Learning how to save plastic

Lesson

Grade K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Created for Gynzy by: Kazandra Estorque

General

Plastic is a useful material that serves many purposes: straws, water bottles, plastic bags, plastic utensils, and those are just a few uses. Unfortunately, however, plastic is often not recycled and in turn, it hurts the environment and animals.

This lesson will give students strategies they can use to reduce their personal consumption of plastic. It also asks them to think about recycling and other fun ways that they can repurpose plastic so it doesn’t need to be thrown away.

Standards

NGSS: K-ESS3-3
NGSS: 4-ESS3-2

Learning Objective

Students will be able to name ways they can reduce their plastic use.

Introduction

Plastic is all around us. Ask your students to take three minutes to name as many plastic products as they can. This helps show how much we rely on plastic, often without even realizing it.

Instruction

Emphasize to students some of the context that makes plastic use such an important issue. For example, did you know that it takes over 450 years for a plastic water bottle to dissolve? Did you know that one million plastic bottles are bought every minute? Did you know the globe uses 5 trillion single-use plastic bags every year? Emphasize to students what a difference they can make in this issue! One slide asks students to imagine how plastic could impact their favorite animal.

Closing

Ask students to reflect on the importance of limiting plastic waste:

- Why is it important to save plastic?
- What happens when we use more plastic than we need?
- Who do we help when we save plastic?
- What are three ways you can save plastic today?