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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Waste Management

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Students set up a recycling program in their school. They first estimate the kinds and amount of trash generated and brainstorm ways to reuse the recyclables and create flyers explaining how their program will work at the school.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Christmas Potpourri Hangers

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Students create a potpourri hanger.  In this Christmas craft lesson, students reuse materials to make a Christmas potpourri hangar for the tree or for a gift. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Flat Stanley Project

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students read the book Flat Stanley. In this environmental stewardship lesson, students participate in earth-friendly activities based upon the book. This lesson includes ideas such as using recycled paper to make a "paper pal."
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

3 Holiday Projects

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Students 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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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dumptown Game

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students engage in an interactive play scenario. They are the new managers of a fictional city and live in a place where nothing is recycled. Students are faced with various problems that need to be solved. They work together to propose...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Com-Post With Us?

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students discuss the importance of reducing, recycling and reusing materials to help the environment. As a class, they create a worm bin and observe how it turns material in to compost. They use the internet to research the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Create, Design, and Invent with Plastic

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students explore creative ways to reuse materials. In this ecology/art lesson, students create artwork using trash. Students view examples of folk art from around the world that used waste products as a main component.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Adaptive Reuse

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students identify historic buildings in their community that have been adaptively reused. Through "adopting" a building, they will study how recycling of buildings is an environmentally and economically sound practice for communities.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Reduce and Reuse

For Teachers 2nd - 8th
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.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lunchroom Trash

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Owls: Top of a Food Chain

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Although written for middle schoolers, there is no reason that a 3rd, 4th, or 5th grader could not also learn about food chains through the dissection of owl pellets. After you introduce the topic, learners complete an owl research...
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Lesson Plan
California Academy of Science

Where Do I Put My Trash?

For Teachers 2nd - 8th
Where does the trash go after you put it in the garbage can? The class discusses sustainability, recycling, compost, and landfills as they play as fun relay game. In teams, they race to be the fastest group to successfully sort their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

To Rot or Not!

For Teachers K - 1st
Students discover that composting helps reduce landfill waste and is good for the soil. They explore the techniques of composting through a variety of media, art activities and hands-on experience.
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Lesson Plan
California Academy of Science

Energy: A Day in My Life

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
If only we could harness the energy of fifth graders, our energy problems would be over! The class discusses where different forms of energy come from and how we use them. They complete a chart of the activities that they do daily that...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Trash Flash Through Time

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students describe ways in which solid waste was disposed in the past and the present. They survey an older citizen about his/her solid waste disposal methods. They discover solid waste practices from long ago.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Environmental Fair

For Teachers 1st - 6th
Students investigate environmental issues. In this environmental lesson, students find an object that is considered trash and make something useful out of it. Students present their creative project.
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Carbon Footprint Estimator

For Teachers K - 5th
Students discover what a Carbon Footprint represents. In this sustainable lifestyle lesson, students determine their Carbon Footprint as an individual and as a class. Students use a the Internet to calculate how many earths it would take...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Earth Kids: Kindergarteners Taking Care of the Earth

For Teachers K
Students explore a variety of ways of how to care for the environment in the nine lessons of this unit. They observe how to be responsible "Earth Kids."
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Effects of Trash and Garbage On the Environment

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students recognize the importance of solid waste management. In this science lesson plan, students analyze individual solid waste management habits as they enhance their knowledge of solid waste disposal and the recycling process.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Think Before You Toss

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students sort a variety of trash items and determine thier sorting decisions.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Not In My Backyard: Siting A Resource Recovery Facility

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students role play a town meeting in which a new resource facility could be built. They have time to question each other after all sides have presented.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Salt Marsh in a Pan

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Students create a model of a salt marsh to discover the impact of pollution and human activities on water-based habitats including bays and the ocean. They recognize the relationship between natural and developed areas. Students impact...
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Lesson Plan
University of Southern California

Mastering Microbes

For Students 6th - 12th
Small but mighty! Learners explore the role of microbes in a healthy ecosystem. An engaging lesson asks pupils to design an aquaponics system that demonstrates that healthy microbes are necessary to maintain the ecosystem.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Trash Or Treasure

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers investigate the concept of garbage and define how it may be useful for people. The consumption of products is estimated to predict the annual volume of garbage for a household. Then students attempt to create a treasure...