Berkshire Museum
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle: Sorting Through Personal Choices
Raise children's awareness about the importance of conservation with this hands-on science lesson. Start by breaking the class into groups and having them collect trash from around the school or local park. Students then use the provided...
Curated OER
Garbage Pizza
Students examine amount of garbage disposed of by average household weekly, classify different categories of garbage and describe composition of landfills, investigate what happens to waste after it is collected by garbage trucks, and...
Curated OER
After the Garbage Can: Where Does Our Trash Go?
Students explore how waste disposal has changed over time and what the current issues are. In this disposal lesson students collect data and create graphs.
Curated OER
How Long Does Trash Last
Students work in cooperative groups to estimate how long trash lasts in a landfill. They study environmental consequences of not recycling and use graph-making software to create a graph that illustrates the lifespan of trash items...
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Recycling-Taking it Easy on the Environment
Students review the garbage/landfill graphs included with the lesson. They discuss the information on the graphs and discuss which garbage products come from their homes. Students collect examples of over packaging to share with class...
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School Yard Waste
Fourth graders examine the types of garbage that they collect on the playground. They collect the information in a spreadsheet and create a graph that displays the number of types of trash found. They design and monitor a playground...
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Recycle, Reduce, Reuse and Save a Tree
Students examine how to save and protect trees. In this conservation lesson, students read books about the usefulness of trees, write ideas in their journals about how trees can be used, and make a book of ways to protect trees.
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Garbage Pizza
Fourth graders explore the concept of waste management. In this recycling lesson, 4th graders identify materials that must be landfilled as well as items that may be recycled or reused.
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Three R's to Environmental Stewardship: Earth Day
Students explore the ways to conserve our natural resources. In this recycling, reusing, and reducing lesson students read Dinosaurs to the Rescue and apply their findings to learning ways to conserve resources. Students complete a...
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Reduce and Reuse
Students conduct a lunch waste audit by recording each item they throw away at lunch. They graph class lunch waste. They use this information to devise a plan of action to reduce lunch waste. There is also an activity to make paper.
Curated OER
Everything's Connected
Students explore how trash decomposes. In this ecosystem lesson, students discuss new vocabulary words, such as producers and consumers, and think critically to answer how landfills work.
Curated OER
Lunchroom Trash
Students explore the amount of waste produced by humans. In this ecology lesson, students predict which lunch bag and its contents will produce the most waste. Leftover material is examined, amounts are recorded, and a bar graph is...
Curated OER
Recycling
Students investigate how to reduce, recycle, and reuse items in order to conserve natural resources. They complete a trash graphing activity after discussing different types of trash. Finally, the examine ways to buy recycled products to...
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Reduce Reuse Recycle
Learners discover methods that can save the planet by recycling. In this sustainable planet lesson plan, students read The Berenstein Bears Don't Pollute Anymore, and practice memorizing the 3 R's. Learners write commitment letters...
Curated OER
Waste Not Want Not
Students are introduced to the need to save natural resources. Through inquiry, hands-on activities, and problem solving, students increase their understanding of solid waste materials and the need to reduce, recycle, and reuse.
Curated OER
Popular Paper
Students explore the benefits of recycling paper. In this recycling instructional activity, students use statistics to calculate the amount of paper that is thrown away each week and construct a graph. Students analyze the data and...
Curated OER
Recycling - A Job Everyone Can Do
Young scholars research recycling effort that take place in the US. They play an online game and complete handouts using Internet research.
Curated OER
The Miracle Fish: Learning to Design an Experiment
Students develop procedures to explore the behavior of fish. In this scientific experiment lesson students from a hypothesis, write a question, identify different variables and controls in their experiment.
SRI International
Performance Assessment Links in Science: Discovering the Problem of Solid Waste
This activity has students sort garbage, graph their results and propose ways of reducing waste.