KINDERGARTEN. 3R s K.1. Worm Formation. 3 R s K.2. Wlrat s In A Bag NATURAL K.4 RESOURCES. Eggsactiy What s The Best NATURAL RESOURCES.

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1 KINDERGARTEN Worm Formation 3R s K.1 Wlrat s In A Bag 3 R s K.2 Eggsactiy What s The Best NATURAL K.4 RESOURCES It s Natural NATURAL RESOURCES KS Enough Is Enough PACKAGING K.6 Life In A Fish Bowl WASTE DISPOSAL K.8 Get It Together WASTE DISPOSAL K.10

2 3 R s Q K.l I Worm Formation Subject: Science 2.1 Time: one class period shallow container, black paper or cardboard, moist paper towel, a flashlight, at least one live red worm (the red worm, latin name eiseniu foetidu, can be ordered from a biological supply ~mpany, purchased at a bait shop, or possibly found in your garden) Summary Objective: light. The children will learn if worms are sensitive to light. To observe the behavior of a worm when it is exposed to J3ackPround: Even though worms are usually drawn with eyes, they don t have eyes as we do. Leadin? Ouestion: Do worms sense light? 1. Place moist paper towel in a shallow container. 2. Cover half the container with cardboard or black paper. 3. Put the worm in the uncovered part of the container. 4. Shine the flashlight on the worm. 5. Discuss what the worm did and why. 1. Set up a vermicomposting container. * observing, predicting red worm senses vermicomposting Source: Worms Eat My Garbage Mary Applehoff 1993 Flower Press Put a layer of soil on the bottom of a container - old aquariums work well. Add aeration holes if possible or use recycling bins. Container should have a lid to keep out the light. If using glass, then blacken three sides. Use shredded newspaper as bedding. Add worms, leaves, and grass clippings, burying them approximately one inch beneath the surface. Keep the vermicompost moist, but not too moist because worms breathe through their skin. Spray bottle works well. Add the castings to a school or class garden.

3 3 R s What s In A Bag? Subject: TheArts3.1 Science 4.2 Time: one class period or whatever will work best for your class. one large paper grocery bag for each child, markers or paint, crayons, yarn, scraps of construction paper Poem: Yesterday s Paper observing, analyzing cycle recycle Source: Action for a Cleaner Tomorrow South Carolina Dept. of HealthandEnvironmental Control. cs Q[ Summary: The children will create animals out of brown paper grocery bags which they have brought from home. You may have to collect brown grocery bags yourself since so many people choose plastic over paper. Objective: The children will learn how to reuse a paper bag. Background: A cycle is something that continues forever. To recycle is to imitate nature by taking a piece of trash and turning it into something else that is usable. Leadirag Question: Can we do something else with this bag instead of throwing it away? This will work best in a small group setting. 1. Show some examples of bags being made into something else. 2. Pass out a bag to each child. 3. Let each child decide what he/she wants to make and allow a reasonable amount of time to make it. 1. Parade through school on Earth Day or any day in the reused costumes. 2. Memorize Yesterday s Paper to share with other groups of young children. 3. Brainstorm uses for old newspaper.

4 K.3 Yesterday s Paper Yesterday s paper makes a hat, Orabos- f m Yesterday s paper makes thing I, J

5 I NATURAL RESOURCES Eggsactly What s The Best? K.4 Subjects: Social Studies 8.5 The Arts 2.4 Science 2.4,2.1 Tinie: one class period an egg carton for each child observing, comparing, analyzing Styrofoam polystyrene waste paper reusable choice biodegradable renewable non-renewable resource Source: WataugaCounty Recycling Curriculum committee Summary: The children will compare a Stryrofoam egg carton with a paper egg carton noting obvious differences. They will use the egg cartons in an art activity. Objective: Children will learn that some packaging is better for the environment than others and that they can learn to make choices when buying that will help the environment. Background: Paper egg cartons are made from waste paper whereas Styrofoam egg cartons are made from non-renewable fossil fuels - Styrofoam is a trade name for polystyrene which is used to make cups, fast food containers, household items, and packaging materials. Leadin? Question: Is some packaging better than others? 1. Seat children in a circle. Pass around a Styrofoam egg carton and a paper egg carton letting each child examine it using their senses of touch, smell, and sight. 2. Note characteristics and record on a chart. 3. Brainstorm ways to reuse the cartons - record their ideas on another chart. 4. Tell children the differences they don t immediately notice - such as one is Styrofoam and one is paper and one is made from a non-renewable resource and one is made from recycled products. Discuss the properties of each. 5. Ask the children which might be the better buy and why. Second class period: Give each child an egg carton to make into something new. Choose something from the list of brainstormed ideas. 1. What egg carton should we use? 2. What are paper egg cartons made from? 3. What are Styrofoam egg cartons made from? 4. Set up a choice table with the following items displayed: paper napkin, cloth napkin paper cup, plastic cup plastic milk jug, cardboard milk carton ice cream cone, ice cream in a cup with a spoon catsup in a plastic bottle, catsup in a glass bottle. Let children decide which choice is best, drawing their responses on recycled paper. They can share their choices and tell why they made them.

6 I NATURAL It s Natural RESOURCES Subjects: Social Studies 8.5 TheArts2.1 Science 4.2,2.1,2.2,2.6, 2.7 Communication Skills 1.3 Time: forty minutes examples of natural resources: sand, wood scraps, glass container, paper products, oil, aluminum cans, plastic products, baby food jars, glass bottles, trash can. observing, classifying, predicting, inferring natural resource landfill aluminum plastic Sources: A VR Teacher s Resource Guide Association of Vermont Recyclers. Pennsylvania Recycling and Waste Reduction Curriculum Activity Pennsylvania Dept. of Education. $ummary: Using examples of natural resources, the children will classify everyday items into one of the natural resources. Objective: Children will understand what natural resources are and realize the limited availability of these resources. Background: the earth. Everything we make, use, and throw away comes from Leading Question: Where do the things we use come from? 1. Show the class examples of natural resources such as wood, sand, coal, soil, rocks, oil, water, salt, gold (a rock painted gold). Let the children handle the items. Ask them where these things come from. Introduce the term natural resource as anything in our world not made by people or machines. 2. Distribute items or pictures of things made from natural resources. Let each child classify his/her item or picture by putting it on a piece of cardboard (natural resources classification board) depicting one of the natural resources. 3. Have each child fill a baby food jar with sand and then dump the jar in a box labeled lahdfill. After all the jars have been dumped, ask what will happen to the landfill if we continue to throw away our natural resources. What will happen to our natural resources? 4. Using the natural resources classification board students have constructed in the above procedure, ask the children what can be used instead. For example, instead of using paper napkins or paper towels we can use cloth ones and so on. 1. Read: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. Discuss what happens when a natural resource is used up and how we can do things differently to keep this from happening. 2. Plant a tree on the school grounds and/or let each child start a tree in the to plant at his/her home. 3. Show the class how natural resources can be recycled into different new products - for example, a newspaper becomes a cereal box.

7 Enough Is Enough Subjects: Math 3.5 The Arts 3.4 Social Studies 8.5 Time: one class period enough packages of sugarless gum for each child to have one piece counting, hypothesizing, deductive thinking, classifying packaging trash natural resources Sources: A-Way With Waste Washington State Department of Ecology A VR Teacher s Resource Guide Association of Vermont Recyclers. Summarv: Children will examine over-packaging using gum wrappers. Objective: Children will become aware of excessive packaging and explore different buying choices. Background: Much of what we buy is packaged for freshness and safety. However, much of what we buy is packaged excessively. Most of this excess packaging cannot be recycled and therefore ends up in our landfills. J,ead& Ouestion: What effect will one gum wrapper have On our landfill? With the children seated in a circle, recite from a chart the poem How The Trash Pile Grows. How The Trash Pile Grows Buy it, Try it, Throw the Trash away! Take it, Break it, Throw the Trash away! Get it \ Use it Finish it Lose it Wear it Tear it, Throw the Trash away! SOda pop, Box top, Once you start, you can t stop. Buy it, Show it, Nothing left but throw it. Throw the Trash away! (Oh, nowhere is away! ) Betty Miles, Save the Earth an Ecology Handbook Distribute a piece of gum to each child. Tell the children to unwrap the gum carefully so the wrapper(s) are not tom. You may need to help the children with this.

