Kindergarten students will learn the reason we recycle through this hands-on science experiment.
Materials: Collect some garbage to bury (an apple core, an egg shell, a piece of lettuce, a piece of a candy wrapper, a piece of Styrofoam and a piece of small newspaper). Create garden tags from a piece of paper and a craft stick. Draw a picture of the object that you will bury on the tag, laminate and staple to the stick. Small hand shovel. Prepare tree journals and write Experiment 2 on the top of the page, or label it with the title, "What Happens to Trash".
Prior Knowledge: Who has seen trash on the side of the roadways or streets? What happens to trash that is discarded in this manner? Today we will start a science experiment with trash. We will learn why it is important to recycle.
Teach: We need trees. Trees help us in many ways. Each time we use paper we are using a tree. Trees take a long time to grow. The number of trees cut down every year worldwide for paper is nearly 4 billion. Each person in the United States uses 749 pounds of paper every year. Ask who knows what recycling is? Define (to process and refine to make use again for human use) and post vocabulary.
Learn more here at ecology worldwide.
Procedure:
Get permission from the grounds keeper and principal at your school to do this science experiment.
Show the class the trash that we will be burying. Ask the students to predict what will happen to the items. Chart this information.
Find an inconspicuous place outside the classroom to do this project. Make sure that is a place that will not be disturbed by traffic (walking).
Go outside with the class.
Dig six small holes in the ground.
Bury each item in a separate hole, cover with dirt, and mark each spot with the tags you have created prior to the lesson.
Mark your calendar for four weeks from today. In four weeks dig up each item and see what happened. Journal what happened and why you think that that happened.
This is what happens to our trash in the garbage dump.
Assessment: Journal- can the students display the information in picture form and label what happened? Is the journal entry complete? Is the journal entry readable? Does the journal entry tell someone who picked up that journal what happened?
Celebrate: Have students decorate a recycle crate for paper in the classroom. Reward each student with recycle badge or sticker in their journal.
Get your school involved in an earth day project where students "borrow" grocery bags, decorate them for earth day and return them to the store for use. Learn more here.
If your school is not already involved in a paper recycling program, then please contact Paper Retriever, your school can even earn money (prizes) by recycling through this program! Type in your city under the "cities served" link to reach the contact person in your area.
