Green Targets
Before getting the children to investigate environmental problems affecting the world you can get the class to identify how to select targets that are achievable for individuals and families. Establish with the children the important of selecting small steps that are clear and easy to understand. For example, instead of setting a target of reducing family car journeys the class could select a more achievable target such as choosing to ride a bicycle instead of using a car when the distance is less than three miles. Explain to the children the importance in selecting targets that can be measured so that someone can know when an individual target has been achieved.

Environmental News
Spend some times discussing with the class the environmental problems that are currently affecting the landscapes and populations around the world. Allow the children to research each problem by collecting information about a climate or environmental event presented in newspapers or on Internet websites. The class can use the collected information to write their own news reports answering the questions of who, what, where, what and why to explain the impact of each environmental problem on the world. This activity can help the children focus on one significant problem that might affect their lives in the future so that they can select an achievable target that might help to solve the issue in the future. Stress to the class the importance of selecting small actions that everyone can achieve together to have a massive impact on life around the globe.

Home Recycling
Working in science, the children can investigate the properties of different materials and identify how they can be used for a range of purposes. Get the class to identify how different materials that have been used for one our purpose can be recycled for other uses. For example, the children can practise recycling scrap paper into new paper to use a for a class story activity on a green issue. Working in information technology, the class can design and print posters to display around the school outlining the importance of recycling different materials.

Weather Protection
The class can also investigate how landscapes and populations are changing through global warming such as the ice melting at the polar caps or flooding events in countries around the world. Working in Design Technology, the children can research how to construct a range of products that can be used by populations around the world to provide protection and shelter from extreme weather events. The class could test some of the shelters they have made by leaving their models out on the playground to see how they survive in different types of weather.

Home Energy
The children can also identify ways of reducing their family’s impact on the world by identifying how to reduce energy used for a range of purposes. Work with the class to make a list of ways that families use energy at home for cooking, cleaning and entertainment. Get the children to suggest how each method can be changed by using an activity that does not involve the use of energy such as reading a book about a story instead of watching the film. Working in English, the children can devise persuasive messages to broadcast on the radio to persuade families to use less energy at home.