I. Curricular Framework

Concept:

Responsibility

Essential Question:

How is each person responsible for the world we live in?

Bridge:

Images of Waste

Content:

Ecology

Outcomes:

II. Standards Aligned

III. Instruction and Assessment

1. Connect: Connecting to the Concept Experientially

Objective: Children will realize how trash affects their lives.

Activity: Collect the trash in the classroom for a couple of days before beginning the unit. Dump the trash in the floor and have the students (in small groups) sort through it and decide what may be used again and what may be recycled. Let the children come up with innovative ideas on how the trash can be reused (box puppets, box cars, etc.).

Assessment: Degree of engagement of children.

2. Attend: Attending to the Connection

Objective: To have children reflect on their experience with trash. Develop listening skills and group discussion techniques. Use all senses to describe trash.

Activity: Whole group discussion about how trash looks, smells, and feels. Where does trash go? What happens to it? What can we do about the amount of trash? Have several containers with moist garden soil. Bury different items such as aluminum foil, plastic, paper and food scraps. This is an experiment to see what is bio-degradable. Check results at the end of the unit.

Assessment: Participation in discussion.

Assessment, Phase One, Level of Engagement, Fascination:

3. Image: Creating a Mental Picture

Objective: Integrate material being taught by using music and another medium.

Activity: The teacher will take the students on a guided imagery trip to the beach (or any other popular locale). Have the students close their eyes and listen to soft music in the background as they use their imaginations. After building up their excitement in spending a day at the beach, they arrive but there is a "Closed" sign at the entrance. Imagine what the world would look like if we keep throwing our trash everywhere. Where would they play? What would happen to the beaches? Show a clip of "Letters to the Earth" video or any other video that depicts the shortage and problems of dump sites.

Assessment: Children's engagement in activity.

Assessment, Phase Two, Seeing the Big Picture:

4. Inform: Receiving Facts & Knowledge

Objective: Teach students how they can make a difference in their environment. Introduce vocabulary.

Activity: Lecture using flashcards. Give examples using actual trash. Trace the path of a piece of trash. Where does it go? Make a flow chart. Vocabulary: recycle, reuse, reduce. Read "The Wartville Wizard" and discuss the story.

Assessment: Student feedback. Oral questions.

Assessment, Phase Three, Success with Acquiring Knowledge:

5. Practice: Developing Skills

Objective: Practice what has been learned.

Activity: Classify objects as to how they can be recycled, reused by making a list using the trash from the activity in 1R. Give examples. Word find using vocabulary. Draw and color the recycle symbol. Journal entry: "What I can do for the Earth."

Assessment: Quality of work and correct examples given for vocabulary.

Assessment, Phase Four, Success with Acquiring Skills:

6. Extend: Extending Learning to the Outside World

Objective: To create, using what has been learned.

Activity: Students create art objects using trash such as a paper mache globe, environmental glasses using egg cartons and a litter bug using small pieces of trash. Be creative and invent things. (Refer to the ideas given in 1R.) Write books retelling the story of the "Wartville Wizard." Make posters to promote the 3R's. Set up a recycling center in the room.

Assessment: Quality of effort put into project and degree of student enthusiasm in developing their ideas.

7. Refine: Refining the Extension

Objective: To teach children to refine and edit each others work in a positive way.

Activity: In small groups, students will revise their books, improve their art objects and polish up their posters. They will help each other in coming up with the best results possible.

Assessment: Degree of cooperation and ability to accept criticism to improve projects.

8. Perform: Creative Manifestation of Material Learned

Objective: To share completed projects and be able to explain what has been learned. To be able to integrate into their lives.

Activity: Display art and posters. Read books to a kindergarten class. Have an Earth Day celebration in April or make Earth Day any day. Have healthy snacks, tropical fruit juice, etc. Go home and share with their families what they have learned about their environment and the responsibility each person has to help save the Earth.

Assessment: Quality of completed projects and enthusiasm in presentation.

Assessment, Phase Five,Performance, Creative Use of Material Learned: