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
- Life history
- Life cycle
- Manufacture
- Transport
- Waste
- Plastic
- Material properties
- Biodegradable
- Reduce, reuse, and recycle
Objectives
- Students will think about the process by which an object is manufactured, used, and
discarded or reused.
- Students will think about the impact they have as individuals on their communities.
- Students will come up with original ideas for how to reduce waste.
Required Project Materials
- Miscellaneous objects
- Gifts students have brought to class
- Paper grocery bags of all sizes
- Discarded newspaper and magazines
- Lengths of ribbon, cloth, cord, etc.
- Plastic flowers, small pine cones, any
other useful decorative objects
- Boxes of various sizes (for gifts)
Multimedia Resources
Optional Multimedia Resources
Before the Lesson/ Background Information
- Come up with your own story and presentation as an example.
- Gather reusable materials for the lesson. Instruct the students to bring materials from
home.
- As homework, ask students to bring gifts to wrap in class. They should also bring any
discarded newspapers, fabrics, scratch paper, and similar materials from home.
- The gift can be for anyone. You may also want to bring extra gifts or objects that can be
used as gifts, or alternatively, create gifts in class first as an extra activity.
- Print out images of pretty and interesting gift boxes.
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
- Students will think of an object that has an interesting story.
- 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
- Read The Three R’s. Discuss the various terms with the students.
- Brainstorm ideas for how to reduce waste at home.
- Allow the students to complete some activities from the book.
Part 4: Creative Gift Wrapping
- Now the students will wrap their gifts! Each should select a box that fits.
- 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.
- 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.
- At the end of the week, display the gift boxes. Afterwards, students can take them home and
give their gifts!