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Primary Activities |
WASTE |
Fall Session |
Introductory Activities
As stated in the "Rationale" section of "Teaching Strategies", most primary level students have limited experience and therefore have minimal knowledge of concepts such as "waste". An excellent way to lead them into this topic would be to conduct a classroom discussion including a brainstorm session.
Discussion/Brainstorm
- A few days prior to the commencement of the unit mount photographs, magazine pictures or illustrations of waste on a small bulletin board in the classroom with the title "What is Waste?" Allow the students to view this with minimal comment from the teacher. On the day of the first lesson, print the same title on the chalkboard.
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Ask for volunteers to help you act out examples of waste to the class (drawing one line on a piece of paper, then throwing it out; turning on all electrical appliances at once; leaving the room with the lights on; throwing out food after taking only one bite, etc.).
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It would be appropriate at this point to conduct a brainstorm for examples or synonyms of waste. Depending on the ages and abilities of the students, the brainstorm can be teacher-centred (whole class) or more student-centred (small groups). Examples of words they may come up with are: garbage, refuse, land fill dump, toxic waste, pollution, litter or trash.
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Once the list has been finished, what next? Perhaps the list can be grouped into words with positive connotations (e.g., recycle, compost) versus those with negative connotations (e.g., litter, oil spill). Again, depending on the abilities of the students, the class may explore questions such as:
- What happens to litter?
- Where does garbage go after it is collected at the curb?
- What are renewable and nonrenewable resources?
Free Play
Set aside an area of the classroom for a "garbage centre". At the centre, have task cards and clean garbage such as plastic and foam containers, boxes, bottles, magazines, newspapers and wrappers. Some suggestions for task cards are:
- Sorting and Classifying
- Have students decide on ways to sort and classify the garbage.
- Construction
- Use garbage to build a structure, toy vehicle or monster.
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Art
- Make a poster or collage using garbage.
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Volume and Mass
- Measure how much space the garbage occupies when it is spread out versus when it is compacted.
- Determine what pieces of garbage are the largest, smallest, heaviest, lightest through estimation and measurement.
Exploratory
Exploratory activities that could follow free play include:
- Nature Walk*
- Take students on a hike through a local park or schoolyard.
- Have them observe examples of objects that don't belong in nature, examples of nature fighting back (plants pushing up through concrete, lichen growing on buildings) and evidence of wildlife.
* a variation of this activity would be "Learning to Look, Looking to See". Page 280, Project Wild Activity Book
- Waste Scavenger Hunt
- Divide students into small groups, each with a list of waste items to find around the schoolyard or park.
- Recycling Depot
- Take class to local recycling depot.
- Prepare students beforehand for questions to ask and information to be gathered, e.g., what can be recycled, what can't and why, etc.
- Follow-Up
Activity or follow up ideas that would support any field trip would be:
i) Mathematics
- Count the number of different examples of waste or litter found.
- Classify or organize waste found into groups (glass, paper, aluminum, plastic, etc.).
- Problem solve ways to reduce litter.
ii) Language Arts
- Record observations in a journal with a picture.
- Describe observations to class or small group.
- Discuss ways to reduce waste with group members and perform a brief skit illustrating one solution.
iii) Art
- Whole class mural highlighting observations made while on the trip.
- Individual posters.
Specific Learning Activities
These activities would follow the exploratory activities and
would enable the students to progress from the concept of
"What is Waste?" to conservation of waste.
Games
Some excellent games that primary teachers may choose from the Project Wild Activity Guide (Canadian Wildlife Federation) are:
Project Wild is an excellent teacher-friendly resource as the activities are written as lesson plans. If you do not have a copy of Project Wild, the school board usually sponsors a qualification workshop once a year.
Guest Speakers
Suggested guest speakers for the class would be:
- garbage collector
- recycling depot manager
- someone who produces or uses compost (organic farmer, gardener)
- entrepreneur (vermi-compost supplier)
Field Trip Ideas
- dump or landfill site
- recycling depot
- farm
- supermarket or restaurant (to analyze packaging)
Waste Audit
| Unit 3 in TESCOR's Destination Conservation
(available in every school in S.C.B.E.) discusses how to conduct
audits. This information may be used for all three units -
Waste, Energy and Water. |
The Destination Conservation Program Manual includes five possible waste audits, four of which may be considered for primary use:
These audits may be used as given or could be adapted for your
own needs.
Small groups of primary students would be able to perform these
audits with assistance from parent volunteers or students from the
junior or intermediate divisions. Questions the students would
be addressing while conducting a waste audit would be:
- How much waste does your school produce?
- Are students and teachers throwing out paper, glass, metal and plastic that could be recycled?
- How much food waste could be removed from the school's waste and be composted?
- Did I find any home waste that could have been recycled or composted, but wasn't?
Before meeting with the Conservation Club/Class, make one copy of
each waste audit.
Audit Teams
Divide the students into groups of two or three. If you are
working with a mixture of grades, combine older and younger
students in the same group. Each group of students are to
investigate their school in order to find information required
for each point on the audit. In some cases, this will mean
interviewing teachers, students, the custodian or the principal.
Sometimes this will require investigating parts of the school,
such as the garbage containers and recycling bins. Students
should be encouraged to answer as many questions on their own as
they can instead of relying on expert staff to help them.
Audit Description
The Waste Audits are divided into two types of questions, Lifestyle and Technical. The Lifestyle questions investigate the materials that go into the garbage from your school. For example, is the paper recycling program working? How many students bring "waste-free" lunches? For the Technical questions, students investigate the school's structure and equipment. For example, checking if recycled paper can be used in the school's photocopiers.
Audits contain two types of questions. For the first, students are asked to record data on a work sheet. For example, in the General Waste Audit #1, they record the volume of waste produced by the school in one month and then calculate the volume per year.
The other type of question requires only a simple answer. For these questions, the worksheets provide pour possible answers: Yes, No, N/A (for Not Applicable) and R/N (for Research Needed). For example, in the Yard Waste Use Audit #4, the students are asked if the school has a composter for food waste from the school cafeteria. If the question does not apply in their school, they should answer N/A. If they cannot discover the answer, more research is required and they should answer R/N.
Culminating Activities (Fall)
Students would choose an activity for their presentation or demonstration involving the following visual-oriented multiple intelligences:
Spatial Strategies
- make a poster
- create a collage
- make a mobile
- build a model or diorama
- create a mural
- make a picture book
- design a bulletin board
- make a photo album, video or film
- other teacher or student generated ideas
Bodily Kinesthetic