 | Click our yellow button for a list of cool resources and websites! Or suggest a few of your own by emailing us at admin@greenkidsrock.com! |
 | Green Kids Rock was created to go beyond teaching environmental awareness to children. My son Ethan and I are the creators of Green Kids Rock. I was inspired by Ethan to create a vehicle that would empower our kids to speak their minds and take action. Our goal is to teach kids how to be advocates for their environment and their planet. At the age of five, Ethan was compelled to do a stand-up presentation in class about global warming. Clearly, kids are capable of understanding the basic issues at a very young age. At the age of nine, he asked me, "How come I don't have a say in how we do things?" He was speaking to me about legislative policy and his right to affect change in everything from mandatory recycling in fast food restaurants and hotels, to the larger issues of how to regulate carbon emissions affecting climate change. Teaching Environmental Advocacy in the Classroom is about openly discussing the issues and allowing a forum for every opinion. Our hope is to teach 1) personal awareness--how changing our everyday habits can affect sustainability, 2) effective communication skills that can motivate others to change their behaviors, and 3) specific actions one can take to advocate for a desired environmental policy. Green Kids Rock Resources for Teachers Our goal is to research and provide you links to educational materials, projects for the classroom and examples of what other children are doing to advocate for the environment in and out of the classroom. Real life stories resonate with kids! Just ask the folks at the Catalog Cancelling Challenge. A good story really sells! Children identify with other children who model successful eco-friendly behavior. My hope is to continue to share stories with you like the Catalog Cancelling Challenge. I also hope that together we will encourage activities that support sustainability all year round--not just on Earth Day and the month of April. Kid-Generated Content We need your support to rally the troops. Our hope is that your classrooms will produce their own blog material and videos. We are eager to feature guest bloggers, individually or as a group submission. We also hope you'll encourage creativity. We have a wonderful opportunity for kids to create their own videos and have them featured on our Green Kids Rock Video of the Day page. Stay tuned for a special GKR TV page and contests to drive participation. We welcome your ideas and ask you to send them to us at admin@greenkidsrock.com. Also, check out our contest about plastics at www.NeergHall.com. It was created with the support of Earth Day Coaliton and Project Kaisei. About "The Guardians of Neerg Hall" Our goal is to keep Green Kids Rock a minimally ad-supported website. We want to promote engagement of www.GreenKidsRock.com in the classroom by minimizing advertising distractions. In order to accomplish this goal, we will financially support Green Kids Rock with our www.NeergHall.com site, created to be enjoyed during free time in or after school, or at home. This site will include more advertising, but we will be highly selective in choosing its sponsor partners. Green Kids Rock site will include links to www.NeergHall.com. The site is an educational site, but will also promote sales of our eco-action book and game coming out in 2010. |
