I have been working hard to make my home and family childcare more eco-friendly and energy efficient.  In these tough times your energy bill is one that you do have some control over so it was time to purchase the compact florescent lightbulbs  for the childcare room. 
 
As I was standing on a chair inserting the curly shaped bulb one of my first graders, Cristella, said, "Are you putting those in to help the polar bears?" 
 
Wow did I feel bad!  Here was the perfect teaching opportunity and I hadn't even explained to my children why we should replace our light bulbs in our childcare room.  Here I was doing it to save on my energy bills but my first grader saw the bigger picture. 
 
"Yes, Cristella, I hope these bulbs help the polar bears so they always have a home here on earth," I replied. 
 
We did a unit on saving the polar bears and now when I put in a "polar bear bulb" we always talk about why.  My first grader helped me be a better teacher that day!