Celebrate Earth Day - How Teachers Can Reuse Magazines for Educational Purposes

As Earth Day celebrations and other green organizations share ways to help save the Earth's environment, many people continue to receive and throw away piles of magazines each year. Do you ever wonder what to do with your old magazines? This article explores several strategies teachers could employ in their classrooms to reuse many of these magazines for educational purposes.

Math
In the math environment, teachers need real life data. Using magazines such as Newsweek, Fortune, or Money are great resources of real life data. In fact, with enough magazines each student could receive their own data to analyze. Depending on the level of the course, students could complete a project on anything from a simple bar graph to making predictions for the future with linear regression. Even one good article would be beneficial as the teacher could display it on an ELMO projector for the entire class to see. (Read more about ELMO projectors in this article.)

Foreign Languages
As students learn new terms in a foreign language, quite often students require pictures of the objects being discussed. They can make collages, diaries, invitations, and more with the images out of magazines or the shiny newspaper inserts. Great magazines for this would include Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Gardens, or any food related magazine.

Geography
National Geographic, AAA magazines, Outdoor Life, or Traveler are great magazines to support geography classes. Many students have never traveled beyond their small town regions, and learning about other areas of the world through magazines like these provide teachers with hands on materials. This is essential, especially when computer labs are booked or have limited availability. The magazines provide material for reports and even for planning trips.

English
Many students find reading a chore. However, magazines such as Sports Illustrated, Time, or Game Informer spark their interest. Research often claims that it does not matter what students read, as long as they read. Just think how much better it is for a student to read from a magazine than to read their coded text messages. In addition, students will probably learn something that relates to another one of their classes.

When magazines become out of date or too old, many schools have established their own recycling programs. So in the long run, rather than placing your magazines in a receptacle, gather them in a bag and donate them to your local school district. It's a great way to save our planet, help kids, and celebrate Earth Day in an easy way!

What do you think about reusing magazines in a school environment? Did you ever use magazines for photo cutouts or to read as a time filler at the end of a class? Please comment below and share this with others you know!