Trash, Landfills, and Recycling – Grade Two
Ohio Standards
Connection:
Scientific Ways of
Knowing
Benchmark B
Recognize the importance
of respect for all living
things.
Indicator 3
Describe ways in which
using the solution to a
problem might affect other
people and the
environment.
Related Standard
Science and Technology
Benchmark A
Explain why people, when
building or making
something, need to
determine what it will be
made of, how it will affect
other people and the
environment.
Indicator 3
Predict how building or
trying something new
might affect other people
and the environment.
Lesson Summary:
Students will have first-hand experiences with the
problem of too much trash. They will develop an
awareness that trash sent to a landfill can be
decreased by recycling (making something new out
of something old), reusing and reducing (making
something smaller). The lesson presents the
connections among the use of natural resources, use
of products, waste disposal and causes and effects of
environmental change. Students will become aware
of how they impact the environment.
Estimated Duration: Three hours
Commentary:
This lesson addresses ways in which using the solution to a
problem might affect other people and the environment.
Students will begin to comprehend the concept of personal
responsibility toward the environment and make positive
environmental impacts in their home, school and
community. Students will also recognize the importance of
respect for all living things. They will learn to conserve
Earth’s resources and how reusing, recycling and reducing
trash is the solution to a problem which affects other people
and the environment.
Pre-Assessment:
After the students have read a book about trash, allow
them to share their ideas about what happens to the
trash discarded every week at home and school.
Scoring Guidelines:
Use the rubric in Attachment A, Pre-Assessment
Scoring Guidelines to assess prior knowledge.
Post-Assessment:
The post-assessment is based upon student journals and
posters.
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Trash, Landfills, and Recycling – Grade Two
Scoring Guidelines:
Use Attachment B, Post-Assessment Scoring Guidelines to assess student journals and
posters.
Instructional Procedures:
Engage
1. Administer the pre-assessment.
2. Prior to teaching this lesson, read a book to students that has a theme about
“trash.” Allow students to predict what they think the book will be about. Ask
“What happens to the trash we get rid of every week at home and at school?”
Have students share ideas.
3. Explain to students that the lesson will address how to make a landfill, what they
are and how they work.
Explore
4. Tell students that they will be acting as garbage collectors. Explain that they will
collect only nonfood garbage. Give examples of nonfood garbage (e.g., paper,
cups, plastic bags, cans, bottles). Have students contribute ideas.
5. Distribute a large brown bag to each child. Tell him/her that the source of garbage
may be from home or a selected classroom in their school.
6. Show students the class landfill. Explain that all trash must be placed in the
landfill. The landfill size cannot be increased because of lack of classroom space.
Emphasize that all trash must go in the landfill.
7. Have children bring in their trash. Have students wear gloves and sort the trash
into groups. Decide which items can be recycled (e.g., cans, newspaper, plastic,
and glass containers), reused (e.g., lunch box instead of a paper bag, clothing,
toys, household items which may be passed on,) or reduced (e.g., reusable dishes
instead of plastic or styrofoam, use thermos instead of individual juice containers,
reusable containers for fruits or snacks instead of plastic bags).
8. Initiate student discussion of possible solutions to the lack of space for the trash.
Ask “How does the amount of our trash cause problems in landfills?” “Are there
other problems that relate to the amount of trash we produce?” (e.g., loss of
habitat for animals, poisons in the ground). Suggest that students consider which
items have been needlessly placed in the landfill. Record the student’s
suggestions.
Explain
9. Have groups of students create their own landfills. Explain that this activity relates to a
real-world problem; that there is a lot of trash and landfills are quickly filling. Pass out
milk jugs or pop bottles, with caps, that have three inches cut off from the bottom. Also
hand out the bottoms of the bottles. Students will keep a brief journal of what happens to
the landfills over time, by recording their observations.
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Trash, Landfills, and Recycling – Grade Two
10. While holding the jug cap-side-down, have the children line the jug with a thin layer of
clay, covering the sides most of the way up (they can take turns as they are doing this in a
group). If using a milk jug, it is most effective to plug both ends of the handle area with
clay. Explain that landfills today must have a "liner," of plastic and clay to help prevent
toxins from getting into groundwater.
11. Have students place the paper trash and collected lunch garbage in the landfill. It will be
most efficient to mix the lunch garbage and paper together and place it in each of the
containers. Put three to four cups of food and paper garbage on top of the clay. Sprinkle a
layer of soil on top of the garbage. Sprinkle three-fourths cup of water over the soil to
simulate rain.
