Category Archives: Forget Me Nots

At the beginning of the year, our class was given a task to complete a project that will help better our community. Looking through the list there were many great options. One that really stood out to us was a project called “classroom plants”. We knew right away that this project was the right fit for us. It was time to help younger children understand how to reuse items to make something beautiful. A couple of classes later the four of us got together and were eager to get started. Our first task was to come up with a name to call ourselves. After many google searches, we finally got inspiration. Together we came up with Forget Me Nots. Forget Me Nots are a type of flower which tied in perfectly with our classroom plant project theme. After we all got to know each other we decided to assign each member with a role that best fit their strengths to make the project run smoothly. Caitlyn was team leader making sure the team stayed on task and got assignments done on time. Sabrina was team liaison communicating with the school principal, the team, and Dr. Kazempour. Belle kept track of our progress logs taking notes of when we met and what we completed when we met. Courtney was in charge of proofreading all assignments and posting on the EACAP webpage.

We then got started looking for ideas to base our plants on. We knew we wanted to do something eco friendly because of all the things we have been learning in glass. Our plan was to take water bottles and cut them in half. The bottom half of the water bottle would be used as the pot for the flowers. After we had our idea we came up with an action plan on how to complete this project. We went to Glenside to meet with the principal, after that we had the OK to start our project. This project took place in the fall so we had limited options when it came to the plants we wanted to use. We originally wanted to use the Forget Me Not flowers which inspired our team name, but unfortunately they were out of season. We found flowers called Paperwhites that grow through the winter. Our hope was that the children will get to see them planted and when they return from their Holiday break the plants will be in full bloom. Our team met several times to complete our task like, painting the bottles, getting the flowers, adding the stones into the bottles, and creating motivational quotes. We hope that the children of Glenside won’t forget about this lesson.

Overall we discovered how important it is to work together to help the environment and teach or remind others to do the same.  We gained knowledge and appreciation on the plastic waste. It is very important that we teach the youth about the major issues plastic brings to earth when not disposed of correctly. This project showed us how easy it is to work with others to do something as simple as making plastic water bottles into a pot for a flower. We gained the importance of the environment through this project. Our message to the youth would be to love the world around you. We would tell them to plant flowers, pick up the trash that you find on the trails, help the environment as much as possible. We would express how important it is to work with others and to learn new ways to help our planet out. There is no planet B so we need to teach the youth that they can make a change.

Our team has decided to give each classroom at Glenside 2 plants! One with the seeds planted and another with the flower fully grown. This way the kids can see the entire process and end result. For our pots we are going to use plastic water and soda bottles that would normally be stuck in a landfill. We are going to decorate the water bottles in a way the kids can enjoy. We have also started picking quotes that will be placed along side of the plant. One of our quotes is going to be “Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later.” We are going to make unique backgrounds for the quotes to really stand out.