Lesson Title:

Name:

Garbage Sort

Katharine Pope

Lesson #
Subject:

Social Studies

Date:

October 12, 2015

Grade(s):

Rationale:
Part of being a socially responsible citizen within our society means looking after our environment. In this lesson
students will continue to work on a mini-unit on the 3 Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle), as well as strategies that
they can use to reduce their amount of waste from a day-to-day basis.
Prescribed Learning Outcome(s):
Big Idea:
The local environment affects how a community meets its needs and wants.
Curricular Competencies:
Use Social Studies Inquiry Process (ask questions, gather, interpret and analyze ideas and communicate findings
and decisions)
Ask questions and make inferences about the content and features of different types of sources (evidence)
Identify positive and negative aspects of an event, decision, or action in their lives (ethical judgement)
Concepts and Content:
Relationship between a community and its environment
Roles, rights and responsibilities in the local community
Instructional Objective(s):
Students will be able to participate in a class discussion about recycling.
Students will be able to work cooperatively with their classmates to determine where items belong.
Students will be able to share their thoughts and opinions with the teacher and/or class.
Materials and Resources:
Plastic Bottle, Banana Peel, Paper, Box, Glass Bottle, Toy, Plastic Rings, Pop Can, a Holey Shirt, Newspaper,
Plastic Baggie, Apple, Plastic Shopping Bag, Juice Box Some items have been changed, and/or modified. There
are also enough items for 4 groups.
Recycling Bin Paper, Plastic, Glass, Metal, Compost, Donations
The 3 Rs posters
Lined Paper with headings Paper, plastic, metal, glass, compost, donations, foam, unknown
Lesson Activities:
Lesson Activities

Time

Introduction (anticipatory set):

On the carpet the teacher will review the learning intention, and the 3 Rs with the class and talk
about what items can be reused, reduced and recycled. The teacher will show them the large lined
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piece of paper with eight different headings (see materials), and explain what the headings mean.
Students will brainstorm some ideas of what may go under each heading. The teacher will then
explain to students the activity they will be participating in. Each group will be given a copy of the
large piece of a paper with the headings, and a bag of clean garbage. As a group students will decide
what items belong in which section.
Body:
The teacher will have four pieces of lined paper with the eight headings ready to hand out along with
four bags of clean garage. The teacher will then tell students which group they will be a part of (preplanned), and students will find a place in the room to begin sorting. During this time the teacher will 10-15
circulate and observe students. The teacher will be looking to see who is participating (and their
minutes
role), how students are working together and what their reasoning is for placing items under different
headings. After the class has sorted their garbage the class will take a tour and go to each station.
At each spot the teacher will ask students questions such as why do you think the bottle is in the
plastics section or why do you think the plastic bags in the unknown section?. Each group will
also be asked to name one item that they could reuse, and how they could do that (ie a sock into a
puppet)

Closure: Once the garbage sort has been completed the teacher will ask students to put their items
back into the bag, then sit at the carpet (sitting six points) in front of the smartboard. The teacher will
play one of two videos depending on time. If there is some time, students will watch Plastic Planet
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73sGgmZoMBQ) after which the teacher will talk about
plastics (namely that using plastic isnt bad, its what we do with it after that matters as well as
options for dealing with items such as plastic bags). If there is little time, the class will watch
Recycling Song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1mFymbRmv4) and discuss what the song
was telling us. Thumbs up, down, side!!!

8-10
minutes

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI):

The use of A/B partners will be utilized during discussion time. The teacher will ask students to explain their
thinking and help them reach a conclusion about their thinking. The teacher will create mixed-ability groups and
make herself available in case any problems arise.
Assessment and Evaluation:
The teacher will be looking at student participation (either in discussion and/or the activity) and the ideas that are
being discussed and developed. The teacher will also use the worksheets given out to assess student
understanding. This will be used to determine how best to proceed for the next lesson plan.
Extensions:
This concept will be extended into the following lesson which will be centered on a short story called the litter
monster. The concept of recycling will also be integrated throughout the daily classroom practices.

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