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Reading Treks: Ada's Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay - TeachersFirst
Grades
K to 3tag(s): musical instruments (51), preK (269), recycling (46)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the many lesson ideas in the Teachers' Guide to bring this story to life and provide activities that correlate with the book's theme of recycling and reusing materials. As students read the book, create a timeline of events using a simple timeline creation tool such as the one provided by Read, Write, Think, reviewed here to help students follow the sequence of events in the story. After engaging students in learning by creating recycled instruments, have students write and record a short soundtrack to accompany the story. Share boomy, reviewed here with students to create and record music from their computers using virtual tools.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Recycle and Repurpose - Music Constructed/Polina Mann
Grades
2 to 6tag(s): conservation (101), earth day (60), musical instruments (51), recycling (46), south america (44)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the hands-on activities shared in this lesson plan to engage students in learning about recycling while integrating studies of South America, Earth Day, and recycling. Find additional ideas for teaching about musical instruments at this TeachersFirst Special Topics Page found here. Curate and share videos and websites demonstrating additional types of recycled instruments using Padlet, reviewed here, for students to use when gathering ideas for creating recycled instruments. After finishing their instruments, ask students to create and share a video discussion about the instrument using a new Padlet. Have students discuss the recycled materials used to create the instrument and demonstrate how it works in their video.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Life of a Can - Novelis
Grades
3 to 6tag(s): conservation (101), earth day (60), recycling (46)
In the Classroom
Take advantage of the free lesson plans shared on this site for use with Earth Day activities, or recycling and conservation units. Share a link to the interactive on classroom computers or your class website. Ask students to create a concept/mind map to organize the information they are learning. This could be done conventionally or digiatally. Consider using a digital concept mapping tool to replace the paper/pencil version of a concept map with MindMup, reviewed here. Next ask students to create a simple infographic sharing information on recycling using Visme, reviewed here, or create an interactive poster using Adobe Express for Education, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Cell Phone Recycling - Help Yourself to a Little Humanity - SellCell
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): earth day (60), environment (248), natural resources (37), recycling (46), sustainability (46)
In the Classroom
Students love their cell phones and want whatever is the latest and greatest. Create interest by starting a discussion about what's new on the device front. Then ask students what they do with their old cell phones, tablets, laptops, etc. Assign them to count, that evening, how many of these items they have at home that they could recycle. When they come to class the next day do a quick tally and have students multiply this by however many classes are meeting at the same time on your campus. They should start getting the idea that there are many devices out there that can be recycled. Next, share the Cell Phone Recycling infographic with your students using a projector or interactive whiteboard. Does your school encourage giving to the less fortunate during the holidays? For a class project, initiate a recycling campaign and create a center for recycling e-waste. How about holding a 'green' competition to see which classroom submits the most items. Assign small groups to create a public service announcement for your school or community to encourage recycling. Use one of the many multimedia/presentation tools reviewed by TeachersFirst here. Donate the cash collected to the school's charity of choice, or one of the charities listed on this infographic. Get parents involved. Make sure they are aware via your website and newsletter about submitting these items to the school. Many parents will be able to contribute items from their workplace that was otherwise destined for the landfill.This site is full of information such as kids and recycling, electronics in education, and many more. Find these by clicking Resources.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Recycling 101 - Three Basic Rules - Recycling Facts Guide
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): conservation (101), consumers (14), recycling (46), resources (84)
In the Classroom
Use the information on this site to inform students about the various items that can be recycled. Consider using the site as background information for student created surveys for students and their families to complete. Use the information from the surveys to develop a campaign to bring awareness to consumption and use patterns that can save money for families as well as landfill space. Create a survey or a poll using Class Question, reviewed here. Use this site for meeting the Common Core Standards for nonfiction reading. Provide a link to the Recycling Facts Guide on your class website. Create a student project where students use information on this site to create a campaign to promote awareness about recycling. Debate recycling and recycling programs by comparing information from this site and others as well as misconceptions many may have. Use the information here to establish a recycling campaign in your school or community. Use this site as inspiration to write a story or cartoon based on the life of a particular resource.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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I want to be... - The Ad Council
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): earth (184), earth day (60), natural resources (37), plastics (4), recycling (46), resources (84)
In the Classroom
First, after viewing the main areas of this site, engage your students by having them play the game "Super Sorter." For Earth Day or everyday, use this site to raise awareness about the energy that is used to create items and how energy can be saved by using recycled materials. Students can research statistics about the various items used in the United States and abroad. Discover why recycling is an important endeavor to combat pollution and energy use. Create a public service announcement for your school or community to learn more about the benefits of recycling. Initiate a recycling campaign and create a center for recycling many items from the school including paper. Classes can tally the pounds of materials saved for recycling. Have students create informational commercials using a multimedia tool such as Genially, reviewed here. With Genially you can insert maps, surveys, video, audio and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Welcome to Recycling 101 - Republic Services
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): earth day (60), energy (131), recycling (46), resources (84)
In the Classroom
Use the lesson plans on the site to learn about resources and recycling. Be sure to discuss what is meant by "Reduce, reuse, recycle" in terms of resources and energy (Infographics and resources are helpful for this) and why recycling is not always the best answer. Do simpler activities or lessons with younger students during Earth Day or Earth Week. Include this link with other resources about resources and recycling. Have different groups each become an expert in the processing of one of the resources and discuss the common steps and problems involved in the recycling process.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Recyclebank - Recyclebank, subsidiary of Recycle Rewards, Inc.
