Recycling Litter - Reduce Reuse Recycle Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will demonstrate knowledge of the interaction of location, family, school, and community including the understanding of how to work to improve the school, community, or environment. By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify many different types of waste materials/litter, know what types of waste materials/litter can be reduced, reused, and recycled, and create solutions to help reduce litter on school grounds. This is a great lesson students can be involved in throughout the year and take this knowledge and apply it at home as well. This lesson also gives students an opportunity to create their own ways to help the environment. This is a great lesson that includes hands on activities for students and helps get them involved with their school/community.

Lesson Plan: "Litter Patrol"
Grade Level: 3-4
Concepts of the Lesson: Solutions to litter and types of materials that can be reused.

Objectives
The students will:
>identify many different types of waste materials/litter
>know what types of waste materials/litter can be reused
>create solutions to help reduce litter on the school grounds.

Materials
dry board/chalkboard
marker/chalk
bag of dry litter
bags for collecting litter
map of school grounds (outside)
>map is to be taped on board
white paper and crayons and markers (evaluation)

Motivation
Stand in front of the class, without saying a word, with a bag of dry litter and dump it on the
floor, then wade through it with my feet.

Procedures
1. Question to the students, "How would you like it if our playground was filled with garbage like this?"
2. Introduce/Review the term "litter."
3. Ask the students to give some examples of litter. Record them on the board.
4. Divide the children into three groups. Give each group an area outside the school to search for and collect litter according to the map of the school grounds, that is taped on the board.
5. Assign an area of the school grounds to each group. (Send one adult volunteer with
each group out to collect the litter.)
6. In twenty minutes, get the students gathered together, lined up, and back into the classroom.
7. Explain to the students that there are three different categories in which to separate the litter(paper, plastic, and styrofoam).
8. Give the students examples of each of these by displaying an example.
9. Have the students, in their groups, examine their litter and place it into different categories (plastic, paper, styrofoam, other)
10. Have the students present to the class what kinds of litter they found. Record each item under the correct category on the board (plastic, paper, styrofoam, other)
11. After each group has presented their litter, discuss as a class the following questions orally:
Do think we can we reuse any or these materials?
What area around the outside of the school had the most litter on the ground?
Do you think there are rules against littering? What do you think they are?
How can we reduce the amount of litter at school?
Write the responses, to this question, on a piece of tag board to display in the classroom for the school year as a reminder to the students to pick up litter.
12. Explain how we are going to be on "Litter Patrol" by picking up litter around the
school throughout the school year.

Evaluation
Explain to the students that we will be creating a class picture book, to show others how we can improve our school or community. Have the students draw a picture of themselves doing
something to improve the school. Write one sentence about the picture to explain it. (Teacher
may need to help students with spelling, etc.)

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