12. Place the landfill jug into another jar, box, or cup to hold it upside down for a few days.
Place the landfill jugs in a place where odor will not be a nuisance to individuals and
where sunlight is available. After one day, allow students to look at the landfill jug and
note observations. Explain the term "percolation" and look for evidence of this in the jug.
After two days, sprinkle another three-fourths cup of water over the soil. Place the bottom
piece cut off the milk jugs under the bottle cap. Unscrew the cap to let water drain into a
jar or container.
13. Ask students the following questions:
a. Would you drink this water or use it for cooking?
b. What caused the water to be polluted?
c. What if our garbage included toxic or poisonous materials such as oil, gas,
batteries or toilet cleaners?
14. Have students compare observations and water results from each experiment.
Relate the landfill experiment to actual landfills by showing pictures of a crosssection of a landfill. Contact a local/regional/state Environmental Protection
Agency for pictures and resources that can be used to make real-world
connections.
15. Ask students how landfills, a solution to a garbage problem, affect other people
and the environment. (e.g., unpleasant smell, need for land, increase in garbage
truck traffic, liquid leaching into soil). Explain that in some areas people dispose
of garbage by burning it in a can in their neighborhood. Ask students how burning
garbage affects other people and the environment? (e.g., it is smoky, pollutes the
air, smelly, causes respiratory problems).
16. Explain to students that recycling is also one of the ways to solve the garbage
problem. Ask students “How does recycling affect people and the environment?”
(e.g., takes time to separate items, takes gas to drive to take items to recyclable
community containers, reduces garbage in a landfill, takes many items to be
profitable).
17. Generate a list of actions students can take to reduce, recycle or reuse items. Have
students write their answers to the above question in a journal or have them create
a poster that shows how trash and landfills can impact the environment and
actions that they can take to limit their use. Use the post-assessment rubric to
evaluate the journals and posters.
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Trash, Landfills, and Recycling – Grade Two
18. Allow students to take a food-trash item and nonfood-trash items (e.g., plastic
cup, spoon) and place them in a container of dirt. Have students observe what
happens to the food trash and what happens to the other trash. Discuss the results.
Students may wish to record the results in an eco-journal.
Expand
19. Describe and show students how worms work as decomposers. Fill a large clear
plastic container half way with newspaper. Moisten the newspaper and place red
worms in the moistened newspaper. Bury food (vegetables, fruit, coffee filters)not meat or dairy products in the newspaper. Make air holes in the cover and close
the container to lock in moisture. Allow students to observe what happens. Have
them record the results in their eco-journals.
20. Using the dirt from the worm experiment, allow students to grow flowers in a window
box. Discuss how the decomposed matter has enriched the soil causing better plant
growth.
Differentiated Instructional Support:
Instruction is differentiated according to learner needs, to help all learners either meet the
intent of the specified indicator(s) or, if the indicator is already met, to advance beyond the
specified indicator(s).
 Create a study guide with words or pictures that correspond to the questions asked during
the lesson.
 Guide students in creating a graphic organizer when generating a list of actions students
can take to reduce, recycle or reuse items.
 See extension ideas for students who have developed an interest in the content.
Extensions:
 Have students learn how to recycle their leftover lunch food through composting.
Students could work with environmental educators to determine what type and how much
food is being thrown away. This information determines which type of
composting system will be designed. For example, schools with a large amount of food
waste would use a vermicomposting system, utilizing worms to recycle food waste. Once
the program is underway, there are many ways that it can be included in classroom
lessons. Students can learn about the worms and other decomposers that are work as
“nature’s recyclers”. A cafeteria food-waste recycling program can benefit the entire
school by reducing waste, saving money in garbage collection costs and providing
environmental education.
 Invite someone from a city or township solid-waste department to class to share
information and concerns about local waste disposal.
 Students could inventory their trash at home and see what can be recycled, reused or
reduced. They could find out if there are local recycling centers and resale shops that
accept clothing, used books, etc.
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Trash, Landfills, and Recycling – Grade Two
Homework Options and Home Connections:
 Have students collect nonfood trash from either home or school.
 Have the students talk with their family members about how they can recycle, reuse or
reduce their trash and how these “solutions” might affect other people and the
environment.
 Have students and adult family members take a walk the night people put out their trash
and make observations on the number of trash cans/items per household. Estimate the
number of people that live in the house and compare that number to the amount of
garbage.
Interdisciplinary Connections:
Social Studies
 Geography
Benchmark C: Explain how environmental processes influence human activity and ways
humans depend on and adapt to the environment.
Indicator 5: Compare how land is used in urban, suburban and rural environments.
