Unit Lesson Plan 5, Day 3
Recycling Sort Afternoon Center
Student Name: Nicole Petrillo
Grade Level: Special Education Preschool
School Name: Hopewell Elementary
Host Teacher’s Name: Lori DiGaetano
Guiding and/or Essential Questions:
What is recycling and why is it important?
Pre-lesson Assignments and/or Student Prior Knowledge (ex. background
knowledge, possible misconceptions, prior lesson content)
Students will have little to no knowledge about recycling. All of the children stated they
were unsure of what it meant to recycle in the pre-assessment. Some children might know
that plastic and paper can be put in a different bin than the garbage bin, but they might
not know why it goes in a different bin and where it goes after that bin.
Standards:
Standard 5.4: Children observe and investigate the Earth.
5.4.4 Demonstrate emergent awareness of the need for conservation, recycling, and
respect for the environment (e.g., turning off water faucets, collecting empty yogurt
cups for reuse as paint containers, separating materials in recycling bins, re-using
clean paper goods for classroom collage and sculpture projects).
Learning Objectives and Assessments:
Learning Objective
Children will discuss and explain how
recycling helps the environment.
Children will sort recyclables into three
different categories, i.e., paper, plastic,
glass.
Assessment
Teacher will assess for correct responses
during discussion about how recycling
helps the environment.
Teacher will assess for correct placement
of recyclable materials during sorting.
Materials/Resources: (List materials, include any online or book references and
resources)
 Virtual Recycling Center Field Trip YouTube video
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jAAux3g17k
 iPad
 1 piece of red construction paper
 1 piece of green construction paper
 1 piece of blue construction paper
 Gathered recyclables
o Paper/cardboard - scrap paper, newspaper, magazines, boxes
Plastic
- bottles, food containers

 Metal- cans
Plan for set-up/distribution/cleanup of materials: The video will be already
pulled up on the iPad before the work group rotations begin. The recyclables will be
collected prior to the day of the lesson and will be on the floor in a bag next to the table.
Step-by-Step plan:
1. Lesson Beginning: Children will rotate in groups of 3 between four centers for 15
minutes each. Teacher will begin the lesson by asking the children, “Have you
ever heard of recycling? What do you think recycling is?” If there are no answers,
teacher will say, “Well let’s watch this video to see what recycling is and how it helps
the Earth!” Teacher will then show the YouTube clip. After the YouTube clip,
teacher will ask, “Is recycling good for the earth? How do you know?” Teacher will
prompt the children by saying, “Do you remember when the video talked about
recycling materials so they can be reused?” Teacher will reiterate, “Recycling is good
for the earth because when we reuse things, we have more room to live on planet
earth. Recycling is a great way to care for the Earth.”
2. To introduce the sorting activity, teacher will say, “Do you remember when they
sorted the different objects at the recycling center in the video? Well I want us to
pretend that we are working at a recycling center. I have a bag of recyclables that
need to be sorted so they can be recycled.” Teacher will place three different colored
construction papers on the table to represent the three different categories that we will
be sorting. Teacher will ask the children what color each paper is and will explain
what each color represents. Teacher will say, “The red paper is where we will sort all
of the plastic objects. Do you know what plastic looks like?” Teacher will listen to
student responses and then, if needed, explain “Plastic comes in a lot of different
forms. There are a lot of different types of plastic. It can be see-through. It can be
squished when you squeeze it. It can be hard too.” Teacher will pass around a plastic
item so the children can all feel it. Teacher will then say, “The green paper is for
paper and cardboard. Do you know what paper or cardboard look like?” Teacher will
wait for student responses and then explain, “You can rip and tear paper and
cardboard. That’s a good way to tell what is made out of cardboard or paper.”
Teacher will pass around a paper or cardboard item for the children to all feel.
Finally, teacher will say, “The blue paper is for metal. How can we tell what is made
out of metal?” Teacher will wait for student responses and then say, if necessary,
“Metal is shiny, cold, and hard.” The metal item can be passed around to each child
so they can feel the coldness of the metal.
3. Teacher will then go through each recyclable item on the table and ask, “What
category does this belong to? Is this plastic, paper, or metal?” When the children say
where to put each item we will ask ourselves, “Is it shiny like metal? Can you rip it
like paper? Maybe it’s plastic if it’s not metal or paper.”
4. Closure: After the children sort all of the recyclables, teacher will ask the children
“Why do we recycle? What happens when we recycle?” Teacher will reiterate that
recycling helps the earth because it allows us to reuse things we have already used
like water bottles, cans, and paper. Teacher will make sure to emphasize that
recycling helps care for the Earth and keep it clean.
Key Questions (that you will ask):
Have you ever heard of recycling?
What do you think recycling is?
Is recycling good for the earth? How do you know?
Do you know what plastic looks like?
Do you know what paper and cardboard look like?
How can we tell what is made out of metal?
What category does this belong to? Is it paper, plastic, or metal?
Why do we recycle?
What happens when we recycle?
Logistics:
Timing: 15 minutes
Lesson Beginning/YouTube clip: 8 minutes
Sorting activity: 6 minutes
Closure: 1 minute
Transitions: Children will remain seated at the table for the duration of the lesson.
Teacher will bring the iPad to them so that they don’t have to get up to watch the video
on the computer.
Classroom Management: Children like Maggie who have trouble staying seated during
work groups will be seated as close to teacher as possible. Teacher will say, “1, 2, 3 eyes
on me” if the children get off topic during discussions. Teacher will make sure all eyes
are on her and all children are seated properly with hands on the table before beginning
the lesson.
Differentiation:
Teacher will prompt children who need it, Olivia, Shalem, Nick, Levi, Andrew, when
questioning them about recycling, the video, and sorting. For the higher group, Carter,
Bella, Micah, teacher will not present each item to them when sorting. Instead, teacher
will allow them to pick items on his or her own and explain their thinking independently.
When watching the video, teacher will place Nick in the middle or directly in front of the
iPad because of his vision impairment.