Lesson Plan
Recycling
| Subject: | Literacy |
| Grade span: | 3 to 5 |
| Duration: | 60 to 75 minutes |
Description:
This lesson is one example of how you can implement a writing activity. The best writing activities go hand in hand with reading, and engage students in a story. Students read or listen to a story, and discuss how it relates to themselves and their world. Then, they're warmed up and ready to write something of their own, using stories and writing activities to enhance their literacy skills.Learning Goals:
- Learn how waste and recycling affect the environment
- Read and understand a related story
- Connect literature to oneself and the world
- Write a poem and begin to understand the conventions of poetry
Materials:
- The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein
- Audio recording of the poem, Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out, also by Shel Silverstein
- Paper and pencils
- Sample poems
Preparation:
- Review the text and audiotape, identifying key themes and any new vocabulary
- Collect examples of poems
- Develop rubric for poems
What to Do:
- Read The Giving Tree aloud
- As you read, ask questions about the story's characters and meaning
- After you read, engage students in a discussion about how trees are used
- Play an audio recording of the poem, Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out
- Ask students what they think the poem means, and what words and phrases suggest
- Ask students to discuss recycling in their own homes and school: Do you recycle? What types of things do you recycle? What happens to recyclable items if you recycle them? What effect does recycling have on the overall environment?
- Discuss the difference between stories and poems (using the two examples from the lesson)
- Provide a couple of examples of other poems for the students to read
- Review the rubric for writing a poem
- Ask students to write their own poem about recycling and taking care of the environment
- When students are finished, ask them to read their poems aloud
Evaluate (Outcomes to look for):
- Active, attentive listening
- Answers that reflect an understanding of the story and poem
- Comments and answers that reflect students' abilities to make connections to themselves and the world
- Written work that reflects the criteria you developed for writing a poem (connection to recycling and poem structure, for example)
