Title of Lesson: The Three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Subjects: Language Arts, Science, Social Studies

Grade Level: 3rd Grade Time Allotted: 60 minutes

Materials Required:

 Internet link EekoWorld http://pbskids.org/eekoworld

 Internet link for poster reference http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/explore/reduce/
 Recycling Symbols poster
 One large bag of popcorn
 Individual bags of popcorn
 Reusable water bottle
 Six-pack of bottled water
 Old clothes
 Glass bowls/vases
 Pencils & small office supplies
 Glass wine bottle
 Notebook
 Cereal box
 Plastic milk jug
 Pop can
 The Three R’s quiz key
 The Three R’s quiz for each student
 Poster board for each student
 Past student examples of poster
 Poster rubric for each student
 Poster template/directions for each student
 Pencils/Crayons/Markers
 Computer with internet access
 Books for poster reference: What Happens to Our Trash? By D.J. Ward, Why Should I
Recycle Garbage? By MJ Knight, Waste and Recycling By Sally Hewitt, Why Shouldn’t I
drop Litter? By MJ Knight, and The Three R’s: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle By Nuria Roca
 The Three R’s Reduce, Reuse, Recycle YouTube Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtoeZ9Nkeqk

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GLCE’s/CCSS’s:

Science:

E.ES.03.43 - Describe ways humans are protecting, extending, and restoring resources

(recycle, reuse, reduce, renewal)

E.ES.03.44 – Recognize that paper, metal, glass, and some plastics can be recycled.

E.ES.03.52 – Describe helpful or harmful effects of humans on the environment

(garbage, habitat destruction, land management, renewable and non-renewable

resources).

Social Studies:

3-P4.2.2 - Participate in projects to help or inform others.

Language Arts:

Writing Standards K-5; Text Types and Purposes, Standard 2 - Write

informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information

clearly.

Objectives:

1. TLW explain how practicing the Three R’s benefits the environment. (Comprehension)

2. TLW define the terms reduce, reuse, and recycle. (Knowledge)

3. TLW give examples of ways that humans can reduce, reuse, and recycle, through both

writing and visuals. (Application)

4. TLW list the four recyclable materials (glass, paper/cardboard, plastic, and metal).

(Knowledge)

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Instructional Procedure

Essential Elements

1. Anticipatory Set:

a. Have the three R’s written on the board. Point them out to the students. “Class, have

you ever seen or heard these words before? Reduce, reuse, recycle. I call these words

‘The Three R’s.’ Can anyone tell me what they think these words mean?” Allow

students to share their background knowledge about each of the three R’s. “Alright, well

thanks for sharing with everyone what you know about the three R’s. We’re going to

watch a short video on a fun website called EekoWorld to see if we can learn some more

about the three R’s and about how we can use them to help our environment.” Click on

the “Garbage and Recycling” tab on the EekoWorld website to pull up the video. After

watching the video, ask students to share what new things they learned from the video.

“I’m sure you learned a lot of new things from the monkey and the children in that video.

What things did you learn that you didn’t know before?” Allow several students to share

what they learned, and be sure to give gentle corrections if any students were confused

about certain concepts in the video.

2. State Purpose and Objective(s) of Lesson:

a. “Great, thanks for sharing! As you saw in the video, we can cause great harm to the

earth and the things living in it if we don’t take care to reduce, reuse, and recycle on a

regular basis. Practicing the three R’s isn’t hard; it just requires us to be a bit more

thoughtful when making everyday decisions about what we do with certain materials

after we’re done using them. In today’s lesson, we’re going to learn about specific ways

that we can reduce, reuse, and recycle, so that hopefully you are more prepared to make

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 those decisions on your own when the time comes. We want to be able to make good

decisions about these things so that we can help make our environment a cleaner and

safer place to live.”

