GREEN NINJA
TEACHER SUPPORT MATERIALS
NAME OF GREEN NINJA VIDEO: Foam On The Range
MAIN TOPIC OF VIDEO: How to be an everyday environmental hero is easy and
explained in this episode of the Green Ninja Show. This video is a great launching
point to discuss ways to improve our environmental impact from recycling
everyday items to choosing the right container for take-out food and other items
makes a difference to the environment. The main character in Foam on the Range
illustrates this idea through song and skit using a familiar and fun tune (Home on
the Range) with some catchy new lyrics.
Click HERE to watch this episode! (Link)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Frame:
1. Have you ever thought, “I want to save the planet, but I am too small to be a hero.”?
2. What are some simple ways that we can help the environment?
3. What is recycling? What can you recycle?
4. What are “good environmental choices?”
5. Why is Styrofoam a problem for the environment?
Focus:
1. What made Kelsey an everyday hero compared to anyone else?
2. When might you consider how your food purchased are packaged or stored?
3. At this point in the video, what could this character do differently to help the
environment?
4. What types of objects do you see in this picture and how are they the same and
how are they different?
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Follow-up:
1. What are of the things that you might include in your daily routine that might
improve your environmental choices?
2. List ways to reduce Styrofoam product use and then plan and organize a “grass
roots” effort to reduce the use of Styrofoam products.
3. Organize a community awareness day to clean up your community. Educate
others about the dangers of littering. Be a guest speaker about the impact littering
has on the environment.
4. From the song lyrics, of Foam on the Range, “Styrofoam does not decay.”
Research and find ways to reuse, reduce, or recycle discarded Styrofoam.
5. Write lyrics and illustrate or act out a new song, NO Foam on the Range that
discusses ways to solve the Styrofoam problem.
ANSWERS TO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Frame:
1. Have you ever thought, “I want to save the planet, but I am too small to be a hero.”?
Have students silently journal their response to this question. Discuss responses.
2. What are some simple ways that we can help the environment?
We can help the planet by making wise choices and reducing what we purchase,
reusing (or repurposing) what we have, and recycling.
3. What is recycling? What can you recycle?
Have students silently journal their response to this question. Discuss responses.
Show students the recycle symbol at the bottom of containers. The number in the
recycle symbol is a coded number that tells what type of material the object is made
of and how it should be recycled.
4. What are “good environmental choices?”
Good environmental choices are those that help the environment or have small
carbon footprints. We need to consider the difference between “needs” and “wants.”
5. Why is Styrofoam a problem for the environment?
Simply put it takes a REALLY long time for Styrofoam to decay. It is so long that
the statement “Styrofoam does not decay” is accepted as truth. Sometimes,
Styrofoam does eventually does break down into smaller chunks which get in the
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environment and are mistaken for food by wildlife. This is tragic for the creatures
that consume the Styrofoam because it is not digestible and fills the animal with
plastic. Styrofoam also clogs waterways and creates eyesores.
Focus:
1. What made Kelsey an everyday hero compared to anyone else?
Kelsey simply picked up a water bottle that everyone else ignored and walked by.
She took the time to make the situation better by cleaning up someone else’s mess
because it was the right thing to do.
2. When might you consider how your food purchased are packaged or stored?
Anytime you purchase an item you “vote with your money.” Talk to small business
owners; write letters to large corporations that sell goods, become active in your
community as a spokes person for reducing packaging and using compostable
packaging.
3. At this point in the video, what could this character do differently to help the
environment?
The Foam Ranger is throwing out a used
Styrofoam container that held his take-out
dinner. The container should be thrown
away because Styrofoam cannot be
recycled, but he should have talked to the
merchant who sold him his dinner and
asked the merchant to use compostable
containers instead of Styrofoam.
4. What types of objects do you see in this picture and how are they the same and
how are they different?
There are two types of
refuse in this image:
compostable and noncompostable. Always
choose compostable for a
healthier and better
environment.
Follow-up:
1. What are of the things that you might include in your daily routine that might
improve your environmental choices?
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TEACHER SUPPORT MATERIALS
2.
3.
4.
5.
Reduce, reuse, and recycle the less we consume the less we discard. Think of
ways to minimize your carbon footprint. Bring your own bags; use a reusable
container for water and food. Pack your lunch. Walk, carpool, donate, or repurpose unwanted items,
(http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/How_Styrofoam_is_Bad_for_the_Environment)
List ways to reduce Styrofoam product use and then plan and organize a “grass
roots” effort to reduce the use of Styrofoam products.
Organize a community awareness day to clean up your community. Educate
others about the dangers of littering. Be a guest speaker about the impact littering
has on the environment.
From the song lyrics, of Foam on the Range, “Styrofoam does not decay.”
Research and find ways to reuse, reduce, or recycle discarded Styrofoam.
Write lyrics and illustrate or act out a new song, NO Foam on the Range that
discusses ways to solve the Styrofoam problem.
ADDITIONAL TOPICS AND LEARNING EXPERIENCES
1. Look at this scene from the Green Ninja video.
2. Who are these people and what are they really doing? Put yourself in each
person’s head and write a monologue for each person in this picture.
3. Go to the Green Ninja website at www.greenninja.org and learn about the energy
contest. Sign up your class and run a “Green Ninja” contest for your classroom.
http://www.greenninja.org/contest/gnerp.php
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ADDITIONAL NOTES AND RESOURCES
1. What is composting? Here is an EPA link that describes, and teaches about how
to compost. http://www2.epa.gov/recycle/composting-home
2. Is there another way to use Styrofoam? Research about some creative ideas by
http://www.wikihow.com/Reuse-Styrofoam
3. Why is Styrofoam bad?
4. http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/How_Styrofoam_is_Bad_for_the_Environment
5. Here is a nice site that gives tips for greener living:
http://www.nwf.org/Global-Warming/Personal-Solutions.aspx
BACKGROUND
You can use our Green Ninja videos in a variety of ways:
A. to introduce a new topic,
B. to provide an additional learning experience to reinforce your current lessons,
C. and to assess the extent to which your students have mastered the material.
Credit: This teacher resource has been adapted from content originally developed by
Susan Hansen.
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