College of Education News

Walking into the recycle center at the University Primary School is like walking into a cave of childrens' treasures; shelves with boxes upon boxes of fabrics, yarn, paper towel tubes, buttons, paper, cellophane, ribbon, and cabinets brimming with jars. More lids, paper bags, boxes, and Styrofoam fill up the space of the recycle center, ready to be crafted into anything from computers and instruments to shoes and houses. At University Primary School, an affiliate of the College of Education, kids learn early on just what reduce, re-use, recycle means.

"We use our recycle center to represent what we're learning," said school director Dr. Nancy Hertzog. "For example, if (the students) were learning about computers, they may come in here and get boxes that represent and make a computer."

University Primary School has two classes: a preschool class for three and four year olds, and a kindergarten and first grade class for five and six year olds. The school is an early childhood gifted education program geared toward children who demonstrate advanced curiosity, creativity and problem-solving skills.

One way the students showcase these skills is through the use of materials from the recycle center to represent what they have learned. Hertzog said in addition to reusing old materials, which helps the environment, the students learn greater problem-solving abilities from using what they call "boxes n' junk".

"At the same time we're teaching them to think differently by using materials that are not necessarily being used what they were intended for," Hertzog said.

Most of the materials in the recycle center come from parents, Hertzog said, although professors and students in the College of Education often contribute as well.

"We have parents who had kids in our program 14 years ago who still drop stuff off," Hertzog said.

Heidi Gandhi has two children at the school, one in his first year and the other in his third. She said her sons love bringing in materials for the "boxes n' junk" room.

"I think it's great that it gets reused, and that they display the materials so kids get excited about reusing them," Gandhi said.

The display of the center is indeed an important part of the room.

"Things are sorted by color, by size, by shape, and we try to make it aesthetically beautiful," Hertzog said.

But bags full of recycled materials don't get sorted onto the shelves on their own.

Graduate students Katie Moran and Amelia Costello, both in the Early Childhood Education program, spent a full week - eight hours a day - this summer cleaning out the recycle center and organizing it to make it something the students find both easy and exciting to use. The result was a meticulously organized room full of would-be trash turned into a reusable store of art supplies.

Moran said the students love using materials from the recycle center, and they frequently ask to use "boxes n' junk" during class activities.

She said she also uses recycled materials when working with children in the birth to three program.

Moran said she goes out to family's homes to work with their young children, but new laws in Illinois stipulate that she cannot bring toys along with her from outside the home, so she has to rely on whatever toys the families already have. For Moran this presents the opportunity to illustrate to children what it means to "re-use" materials.

"Some of the families don't have the money to buy nice toys, so it's nice to show them that you can use stuff from around the house," Moran said.

In addition to projects at UPS, Hertzog said she encourages everyone to take advantage of the recycle center, especially students in early childhood education, who can use supplies from the recycle center when they go out to local schools.

"We try to make this known to all the students in curriculum and instruction," Hertzog said. "Come and see what's in the recycle center to take to schools because most of what we do with our children in terms of supplies are really recyclable."

For more information about the College of Education, contact our Communications Office at 217-244-8335 or email communications@education.illinois.edu