Fun with Toilet Paper: A Mixer
Chai School Leadership Class - Temple De Hirsch Sinai
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Rachel Kahn, B’nai Torah Youth MVP 5770-5771
Touchstone Text:
“See my works, how fine and excellent they are! All that I created, I created for you. Reflect on this, and do not corrupt or desolate my world; for if you do, there will be no one to repair it after you.” (Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:13)
Goals:
- PPs will learn more about each other.
- PPs will explore the paper-making process and its impact on the earth (specifically toilet paper).
Objectives:
- PPs will learn each other’s names and their likes, dislikes, and interests.
- PPs will have fun taking part in an activity that is related to the NFTY Action theme (overconsumption) by making their own recycled paper out of ordinary toilet paper.
Materials:
- Tin foil, 10 pieces approximately 12 x 16 inches
- 10 Permanent markers (like Sharpies) of various colors
- 1 roll of toilet paper
- 10 Cups (preferably reusable)
- 10 Forks (preferably reusable)
- 10 pieces of old newspaper, folded (each PP gets 4 pieces)
- 10 Kitchen towels or old, ratty towels, folded (they might get stained)
- 2 strips of scrap poster board or durable paper, about 16 x 3 inches, each taped into a ring with a diameter of approximately 5 inches, then pinch corners to create a rectangular shape
- 2 small sheets of window screen, big enough for the poster board rectangles to fit on top of (about 7 x 4 inches)
- 2 basins or large bowls, big enough to fit one window screen and one poster board rectangle inside
- 4 rolling pins
- 2 pairs rubber gloves
People:
- 10 PPs
- 2 GLs
- 1 PL
Space Needed:
- One room, must have:
- enough room to comfortably fit everybody
- one large table or 2 medium-sized tables
- a sink with running water
- 13 chairs set up in a circle, or floor space for everyone to sit in a circle
Time Table:
00:00-00:05 Introduction A
00:05-00:10 Decorate toilet paper
00:10-00:15 Present toilet paper
00:15-00:20 Introduction B
00:20-00:25 Prepare for paper-making
00:25-00:35 Make paper
00:35-0:45 Wrap-up/Clean up
Detailed Procedure:
00:00-00:05 Introduction A
[Everybody sit in a circle, either in chairs or on the floor.]
PL reads: ‘Can anyone tell me the average number of toilet tissue sheets a person uses in one day? [Wait for some responses]
On average, consumers use 8.6 sheets per trip – a total of 57 sheets per day. That’s an annual total of 20,805 sheets!’
[Give each PP a piece of foil, and tell everyone to take a marker and write their name in a corner of their foil. It doesn’t matter which corner.]
[Pass the toilet paper around, and tell PPs to take a piece that is 9 squares long.]
00:05-00:10 Decorate toilet paper
[Tell PPs to write their name on the first square of toilet paper. On the second square, tell them to draw something they love. On the third square, something they don’t like. On the rest of the squares, things that represent or describe them, or just things that they think look nice. Let them be creative.]
IMPORTANT: MAKE SURE PPs DRAW OVER THEIR FOIL, OR ELSE THE MARKERS WILL BLEED THROUGH AND STAIN THE TABLE OR THE PPs’ CLOTHES.
00:10-00:15 Present toilet paper
Once the PPs have finished decorating their toilet paper, go around the circle and have them briefly share what they drew.
00:15-00:20 Introduction B
PL reads: ‘Pretend you are creating a poster for a school project. You are finding pictures from Google, and copying and pasting them into a Word document so you can print them. Inconveniently, there is one picture that doesn’t fit on the same page as the others, so it has a page of its own. You don’t want to make the other pictures smaller so this one will fit, so you just decide to print it the way it is. So you finish cutting all the pictures out, and you’re left with almost a full sheet of paper. You can’t use it because it has a chunk cut out at the top. What do you do with it? [Recycle!]
- ‘Half the world's forests have already been cleared or burned, and 80% of what's left has been seriously degraded.
- Paper accounts for 25% of landfill waste (and one third of municipal landfill waste).
‘By Recycling 1 ton of paper you save:
- 17 trees
-6953 gallons of water
- 463 gallons of oil
- 587 pounds of air pollution
- 3.06 cubic yards of landfill space
- 4077 Kilowatt hours of energy
‘So we had some ordinary toilet paper, but now we’ve scribbled all over it. We can’t really use it, can we? That would be kind of gross. What can we do with it? [Recycle!!!]
