Prior to the lesson, gather one week’s worth of junk mail at home. Open the junk mail and staple each piece of paper together to form a chain and have students examine it. Explain to students that all this wasted paper was sent to one household in a week. “Did you know that 62 billion pieces of junk mail are produced each year (an average of 41 pounds per household)? And 44 percent of this junk mail goes directly into our landfills unopened. That is millions of trees and billions of gallons of water to produce the paper. How does this make you feel? What do you think you could do about this?” Have students think of ideas of what they could do to prevent all this paper waste. Some examples may be: talk to parents about removing their names from mailing lists, reuse the paper and envelopes for different projects or paper, and recycle the paper.
“There is a saying that says ‘an action speaks a thousand words.’ What do you think this means? What are things that you can do that will help protect our Earth?” Have students discuss and share ideas. Write the words Recycle, Reduce, and Reuse on the board. Have students come up with ideas of things that they could do or have done at home or school.
Activity 1
“Be Kind to our Earth. On April 22nd we celebrate Earth Day. But Earth Day needs to be celebrated all year long. Today we are going to read a story called And Still The Turtle Watched by Sheila MacGill-Callahan.” Before the story discuss the vocabulary word Manitou. Manitou is a supernatural spirit or force of nature in the religion of the Algonquian Indians. Instruct students to listen closely to how the people treat the Earth. After reading, discuss the book and make two columns on the board that are titled “kind” and “unkind”. Have students share ideas from the story. “There are so many simple things you can do to be kind to the Earth.” Have students discuss in small groups. “One example that we hear a lot about is turning the water off when brushing our teeth. Today we are going to prove why this is so important.” Experiment taken from: http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/units/byrnes-literature/alleman.html
Pick one volunteer, one timer, and one person to measure.
- Set the timer for one minute as the volunteer puts toothpaste on the brush and brushes his/her teeth. Leave the water running for the entire minute. It should be running into the bucket to prevent it from going down the drain. The person assigned to measure, then measures how many cups of water were used in that minute.
- Repeat this experiment except this time leave the water running only when the volunteer is using it.
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Compare the amount of water used in the two different trials and discuss this as a class.
“This experiment proves to us that turning off water when brushing will help conserve our earth’s resources.”
Activity 2
Prior to the activity, drill two rows of air holes around the outside of a small plastic trash pail with lid. One row should be about an inch from the bottom; the other near the top. The holes should be smaller than your pinky but big enough to see through. Also, purchase 1–20 Tiger worms from a bait shop. This container may be moved outside the classroom. Have students note the change over time.
Begin the lesson by asking students, “Who likes worms? Would you want one as a pet? Do we need them? What are they good for?” Worm information and experiments can be found at http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/worm/pg000104.html. Worms are decomposers. Decomposers break things down into nutrients that plants and animals use. “Without the help of worms, every plant and animal that died and fell to the ground would stay right where it fell. Trees, leaves, fruit, nuts, dead animals, and food would just keep piling up. Can you imagine that?!”
“We are going to have some new pets in our classroom. Worms can reduce the amount of garbage you produce while creating nutrient-rich soil.” Give students time to examine the worms. On the bottom of the pail, make a layer a few inches deep of gravel. On top of the gravel, put a layer of wet newspaper, and on top of that, three or four inches of potting soil. “Time to add the worms!” And then sprinkle the worms with the garbage and cover the whole deal with a layer of newspaper. Add one item that will not decompose such as a soda can or glass bottle. It will take a few days or even weeks for the worms to really get busy, but when they have made a dent in the first batch of garbage, you can add more. As time progresses, students can make observations and journal their findings (S-K2-17-2_Worm Journal Sheet.doc). Direct students to observe what is happening to all the items.
“There are so many things we can do to recycle, reduce, and reuse to help our environment. I want you to think of three things you are going to do this week to be kind to our planet.” Have students complete a Worm goal sheet (S-K2-17-2_Goal Sheet.doc). Have students take their goal sheets home and display them, so they remember to do these things for the planet.
Extension:
- Here are activities for students who might need more practice:
- Students can determine additional ways to recycle different objects. One fun project is to recycle old crayons. Go to www.epa.state.il.us/kids/teachers/activities/crayons.html for directions.
- Students could also talk about organizing a toy exchange or other activities to help protect our environment.
- Here is an activity for students who are going beyond the standards:
- Students can design a recycling program for their school or city.
