Envirothon is an exciting competition where students exercise their environmental training and problem-solving skills in an outside competition centered on four universal testing categories - soils/land use, aquatic ecology, forestry, and wildlife and a current environmental topic which changes yearly. This year’s topic is climate change. Team members experience the world in which we live through environmental education and hands-on- activities. Since 2007, the Saskatchewan Envirothon has been offered to high school students.

 

To further the interest in Envirothon, the Partners FOR the Saskatchewan River Basin saw the opportunity to involve students in grade 7 and 8 by offering a one day “mini” version of Envirothon that was held October 20^th, 2009 at the Brightwater Science & Environmental Centre. The students studied material similar to the high school students but at a level geared to the elementary years. Upon registration, teachers received teaching materials on Climate Change and study materials on all of the other topics for the students to use. Students then took part in the Climate Change Project.

 

There were two schools in attendance at the Mini-Envirothon.  Prince Philip School had two classes and Caswell School had one class.  There were 20 students participating, 2 teachers, 2 parent volunteers and 6 other volunteers.

 

This year’s event was an outstanding success and was well received by participating students and teachers. The event began with a two hour trail test followed by a lunch then flowed into the oral presentations. After the presentations we allotted time to introduce students to some of the hands on experiences that are found in the high school Envirothon. Mike Newman from the Canadian Forest Service taught the students how to measure tree heights, density, and circumference. This was received very well by the students.

 

Class Projects

 

Prince Philip School's grade 7 and 8 students created a project which focused on expanding the school's recycling program.  They wanted to increase the number of blue bins located in classes to recycle paper materials, and developed a composting site for leftover food.  The class fully embraced the idea and studied in detail the aspects of recycling.  The students began by looking at the waste from all the grade 4 classes in their school.  The students graphed what was thrown out and discovered a large portion of the garbage could be recycled.  The students spent the $50 grant purchasing recycling bins for the classrooms.  As well, the students are planning on raking lawns in their surrounding community to raise funds to purchase even more recycling bins for their school.

 

The second team from Prince Philip School was the grade 7 class.  These students came up with an intriguing idea of planting a laurel leaf willow tree in their school yard.  They chose this type of tree because it is easy to take care of and because this particular type of tree is easy to take cuttings from, therefore allowing the students to plant more trees throughout the yard.  The teacher built a greenhouse in the classroom to allow the students to care for the cuttings from the tree.  The students are planning on giving away some of the fall cuttings to spread throughout the neighbourhood.  To take the project further when the class moves into grade 8, they are planning on teaching the new grade 7's how to take and mange cuttings to ensure their project is perpetuated as the years on on, therefore leaving a lasting effect on the school and students.

 

The students from Caswell School created a project in involve their whole school.  To reduce their carbon footprint they planned on doing one hundred acts of green by the end of October.  The acts included such things as recycling, taking shorter showers, and using reusable containers.  When a student performed an act, they got to write their act and name on a leaf made out of recycled paper.  The student then would stick their leaf to a tree on the classroom wall.  At the time of Envirothon the students already had a total of 31 acts.  The students had originally thought to buy prizes for those participating in the program, however this idea was rejected because the students wanted people to participate for the right reasons and not for prizes.  Therefore, as an alternative, the class decided to donate the $50 to the Meewasin Valley Authority Plant-a-Tree program.

 

 

Project Climate Change is a classroom project – a way to involve your entire class in determining ways to help reduce the effects of climate change. Everyone had the chance to become involved. Each class received $50, provided by SaskEnergy, to develop and implement a class project on climate change at their school. Then each student or group of students created an Infomercial to highlight their classroom project. However, only one Infomercial was shown at the Mini Envirothon competition.

 

While Project Climate Change is a classroom project where all students can participate, only 5 students per class attended the competition, completed the trail test and presented 1 Infomercial.

 

For additional information on the Mini Envirothon and the class project, please click here.