MOKANE, Mo. -- A greener world is the goal for Gretchen Hanna this school year. An elementary teacher at South Callaway Elementary, Hanna received a $500 grant from the Missouri Retired Teachers Association to help get her a little closer.
Hanna is using the grant to alleviate the costs of her "Recycling for a Greener World" program for third- through fifth-grade students. She decided to start the program this year to educate students about recycling different materials.
Since it's in the beginning stages, Hanna emphasized recycling paper and cardboard products to her students, which they're still learning as some plastic items end up in the recycling bins, she said.
"Children are the most impressionable and we need to instill (recycling) while they're young because they may not have a choice," Hanna said. "It's a choice now, but I think in the future it's not going to be a choice and we should educate them and get them on board for what the future holds."
The program serves a dual purpose, as Hanna and other teachers are using it to teach the students leadership skills. Later in the year, representatives from the different grade levels will be responsible for discussing and sharing recycling information with their classmates. The school follows a set of seven principals that help the students to become leaders and make "healthy, happy choices," which Hanna said will be applied through the course of the recycling program.
The first three principles - be proactive, begin with the end in mind and put first things first - Hanna hopes will act as the root of the program and teach students about creating a plan and setting priorities while leading the recycling program. Later, the principles, which focus on working with others, will come into play as students move onto recycling plastics and aluminum cans.
For example, Hanna hopes recycled tabs from aluminum cans can be used to raise and donate money to the Ronald McDonald House. She believes this will drive home the principle about setting goals, while also teaching the students their choices make a difference.
"I think that we're a throw-away society and that we should be more conscientious and reduce the waste we produce," Hanna said. "Recycling is more efficient now than it was 20 years ago, and it's part of what's making the world go round."
Although Hanna is moving forward with the program, there are still details to be worked out. She hopes to have a unit teaching the students about composting and about how to build "inventions" using recycled materials.
She wants to eventually get the program integrated into the school's system so even the kitchen would be using the recycling receptacles provided. At the end of the year, she wants to host an Earth Day event as an opportunity for the students to teach their peers about recycling.
"We want them to have the event so they can share what we've done throughout the year and be proud of it," Hanna said.
Hanna plans to use the grant money to purchase liners and recycling receptacles for the third-, fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms.