Earth Week Pollution - Day 4

Author:<p>NichelleSmith
Datecreated:04/22/20175:27PMEDTDatemodified:05/15/20173:11PMEDT

VITALINFORMATION
Grade/Level Grade 1

Time Allotment 1 class periods. 1.5 Hrs. per class.

Subject(s) Science

Topic The different types of pollution caused by various human activities.

Lesson Concept(s) During this lesson, the students will be identifying different types of pollution and what causes them. They will also be
identifying how pollution affects the environment and the organisms that live within the environment. Finally, the students
will be identifying and discussing ways that humans can help solve the pollution problem we are currently dealing with.

Essential Questions What is pollution?

What are the different types of pollution?

How can we help solve the pollution problem?

Prerequisite Skills and/or Prior to this lesson, the students need to have a basic understanding of how humans affect the environment. They have spent
Concepts the entire week so far learning all about how to be Earth Friendly through the Earth Week unit I have been teaching them.
Therefore, they should already have a basic knowledge of how humans affect the environment and what happens to the
environment as a result. This prior knowledge will help them better understand the concepts that are being taught during
this lesson.

Materials for Students

1 pencil per student
Freddie the Fish Flash Cards
1 medium-sized clear plastic container
Water
1 fish-shaped sponge
Small plastic cups (to put activity materials in)
Sharpie (to mark plastic cups and label the order of the activity materials)
1 plastic spoon (to mix)
Soil
Syrup
Dish Soap
Small pieces of paper
Coffee grounds
Green-dyed water
Raisins

Attachments:

1. Pollution Worksheet.docx

Teacher Resources Attachments:

1. Earth Week.flipchart
2. Pollution Activity.pdf

STANDARDSANDOBJECTIVES/LEARNINGOUTCOMES
Lesson Using hands-on materials, the students will recognize and describe that individual and group actions can both help or harm
Objective(s)/Learning the environment.
Outcomes (ABCD)
We will describe how individual and group actions can harm or help the environment.