‘Yes, that is exactly what we are going to do.’
[Pass out cups.]
00:20-00:25 Prepare for paper-making
What the PPs must do:
- Tear their toilet paper up into small pieces (about the size of postage stamps) and put them into their cups.
What the PL must do:
- Pour a little bit of water into the cups (enough to drench the toilet paper, making it mushy). Give each PP a fork, and instruct them to use it to continue the mushing process of the toilet paper. Make sure there are no big chunks of toilet paper left.
What the GLs must do while the PPs are busy:
- Fill the basins about halfway with water.
00:25-00:35 Make paper
[Set up two paper-making stations, with one GL at each. See Appendix A for clarification diagrams of the set-up of paper-making stations. As PPs finish mushing their toilet paper, they may come to either station to make their paper.]
GLs do for PPs (individually):
1. Put on gloves. Hold window screen horizontally, and submerge in basin of water so it is completely under the surface.
2. Place poster board rectangle so that it lays flat on the window screen, but not completely submerged in the water, or else toilet paper pulp will escape. Have about 1-1 ½ inches of poster board rectangle submerged.
3. Pour toilet paper pulp into poster board rectangle, so the rectangle and window screen keep it contained. Use fingers to stir pulp around and make sure it is evenly distributed throughout (PPs may do this themselves, if they do not mind getting their fingers stained).
4. Carefully lift window screen-poster board contraption out of the basin, and let the water drain out. There should be a sheet of toilet paper pulp left over.
5. Fold a few pieces of newspaper to create a thick layer and place on top of tin foil. Briskly and carefully turn screen over onto newspaper and roll the screen away, leaving the sheet behind.
PPs do themselves:
6. Place a towel or layer of paper towels on top the sheet. Using a rolling pin, firmly but gently roll to remove more water. The more water removed, the faster the sheet will dry. Carefully remove the top layer of toweling.
7. CAREFULLY peel sheet away from newspaper and transfer to tin foil to dry. PPs may take it home like this.
00:35-00:45 Wrap-up/Clean up
[Clean everything up. All supplies are reusable, except tin foil, newspaper, and poster board rectangles, which can be recycled.]
PL reads: ‘Take a second to think about how much effort went into making your paper. You literally put yourself into it [ha, ha]. If that much effort went into making one small piece of paper, how much effort goes into making all the other pieces of paper that we use in our daily lives? Of course, paper companies use machines instead of manual labor, but those machines take fuel, and that has a huge impact on the earth. The paper industry is the 4th largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions among United States manufacturing industries. If the United States cut office paper use by just 10% it would prevent the emission of 1.6 million tons of greenhouse gases -- the equivalent of taking 280,000 cars off the road.
‘Maybe the next time you reach for that piece of notebook paper, or refill your printer when it runs out, you will consider where that paper started out as a tree, and what it went through to get into your hands.
‘Raise your hand if you had fun making paper and hanging out with your friends tonight. Raise your hand if you learned something new about one of your friends. Social action is not only a way of making the world a better place; it is a way to further bond with your old friends, and make new friends. They don’t call it social action for nothing! J
‘The paper that you made tonight should be dry by tomorrow. You could just toss it in the garbage on your way out the door, but I challenge you to do something with it. You can do anything you want: keep it tucked away in a drawer, draw on it, glue a picture to it, or make it into a card. There are endless possibilities of what you can do with a piece of hand-made paper.
‘Thank you so much!’
The finished product might look something like this:
Appendix A – Diagrams
For clarification:
Appendix B - Bibliography
Bibliography
"15 Facts About the Paper Industry, Global Warming and the Environment." 2 October 2007. The Daily Green. 25 November 2010. <http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/7447>.
Fischburg, Ken. "Toilet Paper Quick Facts." 2008. The Toilet Paper Encyclopedia. 25 November 2010.
<http://encyclopedia.toiletpaperworld.com/toilet-paper-facts/toilet-paper-quick-facts>.
"Making Paper by Hand." Paper University. TAPPI, 2001. Web. 25 November 2010. <http://www.tappi.org/paperu/art_class/makingpaper.htm>.