Assemblies & Classroom Presentations

Earth Balloon

Looking for a fun, new way to teach students about the environment? Go Green Schools provides interactive school presentations featuring the Earth Balloon, a 22-foot diameter inflatable model of the earth featuring high resolution NASA satellite images. This fun, one-of-a-kind teaching tool offers a unique experience for students to learn about environmental topics such as water pollution, eco-systems, waste reduction, and resource conservation.

Earth Balloon presentations are most suitable for grades three to eight; however, presentations can be modified to engage other grades as well. During the presentation, a group of 20-30 students will be both outside and inside of the Earth Balloon in a session lasting 20-30 minutes. Content of the presentation is tailored to the grade level, and matches many earth, science, and geography education standards.

Requirements

Schools located within the City of San Jose are eligible to request a presentation, and Earth Balloon presentations are available for students only. Due to the size and nature of the balloon, there are some special requirements:

• Earth Balloon must be used indoors in an open area with at least a 24-foot ceiling clearance (floor to ceiling, or floor to bottom of hanging lamps). This is to ensure enough space is available for the Earth Balloon to be inflated, and that adequate air circulation is allowed.
• In order to preserve the quality and condition of the Earth Balloon, students are required to take off their shoes before entering the Earth Balloon.

To request an Earth Balloon assembly, please complete the online request form.

Peregrine Falcon Assembly

The Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group (SCPBRG) at the University of California, Santa Cruz, would like to host an assembly at your school to teach students in grades three and above about the beautiful, but endangered Peregrine Falcon.

The 45-minute assembly features a field biologist with a tame peregrine falcon (tethered to a perch), and covers topics on careers in conservation biology, peregrine falcon natural history, and the research group’s role in helping with the recovery of the peregrine falcon from near extinction. Currently, presentations also focus on the falcons that nest on Bay Area buildings, including San José City Hall, where there are “Nest Cams” setup making the activities of falcons visible to anyone with an internet connection. Presentation slides accompany the speaker and are narrated to tell a story of the science and action being implemented to save this species. A projection screen and a darkened room for viewing the screen are required for the presentation.

Visit www.scpbrg.org for more information on SCPBRG, Peregrine Falcons, and Nest Cams. To request an assembly email Glenn Stewart at gstewart@ucsc.edu. Assemblies can accommodate 100-150 students at a time.

Please note: Springtime is an extremely busy season for SCPBRG, in order to secure a Peregrine Falcon Assembly, please send your requests as soon as possible, before April.

Recycle Plus Hauler Class Presentations

San Jose’s garbage, recycling, and yard trimmings haulers can bring educational resources straight to you through classroom presentations that teach students the benefits of recycling, reducing, and reusing. These presentations are geared to schools in San José only.

For more information or to schedule a classroom presentation, contact one of the following haulers:

California Waste Solutions
California Waste Solutions (CWS) collects recycling materials for residents in north, east, and south San José. CWS would like to visit your classroom to teach students about the importance of recycling. CWS will tailor presentation learning materials to captivate any grade level and to meet any special needs. The length of presentations varies by grade level:

• Pre-school = 30 minutes
• Elementary = 45 minutes
• Middle-school and High-school = 1 hour

For details, visit www.calwaste.com or call (408) 213-7800 x334.

Garden City Sanitation
Garden City Sanitation provides garbage collection service to residents in downtown, and north, east, and south San José. They offer unique presentation opportunities for classrooms of all grade levels.

If you teach preschool aged-children or kindergarteners, a Garden City Sanitation representative would love to come to your classroom to do a book-reading and short activity. The 20-minute reading and activity can cover topics such as waste reduction, litter prevention, recycling or composting – which even includes displaying a real-live worm bin!

For grades one through 12, presentation topics and time length can be customized to meet the teacher’s needs and the students’ interests. Previous classroom visits have included presentations about environmental legislation such as plastic grocery bag and polystyrene bans, waste reduction goals, jobs in the waste management industry, and even hands-on activities that allow students to complete creative projects through the reuse of common materials usually thought of as trash.

For further details, visit www.gardencitysanitation.com. To schedule a presentation, email info@gardencitysanitation.com or call (408) 988-4500.

GreenTeam San Jose
GreenTeam offers fun and informative presentations on a variety of topics, including the basics of recycling, what happens to your recyclables after they are collected, buying “green,” and more. Content is customized according to student age or grade level. Presentations are available to pre-school, K-12, and college students. ESL classes, daycare groups and home-schooled students are also encouraged to request a presentation. Presentations typically run 20 minutes to an hour long.

For further details, visit www.greenteam.com. To schedule a presentation, email customerservice@greenteam.com or call (408) 282-4400.

GreenWaste Recovery
Green Waste Recovery provides yard trimming collection and street sweeping for all of San José. GreenWaste Recovery’s hands-on learning experience for K-5 students is sure to get kids excited about recycling! GreenWaste Recovery staff’s visit includes an informative presentation covering an introduction to what their company does, an explanation of how recyclable materials and yard waste are collected and where they are transported, the meaning and importance of the 3 R’s, and some recycling fun facts followed by either a game or song. Each student receives a pencil, ruler, coloring book, and crayons. Presentations are 30-40 minutes long.

For further details, visit www.greenwaste.com. To schedule a presentation, call (408) 283-4800

Creeks Come to Class

In this popular, curriculum-based program, San José Park Rangers visit classrooms and conduct exciting activities focused on preventing pollution to our neighborhood creeks. This FREE program is most appropriate for school-age children in grades three through six; however, some accommodations may be made for younger groups. San José Park Rangers can also set up for science fairs or small group school assemblies.

For more information, contact Dennis Bolger at Emma Prusch Farm Park office at (408) 794-6265 or e-mail him at dennis.bolger@sanjoseca.gov and include your daytime and evening phone number and/or email address in your message.

To request a Creeks Come to Class Presentation, fill out the online form.

Composting in the Classroom

The Home Composting Education Program of Santa Clara County can help your school start a composting program. The program is open to grade K-12 and we offer both food waste and outdoor organic yard waste composting programs.

Schedule a teacher training or class presentation on how to compost at school. We prefer to begin programs early in the school year so students can see the changes in the compost as the year progresses. There is a $10 materials fee. For more information, visit www.sccgov.org or contact the ROTLINE at (408) 918-4640.

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