Earth Day activities that interlink a variety of subjects.
Students are to become Environmentalist in their home, school, and community. Their main focus is to report on how they and their world are creating waste. Students should keep their research centered on their neighborhoods and community. Students are investigating how we waste products in our lives.
After students have identified several waste products, they are to take one of the waste problems and create a plan to reduce the waste. The plan must include ideas on recycling, reducing, and reusing. As well, their plan must make sense. No rocket shuttles full of garbage heading for Mars.
After students have developed a plan, they are to write the strategies to make the plan successful. Students are to write a report on how to initiate the program. Each student will initiate the program on a small scale in the home, or classroom. The teacher will decide which of the programs could be implemented in the school, community, or in the home.
Students will write a cover letter to the appropriate places to encourage the organizations to adopt their policy.
Environmental Sample Report
Waste: Toilet Paper
Students calculated the amount of toilet paper an average family uses in one week in the home.
Reuse: Not applicable
Recycle: Toilet rolls
Reduce: Use a a recycled toilet paper of 1 or 2 ply. Students observed the average family uses the same amount regardless of the type of toilet paper. The 1 ply toilet paper will reduce the waste in our sewage system. As well, the higher ply tissues are more likely to clog the toilets that may result in using toxic chemicals to clear the toilets.
Students write a short blurb on how to reduce toilet paper use and implement a program that will allow students and their families to achieve these goals.
Modifications
For the younger grades, the teacher may choose a wasteful activity and have the students brainstorm on how to reduce, recycle or reuse the waste. The above steps will be done as a group.
For the older grades, the students may be paired or placed in small groups to do the project.
The aim of the project is to teach the students the importance of the 3R's which are recycle, reuse, and reduce.
Extension
Terracycle has a contest for students to think of an idea to reuse bottle caps from pop bottles. The bottle caps must stay in their original shape.
Teacher may have this as a class project after students have investigated ways of reducing waste.
The teacher may decide to have this as an introduction activity to illustrate waste. Prior to this activity the teacher may have students bring in all the pop bottle caps to class. She may ask all students bring them in for one week to illustrate the waste.
Math Ideas
The pop bottle caps can also be used in mathematics to explain diameter, circumference and pi. The teacher may put the bottle caps in one large pile and discuss estimation and grouping.
Use the bottle cap as a measuring device.
The bottle caps will come in different colors and they can be used in probability questions.
