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Project Name: Recycling Rangers Lesson Name: Informing Our Neighbors

PURPOSE OF THE LESSON


The purpose of this lesson is to develop and reinforce 21st century skills within the framework of a project designed to increase environmental awareness. Students will be utilizing the research process in a multi-part lesson to create evidence that they are able to manipulate factual information to develop conceptual knowledge to inform peers and the society about the effects of recycling.

Essential Idea/Question Driving the Project:


Why is recycling important and how does it keep the Earth clean and protected for future generations?

Standard for this Lesson:


Expectation: The student will develop and apply knowledge and skills gained from an environmental issue investigation to an action project which protects and sustains the environment

Topic for this Lesson: Environmental Science Indicator for this Lesson:
Indicator 6.4.1 Identify an environmental issue and formulate related research questions Methods of gathering information may include o o o o Writing letters Performing a literature search Using the internet Interviewing experts

Indicator 6.4.3 Interpret the findings to draw conclusions and make recommendations to help resolve the issue Indicator 6.4.4 Apply the conclusions to develop and implement an action project Methods of implementation may include

o o o o

Physical action Persuasion Consume action Political action

Lesson Objective:
Students will be able to carry out the research process to gather and summarize information about recycling, and then create a Youtube video, a PSA, or a poster to display their collected information and demonstration their understanding.

Evidence (Formative Assessment):


The students will first produce a KWL chart as a formative assessment so we can be able to see how they are learning and what information they are retaining. By doing this, the students can also begin to produce the assessment during the apply stage, which will be a Youtube video, a PSA, or a poster board based on their KWL chart information from the explore stage. Completing a video or a poster will be a good way to assure that the students are not only understanding the technique of recycling but also know enough about it to properly educate other peers within the school, or even the society in general.

INSTRUCTIONAL DECISION-MAKING
Any knowledge that students have coming into the class about recycling will influence the decisions in the lesson. Mainly, this will come from any recycling methods they have already learned about through the schools use of recycling in the cafeteria or within their own classroom. Because of this, students may already have some sort of background or prior knowledge of recycling, which would impact the amount of activities or the depth of the activities done in the explore section. In this case, choosing activities that delve deeper into the topic of recycling and which include aspects they are not yet familiar with will be a sure way to engage the students with the topic while also keeping them interested and using their prior knowledge effectively. The instruction in this lesson will remove barriers to learning because I try to make use of several different technological approaches when allowing them to choose the type of project they can apply their learning to. The barrier in this case would be a students ability to adapt the information learned to other sources and in a form of depth in which others can be educated. This lesson also builds on students strengths because many students, especially in this era, are more technologically advanced and learn better when they can focus their learning on a technological piece of evidence.

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEURES

Instructional Materials:

Video
The main idea this video is trying to convey deals with the 3 Rs of recycling (reduce, reuse, recycle) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKvGgb3YcDQ Comic strip o In this comic strip, the students are studying the adventure of the Garbage Gremlin, and learning about recycling with how the Gremlin reacts to the students recycling efforts. o http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/education/kids/gremlin/index.htm Books on recycling o On this website are several books that students will be reading. They are: Bergen, Lara, and Betsy Snyder. Don't throw that away!: a lift-the-flap book about recycling and reusing. New York, N.Y.: Little Simon, 2009. Print. Bullard, Lisa, and Wes Thomas. Rally for recycling. Minneapolis: Millbrook Press, 2012. Print. Bullard, Lisa, and Wes Thomas. Choose to reuse. Minneapolis: Millbrook Press, 2012. Print. Child, Lauren, and Bridget Hurst. We are extremely very good recyclers. New York, NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2009. Print. Criswell, Ginger, and Michael Graham. Recycle Michael. San Diego, Calif.: IDW ;, 2012. Print. Gibbons, Gail. Recycle!: a handbook for kids. Boston: Little, Brown, 1992. Print. Green, Jen, and Mike Gordon. Why should I recycle?. Hauppauge, N.Y.: Barron's, 2005. Print. Inches, Alison, and Mark Chambers. The adventures of an aluminum can: a story about recycling. New York: Little Simon, 2009. Print. Inches, Alison, and Pete Whitehead. The adventures of a plastic bottle: a story about recycling. New York: Little Simon, 2009. Print. Javernick, Ellen, and Colleen M. Madden. What if everybody did that?. Tarrytown, N.Y.: Marshall Cavendish Children, 2010. Print. Patterson, Ellie, and Alexandra Colombo. Michael Recycle meets Litterbug Doug. San Diego, Calif.: Worthwhile ;, 2009. Print. Patterson, Ellie, and Alexandra Colombo. Michael Recycle and the tree top cops. San Diego, CA: IDW Publishing, 2012. Print. Roca, Nuria, and Rosa Maria Curto. The three R's: reuse, reduce, recycle. Hauppauge: Barrons Educational Series, 2007. Print. Showers, Paul, and Randy Chewning. Where does the garbage go?. Rev. ed. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 1994. Print. Winter, Jonah. Here comes the garbage barge!. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books, 2010. Print. o Adapted from: http://livinggreenmag.com/2012/11/15/home-garden/15-childrens-booksabout-recycling/ Recycling game o This game allows students to see and test which items are and are not recyclable. http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/education/kids/games/bingame2/index.html Recycling conversation
o