Indicator 6: Identify ways in which people have responded to and modified the physical
environment such as building roads and clearing land for urban development
English Language Arts:
Have students share in writing or as oral presentations how they made their landfills, how
landfills work, the process of liquid percolating and leaching and how landfills can poison
ground water.
Materials and Resources:
The inclusion of a specific resource in any lesson formulated by the Ohio Department of
Education should not be interpreted as an endorsement of that particular resource, or any of
its contents, by the Ohio Department of Education. The Ohio Department of Education does
not endorse any particular resource. The Web addresses listed are for a given site’s main
page, therefore, it may be necessary to search within that site to find the specific information
required for a given lesson. Please note that information published on the Internet changes
over time, therefore the links provided may no longer contain the specific information related
to a given lesson. Teachers are advised to preview all sites before using them with students.
For the teacher: An area approximately three feet by three feet as a landfill, nonfood trash,
empty plastic gallon milk jug, two-liter pop bottle (for every 3-5 children),
three-fourths cup of water per jug, two or more cups of soil per jug.
For the students: Modeling clay, paper trash and food waste (from lunch).
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Trash, Landfills, and Recycling – Grade Two
Vocabulary:
 groundwater
 landfill
 leach
 liner
 percolate
 toxic
Technology Connections:
The lesson activities can develop a simple awareness of technological design and
improvement and technology in our lives; making real-world connections.
Research Connections:
Environmental Protection Agency (1998). Environmental Fact Sheet: Municipal Solid Waste
Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 1998, April
2000 (document # EPA530-F00-024).
General Tips:
 Discuss the lesson with the school media specialist for ideas and resources on
landfills, recycling, reusing and reducing to use in the classroom
 Land filling was proclaimed as the safe and sanitary solution to the problem of waste
disposal. Three hundred new landfills were built per year across the country during the
1970s. With an increasing awareness of recycling, the creation of new landfills has
diminished between 50 to 200 per year according to the National Solid Waste
Management Association (Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, 1998).
 Not only are landfills reaching their capacity but poisonous substances are leaking into
our water supply. Older landfills were constructed without linings. This has allowed
chemicals from manufacturing plants and factories to seep into the underground water.
Leachate, a liquid produced by rotting garbage, has also seeped into the aquifers or
ground water. These pollutants end up in wells and the water supply. Burying trash does
not prevent leachate. Many items buried in landfills are not biodegradable and the lack of
air hinders the decomposition of waste. Despite the fact that individuals and communities
recycle more than ever, each person in the United States continues to generate about 4.5
pounds of municipal solid waste per day. (EPA, 1998) This statistic emphasizes the
continuing need to teach the next generation about reducing waste and to energize
schools and communities to promote environmental awareness.
Attachments:
Attachment A, Pre-Assessment Scoring Guidelines
Attachment B, Post-Assessment Scoring Guidelines
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Trash, Landfills, and Recycling – Grade Two
Attachment A
Pre-Assessment Scoring Guidelines
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Unacceptable
performance
Approaching
acceptable
performance
Acceptable
performance
Exceeds acceptable
performance
Doesn’t
understand trash
or explain what
happens to it.
With some
encouragement, will
give ideas on trash
and what happens to
it.
Give relevant
ideas on trash and
what happens to
it.
Identifies connecting
ideas such as recycling,
reusing, reducing, and
understands vocabulary
terms.
Cannot explain
ideas.
With assistance, can
give answers to
simple questions.
Makes relevant
observations.
Makes relevant
observations and is able
to draw conclusions
about what happens to
trash.
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Trash, Landfills, and Recycling – Grade Two
Attachment B
Post-Assessment Scoring Guidelines
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Unacceptable
performance
Approaching
acceptable
performance
Acceptable
performance
Exceeds acceptable
performance
Does not
understand trash
or explain what
happens to it.
With some
encouragement, will
give ideas on trash
and what happens to
it.
Gives relevant
ideas on trash and
what happens to
it.
Identifies connecting
ideas such as recycling,
reusing, reducing,
understands vocabulary
terms.
Is unable to
relate trash and
landfill problems
with the
environment
With assistance, is
able to relate trash
and landfill problems
with the environment
Relates trash and
landfill problems
with the
environment
Relates trash and landfill
problems with the
environment and is
active in problemsolving
Is unable to
understand the
cause-and-effect
relationship
between trash
and a landfill
With assistance, is
able to understand
the cause-and-effect
relationship between
trash and a landfill
Understands the
cause-and-effect
relationship
between trash and
a landfill
Understands the causeand-effect relationship
between trash and a
landfill and makes
inferences about the
relationship
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