Kids are always more motivated in school when they see that what they are learning is relevant to their own lives. Kids for a Cooler Planet worked with some talented educators to help develop a simple, effective curriculum unit that engages and empowers students to use what they learn in class about environmental problems of disposable bags to change their world. Students can see tangible changes as a result of the activities in this unit. The elementary school unit is flexible with the core activities that can be covered anywhere from one to five days for grades K-6. It encompasses science and math to teach elementary students about the problems with plastic and paper bags and uses language arts to help students persuade adults to change their behavior. To enhance the impact of the unit on students, many grocery stores have agreed to donate reusable bags for each student to teachers who use this unit.

This unit evolved from the successful reusable bag project started the group of five high school students in Hanover, New Hampshire called "Kids for a Cooler Planet". This group witnessed the power that kids have in making a difference in their world. They brought together many talented community members to help develop this unit so that teachers and children in other communities could share this wonderful experience.

The unit conforms to state science frameworks and is being piloted in VT and NH schools in February 2008. We have placed a draft of the unit on our website along with several references for full curriculum units. The final version will be available to download for free by March 2008.

The unit was developed by Janet Zullo, the Director of Elementary Education at Dartmouth College, and Kyle van Leer, a founding member of Kids for a Cooler Planet. All members of Kids for a Cooler Planet and several recent graduates of Dartmouth College worked in gathering relevant curriculum materials and writing several of the activities. The templates were designed by Jessica Liu and some of the activities were created by Ellen Irwin, another founding member of Kids for a Cooler Planet. Teachers interested in learning more about this unit please contact marjorie@kidsforacoolerplanet.com.