Grades
4 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): earth (184), earth day (60), environment (248), recycling (46), sustainability (46)
In the Classroom
With the Common Core State Standards push for nonfiction reading, this site is a natural for any time of the year. Recyclebank will appeal to students who are environmentally conscious, but its intrinsic value is in teaching all students to think about how they can recycle in their everyday life. The advertising comes along with the prizes, so be sure to discuss where to click (or not). If your students have access to email, have them register with the website and start a class competition to see how many points students can earn individually or as a class. Conclude the competition by having students discuss (no matter who won the competition) how acting in greener ways allows everyone to win. There will be future "Green Schools" program competitions. This is a yearly competition where school groups design a green plan for their school that wins up to $2500.00. Posted on the website are the accepted projects where members from all over the country can award points to your school. For every 250 points donated to your school initiative, you earn $1.00. Promote Recyclebank to get as many people involved as possible. Ask them to donate their points to your school. Use this as an opportunity to teach students about grassroots movements and the difference that one bright idea and a few motivated people can make in the world. Why not plan an Earth Day project using this site?Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Daytum - Ryan Case and Nicholas Feltron
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): charts and graphs (171), data (151), infographics (56), statistics (121), visualizations (11)
In the Classroom
Some of the best data to collect is anything that is a habit: types of drinks students drink at home, hours watching TV/playing games/doing homework, meals/fast food, etc. Use the site to collect data from other students or classes for a Math, Social Studies, or Psychology class. Use Daytum for a Science class by counting animals at a feeder, recycling efforts, amount of paper used in the classroom, days of rain/no rain, etc. Anything that can be counted can be used by Daytum! Be sure to identify students who will be counters and recorders of the data Before using Daytum, be sure to follow the directions on the How To page. Decide the goal first and the data to be collected. Having an idea of the kind of data to be collected as well as how it will be displayed is necessary before using. This tool is best used as a class activity rather than creating individual accounts. Create a class account and use a class computer or computer attached to a projector or whiteboard to collect data as students enter the room. Set up the parameters of the data to be collected (or enlist the help of an ambitious student.)Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Earth 911 - earth911.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): conservation (101), environment (248), recycling (46)
In the Classroom
Allow students the opportunity to choose articles of interest to read, learn more about the topics, and present to the class, write a blog post, or create a public service announcement (PSA) to communicate their learning. Have your students create an interactive online poster using Visme. Find a multitude of learning opportunities on this site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Lesson: Life After Trash - Teach Engineering
Grades
6 to 9tag(s): critical thinking (124), engineering (128), problem solving (232)
In the Classroom
A week or so before conducting this simulation activity, ask students to bring in recyclables and clean trash from home. This will cut down on the amount of trash you need to collect, and it will add variety to the supplies. Set up the activity by talking about trash, where it comes from and where it goes. Discuss better alternatives for trash "disposal" such as recycling and reusing. Have students think of obvious reuses for materials and then explain that there are other alternatives to obvious uses. Introduce the activity and basic rules and safety to the students. Arrange them in groups of three or four and then allow them to "shop" the classroom "landfill" to create new things out of old trash. Follow up with discussion of group products, uses, and real life applications of this idea such as recycled art.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Futures Channel: Real World Movies - The Futures Channel
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): agriculture (47), architecture (76), business (52), environment (248), sports (82), STEM (290), transportation (31)
In the Classroom
The clips are brief which makes them ideal for introductions to math lessons or science lessons utilizing the interactive whiteboard or projector. Also, a lesson could be developed in math showing students what a clip of math in a real world movie looks like, and then have students use research to create their own short video clips. Share the videos using a tool such as Teachers.TV reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Design*Sponge - Grace Bonney, Ed.
