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Featured Lesson

Doing Our Part!

Lesson objective:

The objective of this lesson is to teach the students how simple and easy creating a sustainable recycling system is.

Benchmark:

K-4 Benchmark II-F: Describe how natural and man-made changes affect the meaning, use, distribution, and value of resources.

Procedure:

  • The students will first be introduced to the lesson by my writing of the word "RECYCLE" on the board.

  • Next, the students and I will go to the carpet at the front of the room for a whole class discussion about recycling.

  • Together we will talk about different ways we can help recycle around the school. I will then inquire with them if that is a large enough impact to make a long lasting positive impact on our community.

  • We will then move on to my already prepared "example recycling bin."

  • I won't tell them what it is or what it is used for just yet. I will encourage them to guess.

  • Once they have made sufficient guesses and hopefully identified what it is and/or what it is used for, I will then move on to modeling how to make their own recycling bins.

    • I will model the construction of the recycling bin slowly and in a step by step manor to ensure the students understanding of each step.

  • They will then be assigned a partner, ensuring the best matched pairs to ensure effective partner work and  avoid any potentially troublesome behaviors.

  • Once completed they will begin on their individual work for the assessment.

Materials:

  • Used cardboard boxes.

  • Scissors.

  • News Papers.

  • Magazines.

  • Hot glue gun.

  • Recycled plastic painting liners.

  • Paint.

  • Permanent markers.

Assessment:

For this last portion of the lesson the students will be given instructions for a writing prompt: Write a one paragraph letter to the principle telling her, "Why we should GO GREEN at our school."  Here is where the new knowledge they have obtained will  be both applied and assessed. For the lesson to be considered effective, the students writing should include but is not limited to:

  • What recycling is.

  • Why recycling is important.

  • What we can do at our school to "Go Green."

  • Why it is important to take care of and sustain the environment. (i.e. prevent disasters like the Dust Bowl, etc.)

Extension:

A possible extension to this unit could be a field trip to a water treatment plant. At the water treatment facility the students would have the opportunity to learn about how waste water is recycled, often multiple times, for different purposes like agriculture, environmental redistribution, and domestic watering systems like golf courses or pond.

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