US Environmental Protection Agency
Teach English, Teach About the Environment
Spread the message of recycling while teaching your English language learners new vocabulary and practicing verb tenses. Included here are four lesson plans for each level (beginning, intermediate, and advanced) as well as accompanying...
Curated OER
Earth Day - Reduce - Reuse - Recycle
In this Earth Day worksheet, students fill in the blanks to sentences, match words to definitions, and make slogans for pictures about reducing, reusing, and recycling. Students complete 3 activities.
Curated OER
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Fourth graders discover the differences between: reduce, reuse, and recycle by performing hands on examinations. They list what would happen to the soil if we allowed the earth to wash away and briefly discuss the meaning of erosion.
DiscoverE
Curious George Sailboat
A whole-group discussion kicks off a hands-on activity that challenges young engineers to build a sailboat using reusable materials. Participants gather recycled items to assemble their one-of-a-kind sailboat and test its ability to...
Curated OER
Scientific Inquiry
Students create a poster. In this recycling lesson, students discuss pollution and the ways humans negatively affect the environment. Students describe examples of litter or pollution they have experienced. Students collect litter from...
Curated OER
Roll Away Trees
First graders participate in a simulation involving newspaper, food coloring, water, and more to observe the debarking process of producing wood. In this wood lesson plan, 1st graders also measure, and learn about reducing, reusing, and...
Rustle Leaf
Tell Someone About Earth Day
Celebrate Earth Day by spreading the word of conservation. Teach children ten easy ways to help preserve the Earth and share this knowledge with others by sending e-cards and printable cards to loved ones. Extend learning about the...
NASA
Cleaning Water
From their sweat to the water vapor in their breath, astronauts recycle every possible drop of water while in space. After watching a short video describing the different ways materials are recycled and reused in space...
Curated OER
Recycling Lesson Plans
Students can learn about protecting the environment through these recycling lesson plans.
Curated OER
Recycling Litter - Reduce Reuse Recycle Lesson Plan
Student create their own ways to help the environment. In this recycling lesson, students explore how to identify many different types of waste materials, know what types of waste materials can be reduced, reused, and recycled, and...
Curated OER
Primary Songs about Recycling
Students compose songs about recycling. In this ecology lesson, students use vocabulary and concepts related to recycling to generate lyrics for an original song. Students construct musical instruments out of discarded materials.
Curated OER
The Environment and You
First graders examine the human environmental impact and discover ways to lessen effects. They create a pollution damage flow chart and write down what they think Mother Earth might say. They create inventions from recyclable materials.
Curated OER
Things We Can Learn From a Cow and a Worm
In this conservation worksheet, students answer 5 questions about how cows and worms recycle and conserve natural resources. Students then fill in a Venn diagram outlining ways they can recycle and conserve.
Curated OER
Garbage or Art?
The three R's are, reduce, reuse, and recycle. Third graders use recycled materials to design and create an environmentally themed piece of art. They discuss and examine major art works that were created using recycled materials, then...
Virginia Department of Education
Educator’s Guide to Planning a Field Day Event
Plan an environmentally friendly field day for your young conservationists with this collection of activities and resources. Whether it's bowling with plastic bags full of crumpled up newspaper and empty plastic...
Curated OER
Earth Day: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Students list ways to reduce, reuse and recycle, and produce an acrostic poem reflecting their understanding about Earth Day. They also use the Internet to integrate technology into learning.
Curated OER
Recycle Lifecycle
Students investigate the recycling process. In this recycling lesson, students read the article The Recycling Process After Collection and discuss the advantages of recycling. As an extension activity, students simulate the molding of...
Curated OER
Reuse, Reduce, Recycle Paper
Students experiment with recycling paper. In this paper recycling lesson, students conduct an experiment in which they dissolve newspaper in water and cornstarch to make new pieces of paper. They add color or flowers to the new paper to...
Curated OER
Performance Art and The Waste Stream
Young scholars research local waste management services, discuss findings, give opinions about what they have found, offer solutions and ideas, and create performance art, design art works, and fine art works to convey information on...
Curated OER
Recycling: The Way to Save...Fad or Fact
Students write stories about recycling and illustrate them. They examine various containers and determine whether or not they are recyclable. They make a chart about the containers and visit a recycling center.
Curated OER
Solid Waste Recycling
Young scholars plan a "no garbage" lunch and hold a classroom contest to sort grabage into what can and what can't be recycled. They assess the importance of reducing the amount of garbage in the environment and set up a book recycling...
Curated OER
How Will We Create a Future without Waste?
Many young people act globally by reducing, reusing, and recycling, Now they take it to the next level by upcycling. Middle schoolers design a proposal to eliminate waste by exploring the new material cycle and applying...
Curated OER
Recycling: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
Students journal information regarding recycling from previous research. They use Microsoft Word to write their entries regarding recycling that is used in oral and video presentations. They visit "Green School" sites on the Internet to...
Curated OER
Mixed Media Messages: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Students examine the process of recycling by creating a mock television commercial about recycling. In this recycling lesson, students watch an animated demonstration about recycling and answer content questions. Students play an online...