8 K.7 Enough Is Enough(Continued) 3. Classify the wrappers by kind, putting them on a chart or poster in sets of 5 or 10 so they can be easily counted. 4. Estimate the number of wrappers. 5. Talk about the number of wrappers and why there are so many. 6. Discuss with the children other kinds of packaging. Think of different products that have more than one layer of packaging. 7. Ask the children what they think will happen to our landfills if all the excess packaging keeps getting thrown into the landfill. 1. Discuss ways to reduce the amount of packaging on certain items such as individually wrapped cheese slices. 2. Talk about foods they like to eat and some they don t, and discuss the food s packaging. 3. Show the children how to look for recycled content products. 4. Purchase some gum with edible wrappers, if available in your county.

9 Life In A Fish Bowl Subjects: Science 2.1,2.7 CommunicationSkills 2.1,2.2 Social Studies 8.5 Time: thirty-five to forty minutes glass fishbowl or large jar, fish made from plastic meat tray, overhead projector or flashlight, 8 film cannisters with tops containing soil, sand, liquid dish detergent, chocolate syrup, salt, shredded paper, powered detergent, hot water, red food coloring observing, predicting, letter writing eroding (erosion) pollution fertilizer decompose Source: Action for a Cleaner Tomorrow South Carolina Dept. of Health and Environmental Control S$: Children will create a lake in a gallon-sized glass jar and litter it with the items found in each of the film canisters. Objective: things. The children will understand the effects of pollution on living &u&round: Our waterways are infested with litter. This litter affects the quality of our lakes, streams, rivers, and oceans. As a result, our quality of life is also affected. Leading Ouestion: What happens to the creatures living in our rivers and streams when these bodies of water become polluted? What can happen to us if we fish in these polluted bodies of water? 1. To demonstrate what happens to a fish when a river becomes polluted, create a friendly fish character and a river to bring the story to life. Students can name the river and the fish. 2. Make the fishbowl river from a glass or soft drink bottle or any similar container. Make the fish from a reused, clean meat tray or any other waterproof item. 3. Read the narrative attached, adapting it to the age of the children. 4. As you read, ask different children to add the ingredients in the film canisters as indicated to represent pollution. 5. Discuss what can be done. 6. Have children draw two pictures of a river before cleanup and after cleanup. 7. Have children make a class chart of things that pollute our rivers. 1. Write letters to civic groups asking them to donate pitch-in containers which can be placed along the streams and rivers in your county. Be sure to obtain permission from the proper authorities. Decide who will empty these. 2. Participate innorth Carolina s Annual Big Sweep in September of each year. For information, call (919) View the 17-minute video The Death of a Whale, the story of a sperm whale stranded on Wrightsville Beach in 1992 which probably died of plastic ingestion. The video may be purchased from Environmental Media, P.O. Box 1016, Chapel Hill, NC FAX: (919) (Price: $ S&H for NC teachers.) Another video called h.4y is about a pygmy sperm whale who is suffering from plastic ingestion. This video has a happy ending. Inky runs 15 minutes and can be purchased for $4.00 Tom Jennifer Fasik (National Aquarium) at (4 IO)

