Recycling In The Classroom: Sorting Through Garbage
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Christina Noran Delano Elementary School
3937 W. Wilcox Street
Chicago Illinois 60624
Judy Lerner & Belinda Rawls Delano Elementary School
This lesson is to be done with students in the primary grades. The main
objectives of the lesson include having students list the different sorting
categories of waste, sorting materials for recycling, creating a simple bar
graph and interpreting data from the graph.
1. One bag of 'clean' garbage that includes examples of paper, plastic,
aluminum, and glass.
2. A prepared graph for students to demonstrate the number of products for
3. A list of questions that allow students to interpret the graph.
4. Crayons, markers, or colored pencils.
Have the children look at the material in the bag and describe the
different categories of waste. After they have done this, have the students
sort the materials into the different categories. Give students a blank graph
so that they can record their results.
Attached to the graph, the students should have a list of questions where
they can demonstrate their ability to interpret information on their graph and
Students will benefit from this activity in several different ways.
First, it helps to make them more aware of what they are throwing out in the
trash. Second, it helps students become more aware of materials that can be
recycled. Third, students will become familiar with creating and interpreting