wrong with it and how to make it better.
42. Pick up litter.
43. Use a lunch box instead of throwaway bags.
44. Practice the 3 R's in your house: Reduce, recycle, reuse.
45. Adopt a park with your friends and keep it clean.  
46. Bring a backpack when you shop or reuse those little plastic sacks.
47. Clean up a beach or riverbed.
48. Start a compost pile and encourage your family to use it!
49. Plant trees.
50. Plant a commemorative tree to honor someone.
51. Ask your school to use recycled paper.
52. Repair homes or abandoned buildings.
53. Start an Environmental Club.
54. Hold a recycling contest.
55. Check homes and public buildings for lead based paint.
56. Clear a new trail at a nature center or park.

November: Community Connections

Guest Speakers in the Classroom

Why have guest speakers?

Many studies have shown that when parents and families are involved in their children's schools, their children do better. When local community members become involved in schools, they can act as role models and mentors and provide an additional layer of support and inspiration for students and teachers.

Guest Speaker Logistics

When inviting a guest speaker into your classroom, inform the speaker about your course and why he or she is being invited. Be sure the speaker is fully informed about his or her role in the class. What specific topics do you want the speaker to address? How long do you want the speaker to speak? Is the speaker willing to allow students to ask questions? Answer these and any other questions. Also, be sure to find out what the guest speaker needs from you. Computer? Projector? Table?

Before the guest speakers arrives prepare your students about behavior expectations while the speaker is there. Talk about what the speaker will be talking about, what is expected from them, listening skills, have them prepare questions, etc. Be sure to thank the guest speaker for their time before they leave. A sent thank you card after the class period is a nice gesture as well.

November: Community Connections

“If you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are.” Wendell Berry

What is a community?

A human community is a group of people who live and interact with one another in a specific region under relatively similar environmental, social, and political conditions. A natural community is a group of plants and animals that live and interact with one another in a specific region under similar environmental conditions.

Our human communities are essential for our daily life. They satisfy our needs for food, and shelter, as well as provide social interactions. Human communities are dependent on the larger natural community which contains the soil, water, air, plants, and animals on which the human community is sustained. The natural community supports itself and our civilizations.

Every community is unique. Each has its own historical background, natural resources, attractions and unique features.

Community History

Study the history of the human and natural community in your area. What was here before? How has it changed? Who settled your community? What traditions did they bring with them?

Pick an aspect of local history to investigate further with your students. Keep the focus small and relative to the children. For example, you could study your school and the history of your school or schooling in your area. What would school have looked like to them 50 years ago? 100 years ago? What used to be at the site where your current school is? What plants grew there? What animals lived there?

Prairie Voices: Iowa Heritage Curriculum

http://www.uni.edu/iowaonline/prairievoices/index.htm#I.%20The%20Land%20and%20the%20Built%20Environment

Explorations in Iowa History Project

http://www.uni.edu/iowahist/Default.htm

Iowa Folklife: Our People, Communities, and Traditions

http://www.uni.edu/iowaonline/folklife/intro/index.htm

IPTV Iowa Pathways: Explore Iowa History

http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways/

People, Communities, and Their Iowa Environment

http://moodle.aeapdonline.org/file.php/638/People%20Communities%20and%20their%20Iowa%20Environment.pdf?=

Iowa’s Biological Communities

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/IAN201.pdf

Iowa Biodiversity

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/IAN407.pdf