Creation
Have participants select one school day during the coming week to keep track of items that make up their own lunch. Have them list the items and how each could be reused or recycled (e.g., reuse lunch bag, take home apple core for composting, recycle juice/milk box, plastic, paper). During follow-up discussion, find out how many actually did reuse or recycle their lunch items. Discuss the experience.
Many children today are becoming involved in helping to care for the environment. Have the children in your group brainstorm a list of things that fifth graders can do to help care for God’s gift of Creation. Some suggestions are tuning off lights after leaving a room; tending a garden; recycling aluminum, plastic, and paper products; giving old toys and games to a younger sibling, cousin, or neighbor; composting leaves; not littering.) Have the children report back on their progress.
As the Church continually states in her teachings on stewardship, we have an obligation to respect and care for God’s creation. There is, fortunately, a growing awareness that we need to make greater efforts to conserve our natural resources, recycle what we can, and be less wasteful in general. God calls us to be good stewards of every gift has has given us. Stewardship involves governments, corporations, communities, families, and individuals.