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MY REDUCE/REUSE STORY

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students go through old magazines and select pictures of things which ultimately become a waste product. They paste these pictures into a small "recycling" book. They dictate a story about reuse and/or recycling of these materials.
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Garbage: Why Don't You Do Something With This Stuff? (Grades 7-8)

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students outline and discuss the steps necessary to tackle an environmental problem. They understand the process of recycling paper and discuss the importance of recycling efforts in fighting environmental problem.
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The Flat Stanley Project

For Teachers K - 3rd
Pupils read the book Flat Stanley. In this environmental stewardship instructional activity, students participate in earth-friendly activities based upon the book. This instructional activity includes ideas such as using recycled paper...
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3 Holiday Projects

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Pupils explore the concept of reusing and recycling everyday materials and make holiday-oriented decorations and gift wrapping. Letters containing environmental issues are composed and sent to political and corporate decision-makers.
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Invention

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students discuss the importance of recycling to the environment. They classify different objects and put them into the correct recycling bin. They create their own invention out of recycled materials.
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3-D Posters

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students work in small groups to create 3-D posters to discourage throwing trash away and encourage recycling.
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MAKING PAPER FROM PAPER

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students tear paper into very small pieces and follow a formula to make recycled paper. They follow up with a discussion about the quality of their paper and its benefits.
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Lesson Plan
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Christmas Potpourri Hangers

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Students create a potpourri hanger.  In this Christmas craft instructional activity, students reuse materials to make a Christmas potpourri hangar for the tree or for a gift. 
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Invention

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students create an invention, or simple machine, out of items taken from the recycling bin. Students draw diagrams of their proposed inventions, then create simple machines.
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Where Shoult it Go?

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students label boxes and sort trash into those items that can be recycled, composted, incinerated or taken to the landfill.
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Mini-Sanitary Landfill

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders work in groups to bury a variety of trash items and arrange them in a mini-landfill. They predict which items will biodegrade and then keep records of what the items look like every ten days. Students consider how...
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1-Use, 2-Use, Re-Use, New Use

For Teachers K - 4th
Students list the possible uses of grocery bags. They trace the steps of a grocery bag either to recycle or trash. In groups, students use the grocery bags to create posters promoting reuse.
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Compost Columns

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this unit of lessons, learners examine the role of compost columns and recycling. They create a KWL chart about garbage in Chicago. They also examine life cycles and packaging of everyday products.
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Growing With Compost

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Students discuss the positives and negatives of composting. They plant their own plant using composting material and record results. They create a poster for the classroom.
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Junk Art

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students find uses for old or discarded items (recycling) by making puppets.
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Positively Paper

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Young scholars discover how paper is recycled. In this recycling lesson, students investigate which types of paper recycle best and are best for the environment.
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Going Green School Campaign

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Learners explore ways to make their school's interior and exterior environmentally 'green.' In this environmental concern instructional activity, students work in groups to examine their school's interior and exteriors to make them...
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Safe Subs

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Young scholars investigate ways to reduce use of hazardous materials. In this safe substitutes lesson, students review hazardous wastes used in many homes and possible safe substitutes for these harmful chemicals. Young scholars write...
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Land Art

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students use natural materials outside to create a work of art. In this land art lesson plan, students plan their sculpture inside in one day and create it outside over a period of 2 days.
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Thinking about Energy

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine their understandings about energy concepts by completing an online survey. Students participate in a class discussion about their uses of resources and the differences between perpetual, renewable, and nonrenewable...
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Gandhi's "Good Life"

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders use a Gandhian lens to analyze critically materialism in a capitalist society. In this Gandhian philosophy instructional activity, 11th graders cultivate awareness, explore materialism and sustainability, examine the...
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Reusing Winter Waste

For Teachers K - 4th
Students use waste materials to build a snowman decoration. In this reusing lesson, students create a new object out of disposable items left over from the holidays. Students discuss ways of cutting down waste. Students understand how...
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A Growing Market

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students research plants and the bedding plant industry and then make a list of materials they need to plant seeds. In this planting lesson plan, students then plant their seeds, chart their progress, and write what they have learned.
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Gettysburg Rocks Recycle to Win

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders use a geologic cross section to study the rock cycle of the Gettysburg battlefield. In this rock cycle lesson plan, 8th graders connect the rock cycle and continental rifting.