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Share images and posts from this blog on your interactive whiteboard or projector to illustrate basic principles of color, line, and other art elements (use those whiteboard drawing tools for students to highlight and label!). After sharing a trend from this blog, ask your art or design students to take digital pictures illustrating that trend in their own home or local mall. Create a class wiki connecting what YOUR students see with what professional designers see. Not comfortable with wikis? Have no wiki worries - check out the TeachersFirst's Wiki Walk-Through.As an environmental awareness project, focus on recycled goods and their use as "design elements" in chic homes. Challenge visual/spatial intelligence and engage your visual learners by using this blog as a writing prompt option for student blogs, descriptive writing, or persuasive essays on America materialism or the environment. In science class where you may be studying the laws of motion or the nature of light, allow your "artsy" students to use objects from this blog as illustrative examples of curriculum concepts, connecting something they care about with the science curriculum. Ex. Why is this kind of metal better suited for a lamp? Offer this site as one of many optional links from which they may choose examples, along with more traditional "scientific" sources.
World language students will find the city design guides a wonderful way to study culture in other lands -- and practice describing it in the language of study!
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Miniature Earth - Sustainability Institute
Grades
4 to 12The site can be viewed in English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, or German. Although the text and statistics are familiar, they have been updated for this video with its vivid closeups and haunting music. The text upon which the video is based is also online here.
tag(s): population (51), religions (95)
In the Classroom
Use this to introduce social studies units on countries in the third world. Use it as a jumping off point when asking your students thoughtful questions about the relative prosperity of people in the U.S. compared to a lot of the rest of the world. Use it also when studying recycling, tolerance, and world cultures.Share the video on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Have students respond to what they found most surprising using a class wiki or blog. In math class, use this video to start a real-world statistics/data analysis project or a discussion of proportion.
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Recycle City - Environmental Protection Agency
Grades
2 to 6In the Classroom
Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. As they independently explore, challenge students to make up their own "scavenger hunt" (complete with questions and answers) of places they feel are worthwhile to visit in Recycle City, then swap with a classmate. Have students write fictitious blog entries from the perspective of the city manager (updating residents on changes and improvements in the city).Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Earth Day - EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
Grades
4 to 7tag(s): earth (184), earth day (60), ecology (102), environment (248), recycling (46)
In the Classroom
Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Read the history of Earth Day together. Have cooperative learning groups explore different ways to "take action" and then challege them to enhance their learning and create a multimedia presentation to share with the class. Try using Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here, or Sway, reviewed here. Why not ask students to extend their learning using one of these video tools (click tool name to see review): MoocNote, Animatron, or Powtoon. Then, have students share it with the class using a site such as TeacherTube, explained here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Imagination Factory - Marilyn Brackney
Grades
K to 12tag(s): crafts (63), earth (184), earth day (60), ecology (102), recycling (46)
In the Classroom
This is a great way to utilize classroom trash while teaching students to go green! Once they get started, the students will probably supply their own enormous list of ideas for recycling trash and the ideas may be infectious...watch it snowball into other classrooms and into their homes! Teachers will be receiving unique recycled projects every day in those primary grades! List this project in your class newsletter or on your class website. Suggest parents donate items listed on the Trash Matcher such as socks, sheets, dryer sheets and much more. Make sure to note that everything donated should be cleaned thoroughly prior to sending it to the classroom! Document your new green classroom/school with digital pictures and student writings on a class wiki and share the link with local newspapers! Secondary teachers can use this site for service project ideas for Key Club. student council, and more.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Paper Airplanes - Exploratorium
Grades
3 to 8In the Classroom
This site would be great for a physics unit discussing the aerodynamics of flight. Have a team competition as students use the site on an interactive whiteboard and try to create the best paper planes they can - through consideration of scientific processes that go into flight. This is a fun activity that allows students to practically apply concepts and have some fun.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Renewable Energy Introduction - US Department of Energy
Grades
3 to 6tag(s): conservation (101), recycling (46)
In the Classroom
Teachers will find this a good introduction site for a unit on energy sources.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Kids Do Ecology - Univ. of California Santa Barbara
Grades
4 to 8In the Classroom
Though this site is no longer maintained, the links work and there is plenty of material to use in your classroom. This site is a great science find for both teachers and students! Teachers, there is an entire section of free lesson plans and activities that can be easily recreated in your classroom. For students, use this site as learning center or station. Allow students to use the site in cooperative learning groups, for any science unit on biomes, ecology, mammals, or data collection. This site would be a great supplement to book materials.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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