2.6.4 Recycling Lesson Plan

Lesson Procedure:

1. Day 1: Reduce. Why is it important to reduce the amount of garbage we make? To answer the question, have students watch the movie Recycling (L2U6L4) again and take notes about the reasons/evidence they find. For example: Animals and people can get sick. Then have students discuss question prompts such as the following, in pairs. What things do we buy that we don’t really need? What do we use too much of? How can we use less water, paper, or plastic? Encourage the use of modal auxiliaries. For example: We mustn’t use so many plastic bags. We should turn off the water. To help students recognize the Big Idea of these activities, write this prompt on the board: We can help make a cleaner and healthier environment when we ____________ (reduce) the amount of resources we use. Leave the Big Idea in a corner of the board.
2. Day 2: Reuse. The next day, ask students to summarize the big idea for reduce, and ask them what they did yesterday to help the environment and reduce what they used. Tell them they all look a little "greener" to you today. Do a Concept Attainment activity to elicit the concept of reuse: using something again and again, instead of throwing it out. Display the reusable and non-reusable objects/pictures that you gathered, in two groups, but do not label the two sides. As you place the objects/pictures in one of the two groups, ask students to tell you which side to put the next items on, or ask students to put them in the right place. When you have finished your examples, ask students to use examples from their lunches/snacks, backpacks, or anything else in the room that applies. Now ask how they might label the two sides (Reusable and Non Reusable, or Garbage). Following are some possible discussion prompts: What do we bring our sandwiches in every day? Do we bring a new water bottle every day? What do we do with the clothes, toys, books we don’t want anymore? What happens if we only use something once? It‘s more garbage! Ask pairs of students to think of a Big Idea for the activity you just completed. If they need a prompt, write: We can help to reduce garbage and save money when we _______________________ (reuse things). Add this Big Idea to the first one that’s on the board. For homework, have students find pictures from magazines or the Internet of at least two objects each made of plastic, glass, and paper. Instead of pictures, they may also bring in real objects made of these materials. Each student should try to bring in a total of six objects or pictures.
3. Day 3: Recycle. Ask students to summarize the Big Idea about reuse from yesterday’s lesson. Then pose the question, What happens to things we can’t reuse? Elicit what the word recycle means (to make something new from something we’ve already used). Tell the students to take out the objects they brought for homework and look for the recycling symbol on them. Explain that if it displays the symbol, they can recycle it. That means that they mustn’t throw it in the garbage. It should go into a recycling bin. Bring in the three labeled recycle bins (see Preparation). Explain that we sort, or categorize, objects when we recycle them. Put all the items students brought in for homework on a table, or distribute them randomly. Students take turns putting an object in the appropriate bin. Ask students what they think happens when we recycle things. Confirm that they understand that new things can be made from old things. Brainstorm a list of things that can be made from recycled items. Ask pairs of students to think of a Big Idea for the activity you just completed. If they need a prompt, write: When we can’t reuse things, we should _______________________ (recycle) them to make new things. Add this Big Idea to the other two that are on the board.