Standards MD- Maryland Content Standards

Subject: SCIENCE
Grade: 1
Content Standard: Environmental

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ASSESSMENT
Assessment/Rubrics
PROCEDURES(WithAttentionToUDL)
Introductory Activities
(Engage)
Teaching Activities
(Explore, Explain, Elaborate)
Closure Activities (Evaluate)
Area: B. Environmental Issues
Indicator Statement: 1. Recognize that caring about the environment is an important human activity.
Objective: a. Recognize and describe that individual and group actions, such as recycling, help the environment.
Objective: b. Recognize and describe that individual and group actions, such as littering, harm the environment.
The teacher will formally assess if the students met the objective by observing their completed pollution worksheets. The
students are required to include one cause and one solution for each type of pollution included on the worksheet (water, air,
and soil). The teacher will assess if students completed what they were supposed to and will be able to assess if students met
the objective. JG and SS will be assisted by the special education instructional assistant with this formal assessment. The
students will be sharing their answers aloud to the assistant, and the assistant will write their answers using a highlighter.
The students will then trace over the answer to practice their handwriting in a way that the teacher can still read their
answers.
1. To open this lesson, the teacher will gather students together down at the carpet. She will wait until they are seated
quietly before starting this lesson. Once the students are ready, the teacher will do a short recap of everything they
had learned so far in this Earth Unit. This is to get their brains ready for the lesson and to prepare them for what they
are about to learn. The teacher will have the students turn and talk to their neighbors some of the things they have
learned so far this week from the unit. After students have briefly discussed for about a minute or so, the teacher will
ask some students to share what they learned so far from the unit with the class.
2. After a brief share-aloud and discussion, the teacher will share how they will be learning about different types of
pollution during this lesson. She will ask students to briefly turn and talk to their neighbors to discuss what they think
are different types of pollution. Then, she will ask students to share their answers allowed. After a few minute/short
discussion, the teacher will announce how they will be talking about air, water, and soil pollution during today's
lesson. Then, she will move into the next part of this lesson.
1. The teacher will use the Earth Week Unit Flipchart to teach the students about the 3 main types of pollution: air, water
and soil. She will discuss each type of pollution and what human actions may cause them. Then, she will discuss ways
we can help solve the problem, or she will ask the students to turn and talk to their partners to discuss ways they think
will help solve the pollution problem. She will then have students share their answers with the class so that everyone
can hear their ideas for solving the current pollution problem. The teacher will make sure "how to solve the pollution
problem" is a huge discussion point for each type of pollution she teaches them about. She will do this for each type of
pollution using the Flipchart.
2. Next, the teacher will share with the students how they will be completing a pollution worksheet to identify how each
type of pollution is caused and how to solve each type of pollution. She will have students return to their seats and will
then hand each student the pollution worksheet. She will walk through this with the entire class for each section of the
worksheet. Also, this sheet will be used as the formal assessment of this lesson; therefore, it is important for students
to follow along and focus on this activity. The teacher will ask students for the answer to each and will write one of the
answers as an example underneath of the document camera for the entire class to see. When the teacher has finished
providing examples, and the students have completed their worksheets, she will have students turn in their sheets to
the pink basket to be graded and will have students return to their seats on the carpet again.
3. Now the teacher will ask the students if they remember what the giant swirling trash in the ocean is called. The
students may remember, so the teacher will have students share their answers aloud with the class until someone
shares the correct answer of "the Great Pacific Garbage Patch". The teacher will then show the students a short video
on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. She will pause throughout the video to help with student comprehension of the
things being discussed in the video. More specifically, what caused the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, what affects it has
on the environment, and how can people help the problem? After the video is finished, the teacher will have students
briefly discuss as a class what they have learned so far about pollution. She will ask for students to share causes and
effects of pollution as well.
4. After the brief discussion is finished, the teacher will announce to students that they will be exploring the effects of
water pollution with a hands-on experiment. She will place the stool in the center of the carpet and will have students
surround the stool with at least a 2 foot clearance around the stool (to avoid messes). Hint: the teacher will have all
materials for this activity prepared ahead of time and sitting close by for quick retrieval. The teacher will place water
in the clear-plastic container, and will place the container on top of the stool so all of the students can see it. She will
also show the fish-shaped sponge to the class and will explain that it is Freddie the Fish. The teacher will use the flash
cards to guide her throughout the rest of this activity. The teacher will pull fairness sticks to decide which students can
dump materials in the water when read on the flash cards to do so. The teacher will continue reading through the flash
cards and completing the activity until she reaches the end. By then, the students will have had a hands-on, "real
world", experience with directly seeing how humans can pollute the water, and how it effects the environment. The
teacher will then move into the closing of this lesson.
1. To close this lesson, the teacher will ask students to share the different types of pollution they learned about
throughout this lesson. She will have them raise their hands to share their answers. She will also have them share the
many ways they learned that they can help solve the pollution problem. She will have ALL students provide at least one
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 example of how they will help solve the pollution problem.
2. Once all of the students have shared an answer, the teacher will read the objective for today's lesson. She will then ask
if they did what they were supposed to during this lesson. When they say "yes" she will ask students to return to their
seats by their rows and get ready for lunch.

Differentiated Instruction JG and SS will be assisted by the special education instructional assistant during the formal assessment of this lesson. The
students will be sharing their answers aloud to the assistant, and the assistant will write their answers using a highlighter.
The students will then trace over the answer to practice their handwriting in a way that the teacher can still read their
answers.

REFLECTION
Reflection This lesson was EXTREMELY successful. I know this because I know my students met the objective. I know that because I used
their pollution worksheets as a formal assessment of this lesson. I also know this lesson was successful because my students
absolutely loved the hands-on Freddie the Fish experiment. They loved it so much, in fact, that they gave me a huge group hug
at the end of this lesson! I have NEVER experienced that before and I am so happy that this lesson really made my students
happy and excited to learn! It made the water pollution activity so much more real to them to dump the different materials
into the water to "pollute" the water and the fish. They felt horrible for the different human actions that polluted the water
and ultimately killed the fish living within the water. I love how this activity brought a real-world activity into the classroom
because it really showed students how we affect everything around us with our actions. I am proud of my students and we
are ready to move onto the last lesson in this unit tomorrow!

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