Recycling lesson plans - Ideas, Inspiration, and …

[Pages:13]recycling lesson plans

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5E printable lessons

to promote recycling

Brought to you by WeAreTeachers and PepsiCo Recycling

Dear Educators,

You're teaching a generation of kids who will have a huge impact on our environmental future. Lessons about recycling, sustainability, and eco-friendly practices are incredibly important. To help bring these important topics to your classroom, we pulled together five complete lesson plans in the popular 5E lesson format. These lessons focus on key subject

the basics of 5E

The 5E model is an easy, hands-on way to create lesson plans for your classroom. You can either choose to do the activity in a single lesson, or you can spread it out over several days or weeks.

There's no perfect or right way to do these lessons. In fact, adapting them to work for you and your classroom needs is definitely recommended. Based on your students' age, interests, or the unit you're trying to cover, always adjust to make them work for you.

Best of all, they're designed to be printed on a single 8? x 11 sheet of paper, making it even easier to incorporate into your daily lesson plans.

Engage: Introduce the topic. In the engage area, introduce your students to the topic in a clear, concise way. Make sure all your students have a strong understanding of the main concepts before moving forward.

Explore: Go to the lab. Now it's time to really get hands on with the lessons. This section includes an interactive activity where students get to put their own personal touch on the project.

areas like science, technology, and language arts. Through the easy-toimplement 5E model, you'll be able to incorporate these into units you already have planned for the year.

For even more resources, we recommend checking out the free lessons, articles, ideas, and printables on PepsiCo Recycling's website, . You can also sign up to participate in their recycling program for schools, Recycle Rally.

Thanks for all you do as educators in teaching our future generation.

Explain: Take notes. The notes section, where students write about what they learn, is a feature in all the projects. This will help students grasp important concepts they've been putting into practice in the lab section.

Elaborate: Review and extend. This section checks for understanding, and then it encourages students (and you) to take it to the next level. What more can you do with this lesson? What questions have come up that you can tackle? This is a great place to grow.

Evaluate: Check for understanding. Each lesson should have a follow-up to check for understanding. If much of your class didn't understand a key concept or takeaway, it might be time to go back to the lab or review and extend again.

7 tips for using the 5e lessons

Share the lessons with

7 others. What works for

you will work for other educators. Share these free 5E lessons with other teachers and educator friends.

Always make adjustments

6 as needed. We have several

suggestions on how to scale the lessons up or down, but you should feel free to do this on your own as well.

Print them exactly as they are

to use in your lesson planning.

1 There's no need to write out the steps separately.

2

Look for ways to incorporate them into existing lessons and standards that you already have

to meet. These lessons have lots

of science and reading ties!

3 Share them with parents who want to continue the lesson at home.

5

4 Choose a 5E lesson to tackle during Earth Month.

Look for the free worksheets available at the end of this packet to use within the lessons. All lessons have free worksheets, and we have them all ready to go for you!

Lesson 1

micro-composter in a bottle

{Students will explore the process of decomposition using a microcomposter made of two-liter plastic bottles.

Grades: 1?6

Core Concepts: Reuse, Decomposition

Key Question: What is needed for decomposition

to occur?

1 Engage: introduce

the topic

Teacher: What do students

3 Explain: take notes

know about the process of composting? Prompt students by using images or video of compost bins. Write notes and questions on chart paper to refer back to throughout the project.

Student: Discuss the compost bin and what happens to any materials put inside. What questions do you have about composting and decomposition?

Teacher: Use student observations and data from tracking the temperature and mass of the compost to explain the process of decomposition. Create a class poster of vocabulary words and their definitions.

Materials ?

? Two-liter plastic bottles ? Organic materials ? Thermometer ? Kitchen scale ? Whiteboard and markers for recording results ? Chart paper and colored pencils for graphing ? "Composting in the Classroom" worksheet

Student: Use the data collected and the vocabulary words to explain what happened to the materials in the minicomposter.

2 Explore: Go to the lab

Teacher: Give your students a jump-start by preparing your bottles for the microcompost bin. Cut the top off a plastic bottle, about three inches below the neck. Then cut a second bottle about four inches from the bottom. Place air holes in this second bottle--a thumbtack works great. Do this with several bottles so they are ready for student assembly and graphing.

Student: Assemble the micro-composter by turning the second bottle upside down and filling it with organic material (mixing food scraps, soil, paper scraps, etc.). Then place the inverted top of the first bottle into the bottom of the second bottle. Secure the pieces together with packing tape. Now record the temperature and weight of organic material. Every other day, draw and label a picture of the organic material and record the temperature and weight of the bottle. Once you have enough information, put it into graphs.

4 Elaborate: review and extend

Teacher: Ask students to respond to questions about the lesson (samples below) in writing or through a class discussion. ? How does what happens in a compost bin compare with what happens in nature? ? Why do cities and towns have green waste and composting programs?

? Why would it be important for them to collect organic materials separately from garbage?

Student: Think about why you think it's important to compost. Discuss your ideas as a class or write them on your own.

5 Evaluate: check for understanding

Teacher: Using the worksheet, have students draw a series of pictures with labels. Have them explain the decomposition process from their observations on the worksheet.

Student: Use the data and information from your notes for the final step in this project. Be sure to use the right vocabulary words.

observations

Record your observations about your micro-composter in these boxes.

