Submitted photo LCS fourth and fifth-graders sort through the trash outside, keeping track of the types of materials they were finding (over half of it was plastic).

LAFAYETTE — Last week, fourth and fifth-graders at Lafayette Public Charter School did a lot of trash talking. First, they spent an afternoon walking around town, mostly at Lund Park, collecting everything on the ground that didn’t belong there. Then their teacher, Ms. Larson, sent them home with the task of taking an inventory of all the packages in their refrigerators, keeping a tally of items that were glass, cardboard, metal, and plastic, the four categories they decided most products are packaged in.

After synthesizing all the data from the refrigerator container investigation, students discovered that fifty-five percent of all the packages in their fridges were made of plastic (a surprise to a few). Next up was the (literal) sorting of trash. The kids bundled up, went outside, and carefully went through their collected trash, keeping track of what all the items were made of. A data analysis of the garbage showed that there was a strong correlation between the packages in their fridges and the material that made up over half of the collected garbage: plastic.

On Earth Day, students read about how plastic is made, its life-span (five-hundred to one thousand years) and how, when it is not recycled, it may make its way to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch or one of the other four gyres in the world’s oceans. These gigantic whirlpools are teeming with discarded fishing nets, plastic bottles and acres of microplastics that create many problems for seven-hundred marine species. Fifth-grader Himalaya Harrison watched the videos with growing concern. “I felt angry at all the people that led to the garbage patch forming,” she said. Fourth-grader Brec Reinhart agreed, adding, “I felt really bad because we are ruining our planet.”

“It is a difficult unit to teach in some ways,” says fourth and fifth-grade teacher, Robin Larson, “as it wasn’t the kids in my classroom who got us into this plastics problem in the first place, but they are the ones who are going to have to work the hardest to solve it.”

Students had a number of take-aways from the unit. “I can spread the word about how bad it is to use single-use plastic,” said fifth-grader Elyse Lentz. “Kids can also go outside any day and pick up garbage‚” added fourth-grader Kaydence Jutz. “This group of kids is very hopeful,” says Larson. “They are excited to be a part of the planet’s pollution solution.” As fourth grader Peyton Marozik says, with a big smile, “All kids can keep the Earth clean!”

Lafayette Public Charter School is a tuition-free public school located in Nicollet County, serving pre-k-8th grade students from the Lafayette, New Ulm, Gibbon, Fairfax, Winthrop and Brownton areas. For more information, families may check out the school website at https://lafayettecharter.k12.mn.us/, send an email to: lcsoffice@lafayettecharter.k12.mn.us or call 507-228-8943.