Posts by taty

The Making of Young Activists

By on Mar 30, 2018 in Josie's Blog | 0 comments

    The Making of Young Activists   By Kenny Bruno, Beth Handman and Antonia Bruno, co-authors of the Josie Goes Green series. Beth is the Assistant Principal at P.S. 321 in Brooklyn and Kenny and Antonia are activists in the environmental movement. We wrote the Josie Goes Green book series because we were inspired by kids in our neighborhood who are enthusiastically taking action to protect the environment.   In our experience in both environmental activism and in the public schools, we have found that young people have a moral authority and authenticity that is hard to resist. Although there is no singular recipe for cooking up a young activist, here are some common steps that inspire kids to take action.   Find something your kids really care about.   If a kid has suffered, or know someone who has suffered, from an injustice, violence, disease, or pollution, they are going to be determined to do something about it.  Kids are also drawn to animals and nature, and have an instinct to protect the beauty they believe is part of their world. Kids quickly realize that their actions are connected to things they care about.   Choose A Winnable Goal   Sometimes problems seem overwhelming. If kids believe the only solution is a new federal law, or electing a different president, they might lose their mojo. But there’s always something important they can do on a smaller scale. In our neighborhood, kids are going around to stores and persuading owners to stop using disposable bags. We adapted that real-life example in Josie and the Trouble With Trash, in which the kids persuade store owners to stop selling disposable water bottles, and more.   Communicate – first to friends and then to the rest of the world   Social action is sometimes defined as what an individual can do – turn off the lights, recycle, give to charity. But coordinated action is so much bigger. In our Brooklyn neighborhood school, the kids do a giant Walk-a-Thon and raise thousands of dollars for green groups. In all the Josie books, Josie starts by recruiting her friends to the cause. And then, through meetings, flyers, and fundraisers, they take their message...

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From the Wonderful Fourth Grade Activists from P.S. 118

From the Wonderful Fourth Grade Activists from P.S. 118

By on Feb 15, 2018 in Josie's Blog | 0 comments

By Claire b on Feb 7, 2018 The Josie books taught me about rainforest deforestation, and all the facts surprised me so much! It makes me care about jaguars way more than I did before. I want to help it as much as I can and when I see my friends help the rainforest it makes me super happy. The Josie books not only teach a lot, it makes me happy that Josie always finds her way around. She has her friends always helping her. I always admire Josie because of her confidence and her kindness to help the world when she hears a problem happening. I wish everyone could find a way to help the world and make this world a wonderful place.   My name is Charlotte C. and I am going to teach you a few facts about my topic I am learning about in school, deforestation. Every 5 minutes 1 animal species dies off. Deforestation is mostly caused because farmers want money and fast food restaurants need burgers. Some cures for diseases are found in plants and animals, but if these plants and animals go away we will not find them. Some animals that live in the rainforest are, jaguars, golden poisonous frog, postman butterfly, toucan, two-toed sloth, red howler monkey, agouti, and green anaconda. Chocolate is hurting rainforests because chocolate comes from cocoa beans and you have to cut down the Theoromba Cacao tree to get the cocoa beans.   Special thanks to Ronni Horowitz. You are a great teacher and your class...

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