This recycling conversation serves as an instructional material because the students will be reading the dialogue and creating their own with the knowledge they have gained from the previous learning activities. http://climatekids.nasa.gov/career-recycling/ KWL chart o Students will have a KWL chart as a formative assessment during the lesson, which is attached below.
o

Technology:

Computers o Powerpoint o Access to internet (for gaming purposes) o Youtube Video editing program Cameras (for PSA purposes)

Management Considerations (Routines and Transitions):


Teacher will introduce content in the launch and facilitate discussion with students After reading the comic strip, students will be asked to choose the project they want to work on o Assigned to different stations Stations will be located around the room students will spend 10 minutes at each station completing the KWL chart move in circles, filling out KWL chart in the process Presentations in form of writing down learned facts and information, and then sharing with the class o Each group writes down one thing that the other groups learned, in their own column Teacher presents students with choice of project Transition to exit card o Students complete card answering questions about what they learned

ST 21 21ST CENTURY CENTURY SKILLS SKILLS

Critical Critical Thinking Thinking & & ProblemProblemSolving Solving Creativity Creativity & & Innovation Innovation

Learning Experience
Event Procedure/Activity & Questioning Strategies

Communication Communication & & Collaboration Collaboration

LAUNCH
(Approximate Time)

3 minutes video 7 minutes comic book

CHOICE CHOICE Ideal Dialogue to Launch Teacher: What do you do with Trash? Opportunity Opportunity to to exercise exercise Students: Throw it away. autonomy autonomy Teacher: When you throw it away where do you put it? Students: The trash can. Teacher: Well, how about after the trash can? Where does the trash go next? Students: Answers may vary Teacher: If you think about it, there is no away. There is only another place to put the trash. But does all trash go in the same bin? (to draw students prior knowledge of the usage of different bins in the classroom ). Students: Answers may vary Teacher: We know that we use different bins in our classroom, but why do we do this? Why do we separate trash into different bins? And how can we remember to sort them into different bins? *Watch video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKvGgb3YcDQ

Read Adventures of the Garbage Gremlin comic book to introduce students to topic of recycling and problems that can arise if not done correctly. (http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/education/kids/gremlin/index.htm)
Students will explore learning stations to gather information about recycling. Exploration will occur in a group setting, with 3 groups rotating around the room o Each learning station will have different activities/lessons/methods of engagement Students will fill out a KWL chart in the process of exploring so that they can record their information to use later. (This stands as a formative assessment, and is ongoing throughout this stage) Learning stations: Book station o (http://livinggreenmag.com/2012/11/15/home-garden/15-childrensbooks-about-recycling/) Gaming station o Sort Mania (http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/education/kids/games/bingam e2/index.html) Conversation station o (http://climatekids.nasa.gov/career-recycling/)

EXPLORE
(Approximate Time)

10 minutes at each station 30 minutes total

PRESENT
(Approximate Time)

10 minutes for sharing

Each group will choose three facts they learned about recycling with the class. o They will present those facts to the class along with why they thought they were interesting and how they feel about those facts Example Recyclable items go in different bins o We feel this is important because it helps people separate the items better since they all go in different places After doing this, the teacher will write down those facts on a piece of large poster paper. o Teacher will display this poster in the front of the room and keep it there for the apply stage Students must use at least one fact from the classroom recycling poster (completed above) in their poster to acknowledge the learning of their peers

APPLY
(Approximate Time)

30-45 minutes

CLOSURE
(Approximate Time)

5 minutes

Procedures: Students have the choice of completing a powerpoint, a youtube video, or a poster detailing their findings with the idea that they are creating this product for their neighbors who do not know about recycling. o Prompt You see your neighbor throwing all of his trash away in the grey trash bin one morning before you go to school. You stop to tell him that he must use different bins for each piece of trash because certain items such as glass and plastic can be reused or recycled to create new items. He does not understand how separating the trash into different bins can help the environment. Create a Youtube video, a PSA, or a poster board for your neighbor with the information from your KWL chart, so he can see how recycling can help the Earth and so he can learn more about how to recycle. Students will be broken up into groups according to the type of project they want to complete Exit card: Teacher will provide students with an index card where they need to respond to the questions below: How do you plan on changing your environment now that you know about recycling? Which part of the lesson did you enjoy? What information do you plan on sharing with your family tonight?

ANALYSIS AND REFLECTION


(What does the data from the formative assessment indicate about student learning? To what extent did students reach the desired result? What insights did you develop about teaching? How can you improve your professional skills?) (This is to be filled out upon completion of the lesson by the teacher)

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