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Sample Recycling Play
The Big Birch School Change
play
Submitted By Mrs. Jennifer Smith, Earth Club Advisor
Birch Primary, North Olmsted, Ohio
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Characters
Narrator
Kids: 1-15
Tree
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Props
Tree costumes or posters
Scrap paper
Trash can
Recycling can
Pencils with erasers
Chairs Lunch boxes—some with baggies, some with reusable containers Paper towels—a few long pieces and a few short pieces
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Narrator: Once there was a school called Birch School. All of the kids at Birch School were very nice…
[Enter Kids 1-4.]
Kid 1: Hi!
Kid 2: Good morning!
Kid 3: I’m great….I love going to Birch!
Kid 4: Me too!
Narrator: …but there was something they didn’t know about.
[Enter trees.]
N: Outside, the trees were growing…
[Trees stretch up]
N: and blowing…
[Trees sway]
N: and being beautiful.
[Trees smile or strike a pose.]
N: But the kids never even thought about what they were doing to the trees.
[Enter Kids 5-8.]
Kid 5: Oops! I made a mistake.
Kid 6: That’s ok. Just throw it away!
Kid 7: Yeah! Get a new piece of paper.
Kid 8: It’s just paper, right?
[Kid 5 crumples up paper and puts in trashcan.]
N: Even when they washed their hands, the kids didn’t think about the trees.
[ENTER Kids 9 & 10 WITH LONG PAPER TOWELS.]
[Kid 9 & Kid 10 dry hands with long strips of paper towel.]
Kid 9: Do we really need all those paper towels?
Kid 10: Why? What does it matter?
N: The kids didn’t realize that this used up a lot of trees.
[Some trees sadly leave the room.]
N: At lunchtime, the kids at Birch School wanted to help the Earth, but they put a lot of trash in the cans.
[ENTER Kids 11-14.]
Kid 11: I have all these bags in my lunch.
Kid 12: Me too! There’s one bag for each food.
Kid 13: I just throw them away every day.
Kid 14: It’s no big deal, right?
N: But slowly, some people started talking about how to make the Earth a better place. They started talking about….
Kids: RECYCLING!
N: They went to talk to their principal, Dr. Schilling…
[Dr. Schilling (Principal) ENTERS.]
…and the Superintendent of all the schools, Dr. Dubsky.
[Dr. Dubsky (Superintendent) ENTERS.]
[ENTER Kids 15 & 16.]
Kid 15: Dr. Dubsky, we really want to start recycling at Birch School!
Dr. Dubsky: Well then, let’s give it a try!
Kid 15: Really?
Dr. Dubsky: Yes, everyone should recycle!
Kid 16: Dr. Schilling, can we start an Earth Club too?
Dr. Schilling: That’s a great idea!
Kid 16: I can’t wait to be in Earth Club.
Dr. Schilling: I think other kids will want to be in Earth Club, too.
[Kids 15 & 16 shake hands with Dr. Schilling and Dr. Dubsky.]
N: That’s when Birch School started to look different.
[ENTER Kids 1-4.CARRYING PAPER TO RECYCLE.]
Kid 1: Hey look! I brought my newspaper from home to recycle!
Kid 2: My mom and I do that, too.
Kid 3: Recycling is easy!
Kid 4: We should tell our neighbors to bring their paper here, too!
N: The kids at Birch School started reminding each other of how to save the trees.
[ENTER Kids 5-8.]
Kid 5: I made another mistake!
Kid 6: Can’t you just erase it?
Kid 5: Yeah, then I won’t a whole piece of paper!
Kid 7: I messed up my whole paper!
Kid 8: Why don’t you use the other side?
Kid 7: Good idea!
N: And when the kids were done with papers for good, they put them in the recycling bin and never in the trash. This made the trees VERY happy.
[TREES ENTER AND SILENTLY CHEER!]
N: At the new Birch School, the kids realized they didn’t need so many paper towels to dry their hands.
[ENTER Kids 9 & 10.]
Kid 9: We shouldn’t use so many paper towels if we don’t need them.
Kid 10: Yeah, that would be wasteful!
N: The kids at Birch School even started changing how much trash they made at lunchtime.
[ENTER Kids 11-14 WITH REUSABLE LUNCH BAGS AND LITTLE CONTAINERS.]
Kid 11: I can reuse this lunch bag.
Kid 12: I don’t bring baggies in my lunch anymore.
Kid13: Me neither. I use these little containers.
Kid 14: My mom washes them and I use them again and again.
N: The best part was at the end of the school year, when the kids found out how many trees they had saved by recycling paper at home and at school. Let’s see if you can guess how many trees we’ve saved since we started recycling at Birch School.
MRS. SMITH ANNOUNCES THAT THE SCHOOL HAS SAVED 600 TREES IN 2008 AND 2009!!!
After applause, all actors come out front to take a bow together.
