KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Teacher Candidate:

Marissa Weidner

Cooperating Teacher:
Group Size:

20

N/A

Allotted Time

Date:

2/20/2104

Coop. Initials
1-2 Class Periods

Grade Level

2nd

Subject or Topic: Clean Air Detective: Investigating Air Pollution Section

STANDARD:
4.5.2.D.
Describe how people can help the environment by reducing, reusing, recycling, and
composting.
I. Performance Objectives (Learning Outcomes):
The 2nd grade students will be able to demonstrate ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle
waste at school.
II.

Instructional Materials

Latex or plastic gloves, 1 pair per student

Garbage bags
Poster board, 1 sheet per student group
Pencils, erasers, and rulers
Crayons or markers
Computer with Internet access (optional)

III.
Subject Matter/Content (prerequisite skills, key vocabulary, big idea)
A. Prerequisites:
1.) Fine Motor Skills
2.) Gross Motor Skills
B. Key Vocabulary/content:
1.) Exhaust: Waste gasses that are sent out from an engine (Context: Cars, Trucks,
and buses create exhaust, a common type of pollution.)
2.) Pollution: Harmful or poisonous substances that dirty the air, water, or land
(Context: Pollution can be dangerous to plants and animals, including people.)
3.) Recycle: To convert waste into a form in which it can be reused (Context: One
way of making less trash is to recycle papers and plastics.)

4.) Waste: An unusable or unwanted substance or material (Context: We can take

simple steps to help reduce waste and reuse goods.)
C. Big Idea
1.) What are the different types of recyclables and how do we sort them?
IV.

Implementation
A. Introduction
1.) Watch this video on how students can get involved to save the environment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmhiglxga-4
2.) Discuss pollution and the ways in which humans negatively affect the
environment. Ask the students:
a.What is pollution?
b. What kinds of things create pollution?
c. What do you think we can do to help stop pollution?
B. Development
1.) After watching the video and talking about pollution, ask the students to
give examples of litter or pollution they have seen. How does litter and
pollution affect plants and animals? Talk about problems that may occur when
trash is not properly disposed of.
2.) Take the class to the playground, lunch area, or another enclosed school
area where trash is often found. Divide the students into groups of three or
four. Give each group a garbage bag and each student a pair of protective gloves,
have the students spend about 20 minutes collecting trash.
3.) Then bring the class to a contained area outside the classroom and hold up
samples of what they collected. Make sure you and the students do not
remove
protective gloves yet. Discuss the types of things that were found. Which could have
been recycled or reused? Discuss ways some trash items could have been avoided in
the first place. (Example: Instead of buying small bags of chips, a family could
purchase a large bag and pack chips in a reusable container everyday.)
4.) Return to the classroom to discuss what students have learned about the
trash they found at school. Reiterate easy ways to help reduce the amount of
waste people create. Have students remain in their groups and ask them to discuss
pollution and ideas for reducing, reusing, and recycling waste.
5.) Then have each group create a poster presentation that shows ways in which
students, teachers, and others at school can reduce, reuse, and recycle
waste. Each
poster should include at least two facts about pollution and two
ways to reduce, reuse,
or recycle waste at school. Encourage students to be
creative and make colorful
posters.
C. Closure
1.) Have students present their posters to the class. Arrange to volunteers to
present their posters to other classrooms and talk about ways to reduce, reuse,
and recycle waste at school. Hang the finished posters in visible areas around

the school to show others how your students suggest preserving our natural
resources and protecting our environment.
D. Accommodations/Differentiation
1.) Guided notes and detailed instructions will be provided to all students.
E. Assessment/Evaluation Plan
1.) Formative
a. The teacher will walk around and observe the students during the
activity to formatively assess the comprehension and progress of the
students. ( The teacher will use a checklist to record the students
comprehension of the objectives and standards)
2.) Performance
b. The students will create a poster presentation that will be collected,
analyzed, and recorded.
V.

Reflective Response
A. Report of Students Performance in Terms of Stated Objectives (after lesson is
taught)
Remediation Plan:
B. Personal Reflection
1. How could this lesson be improved?
2. After completing this lesson, do the students comprehend how to sort
recyclables correctly?

VI.

Resources

Lesson Plan Library. (n.d.). Scientific Inquiry, Episode 1. Retrieved February 20, 2014,
from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/scientific-inquiryepisode-1.cfm

Helpful Websites:
http://www.epa.gov/recyclecity/
http://www.epa.gov/kids/index.htm