Hamilton Middle School PBS “Cool Tool”
Behavioral Lesson Plan
May, 12, 13, 14 or 15, 2009 in Homeroom Classes – (You may teach the
lesson in one day or discuss a little bit each day for two or three days.)
School-Wide Expectation: Respect the Environment
Location: Cafeteria
Expected Behavior:
o Recycle
Purpose of the Lesson:
 Teach students one of the behaviors that we expect in the cafeteria – recycle
 Discuss the benefits of recycling
 Clarify the items that can and cannot be recycled
 Explain the procedure for recycling items in the cafeteria
Lesson:
1. Remind students that a few weeks ago, we looked at our school-wide matrix
and focused on the expected behaviors under “Respect Everyone in the
Hallway.” This week, we are going to focus on one specific expected
behavior under “Respect the Environment in the Cafeteria” - Recycle.
2.
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Have a discussion with students about the benefits of recycling. Ask
students why we recycle? Here are some points you might want to
share:
Recycling turns materials that would otherwise become waste into valuable
resources.
Each year, Americans generate millions of tons of waste in our homes,
schools and communities.
The average American generates about 4.6 pounds of solid trash a day! In a
year’s time, that equals about 1,680 pounds of trash per person.
All of this garbage has to go somewhere, and that “somewhere” is usually a
landfill.
Once the garbage is in a dump or landfill, some products can take between
100 to 400 years to decompose, such as aluminum and plastic. Glass never
decomposes.
Recycling helps to save space, natural resources and energy and also helps
to reduce pollution.
Recycling saves energy because we don’t have to make new products to take
the place of the ones that we throw away.
Also, it takes factories less energy to recycle materials into new things, than
it takes to use natural resources to produce new products.
o A good example of this: It takes 95% less energy to recycle aluminum
cans than it does to make new aluminum cans.
o By recycling just one glass bottle, you can save the amount of energy
it takes to keep a 100-watt light bulb burning for 4 hours. It also
causes 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than when
a new bottle is made from raw materials.
OVER
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Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television
for 3 hours – or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline.
For every ton of glass that is recycled, we can save a ton of the raw
materials it would take to make new glass.
To look at it more locally, MMSD spends over $80,000 each year to dispose
of trash in landfills. Even a 10% reduction in trash volume could mean a
significant cost savings for the district.
In 2005, the district collected data on the amount of waste at various schools
in the district. At La Follette High School, 1,461 pounds of trash was
discarded in a 24 hour period. Of that amount, 531 pounds (36%) were
items that could have been recycled. Many of the items were aluminum
cans and plastic bottles which had been discarded in the trash.
3. Ask students to guess what percentage of the trash thrown out at lunch each
day at Hamilton could actually be recycled? Do they think it would be
similar to the percentage at La Follette?
4. Ask students:
a. Why do you think so many students at Hamilton don’t recycle?
b. What items CAN be recycled in the cafeteria?
c. What is the process for recycling in the cafeteria?
d.
5. Discuss the procedures for recycling in our cafeteria:
a. plastic bottles, glass bottles and aluminum cans should all be recycled
b. packaging for school meals, food containers and food wrappers cannot
be recycled
c. If you are walking from the cafeteria serving line towards the stage,
the recycling bin is the large, round, BLUE bin on the LEFT side of the
room.
d. There is a white 5 gallon pail next to the blue recycling bin. This
should be used to dump out any excess liquid before putting the item
in the recycling bin.
1) When you have been dismissed from your table, take your recyclable
items to the blue bin.
2) Empty out any excess liquid that might be in the bottle or can.
3) Toss the bottle or can in the recycling bin.
4) Feel good about the fact that you just helped to save energy,
rather than adding more trash to a landfill.
5) Dispose of your other items in the garbage cans in the center of the
room.
6) STACK YOUR TRAY NEATLY on the tray cart before leaving for recess.
Sources:
www.epa.gov
www.madison.k12.wi.us