By Celia Emmelhainz, Guest Blogger
Tell me a little about what your classes did with SCRAP this spring...
We were talking about the solar system and SCRAP came in and actually worked with the children to create solar systems using recycled or reusable items. So that was great because it was nice for the students to incorporate what they knew about the planets in terms of the size of the planets or where they're located and to be able to integrate that within their learning about the solar system.
What kind of materials did they work with?
Some of the items t
hat they were using that SCRAP brought included beads and string and old paper... and cords and bottle tops, containers, container tops. They brought crayons for the kids too. So, for instance, they incorporated what they knew with Jupiter having rings and they created rings to represent the planets.
How did the kids respond? What did they learn from this project?
It just brought the solar system to life and it helped us to talk specifically about the earth and about how it's important for us to recycle -- and to make sure we can retain our natural resources. So that's how we integrated it, not only with learning about the solar system but, particularly, we narrowed it down to the earth and the importance of recycling on earth.
How did students respond to SCRAP?
All around it was an excellent activity. SCRAP conducted it for grades three, four, and five, about fifty children total. They were very engaged -- some kids didn't want to stop and wanted continue, even when our time was up.
What have you done with these projects? 
They're still up now, they're displayed.
What else have you done?
SCRAP also came to Takoma in December and we had a recycling activity where we took scraps and created Christmas gifts, like, they were able to make jewelry. That was something that we did right before the Christmas holiday, working with beads and strings and maybe wrapping paper.
What has been the benefit of working with SCRAP?
What a teacher likes about that, like myself, is that it was an opportunity to synthesize what they learned to put everything together. It was nice to learn about recycling, to have the kids say, "How can I use these scraps to represent these planets?" [Through this project], the kids really understood what they were learning in class, searching for certain materials and colors to represent what they knew in terms of the characteristics of the solar system. It was great.
Celia Emmelhainz is a guest blogger for SCRAP DC and posts an assortment of modern and classical artwork regularly at the ShapelyWomen blog.
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