Beyond Recycling can be scheduled in many different ways. Review the options below and then choose what will work best for you and your teacher.
THERE IS A PRINTABLE BR SCHEDULE CHART FOR YOU TO DOWNLOAD BELOW
Here are some important things to remember when setting your BR class schedule:
❏ Identify Holidays – Use your notes about holidays, pro-D days, and special school events from your Teacher Meeting to map out your schedule. Hint: Don’t schedule your lessons close to the Christmas holidays as most schools almost always have special activities that pop up.
❏ Start & End time – We recommend starting no earlier than October and ending in May. Double check if your schedule allows the Food lessons to happen when food can be grown, or if Earth Day activities happen near Earth Day.
❏ Check the Order – The BR lessons are designed to be taught in a particular order to build the students’ knowledge as they progress throughout the program.
❏ Teacher Taught – Check that your schedule so that you don’t have a Teacher Taught lesson after school breaks (Xmas, spring break). Your teacher may have an open schedule that would allow them to teach the Research or Prep TT lessons during the same week that you bring an Educator Led lesson into the classroom. Check with your teacher to see what would work best for them. Check Schedule B below to see how this could work.
❏ Include EcoChallenge – EcoChallenge activities and additional Earth Day events can add additional class time to your schedule. It’s okay if you don’t know your exact plan at this time as long as you are open to having your schedule adapt and change over the year.
❏ Remember the Chunks – When setting your schedule, also please make sure that certain lessons are not separated by school holidays. Check that the following are together:
Chunk 1 – Garbology, History of Waste, It’s All From the Earth
Chunk 2 – Lifecycle, Lifecycle Research, Lifecycle Presentations, Closing the Loop
Chunk 3 – Our Energy, Energy Research, Path of Power, Debate Prep, Energy Debates
Chunk 4 – Sustainability, EcoFootprint
Chunk 5 – True Cost of Food, Good Food Field Trip, Real Food Potluck
❏ Include Mini Meetings – Don’t forget to add these into your schedule. These meetings will help you and your teacher with planning, Teacher Taught lesson support and scheduling. Make sure they are evenly spaced throughout the program.
❏ Flexible Lessons – There are certain lessons that are more flexible in where they can be placed in the schedule if need be. These include Waste Field Trip, Papermaking, Our Changing Climate, Transportation (be very careful if rescheduling this one as it is a TT), Our Water and Fishing for Sustainability.
❏ Schedule Example – Draft an example of your whole year schedule and then compare it with the example schedules below
❏ Confirm with your Teacher – Send a draft of the schedule to your teacher. Although it is important to have a larger vision about the whole program schedule, it can be nice to focus on communicating just about the schedule just till Christmas break. Ask for your teacher to review the draft and see if they see any conflicts. Keep adjusting until it works. Recognize that the schedule will most likely change with unforeseen school events, etc.
Scroll below for a printable Lesson Schedule Chart that can be a handy reference for both you and your teacher. Please print out a copy for your teacher to have once your schedule has been finalized.
PROGRAM SCHEDULE EXAMPLES
Included below is an example to help you set your BR schedule. Please note that this is not how every BR schedule should look, but just one example. Please note that your schedule to include your extra days for Earth Day and the EcoChallenge activities.
SCHEDULE A – This schedule includes a week for each of the TT lessons, a spring Waste Field trip, and a two-lesson Earth Day activity. Note that no lessons are taught 2 weeks before Christmas holidays as this is an extremely busy time of year.
- 2nd week of October – Garbology
- 3rd week of October – History of Waste
- 4th week of October – It’s All From the Earth
- 1st week of November – It’s A Plastic World
- 2nd week of November – Lifecycle of Stuff
- 3rd week of November – Lifecycle Research TT
- 4th week of November – Lifecycle Presentations
- 1st week of December – Closing the Loop TT
- 2nd week of December – Papermaking
- – CHRISTMAS BREAK –
- 1st week of January – Our Changing Climate
- 2nd week of January – Our Energy TT
- 3rd week of January – Energy Research TT
- 4th week of January – Path of Power
- 1st week of February – Debate Prep TT
- 2nd week of February – Energy Debates
- 3rd week of February – EcoFootprint
- 4th week of February – Sustainability
- 1st week of March – Earth Day – Trash2Treasure
- 2nd week of March – Transportation TT
- – SPRING BREAK –
- 1st week of April – Our Water
- 2nd week of April – Fishing for Sustainability
- 3rd week of April – Earth Day – Trash2Treasure
- 4th week of April – True Cost of Food TT
- 1st week of May – Good Food Field Trip
- 2nd week of May – Real Food Potluck
- 3rd week of May – Waste Field Trip
- 4th week of May – We Are Nature
SCHEDULE B – This schedule has the facilitation twice a week. a spring Waste Field trip, and a two-lesson Earth Day activity. Note there is a multi-month break in Jan, Feb & March, with hosting an EcoChallenge during each of those months.
