How can I help?

How I Can Help (Recycling)

Kindergarten Social Studies: Resources and Wealth (RW)

Outcomes:  

RWK.1 Examine ways of managing tasks and resources in families and schools.
RWK.2 Develop and demonstrate stewardship of the environment in daily actions, in an effort to promote balance and harmony.

Materials Needed:

• Recycling bin
• Story book: Why Should I Recycle by Jen Green or We Are Extremely Very Good Recyclersby Lauren Child, or 10 Things I Can Do To Help My World by Melanie Walsh.

Instructional Procedures:

1. Show the students a recycling bin.  Ask what it is used for and what they know about recycling at home and at school.
2. Read the story Why Should I Recycle by Jen Green (or another recycling book).
3. Discuss the different types of items recycled in this book.
4. List the common categories for recycling bins (beverage containers, paper, glass, metal, cardboard, plastic). You may want to have a category for donating unwanted items to charity.
5. There are many recyclable items in our homes that we may not see recycle bins for (tires, used motor oil, electronics, unused paints).
6. Have students search the room for items that could be recycled and pile them in the front of the room.
7. Gather the students together and sort the items students collected.  This will involve deciding what material the item is made of, and deciding which recycling group it belongs in.
8. Why is it important for people to recycle un-needed items?  Open discussion.
9. When things are recycled, they are changed into another new product (e.g. pop cans are melted down and made into new pop cans).  What would happen to all the collected items if, when they were not useful anymore, they were not recycled? 
   Allow for open discussion, but guide the discussion to the idea of the harmfulness of waste to the environment.  You may choose to collect your classroom garbage and recyclables for a couple of days to demonstrate the types and amount of waste created.
10. If your school recycles, take students to the areas where items are collected.
11.  If your classroom does not recycle, this would be a good time to start.  Set up one or two recycling bins in the classroom. (You can use a cardboard box with a picture or label on it.)  It is easy to start with beverage containers that can be taken to SARCAN and possibly paper that can be dropped off in local recycling bins or somewhere else in the school.  These items are easily identified by young students and most communities have recycling facilities for them.

Teacher resource sheet

Printable PDF version including resource sheet

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