HS Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Interest Area Changes to Environment

Recycling Bins (homemade)

Magazines

Newspaper

Water Bottles

Picture of the Earth

Globe

Recycling Loop Pictures

Paper Towel Tubes

Toilet Paper Tubes

Paper Scraps

Teaching Concepts for Large Group

1.  What does recycle mean?  It means taking materials from old discarded materials and making other new products from them.

2.  What are things that we use everyday that can be recycled?  If you drink juice or soda from a can make sure you recycle the can, because doing that will save energy and other natural resources. That can will stay in the recycling loop and out of the landfill saving space in the landfill and other resources that are used to produce new cans from entirely new materials.

3.  How do you recycle? You begin to recycle when you separate recyclable materials from other your other trash. The segregated materials are collected by different collection programs.

4.  Why should we recycle?  Recycling or making new things from recycled ones takes a lot less money, much less energy and saves a lot of the Earth’s natural resources, thereby it helps the environment.

Recycling also saves space in landfills. Instead of your garbage being thrown away and taking up space and possibly damaging the environment it’s better to recycle it.

The energy saved by recycling also results in less pollution and we all know how bad pollution is to our environment. When you make new products from old but still useful materials think about the natural resources that are saved because of the material from old products that would otherwise have been thrown away.

5.  What is biodegradable?  These are biodegradable materials, which means they will break down in time and become part of the earth without harming it at all. In fact, these materials can help fertilize the soil and nourish plants. Banana peels, apple cores and other things that originally came from the earth are biodegradable. These items are not recycled.

Discuss with your children what is biodegradable and what is not. Then bury things in your playground. A few weeks later dig these up and show your children the difference between biodegradable substances and non-biodegradable items.

More information found here: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/recycling/13955/how_does_recycling_work_/588862

What are the Three R’s?

Discuss The Three R’s:  Recycle, Reuse and Reduce.

Recycle:  We should not throw cans, bottles and newspapers into landfills.  These items can be recycled. Don’t throw those shoe boxes away — they can become toy dioramas or doll houses.  Discuss how these items get recycled.

Reuse:  We don’t always need a new piece of paper or a new t-shirt.  We can try to reuse what we already have.  We can help keep trash out of the landfills.  How can a piece of paper be reused?  Example:  We can use the comics to use as wrapping paper, print the templates in this web site on the blank/clean side of junk mail or other discarded paper material.  How can a T-shirt be reused – many pieces of fabric from T-shirts can make a great quilt!

Reduce:  Every home can reduce the amount of waste/garbage it produces and the landfills would last years longer.  Composting is one way of reducing — explain how you can help and/or are helping to reduce.

Teaching Concepts for Small Group

1. Glue can coke tabs  to form patterns (different colors and shapes) on index cards. Have separate tabs and let children try to form the same patterns on their own cards.

2. The concept of this activity is to show children you can have one thing and reuse it and make it something else.

What You Need:

Cardboard egg carton

Scissors

Pen

Paint, markers, stickers, or other art supplies

Ribbon or string

What You Do:

Begin by removing the lid from the egg carton, then cutting two wells from the end. The two wells will form the goggles or mask. Set aside the rest of the egg carton for another project (or more masks!).

Trim any excess cardboard from the sides of the wells.

Carefully poke a hole through each well with the pen, then cut out the bottoms of the wells. These will be the eye holes.

Ask your child to decorate his mask or goggles using paint, markers, stickers, and other art supplies.

When he’s finished decorating, carefully poke holes on either side and tie a length of ribbon to each side.

Now your science goggles or lone ranger mask is done! Have your child hold it to his face, then tie the ribbons together to secure.

3. Make a Mr. Recycle Bug - teacher will hold up her Mr. Recyclable bug or attach him to the wall and show him to the children at craft time today. Explain to the children that this is Mr. Recyclable Bug and he looks for garbage that can be recycled and he collects it and carries it along to the recycling center, but it’s a lot of work and he is getting tired and there is way too much garbage for him to do this all by himself and he could really use some help from them.

Teaching Concepts for Music Movement Wellness IMIL

1. Recycling for our Earth

(Sung to: “Mary Had a Little Lamb”)

Hear the cans go crunch, crunch, crunch,

Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch,

Hear the cans go crunch, crunch, crunch,

Recycle for our earth.

Hear the bottle go ding, ding, ding

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,

Hear the bottle go ding, ding, ding

Recycle for our earth.

Hear the paper go crinkle, crinkle, crinkle

crinkle, crinkle, crinkle, crinkle, crinkle, crinkle

Hear the paper go crinkle, crinkle, crinkle

Recycle for our earth

2. Water

Water’s what we bathe in,

Water’s what we drink,

Water keeps plants alive,

Without it fish would sink.

Water comes from rivers,

Water comes from rain.

And every drop that’s wasted

Is just water down the drain!

3. Pick Up Litter

(Sung To: “If Your Happy And You Know It”)

If you see a piece of litter pick it up

If you see a piece of litter pick it up

You will make the world look better

If you pick up all the litter.