- 2nd week of October – Garbology & History of Waste
- 3rd week of October – It’s All From the Earth & It’s A Plastic World
- 4th week of October – Lifecycle of Stuff & Lifecycle Research TT
- 1st week of November – Lifecycle Presentations & Closing the Loop TT
- 2nd week of November – Papermaking
- 3rd week of November – Our Changing Climate & Our Energy TT
- 4th week of November – Energy Research TT & Path of Power
- 1st week of December – Debate Prep TT & Energy Debates
– CHRISTMAS BREAK - January – EcoChallenge Screen Free
- February – EcoChallenge Short Shower
- March – EcoChallenge Granola Bar
– SPRING BREAK – - 1st week of April – EcoFootprint & Sustainability
- 2nd week of April – Transportation TT & Earth Day – Trash2Treasure
- 3rd week of April – Earth Day – Trash2Treasure
- 4th week of April – Waste Field Trip
- 1st week of May – Our Water & Fishing for Sustainability
- 2nd week of May – True Cost of Food TT
- 3rd week of May – Good Food Field Trip
- 4th week of May – Real Food Potluck & We Are Nature
SCHEDULE C – This schedule includes having some of the TT lessons to take place during the same week that the Educator led lessons are taught, a one-day Earth Day activity, and three EcoChallenge projects. Note that no lessons are taught before the Christmas holidays as this is an extremely busy time of year. Also, the Real Food Potluck and Good Food Field Trip events are scheduled in the same week.
- 2nd week of October – Garbology
- 3rd week of October – History of Waste
- 4th week of October – Waste Field Trip
- 1st week of November – It’s All From the Earth
- 2nd week of November – It’s A Plastic World
- 3rd week of November – Lifecycle of Stuff & Lifecycle Research TT
- 4th week of November – Lifecycle Presentations
- 1st week of December – Closing the Loop TT
- 2nd week of December – Papermaking
– CHRISTMAS BREAK – - 1st week of January – Our Changing Climate
- 2nd week of January – Our Energy TT
- 3rd week of January – EcoChallenge & Energy Research TT
- 4th week of January – Path of Power
- 1st week of February – Debate Prep TT
- 2nd week of February – Energy Debates
- 3rd week of February – EcoFootprint
- 4th week of February – Sustainability
- 1st week of March – Our Water
- 2nd week of March – Fishing for Sustainability
- SPRING BREAK –
- 1st week of April – EcoChallenge
- 2nd week of April – Transportation TT
- 3rd week of April – Earth Day – Cinema Showcase
- 4th week of April – True Cost of Food TT
- 1st week of May – Good Food Field Trip & Real Food Potluck
- 2nd week of May – EcoChallenge
- 3rd week of May – We Are Nature
SCHEDULE D – This schedule has the facilitation twice a week. a fall Waste Field trip, and a four-lesson Earth Day activity and 3 EcoChallenges. The lessons have been rearranged to increase the space between the Lifecycle and Energy projects.
- 1st week of October – Garbology & History of Waste
- 2nd week of October – It’s All From the Earth & It’s A Plastic World
- 3rd week of October – Waste Field Trip
- 4th week of October – Lifecycle of Stuff & Lifecycle Research TT
- 1st week of November – Lifecycle Presentations & Closing the Loop TT
- 2nd week of November – Trash2Treasure or Community of the Future
- 3rd week of November – Trash2Treasure or Community of the Future
- 4th week of November – EcoFootprint & Sustainability
- 1st week of December – Papermaking
– CHRISTMAS BREAK - 1st week of January – Our Energy TT & EcoChallenge
- 2nd week of January – Path of Power & Energy Research TT
- 3rd week of January – Screen-Free EcoChallenge & Debate Prep TT
- 4th week of January – Energy Debates & Short Shower EcoChallenge
- 1st week of February – Our Water & Fishing for Sustainability
- 2nd week of February – Transportation TT & Our Changing Climate
- 3rd week of February – True Cost of Food TT & Good Food Field Trip
- 4th week of February – Granola Bar EcoChallenge & Real Food Potluck
- 1st week of March – We Are Nature