Think Earth 2014/15
Kindergarten
Topic: Respecting Mother Earth
Lesson Plan
1. Introduction – Recycle Utah. Where is that? What
happens there? (Have some recycling samples on hand).
How many people recycle at home with curbside
recycling? Do you think it’s important? Mention NO
Glass. (5 minutes)
Learning Objectives
After this activity students
will be acquainted with
Recycling & Conservation
and why we should take
care of our earth
Utah Core Objectives
1. Kindergarten:
Language Arts,
Speaking &
Listening Stand. 6
2. Kindergarten: Math,
Counting &
Cardinality
Time
30-40 minutes
Materials Needed:
 Bag of recyclables
 Earth Puzzle
 Think Earth DVD
 DVD player
 Books
Spare time activities:
 Other books
 Other side of puzzle
Handouts:
 HHW flyer
 Recycle Utah trifold
 Lesson review email from teacher
to parents
This lesson plan
made possible by a
grant from the JEPS
Foundation
2. Read a book – short book about recycling (3-5 min)
.
3. Do the Earth Puzzle (1-24 pieces) then talk about
Mother Earth and the students’ relationship to her.
The pieces are numbered. Help the students by
distributing a piece to each then calling a number. Once
the puzzle is completed - Look – our Earth! Review the
puzzle and our connections: water, food, energy, air, and
more. (10-15 minutes)
4. Show movie “Think Earth” (7 minutes)
5. Re-cap – ask them for some of their ideas of what they
could start doing for Mother Earth that they’re not
doing now. (3 minutes)
Key Concepts:
a. Community – would the puzzle have come
together without a group effort? What if some children
would have kept their tiles? We needed to
communicate and respect each other.
b. Respect our Earth – the puzzle shows a flower
and drops of water and a tree – that tree gives off
oxygen that we breathe and water helps the tree grow
and live, like humans. And without the sun there
wouldn’t be any life! What you do and how you treat this
special planet we live on really really matters. Earth Is
our home which we need to treat with respect.
Recycle Utah, 1951 Woodbine Way / PO Box 682998,
Park City, UT 84068.PH: 435.649.9698. Recycling
drop open 24/7. Visit us at www.recycleutah.org
Page 2 Kindergarten
Discussion for backside of Earth Puzzle:
Conservation. What does that mean? To save something so that whoever comes after us has
something left. What should we conserve? Water. Discuss sprinkler systems. Native plans 67% of the
water we use in Utah is used for outdoor irrigation. Without water we can’t live. We need to keep it
clean.
The Pieces:
1. Water. Who has a pet, cat, dog or other? What do they all have in common? They all poop. The
Earth needs you to collect their poop. It is not beneficial to leave the dog poop at the side of streams
on even on the lawn because rainwater will wash it down the storm drain or the streams and it will
get in our water supply. Keeping water clean is extremely important.
2. Oil. Another piece that has to do with keeping water clean. Who has this piece? Every motor
needs oil. Oil needs to be changed to keep the motor healthy. Oil needs to be changed properly.
Never dump oil on top of the driveway or in your soil. So if you have parents who change their oil,
make sure they capture every little drop and not in the water.
3. E-waste. What is it? Show samples of e-waste. Ipods, computers, TV, portable clocks, DVDs,
cameras, video cameras, computer. What do you do with a broken TV or I-pod? A: Don’t put it in
your trash! If you can fix it, or give it to someone to use – re-use – way better. If not, bring it to your
recycling center. E-waste is dangerous for your body.
4. Batteries. Who has this piece? Batteries are hazardous to your health because of acid inside. Take
them to Recycle Utah so they can be disposed of properly.
5. Who has tiles that show things that are to be recycled?
a. Glass. How many colors of glass? Four: Green, brown, clear, blue.
b. Tires. How many tires per car? How many cars? There are a lot of tires. Take them to a tire
store to be recycled.
c. Paper. The most important one, perhaps: Trees. Whose birthday is coming up next? Would
you give yourself a present and plant a tree? Plant a tree for Mother’s Day or Father’s day. Plant
something that stays behind.
d. Metal. Aluminum cans. What do we do with aluminum cans? Crush it. Child demonstrates.
Basic material in aluminum cans is bauxite. It’s an example of a non-renewable natural
resource. What is that? Yes, non-renewable means we use it up and don’t have any more.
There is a finite amount. But when it’s recycled, we can crush it up and re-use it as other
aluminum cans. So, please, recycle your aluminum cans so we don’t run out of bauxite one day.
e. Plastics. What is plastic made from? A: Oil. Plastic is a petroleum byproduct and petroleum
comes from oil. Can we make more oil? No. It’s an example of a non- renewable natural
resource. Plastic doesn’t break, fade, change colors or melt. It sits for thousands of years.
f. Construction thrift store. Who has items for the Good Wood project? There’s no need to
throw these away when other people can use them. Reuse is better than recycling.
g. Composter – What is compost? A: A container with layers of vegetable matter and leaves and
lawn clippings. Over time it becomes healthy soil for your garden. There is no waste in nature.
Things that decompose turn into food for other living things— plants, animals and insects. So tell
your parents to compost!