Curated OER
The Trash We Pass
Where does our garbage go? What is the difference between a recyclable and non-recyclable item? Pose these important, but often overlooked, questions to your class and invite them to consider the lasting and damaging effects of the...
Curated OER
Garbage Plants
Students create plants out of garbage. They identify items that can be recycled and discuss natural resources. They share their creation with the class.
Curated OER
Garbage Pizza
Students examine amount of garbage disposed of by average household weekly, classify different categories of garbage and describe composition of landfills, investigate what happens to waste after it is collected by garbage trucks, and...
Curated OER
Collective Compromise
Students explore the concept of philanthropy. In this service learning instructional activity, students examine what to do with waste as they plan and implement a strategy for controlling their school's trash.
Curated OER
TE Activity: Trash Talkin'
Students collect and categorize solid waste produced in the classroom. They weigh the waste that has been collected over one week's time, and separate it into recyclable and non-recyclable waste. They talk about the role of engineers in...
Curated OER
A Lot Of Garbage
Young scholars collect their own garbage. For this recycling lesson, students keep their own garbage for a day in their own personal garbage bag and then consider methods to reduce wastefulness.
Curated OER
After the Garbage Can: Where Does Our Trash Go?
Students explore how waste disposal has changed over time and what the current issues are. In this disposal instructional activity students collect data and create graphs.
Curated OER
Turning the Tide on Trash: Marine Debris Curriculum
Seven pages of fascinating reading on marine debris preface the activities in this lesson plan. Four different activities are employed to simulate how the debris is distributed in the ocean and along beaches. Early ecology learners...
Curated OER
History of Garbage
For this history of garbage worksheet, students read about the history of garbage from prehistoric times through the 1900s. Students learn about the how waste is managed in Palm Beach County.
Curated OER
Garbage Dump
Students are introduced to landfills and the importance of reducing garbage. In this Earth Day lesson, students collect garbage they find on the ground. They take it back to a plastic bin and attempt to bury all the garbage only to find...
Berkshire Museum
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle: Sorting Through Personal Choices
Raise children's awareness about the importance of conservation with this hands-on science instructional activity. Start by breaking the class into groups and having them collect trash from around the school or local park. Students then...
Curated OER
Where Is Away?
Students explore garbage. In this landfill lesson, students investigate how much garbage is collected in landfills on average each day. Students discover hazardous materials that are disposed of improperly and the effects of these...
Curated OER
Parachute Drop
Learners will have fun creating a parachute to collect data with. They will construct the parachute in small groups, measure the materials, and create an observation sheet. Then they drop the parachute and make predictions about how long...
Curated OER
Beach Cleanup at a Local Beach
Students participate in an environmental clean-up activity. In this environmental lesson, students travel to a local beach. Working in small teams, students collect trash from the local beach. Returning to school, students sort the trash...
Teach Engineering
Trash to Treasure!
One person's trash is another man's treasure. Challenge your class to build something useful out of the trash they throw away on a regular basis. Groups design and build a practical item from trash they collect, allowing the class to...
Curated OER
Garbage or Art?
The three R's are, reduce, reuse, and recycle. Third graders use recycled materials to design and create an environmentally themed piece of art. They discuss and examine major art works that were created using recycled materials, then...
California Academy of Science
Where Do I Put My Trash?
Where does the trash go after you put it in the garbage can? The class discusses sustainability, recycling, compost, and landfills as they play as fun relay game. In teams, they race to be the fastest group to successfully sort their...
Curated OER
Disposing Garbage
Young scholars explore environmental cleanliness by completing a worksheet in class. In this waste management lesson, students identify the technological advances in society and how they increase waste production our planet is unable to...
Curated OER
Garbage in the Garden
Students create their own compost. In this soil lesson, students fill a bag with waste and soil, in order to create a mini compost bin. Students observe the baggies over a 6 week period, they record their findings and collect data on...
Bonneville
The Problem of Plastic Trash Islands
Trash collection can be a hassle, especially out in the ocean. The second of four parts in the Adrift in a Sea of Plastic unit has pupils research plastic trash islands in marine ecosystems. They investigate why they occur and potential...
Curated OER
Classroom Trash Audit
Students investigate solid waste. In this environmental instructional activity, students collect their own garbage for a day and analyze the weight and the percentage of recyclable items in their trash.
Curated OER
Trash City
Learners work together to build a trash city. They collect items that would go into a landfill to help them build their city. They discuss ways to cut down on garbage.
Curated OER
How Long Does Trash Last
Students work in cooperative groups to estimate how long trash lasts in a landfill. They study environmental consequences of not recycling and use graph-making software to create a graph that illustrates the lifespan of trash items...
Curated OER
School Yard Waste
Fourth graders examine the types of garbage that they collect on the playground. They collect the information in a spreadsheet and create a graph that displays the number of types of trash found. They design and monitor a playground...