This document provides resources for teaching 4th grade students about reducing waste and saving the planet. It includes videos, blogs, podcasts, and websites that discuss recycling, reusing materials, and protecting the environment. Interactive games and activities are also presented to engage students in spelling, math, and science lessons related to sustainability.

1. SAVE THE PLANET!
By: Kara Alberse
Intended for: 4th Grade
Subject: Science

2. Technology Integration
• “Going green” is a very new concept that has swept
our nation in recent years. What better way to teach
students about this phenomenon than through
technological resources which help save the Earth’s
materials, such as paper! Especially in this day and
age, elementary students are being exposed to
technology much more than in the past. By supplying
these “Digital Natives” (Prensky, 2001) with new
information through vehicles in which they are both
familiar with and find exciting, learning will also
become exciting!
• Click here to watch video!

3. Internet Content
The internet offers an infinite supply of reliable
resources about ways we can reduce, reuse, and
recycle materials and will allow students to:
• watch videos, view blogs, listen to podcasts, visit
agencies and organizations related to saving the
planet, create organizational tools, learn how to
recycle specific materials, and play interactive
games related to the topic
• The following slides aid in exposing such content
that is available to all with internet access!

4. Videos from Internet
Click on the pictures below to view videos that
explain what happens to the material we don’t
recycle, and to the material we do recycle!

5. Internet Blog
• http://blog.epa.gov/blog/2012/12/help-put-the-
“e’s”-in-e-cycling/
• This blog, “Help put the e’s in e-cycling” developed
by the Environmental Protection Agency, discusses
the importance of recycling electronics. Because the
increased use of electronics is fairly recent, recycling
such products and considering their potential
damage to our environment is something that many
of us have not done in the past.
• Visit the blog above to learn more about e-cycling!

6. Internet Podcasts
• http://www.smallstepspodcast.com/
• This podcast, “On our way to zero” talks about
multiple ways in which humans can reduce their
waste either by reusing materials instead of throwing
them in the garbage, or by remembering to recycle
the items that are typically used each day.

7. Internet Resource 1
• Earth Day Network (click link to access website)
The EDN is credited with launching the modern
environmental movement known as Earth Day.
Since the first Earth Day in 1970, EDN has worked
with over 22,000 partners in 192 countries. More
than 1 billion people participate in Earth Day
activities each year, making it the largest public
operation in the world!

8. Internet Resource 2
• National Recycling Coalition (click link to access
website)
The NRC represents and advocates for every division
of the recycling industry in the United States. All
members of the NRC help spread the word about
reducing, reusing, and recycling waste products.

9. Internet Resource 3
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (click link
to access website)
The EPA’s overall mission is to protect human health
and the environment. This agency believes that
they contribute to making America’s communities
and ecosystems diverse, sustainable, and
economically productive by enforcing federal laws
that protect the environment.

10. Kidspiration Diagram
Boxes
This graphic Cartons
organizer shows
which items and
objects can be Cardboard
recycled, as well Newspaper
Magazines
Cans
Paper Metal Pans
as specific Books
Paper Bags
Pie Plates
examples within
each category. Cups
Items that can be
Bottles Bottles
The graphic 6-Pack Rings
Plastic Recycled Glass
Jars
Jugs
organizer was
Aluminum
created using the
software program
Kidspiration.
Cans
Foil

11. Teaching Materials 1
• Waste No Words Crossword Puzzle (click link to
access activity)
• Students can use this crossword puzzle to
practice spelling, as well as increase their
vocabulary and learn definitions related to
sustainability!

12. Teaching Materials 2
• How Many Cans and Junk Mail Letters? (click link
to access activity)
• Students must figure out the number of cans
and junk mail letters each child recycled based
on the given information and process of
elimination
• This activity shows how mathematics is a
subject that can be used across the
curriculum!

13. Teaching Materials 3
• Save The Planet Word Search (click link to access
activity)
• Students are able to use this word search to
learn about the words associated with saving
the planet, as well as practice each word’s
spelling

14. Teaching Materials 4
• Human Footprint (click link to access activity)
• This interactive website allows students to
take a look at the effect of human
consumption on the planet.

15. Subject-Specific Resource
• Power Up! (click link to access)
• This game challenges students to think about
the positive and negative effects that various
types of power plants have on the
environment

16. Uses of the Internet 1
• Earth 911 (click link to access)
• Online data source and online reference
This website allows students to search for a
recycling center near their home, and
teaches them how to recycle specific materials,
such as batteries, light bulbs, and tires. This
website also includes over 1 million fun ways to
reduce, reuse, and recycle!

17. Uses of the Internet 2
• Hidden Words Game (click link to access)
• Interactive website and online project
Above is an interactive hidden words game which
includes words that are related to saving the
environment, such as compost, atmosphere, and
ocean. This game comes from the Kid’s Page of
the National Institute of Environmental Health
Sciences. The NIEHS is part of the National
Institutes of Health and studies the effects of
the environment on human health.

18. Web 2.0
• Save The Planet (click link to access)
• This particular Facebook page’s main mission is to
sustain the Earth. This site offers ways to
preserve biodiversity, from the local,
neighborhood level to the to the entire planet.
Viewers can not only read up on what others are
posting about preservation, but also share their
own information about ways to save the planet.
Such resources enhance interactive collaboration!

19. Web 2.0 Continued
• BoxCycle (click link to access)
• This website allows people to find and sell used
boxes within their area by simply entering their
zip code.
• Students can bring in old boxes that are lying
around their house to sell to others who need
them. They will be helping the
environment, supporting local organizations, and
feel great about doing their part! Such resources
enhance student participation!