North Park Elementary's Fifth Grade Compost Team

After a representative from WasteNot Compost came to speak to Jennifer Nelles' fifth grade science class at North Park Elementary, one thing really stuck with student Mia McBreen. “He told us that all the food wasted in America over two or three days could fill up Soldier Field to the top,” Mia says. “It was really crazy.”

The compost presentation was just one way that Nelles' class has been exploring their “shining moment,” which is what North Park Elementary lovingly calls the special class-wide projects that guide the students’ academic focus each year. “We have been focusing on projects that build on the fifth grade class’ essential question: How can I make my life greener?” says Nelles. The fifth graders researched composting, from the process to essential waste statistics, and were then tasked with educating the rest of the school. They gave presentations to other classrooms on why composting is important, and made signs to hang near bins detailing what can and cannot be composted. They even spent lunch periods standing near the trash to help fellow students sort their refuse. “We would tell them, 'this can go in the trash, this can go in the compost, this can go in the recycling,'” says Mia, a North Park student since pre-school. “And after having different things [in their lunches], and figuring out what could go where, they started remembering and could do it on their own.” The fifth graders play a hands-on role, too, with students switching off to help rinse dirty recycling containers and take the compost down to the bin.

It wasn't long before they started to see the impact of their efforts. “We started realizing that our trash bin was less full, and our compost bin started getting bigger and our recycling fuller. So we realized that is what we needed to be doing to keep our community at North Park green,” Mia says. Now, instead of picking up the school's compost once a week, WasteNot has to come twice a week; the compost pile has fully doubled. “When you can actually see the difference you are making it makes you feel more encouraged to continue to do it,” Mia says.

The compost project isn't the only way that North Park students are helping to eliminate waste. Fun initiatives like Waste-Free Wednesday, organized by librarian Helen Rosenberg, challenge kids to avoid bringing waste to school at all. Students without trash or even recycling are entered into a drawing where the can win repurposed items such as a pencil case made from Capri Sun juice pouches. The new knowledge has changed some of the students' day to day choices as well, from bringing reusable water bottles to eliminating plastic bag usage, and they're even sharing what they've learned with their families, instilling new recycling and composting plans at home.

While coordinating the school's new approach to composting, Nelles’ students have also spent their fifth-grade year researching and creating innovative eco-friendly projects. “Some people in my class are building a compost chute for their house, some people are making a sorting game for recycling, some people are doing how to make the Chicago River greener,” Mia says, adding that she's researching harmful chemicals in skincare products and possible alternatives. The fifth graders will then share their findings with the rest of the school at an Earth Day fair.

As the school year comes to a close, North Park fifth graders realize their eco-education has been fun, but it's also just the beginning. “We enjoy helping the Earth and like finding new ways to help others and our community’s environment,” says the class, through Nelles. “We have enjoyed making our lives greener, and plan to continue throughout the rest of the year, and hopefully lives.”