Environmental education is one of the most important tools we have to teach students about how their actions have an impact on the world around them. Teaching is arguably the most important thing we do at Keep Blount Beautiful. If you are not a teacher in Blount County it's not likely you know what it’s like to have KBB in a classroom. Our goal is to educate by getting students involved.
Personally, my favorite presentation is Fred the Fish. Fred the Fish is an interactive story involving a fish made from a dish sponge, a clear container with water, and fake pollutants. We tell the story of how Fred travels down the Little River and goes through polluted areas. Students take turns adding pollutants to Fred’s water. They get to see how their actions impact Fred and his environment. We allow them to comment on how the brown sugar we pretend is dog poop and other pollutants affect Fred’s health and happiness.
Classroom presentations are not the only educating we do at KBB! We take students on field trips to the Blount County Landfill. It is really a neat field trip for kids. They see how the landfill operates and get to learn from the trash experts at KBB. We also love to invite classes to hang out with us at our EcoCenter to play our recycle relay race and learn more about waste and recycling.
At KBB we also think it is incredibly important for students to be involved in beautification projects and litter pickups. A great way to teach kids that littering is bad is to have students go pick it up! During the warmer months, we work with students to pick up trash on their school grounds. There is plenty of litter to pick up, especially near football and baseball fields. Seeing a campus before and after a litter pickup allows students to feel pride in their school and accomplishment for their work.