If you see a piece of litter, pick it up

4. I’m a Piece of Litter

(Sung To: “I’m A Little Teapot”)

I’m a piece of litter,

Pick me up,

Put me in the garbage,

Or recycle me,

When you do this,

You’ll make the earth,

Much more beautiful,

For you and me,

See the pond all grimy,

Help clean up,

You’ll see more happy faces,

Where ever you go,

You’ll make the earth more beautiful than ever before,

You’ll be able to hear it say “Thank you!”

5. E-A-R-T-H

(tune: “B-I-N-G-O”)

There is a planet we call home

And “Earth” is its name.

E-A-R-T-H

E-A-R-T-H

E-A-R-T-H

And “Earth is its name.

We must all work to care for her,

To keep her safe and clean –

C-L-E-A-N

C-L-E-A-N

C-L-E-A-N

This planet we call home.”

Teaching Concepts for Fingerplays

1. Recycle This, Recycle That

Recycle this, recycle that.

(Hold up one bottle then both bottles)

Give yourself a tap, tap, tap.

(Tap bottles together X3)

For you recycled this and that!

(Hold up one bottle then both bottles)

Give yourself a tap, tap, tap.

(Tap the bottle together X3)

2. I Live Here on Planet Earth

(Form circle)

I live here on planet Earth. (Point to self.)

He lives here on planet Earth. (Point to a boy.)

She lives here on planet Earth. (Point to a girl.)

They live here on planet Earth. (Point to children on opposite side of circle.)

We live here on planet Earth. (Stretch hand out and move it in a circular motion to indicate everyone in circle.)

We might as well be friends. (Join hands.)

3. Three Big Words

(tune: “Three Blind Mice”)

Three big words,

Three big words –

Do you know

What they mean?

Reduce, reuse, recycle — these

words tell us to take of Earth, please –

Three big words,

Three big words.

Teaching Concepts for Outdoor Experiences

1. Lets Play Golf!

Materials:

Some large sheets of newspaper

paper towel rolls

toilet paper rolls

clear packing tape

small to medium sized sturdy boxes

Golf Activity: Show the children how they can hit the paper ball with their toilet paper golf club, and try to hit the paper ball (swing like their playing mini golf) and try to get the paper ball into one of the boxes on the playground, once they get the ball into one of the boxes have them remove the paper ball and try to golf it over to another box.

Golf Club: To make the golf club you will need a paper towel roll and two toilet paper rolls. You will need to cut a hole in the center of the toilet paper roll, trace around the paper towel roll onto the center of the toilet paper roll and cut out and carefully push the paper towel roll inside, and then if you find the golf clubs are not long enough, you will need another toilet paper roll or paper towel roll and carefully squeeze it into the end of the paper towel roll, it will be very snug and a bit hard to push in, after you get the toilet paper roll pushed into the paper towel roll go around it with clear packing tape so it will stay together.

Directions: Have the children help you squish up a few large sheets of newspaper to look like paper balls and then take the paper balls, golf clubs and boxes all outside. Lay the boxes randomly around the playground and not too close to each other.

CLASS Concepts

During large or small group, ask the children a series of open ended questions such as:

What is trash?

When you find something that is trash, what do you do with it?

Name some things that you throw away.

When the trash is full, what do we do with the full bag of trash? The bag of trash is taken outside and placed either in a trash can or a dumpster. (Show pictures of a dumpster or visit your facility dumpster.) Explain that a dumpster is a large trash can you can find outside schools, restaurants, grocery stores, etc.

What happens to the trash once you take it outside? A large truck comes by and picks up your trash. It is called a trash or a garbage truck. (Show a picture of a garbage truck.)

Where does the trash truck take our trash? Explain that our trash goes to a large open space called a landfill. (Show them a picture of a landfill.) When the landfill becomes full with trash it is then closed and we will have to find a new place for all of our trash to go.

Sometimes we throw things away in the trash can that can be used again. They can be recycled. Recycling means taking something you were going to throw in the trash, such as a piece of paper, and turning it into something new and useful like a new book. You find a new way to use that item.

Encourage parents to send in empty boxes (cereal, oatmeal, etc.) to be recycled or repurposed into building blocks.  Allow the children to paint them and place them in the block area or take them outside.  Remember to connect reusing the boxes to the earlier discussion about recycling.  Ask children to brainstorm ways to use the recycled boxes in a new way.

Teaching Concepts for Distance Learning

1. Letter Search

Use a magnifying glass to search the letter of the week through out the house, magazine, books, etc..

2. Charades

Private message one child with the word card. This child then pantomimes this clue while the other children guess the answer.

3. Recycle Scavenger Hunt

Find 3 plastic containers to recycle. Find 5 pieces of paper to recycle. Find 4 aluminum cans to recycle. Find 2 glass bottles to recycle.

4. Use recycled newspapers and crunch up pieces, making paper balls. Practice throwing the balls into a box. Throw from different distances and angles.