Overview

After reading a summary about the many different ways in which students can help save Earth and its natural resources, students track and record their classroom trash for a day, week, month, and year. Students can then set up a classroom recycling center to help protect Earth.

Objectives

Describe ways in which trash can be recycled.
Recognize typical classroom trash totals.
Set up a recycling center for the class.

Materials

• Computer and modem
• Web-browsing software
• Printer
• I Can Save the Earth Activity worksheet (one copy for each student group)
• Work or safety gloves

Steps

1. Share the story summary with the class. Discuss the ways that students can help to preserve Earth's air, water, and land. Then take students online to visit the Garbage Web site at http://www.learner.org/exhibits/garbage/intro.html and the Environmental Protection Agency's Recycle City Web site at http://www.epa.gov/recyclecity/. Discuss the information the Web sites provide.

2. Explain to students that they will be tracking class waste in an effort to study how much trash they generate. Explain to students that to do so, they must examine the contents of the class wastebasket three times each day. Provide students with safety gloves and remind them to use caution as they examine the trash.

3. Offer students assistance in totaling up their daily charts. Students may also require help forming weekly, monthly, and annual estimates. Encourage students to discuss the totals and ways in which they can cut down on the amount of material that is thrown away.

4. Help students establish a classroom recycling center. Set up bins or receptacles for each type of product. Make sure that students create signs that identify each of the bins and the types of materials to dispose in each. Help students by arranging for the removal of these materials to a recycling center.

Extension

Invite students to each bring in from home one item that was to be thrown away. Set up small groups. Give each group several of the items and ask group members to think of new uses for the items. Encourage the groups to see how many ways that they can think of to recycle the items. You may wish to make the activity a contest. The winner is the group finding the most ways to recycle.

Home Connection

Families can visit the America Recycles Day Web site at http://www.americarecyclesday.org and go to the “American Green Dream House” to learn how recycled materials were used to build this house.

Product Links

Take your students on an Internet Field Trip to learn more about protecting our environment. Visit Houghton Mifflin Science DiscoveryWorks and investigate Earth's land.