Lesson Plans
BUSD Green Star Schools
Purpose: Use these resources to engage and teach students the 4 R's (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot)
Skits: Skits are a great way to get students involved! The Green Schools Initiative has already developed some skits to get your students engaged, or you and your class can develop your own.
- Captain Compost: A fun skit involving three masked superheroes who show up to educate children in the lunchroom about the proper use of the compost bin vs. landfill-bound garbage. >>Download Captain Compost Script
- Carlos Conservation: A skit about litter and trash where a little boy fights "Mr. Garbage" and helps reduce pollution, save trees, and teaches a little girl about why it's important to compost and recycle. >>Download Carlos Conservation Script
Video: Show a 7 minute video made by BHS students in your classroom, at your PTA meeting, and/or at an assembly to teach everyone about why it's important to reduce waste and how to sort properly at school. Go to vimeo.com/76408668 or here.
Recycling Race: Garbage, Recycling and Compost bins are arranged. A large pile of waste is dumped on a tarp. Students race to put things in the correct bin. This can be a PE activity.
Story of Stuff Video - Short video on the underside of our consumption habits and how to create a sustainable society
"Buy, Use, Toss" - Grades 9-12, FREE Facing the Future Curriculum, companion to Story of Stuff video.
How to do Hands-On Environmental Audits - Resources for doing audits of paper use, energy, water, waste.
Online Environmental Footprint Calculators- Tools for auditing your school's environmental footprint, and tracking and estimating your progress. Online calculators help you estimate the energy, water, greenhouse gas, pollution savings from your actions.
Trash Can Quiz: Have your students take the "Trash Can Quiz" and
see how much you know about the treasures we throw away. This activity
helps students understand the "materials flow" of many products we use,
from extracting the natural resource through manufacturing and disposal.
>>Download Trash Can Quiz Script
Stopwaste.org:Alameda County Waste Management Authority has many free resources for schools. Contact Cassie Bartholomew at cbartholomew (at) stopwaste.org or visit http://www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp?page=5. They offer:
- 4 R's Curriculum, with comprehensive lesson plans: http://www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp?page=1078
- Student Action Projects for 4th & 5th Grade classes: www.stopwaste.org/home/index.asp?page=452
- Free field trips for 4th graders, including bus transportation
- Free assemblies
- Mini-grants of $1,000-$5,000
SLWRP: Service Learning Waste Reduction Project funded by Stopwaste.org. Supports teams of teachers, staff and students at middle and high schools in setting and achieving waste reduction goals at their schools and in their communities. Professional development for teachers is part of the program. Stipends are paid to teachers. Contact: Nate Ivy. Alameda County Office of Education, nivy (at) acoe.org or visit http://schools.stopwaste.org for more information.
EarthTeam: Non-profit offering the Waste Action Project, a service-learning project that guides high school and middle school students in addressing the issue of waste on their school campuses and communities by practicing the 4R's. Students assess, re-design, and improve their existing waste and recycling systems by conducting a waste audit and running a peer education campaign. Contact joseluis (at) earthteam.net or visit www.earthteam.net for more information.
Education and the Environment Initiative: California's K-12 curriculum is comprised of 85 units teaching select Science and History/Social Science academic standards. Each EEI Curriculum unit is easily substitutable for teaching a specific content standard using Environmental Principles and Concepts. www.calepa.ca.gov/Education/EEI/default.htm, Search lessons here: http://www.californiaeei.org/Curriculum
Alignment with Common Core: There are many ways of teaching the 4 R's that connect with the new national standards. NAAEE provides links to "crosswalks" that align environmental education with Common Core standards for English and Math, and draft Next Generation Science Standards. For guidance see: http://eelinked.naaee.net/n/guidelines/posts/Aligning-EE-and-the-Common-Core-Standards. Includes alignment with reading standards, such as "collecting information," "questioning," and "drawing conclusions and developing explanations;" math standards, such as "organizing information," "working with models and simulations," and "designing investigations."
Field Trips:
- Berkeley's Transfer Station, 2nd & Gilman: Learn about how Berkeley's waste, recycling, and composting is sorted and managed. COST: Free, but classes need to organize your own transportation. CONTACT:Andy Schneider, City of Berkeley Recycling Manager; (510) 981-6357; Website: www.CityofBerkeley.info, Email: ASchneider (at) CityofBerkeley.info
- Davis Street Transfer Station (4th grades only): Field trips to the award-winning irecycle@school Education Center in San Leandro to see what happens to their recyclables, garbage and green waste at a working material recovery facility and transfer station. COST: Free, including transport via school bus. CONTACT: (510) 563-4282; edcenter@stopwaste.org
- East Bay Parks: Connect your kids with nature - free naturalist-led hikes. Offers field trips and educational resources for a variety of parks, including Berkeley's Tilden Park. www.ebparks.org; 888-327-2757
Supplies: East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse: An ecological treasure trove for reuse for art & craft. 510-547-6470, www.creativereuse.org, donation hotline: 510-547-6535
Measure and Share Your Impact:Enter your activities, use the calculators to estimate your impacts, and learn from other schools. www.greenstarschools.info