Lesson 1 Worksheet

composting in the classroom

Name: Date:

Date: Temperature:

Weight: Observations:

Date: Temperature:

Weight: Observations:

Date: Temperature:

Weight: Observations:

Date: Temperature:

Weight: Observations:

Date: Temperature:

Weight: Observations:

Date: Temperature:

Weight: Observations:

Lesson 2

Students will mix science and language

the life cycle arts by using the process

of recycling aluminum

of recycling cans to explore

{transition words and paragraph organization.

Grades: 3?6

Core Concepts: Recycling, Writing

Key Question: What are the steps for recycling aluminum cans?

Materials ?

? Pens and pencils ? Chart paper ? Markers ? "What Happens to Aluminum Cans?" worksheet

1 Engage: introduce the topic

Teacher: What do students know about the process of recycling aluminum cans? Record what they think happens to an aluminum can once it is put in a recycling bin. Make sure to number what they believe are the steps in the process.

Student: Share what you know and ask any questions you have about the process of recycling aluminum cans.

2 Explore: Go to the lab

Teacher: Use the "What Happens to Aluminum Cans?" worksheet. For younger students, use an overhead projector. You can cut the worksheet up into sentences and then review as a group. Have students put them in the correct order. Older students can do the worksheet on their own or in small groups.

Student: Complete the worksheet. How did you know the correct order for the sentences? Did you use transition words to help you identify the correct order?

3 Explain: take notes

Teacher: Return to the initial list of steps in the recycling process the class made in the Engage step and have students compare them with the actual steps. Review with the students how they knew they were putting the sentences in the correct order. Create a poster of transition words and phrases and ask the class for new ideas, too.

Student: In your journal list three transition words you learned and write about the aluminum can recycling process. Write one question you still have about how aluminum cans are recycled.

4 Elaborate: review and extend

Teacher: Take a look at the remaining questions from your students. Tackle each question so students understand each step of the process of recycling aluminum cans. Introduce the next assignment to your students: writing a process paragraph.

Student: Brainstorm other processes you can write about. For example: How cheese is made, how to walk your dog, or how to brush your teeth. Write a clear paragraph, outlining the steps of the process you chose, using at least five transition words or phrases.

5 Evaluate: check for understanding

Teacher: Work with students to rewrite and edit their process paragraphs, focusing on organization and transitions.

Student: Share your process paragraph with a classmate. Circle the transition words and phrases. Are the steps of the process clearly written and organized?

Lesson 2 Worksheet

what happens to aluminum cans?

Name: Date:

Read the sentences below. Circle all transitional words and

phrases and then number the sentences in the correct order.

When it reaches 750?C, the molten aluminum gets so hot it removes all the ink (and germs!).

Once at the treament plant, the cans are sorted, cleaned, and melted down into molten aluminum.

Finally, the aluminum ingots leave the treatment plant and are sent to factories where they become new cans, airplane parts, and bicycles.

First, hundereds of thousands of aluminum cans are brought to treament plants every day.

Next, the melted aluminum is poured into large bricks called ingots. Each ingot is made of about one and a half million aluminum cans.

Have you ever wondered what happens to an aluminum can after you put it in a recycling bin?

How to

Write a how-to paragraph using the following transitional words and phrases:

First Next After that step is complete

If... Then... When you are finished

Finally

Lesson 3

Students will study the process of transforming

transforming recycled plastic, and

they'll learn how to

plastics create their own charts

{and graphs to present information.

Materials ?

Grades: 4?6

Core Concepts: Math, Language Arts

Key Question: How can charts and graphs help organize information?

? Chart and graph paper

? Poster board ? Pens and pencils ? Markers

2 Explore: Go to the lab

4 Elaborate: review and extend

? "Recycling Rates"

Teacher: Break students into small

Teacher: Bring the discussion back to recycling. Talk

worksheet

groups, giving each group a few

to students about why it can be useful to talk about

different samples of charts and graphs

the subject of recycling through a graph or a chart.

of varying types and subjects. Then

1 Engage: introduce the topic

give the class (or individual groups) an assignment with information they need

Student: Discuss why this information works well in a bar graph. Could the same information be put

Teacher: Introduce the "Recycling

to turn into a chart or graph.

into a pie chart or a line graph? Why or why not?

Rates" worksheet to your students. Have them complete it. Ask students why this information works well in a chart. Once students complete the worksheet and questions, review their answers. Then talk about charts in general. Start a class discussion with

Student: Identify the types of graphs and charts used and the information they provide. Then use graph or chart paper to make your own with the information your teacher gave you. Present your group's original graph or chart to your classmates.

5 Evaluate: check for understanding

Teacher: Give students three graphs or charts they haven't seen before. If you can find graphs or charts about recycling, this will help keep the discussion focused. Ask them to identify the type of graph or chart and what information it provides.

3 E questions like:

? Why do we use charts or graphs?

xplain: take notes

Student: Identify other

? What kind of information works

information you think

best in a chart or graph?

Teacher: As students present their charts, explain

would work well in a

the different charts and graphs. Go into detail

graph or chart. Can your

Student: Complete the worksheet

about the benefits of the chosen chart.

teacher help you find that

by charting the additional items

information online in

and answering the questions.

Student: Write down the key takeaways from

graph or chart format?

Participate in a group conversation

your classmates' charts. What kind of information

about your answers and charts.

do you like to see presented in this way?

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