Before/Engage (10 minutes)
Explain to students they will continue to discuss recycling and investigate ways we can help lessen the impact on the Earth by humans.
Ask students to think about what ways they have already learned to lessen the impact of humans on the Earth. Have students turn and talk with their partner about their thoughts. Using equity sticks, ask group members to share what their partner's thoughts were.
**Equity sticks are sticks labeled with a student's name. The teacher pulls one stick and calls on the student whose name appears on the stick. This method can help teachers make sure to call on all students equitably.
Show the cover of the book to students and explain that this is the book we will read and discuss for this lesson.
During Strategy/Explore and Explain (Two 30-40 minute lessons taught on consecutive days)
Day 1
1. Discuss with students their thoughts about the book by having them look at the cover. After the group discussion, explain that this book is an informational text and the students will gain knowledge about recycling, ways to recycle, and other ideas to use to help reduce the impact of humans on the environment.
2. Read Recycle by Gail Gibbons.
3. Conduct a class discussion on ideas gained by reading the book and referring to the text for evidence.
4. Give students exit tickets (Post-it note) to use for the next portion of the lesson. Have students work with their turn and talk partner to draw or write an idea they learned from the whole group reading that identifies a way to lessen the impact of humans on the environment.
5. Have partner groups come and place their ticket on the chart and share what they drew or wrote about with the class.
***This is where the lesson could be concluded for the first day.
Day 2
6. Discuss the exit tickets as a whole group, add any ideas that were not placed on the chart, and review from the previous day's lesson.
7. Review rules and expectations for group work. Divide students into groups using teacher discretion. Hand out the large construction paper or poster paper to the groups. They will need markers, pencils, or crayons to complete the assignment. Have groups come up with their favorite way to lessen the impact of humans on the Earth and draw and write about it on the paper. Explain to students they will be presenting their ideas and will be videoed so they can share their ideas with the school and beyond. Each group is responsible for one drawing of their group's idea of how to lessen the impact of humans on Earth.
8. After the groups are finished, the teacher will use iMovie to video the groups discussing their ideas and upload the video to YouTube for sharing purposes. The video can be shared with other classes, parents, etc.
After Strategy/Explain & Elaborate (10) minutes
The teacher should show the video that compiles each group's ideas and their thoughts on how to lessen the impact of humans on Earth. Allow students to discuss why they liked the ideas of their classmates. Allow students to use a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" response to assess the groups' presentations. The students should determine if the ideas presented by each group are real ways to lessen the impact of humans on the environment. This response will also check for each group's ability to retell details from text based on the book that was read as a whole group. Students can also discuss the people they could potentially share the video with outside of the school.