Adventures With Plastic

Grade Level: 1
Suggested Order: Week 4
Suggested Time: 2 hours
Lesson Type: Specialized Subject (Medical Sciences and Wellness)
Overview
Students will learn the life history of a bottle, then investigate and present the life story of an object of their choice. Students will learn the difference between reduction of waste, reusing items, and recycling them. They will think about ideas for how to reduce waste at home, then practice reusing everyday items in order to make something new.
Vocabulary
Objectives
Required Project Materials
Multimedia Resources
Optional Multimedia Resources
Before the Lesson/ Background Information
The Lesson
Part 1: Not Just a Plastic Bottle
1. Read The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle aloud.
2. Define a life history. Tell your own story of an object as an example.
3. Discuss other objects in class, beginning with where they come from and ending with what happens to them.
Part 2: Telling Life Histories of Objects
  1. Students will think of an object that has an interesting story.
  2. Similar to the bottle in the book, students will draw a series of pictures, or come up with a spoken presentation and image, describing the life history of the particular object. Students may also choose to act out the story.
Part 3: The Three R’s
  1. Read The Three R’s. Discuss the various terms with the students.
  2. Brainstorm ideas for how to reduce waste at home.
  3. Allow the students to complete some activities from the book.
Part 4: Creative Gift Wrapping
  1. Now the students will wrap their gifts! Each should select a box that fits.
  2. Next, students will wrap the gifts. Encourage the students to select pretty portions of newspaper, make collages out of magazines, decorate used printer paper, or use cloth to wrap their boxes. They can use the images you printed for inspiration.
  3. All kinds of objects can be used to decorate the boxes! They can make little figurines, use dried or plastic flowers, patch together lengths of ribbon, etc.
  4. At the end of the week, display the gift boxes. Afterwards, students can take them home and give their gifts!