10 K.9 NARRATIVE: Lmagine a river as it meanders through the countryside. past the farmers fields. widening into a lake, but narrowing again as it passes through the city. In this river, named lives a fish. Its name is (Poinr w the fish in the clear water in the fishbowl.) ASK: HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THIS FISH? (This question should be asked repeatedly throughout rhe story and should generate an enthusiastic response from your students. Let students respond aloud.) The fish swims down river past an eroding bank. An eroding bank is where soil sometimes washes into the river. When it rains, what will happen to the bank? What if it rains a great deal? (Have student pour soil from the container into the wares) ASK: HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THIS FISH? Suppose part of the soil eroding into the water came from farmland. The farmer has just put fertilizer on the field. Instead of staying on the field to help the crops grow, some of the fertilizer may ride piggy-back on the eroding soil and go into the river. (Add sand to simulate fem lizer.) What effect wiii the fertilizer have on the piants in the river? (It will m&z plunts grow.) If the plants grow too abundantly and too fast, the river can t continue to support them. They die, fall to the bottom, and start to decompose. Decomposing things use oxygen. What else in the river needs oxygen? (Thefish.) ASK: HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THIS FISH? Farm fields aren t the only source of fertilizer that can flow into a river. Homes may also be a source. Where the river has widened into a lake, several families have built their homes. Perhaps their septic tanks drain into the water or some of the fertilizers they ve put on their lawn have washed into the water. (Add liquid dish detergent to represent pollution from homes.) As the lake narrows back into a river, our fish continues downstream past the city. Even though the city people don t pollute the water directly, what they do at their own homes or subdivisions can affect the quality of the river s water. Have you ever seen a car leaking oil? Where does the rain wash this oil? (Put chocolate syrup, representing oil, into thefish bowl,) ASK: HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THIS FISH? In the winter, when it gets icy and snows, what do we put on ourroads to make it easier to drive? (Salt or sand Put salt into the water.) When you eat or drink something salty, what do you do? (You get something else w drink) Can this fish get fresh water to drink? (No.) ASK: HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THIS FISH? Suppose the city has a park next to the river. People litter the park and some of it blows into the water. (Put pieces of paper into the fish bowl.) ASK: HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THIS FISH? As the river leaves the city. there are several factories that are located along it. Although regulations are strict, if the factory s control equipment is not working properly, some chemicals or heated water may flow into the river. (Put powdered detergent and hot water into the fish bowl and stir for effect.) ASK: HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE THIS FISH?

11 K.10 Get It Together Subjects: Science 2.2 Social Studies 1.3 Time: one class period - 30 minutes illustrations depicting managing choices, poem Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout classifying, problem solving manage management choice Source: WataugaCounty Recycling Curriculum committee Summary: The children will classify illustrations depicting management choices into good management and bad management. Objective: The children will become aware of management choices and relate these choices to waste management. Backeround: We are faced with management choices everyday - how to manage our time, our budget, ourselves, our garbage. Managing our garbage is an ongoing problem. While many old landfills are either at capacity or closing due to new regulations, we continue to produce more and more products that cannot be recycled or even reused. 1~ ading Question: How does being a good manager make life easier for WY? Introduce the word manage. Brainstorm or web the children s ideas about management. Discuss the illustrations depicting management choices. A clean room versus a messy room, garbage thrown into the river or roadside versus garbage put into the garbage can, garbage being hauled to the landfill or>garbage being recycled. Classify the illustrations into good and bad management choices. Read and discuss Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout by She1 Silverstein. Ask why it is important to be good managers of the earth. Have children draw their own example of a good management choice they have made. Begin a home recycling project in an attempt to become good managers of garbage.

12 K.ll Get It Together

13 Get It Together K.12 Sarah Cynthia SyMa Stout Would not take the garbage out. She d wash the dishes and scrub the pans Cook the yams and spice the hams. And thou& her parents would scream and shout. She slmp& woti not take the garbae out- Jbldsoitplleduptotheceung: coffkc grounds. potato pcellngs. Brown bananas and rotten peas, Chunks of sour cottage cheese. It filkcl the can. it cova-cd the floor. It cfackcd the windows and blocked the door. With bacon rinds and chicken bone% Dripply ends of ice cream cones. Rune pits. peach pits. orange peel. Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal, p1pa crusts and withered greens, soggy beans, and tangerines. Crusts of black-burned buttered toast. Grisly bits of beefy roast. me garbage rolled on down the halls, It raised the roof, it broke the walls. I mean, M napkins. COOMC crumbs, Blobs of gooey bubble gum. Cellophane from old bologna. Rubbuy, blubbery macaroni. Peanut butter. caked and dry. Curdled milk. axid crusts of pie. Rottixig melons. dried-up mustard. Eggshells mixed with lemon custard, Cold French fries and rancid meat. Yellowed lumps of Cream of Wheat. At last the garbage reached so high That finally It touched the Sky. And none of her &nds would come to play. And all the neighbors moved away; And finally, Sarah Cynthia Stout Said. Okay, I ll take the garbage outl But then, of course, it was too late. The garbage reached across the state, From New York to the Golden Gate: And there in the garbage she did hate Poor Sarah met an awful fate That I cannot right now relate Because the hour 1s much too late But children. remember Sarah Stout. And always take the garbage out. SARAHCYNTHIASi&VI.GTOUT by She1 Silverstein