 Mrs. Burton
Means Business
Recycling Kids, Inc.-- a business run by El Monte, California, third-graders--teaches
business skills while involving parents and helping the environment.
I like our business because it helps our Earth...It makes me feel good
that I can make a difference.
---Lesely C.
I like that we take the monies we make from our business and adopt endangered
animals and habitats.
---Jack K.
Recycling Kids, Inc. is fun because we make fun items from trash. We
help Earth by not throwing this trash into landfills.
---Nidhi D.
Those are testimonials from three of the students involved in Recycling
Kids, Inc., a program established in 1992 by the third-graders in June
Burton's class at Twin Lakes Elementary School in El Monte, California.
Since 1992, the students involved in Recycling Kids have sold thousands
of useful gift items made from recyclable trash. They've used the profits
from their business to adopt a handful of manatees and whales, several
dolphins, an eagle, five acres of rain forest, and more.
What can we do to help our environment?
That simple question--asked in 1992 by June Burton's third-graders--started
it all! Those students identified trash as a serious environmental concern
at home and at school. They identified waste items--such as Styrofoam
meat trays, plastic detergent bottle lids, and baby food jars--as common
and readily available "target" materials.
As a homework assignment, students were asked, How can we use these
discarded items? They were encouraged to work at home with their
families to brainstorm responses to that question.
"The students came up with ingenious ideas such as converting
Styrofoam trays into airplanes, baby food jars into pumpkin candy jars,
and detergent lids into flower pots," says Burton.
Every student has an important role to play in the business. The students
are given the opportunity to sign up to be part of one of four business
"departments."
Think Tank Department - Students in this department
- think of new products that can be made from recycled trash,
- make a list of all materials needed to make each product,
- suggest a selling price to people in the advertising department, and
- give to the production department a list of required materials.
Production Line Department - Students in this department
- make a sample of each product to be sold,
- decide the easiest way to make each product,
- list the steps needed to make each product,
- are responsible for making a good product (quality control), and
- must finish production of products on time!
Advertising Department - Students in this department
- decide on a sales slogan,
- decide on an advertising plan (for example, creating signs and visiting
classrooms),
- price items to be sold, and
- evaluate what sold well.
Sales and Accounting Department - Students in this department
- design and set up the sales booth,
- sell the products, take down the sales booth,
- tally items sold and graph sales results, and
- report sales results and findings.
Notes: Each department group selects a "department
chief" to be in charge of day-to-day operations. Because of hectic
production schedules, all students participate in the production of goods.
"During its years of operation, our business catalog grew from 10
to 50 items that can be made from trash!" Burton said. The catalog,
which was divided into five sections, one for each season of the year
and a "general" section, described in detail how each of those
items was made. Following are a few entries from the Fall catalog line:
Pumpkin Candy Jar - Make salt/flour dough mixture to be used
to create a pumpkin lid to fit on top of a baby-food jar. Paint the
lid orange. Use fabric paint to create a jack-o-lantern face on the
jar. Fill the jar with candy corn and other candy.
Fall Seed Candle - Collect seeds, pine cones, pods, and other
items from nature. Pour plaster of paris into aluminum plates from frozen
meat pies. Place candle in the center of wet plaster of paris (which
can be colored). Add seeds, pods, nuts, and glitter.
Pumpkin Candle - Use small store-bought votive candles in black,
orange, or white. Use fabric paint to paint a face on each candle. Add
lines for the pumpkin top.
Parent involvement was essential to the success of Recycling Kids, Inc.
Parents were involved in many facets of the business, from generating
ideas to providing needed supplies. A newsletter kept parents informed
of the business's operations and needs. For example, the Fall issue of
the newsletter encouraged parents to collect small baby food jars and
aluminum tins from frozen pot pies; also, the newsletter notified parents
of the need for small wrapped candies and other items required to produce
the Fall product line.
"Parent involvement was very exciting and stimulating to our business,"
says Burton. "Practically speaking, parents feel good about contributing
toward the environment and their children's education, and students see
that their parents think school is important."
Sale profits were used to adopt a manatee, a whale, an acre of rain forest
land, an eagle, and more. In addition, profits paid for a field trip for
students to California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. There,
students visited a special Earth-friendly dormitory program. Students
in that dormitory taught the kids how they are able to conserve natural
resources by raising their own food and fish, filtering their own water,
and much more.
"Recycling Kids enabled all students to get involved--no matter
what their socioeconomic status or their abilities--and to have an equal
opportunity to protect and feel good about the environment," said
Burton. "The kids saw the fruits of their efforts pay off in environmental
protection."
"An unexpected offshoot of our business was that it was contagious,"
Burton adds. "Teachers and students from other classrooms contributed
to our business and, consequently, become active in recycling waste
without being directly involved."
Most importantly, the program taught many valuable skills--business
and math skills, economics, cooperation and teamwork, to name just a
few. It instilled feelings of pride in products well made and a job
well done, added Burton.
Well done, Mrs. Burton and the Twin Lakes third-graders!
Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World® Editor-in-Chief
Copyright © 2005 Education World
07/11/1997
Updated 03/30/2005
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