Created by: Katie Krauss, Greenwood Elementary
Audience: Primary (Kindergarten)
Standards:
Science K.11 The student will investigate and understand that materials can be reused, recycled,
and conserved. Key concepts include
a) materials and objects can be used over and over again;
b) everyday materials can be recycled;
Secondary Standards:
Social Studies K.8: The student will demonstrate that being a good citizen involves
a) Taking responsibility;
c) Taking care of personal belongings and respecting what belongs to others
Materials/Time/Space: paper, crayons, a bag of clean garbage items (“trash”- glass bottles,
plastic bottles, orange, old batteries, paper, mail, homework, plastic straws, plastic containers,
paper towel tubes, egg carton, popsicle sticks), Smartboard, Pebble Go, hula hoops, trash can,
easel, marker, slideshow of pictures
Objective:
Students will be able to identify materials and objects that can be recycled and objects that can
be reused.
Lesson Description:
Introduction:
Show students slideshow of the effects of litter and trash on the environment. Ask students
what they see in the pictures; what does it make you think of; how do you think the trash got
there; etc. Tell students that all the trash they see is called littering. This means throwing their
trash on the ground/ in the environment. Littering is a form of pollution. Pollution is when bad
things get into the environment and have a negative or bad impact, like we’ve seen in the
pictures. Tell students, “I know the pictures were gross and some were upsetting because
animals were hurt -- is there anything we can do to stop it?” Write down students’ responses
on the easel (hopefully students will touch on recycling and reusing). Say, “These are all great
ideas on how we can help stop trash from harming our environment. But there are two things in
particular that we can do to stop pollution. We can recycle (write recycle on the easel) and reuse
(write reuse on the easel) materials and objects we would usually throw away
Content:
Tell students, “I’m going to show you something from the website Pebble Go that talks about
littering, like in the pictures we just saw, and talks about recycling and reusing. Afterwards we
are going to do a fun activity with trash, okay?” Show students "Too Much Garbage". After the
reading is done go over highlighted words again and say, “Garbage is another word for trash, and
landfills are places where some of our trash goes. They look really gross, right?”
Next we are going to learn a little bit about recycling and reusing. Recycling is when old
materials and objects are made into new things. This next slide will help explain recycling. Show
students "Things we Recycyle". In the recycling definition show examples of plastic, glass, and
paper. So who can explain what recycling means? Write down responses on easel. Draw
pictures of items that can be recycled under definition.
Now we are going to talk about reuse. Reusing materials means we can use them more than once
(write on easel) For example, instead of using paper bags for our lunches and throwing them out
afterwards, we could instead use our lunchboxes. Or how I use a glass water bottle instead of a
plastic water bottle that I can only use once. We are using materials multiple times.
“Now for the fun stuff! We are going to sort trash!” Place two hula-hoops in the shape of a
Venn diagram and trash can in the middle of the carpet. Label one recycle and one reuse. Hand
each student a piece of “trash” from your trash bag. Ask students one by one where their item
belongs, either in the trashcan, recycle hoop or reuse hoop. Ask them why they placed their item
where they did.
Closure:
After everyone has sorted his or her “trash,” place items located in the recycling hoop into the
recycling bin. Keep reused items for a later project. “You all did an amazing job. We have one
more activity and it involves taking what we just did here and sorting objects that can be
recycled and reused. We are going to fill out this worksheet (show them Handout A). The top
word says recycle and the bottom says reuse. Now I’m going to think of an item that I can
recycle. Anyone have any ideas? Call on students; draw one item in the recycle side. Now I’m
going to think of an item that I can reuse. Does anyone know an item I can reuse? Call on
students and draw one item in the reuse side. Now you all are going to do the same thing at your
desks. I’m going to have clip art pictures of other items on the Smartboard in case you need help
thinking of ideas. When you draw your item, I want you to try your best to sound out the name of
it. For example, if you draw a picture of a water bottle, I want you to try and write the word
water bottle next to the picture. If time permits children can check their work with a partner.
After students have finished their picture use a video camera to record students response to the
questions, “Why is recycling important/Why do we recycle?” and “What can you recycle?” This
will be compiled into a public service announcement. Another extension activity is to read Just A
Dream by Chris Van Allsburg.
Assessment:
Teacher will informally assess students based off observation and participation during sorting
“trash” activity. Teacher will also formally assess students by evaluating closure activity and
video responses.
Differentiation:
Pebble Go does a good job of highlighting text and reading aloud to help a variety of learners.
Provide students with cut out pictures for students to sort instead of draw. Provide students with
a list of trash items in Spanish for ELL learners. An extension for students is to check their work
with a partner when they are done. Students’ video response is a differentiated form of
assessment.
Resources:
Pebble Go Login Information: username- ocgreenwood password- school
“Too Much Garbage ” PebbleGo. Retrieved from:
http://www.pebblego.com/content/socialstudies/article.html?a=5173&previous=
“Things we Recycle” PebbleGo. Retrieved from:
http://www.pebblego.com/content/socialstudies/article.html?a=5173&previous=5021
Litter Powerpoint- Images retrieved from “litter” google image search.
Plan B:
If the Powerpoint on impacts of litter does not work, read “Cleaning up Litter” by Charlotte
Guillain or “What Happens to Our Trash” by D.J. Ward instead. If Pebble Go does not work,
read the pre-printed articles out loud to students either using the doc cam. If the doc cam does
not work just read aloud to students. If the video camera doesn’t work I will record their
responses on my phone and then upload to my computer. I will use their recordings as a voice
over in iMovie with pictures of the students work as a visual.
Key:
Bolded Text- activities
Blue highlighted text- digital technology/resources
Yellow highlighted text- non-digital technology/resources