lesson 3:  reuse

STANDARDS:

UW Teacher Education Standards

Standard 8:  Employs Varied Assessment Processes.

Standard 14:  Relates Well With Students, Families, and Communities

MMSD Standards

Geography 5:  Explain how people’s actions can have an effect on the environment.

History 4:  Identify events that will happen in the future or happened in the past.

Wisconsin DPI Social Studies Standards

Standard D:  Economics:  Production, Distribution, Exchange, Consumption

Standard A:  Geography, People, Places, and Environments

 

Content Objectives:

Students will learn that:

1.  Human activities can affect the environment in negative ways.
2.  If we use brand new materials every time we use them, we create a lot of waste.
3.  Materials that are used once and are thrown away can often be used again.
4.  We can use the same bags at the grocery store every time we go!
5.  Human activities can affect the environment in positive ways.
 

Process Objectives:

Students will…
Ask families what is on their grocery lists/students come up with own grocery lists.
Collaborate to come up with one grocery list
Split into two groups and go grocery shopping with the same list
Compare the groups’ amount of bags used.
Explore the number of bags used if we went grocery shopping for a whole year.
Count and Add the number of plastic bags used during one year.
Compare the yearly totals of plastic bags vs. canvas bags.
Make their own reusable grocery bags.
Create a list of other materials they can reuse.

 

Psychomotor Objectives:

Students will:
Shop for groceries.
Measure amounts of waste.
Make canvas grocery bags.

 

Affective Objectives:

Students will:
Cooperate while grocery shopping.
Work together in counting/adding the number of grocery bags.
Care about the earth and how humans affect it.
Want to reduce the amount of waste they make.

 

Materials:

Whiteboard/Tablet and Markers
Copies of Grocery List
Adult chaperone(s)
Money
Grocery Store
Extra plastic grocery bags (APPROXIMATELY 8 bags/trip X 4 trips/month X 12 months/year = 384 bags)
Canvas bags (one for each student)
Newspaper
Fabric Paints
Paintbrushes

 

Lesson Context: 

Students are in the midst of a “Go Green” unit.  They have learned what ecological footprints are and how we can make our footprints on the earth smaller.  One way to do that is through reusing.  We will explore more about how reusing works and why it is important in this lesson.       

 

Procedure:

1.  Ask students how many of them go to the grocery store—where do they go? What kinds of things can you buy?  How is it set up?  Do you bring a list?  What happens at the check-out?

2.  Ask students to go home and ask their families for an example grocery list.  If their families aren’t available for this, have students dictate a list to me.

3.  When family lists are back, have students share lists.  What is in common? 

4.  Make own class grocery list.  We could make a class meal—what ingredients do we need for each foot item? 

5.  Finalize list and make copies for each student.

6.  Split class in two parts.  Explain that tomorrow we will go on a field trip to the neighborhood grocery store.  Each group will have the same list and buy the same items:  one group will be with me and the other with an adult chaperone. 

7.  Ask students what they remember about the check-out again—what kinds of bags do the groceries go in?  (paper/plastic)  Do you think they HAVE to go in that kind of bag?  Do you think groceries could fit in another kind of bag?

8.  Tell students the only difference between the groups is that one group will bring their own bags and one will use the grocery store’s plastic bags.

9.  Go to the grocery store, do the shopping, and check out with appropriate bags.

10. 
When arrive back at school, give each group half of the carpet.  Empty their bags and put each pile of bags on the carpet.  Compare and contrast the bag piles.  Which one is bigger?  Does one have more bags than the other?  Do any of the bags have rips or holes in them?  Which bags would you use again?  (1, 2)

11.  Let’s say we went to the grocery store for the whole year.  How many plastic bags would we use?  How many bags did we use in one trip?  (8) How many trips do you think we make in one month?  (4) How many months are in one year (12).  Put all of those bags on the floor and have students count them.  Could do as a whole class, or give small groups each a fraction of the bags.  Count by 2’s, 3’s, 5’s or 10’s, split the bags into number groupings, add all of these totals together. 

12.  Have students record theories/methods on paper and also record which bag they think is better to use.

13.  How many canvas bags do you think we would use for the whole year?  (8 because we can use them again and again) (3)

14.  Which do you think is friendlier to our Earth?  Why?  Which one will you use at the store?  Why? (4)

15.  Make reusable grocery bags (5)
 

Closure:

Brainstorm other ways we can use these bags.  Also brainstorm other materials that can be substituted for reusable materials (water bottles, plates, cups, silverware, clothes, etc.)

 

Assessment:  

            Lots of observation:  Observe/listen while students give grocery list ideas.  Watch how they cooperate at the grocery store.  Listen to discussions about which bag is better and why. 

            Formal:  Collect students’ counting/adding methods when comparing bags.