Lesson One: What Is Plastic?
Objective: Students will identify and brainstorm 'What is Plastic'. Students will generate a list of items they use everyday that are plastic.
Common Core Standard: SL.K.4 Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail
On day one students and teacher will discuss various items that are plastic and generate a list of items. I will introduce and show samples of different types of plastics and what they are used for. I will explain and define the different usages of plastics. After the students brainstorm different forms of plastics and why they use them we will discuss the importance of them.
Examples of what I will bring in to show students for a visual:
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1. Water Bottles
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2. Plastic utensils
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3. Plastic bowls and dishes
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4. Toothbrushes
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5. Laundry Detergent
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6. Sandwich baggies
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7. Plastic cups
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8. Plastic Wrap
With the students, we will then sort where we find these plastics
Follow Up Questions:
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1. What is plastic?
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2. How is it different from glass, etc..?
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3. Do we use more items that are plastic?
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4. It what area did we think of the plastic?
Homework: Students will be asked to bring in items from home that is made from plastic.
Lesson Two: What Are Those Numbers?
Objective: Students will identify the recycling symbol on each plastic item and learn what those numbers mean. Teacher can refer to Types of Recyclable Plastics in research and make a kid friendly chart for a visual.
Common Core Standard: K.CC.3 Write numbers from 0-20
L.K.5a Sort common objects into categories to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.
The night before the students were asked to bring in items from home that were made up of plastic. Using both the samples the teacher brought in and the items from the students we will sort them according to their recycle number symbol located on the item.
I will introduce the recycling number codes and what the symbol looks like.
I will read: The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle by: Allison Inches to introduce what happens to the plastic bottles once we are done. By reading this story this will give students the knowledge they need to understand the purpose of recycling plastic and how to sort the plastic by the number code.
Teacher and students will fill in then uses of each item together.
Follow Up Questions:
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1. What did we learn today?
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2. What will you do different after todays lesson?
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3. How will you recycle plastic now?
Lesson Three: Sorting Plastic
Objective: Students will use the plastic items they brought in from home that they use daily and sort the plastics by using the recycling symbol numbers. Students will identify and explain the type of plastic it is by using the chart created in Lesson 2.
Common Core Standard: K.MD.3 Classify objects and count the number of objects in each category. Classify objects into given categories; count the number of objects on each category and sort the categories by count.
Lesson 4: Repurpose Plastic
Objective: Students will use the plastic item they brought in from home and find/create a new purpose for that item. Students will watch a short video on how plastic water bottles were repurposed as a source of light.
Students will watch a video from you tube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBWi3NtND68
This video demonstrates how plastic water bottles have been repurposed as light sources for homes. It may be advanced for some students but it's an introduction and a way to start conversation and explore ideas with students on repurposing plastic items. Planet Earth: 25 Environment Projects You Can Build Yourself by: Kathleen M. Reily is also a book that can be introduction or addition to the video to explore ways to repurpose plastics items. This lesson can be as long and as short as the teacher desires and the interest of the students. Students can work individually; in groups or it can be a project completed at home for a family project.
Lesson 5: Sea Creatures
Common Core Standard: SL.K.4 Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.
Objectives: Students will create/brainstorm a list of sea creatures that call the ocean their home. Teacher and students will create a KWL chart about the sea creatures that call the ocean their home.
Begin the lesson by completing the K and W part of the KWL chart with students' responses to, What kinds of sea creatures live in the ocean and what do they know about that sea creatures. For example: Starfish- they live at the bottom of the ocean floor. I will read: A Swim through the Sea by: Kristen Joy Pratt, this book will take students on a exploration of the ocean from A to Z giving students a better understanding of the sea creatures that call the ocean their home.
Follow Up Question: Have students do an independent writing activity: Have students write about what they learned or what is their favorite sea creature and giving at least one reason why.
Lesson 6: What happens to Plastic? Where does it go?
Objective: Students will identify and locate on the map the where the plastic ends up in the Pacific Ocean. Students will be explained about the garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean. Students will video a short video in school tube, a news piece done by Good Morning America investigating the garbage patch.
Students will watch two short videos about the Garbage Patch done by Good Morning America. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/JustOneThing/video/trash-found-fish-garbage-food-9735987
http://www.schooltube.com/video/945c3a7d2010a9c05ff4/
During the video, I will stop at certain points to check for student understanding and comprehension. After the videos have been watched, students and teacher will locate on the map the locations the video discussed and the pattern of the currents and the directions of the currents that eventually bring the plastics altogether to form the garbage patch in the ocean. Read: Where the Garbage Go? by: Paul Showers, this book will give students the knowledge they need to better understand what happens to the garbage and where it goes.
Lesson 7: Sink or Float
Objective: Students will test which plastic sink or float in water. Students will discuss which type of sea creatures will digest the plastic that sink and float depending on what marine zone they get their food source from.
Students will test various plastics items brought in from home and chart with the teacher if the plastic floats, floats in the middle of the ocean, or sinks to the bottom. After charting and plastics introduce the Three Marine Zones: The surface zone, the pelagic zone, and the benthic zone. Discuss and draw a visual chart while teaching the students about these three zones and draw and label the different kinds of fish that eat gather their food in the different zones. The ten sea creatures that can be used are.
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1. Bottlenose Dolphin: feeds below the surface
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2. Orca: feeds below the surface
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3. Gull: feeds on shore, on top of water
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4. Sperm Whale: feeds below surface
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5. Common Dolphin: feeds below surface
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6. Loggerhead Sea Turtle: feeds on top of water and below surface
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7. Elegant Tern: feeds on top of water and shallowly below the surface
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8. Sea Bass: feeds below surface
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9. Foster's Tern: feeds on top of water and shallowly below the surface
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10. Sea Otter: feeds below surface
After discussing the about sea creatures and labeling which zone the sea creatures finds their food, and the float and sink activity, students will then describe which plastic the sea creature will digest.
Lesson 8: Expository Writing Piece
Common Core Standard: W.K.2 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply information about the topic.
L.K.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking
L.K.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing
Objective: Students will write at least 2 facts that they have learned about the importance of recycling plastic and the effects it has on the sea creatures.