b. “Now we can work on some activities to help us better understand the three R’s: reduce,

reuse, recycle. We’ll go through the words one at a time and learn more about them; I’ve

brought in all kinds of materials to help us with this! After that I’m going to give you a

short quiz to make sure you’ve understood and remembered what each of the three R’s

mean and their role in caring for the environment; but don’t worry, I promise that as long

as you pay attention and do a good job of participating throughout the lesson, the quiz

will be a piece of cake for you. There will be some homework to do at the end of the

lesson, but it will be fun! Each of you will create a poster with definitions and examples

of each of the three R’s. We’ll end up hanging these posters up in the hallway to show

others how they can put the three R’s into action and to help them understand the

importance of doing this.”

3. Instructional Input Plan:

a. Reduce – “Alright, so let’s learn more about the first R: reduce. When we use this word,

we’re talking about reducing waste. When we avoid making garbage in the first place,

we don’t have to worry about disposing of waste or recycling it later. The less waste

there is, the less polluted and healthier the earth is. We’re going to examine these

popcorn bags to help us get a better idea of what it means to reduce—to reduce waste,

that is.” Show the students the large bag of popcorn and the individual bags of popcorn.

“Looking at these different-sized bags of popcorn, which do you think would create more

waste when you throw it away? This one large bag? Or the three small bags?” Allow

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 students to share their responses. Show the students how more wrapping is used overall

in the individual bags than in the large bag. “We can see that the three smaller bags

would create more waste or garbage. There is more wrapping used overall in the

individual bags than in the one large bag. So the next time you’re watching a movie with

your friends and you all want some popcorn, which choice would be better for the

environment: each of you eating from your own individual bag, or all of you sharing

from one big bag?” Allow students to share their responses. “That’s right! The choice

that creates the least amount of waste is always the choice that’s better for the

environment. Alright, let’s test your knowledge about reducing one last time.” Show the

students the reusable water bottle and the six-pack of bottled water. “Here are two

different ways that I can drink water. I can refill this bottle over and over again with

water and just wash it out in between uses so that I can keep using it for a very long time.

Or I can buy packs of bottled water like this one, throwing out each bottle after I’ve

drunk all the water out of it. So which option would create the least amount of waste and

would thus be better for the environment?” Allow students to share their responses.

“Excellent! Alright, I think we’re ready to move onto the second R: reuse.”

b. Reuse – “There are three types of ways that a material can be reused: it can be used again

by the same person for the same purpose, it can be used again by a different person for

the same purpose, or it can be used again—by the same person or a different person—for

an entirely different purpose. Our water bottle example from before is one way that you

can reduce and reuse at the same time. You’re using the non-disposable water bottle

over and over again for the same purpose—drinking water. So that’s an example of an

item being used again by the same person for the same purpose. Now let’s think of how

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something could be used again by a different person for the same purpose. How about

this: have you ever gotten ‘hand-me-downs’ from your siblings, or given them to your

siblings?” Show students old clothes. “‘Hand-me-downs’ are clothes that the original

wearer has grown out of or doesn’t want anymore, so he or she hands them down to

someone who could use them, for the same purpose of wearing them. Alright, so what’s

an example of something being used again—by the same person or a different person—

for an entirely different purpose? Well, have any of you ever been to a yard sale or

garage sale? This is when people invite others to shop in their yard or garage for things

that they are selling—things that they want to get rid of. Pretend you’re shopping at a

yard or garage sale where the people are selling lots of pretty glass vases and bowls.

Now if you were my mom, who loves to garden, you would buy these vases and bowls

and use them for an entirely different purpose than the previous owners did: you would

glue them together to create pretty glass sculptures for your garden!” Show students a

few glass bowls/vases and stack them on top of one another to show them how the

sculpture would be created. “So that’s how something could be used again by a different

person for an entirely different purpose. Now let’s pretend you’re the person selling

those vases and bowls. When the sale is over, you still have one bowl and one vase left.

Even though the vase was designed to hold flowers, you decide to turn it into a pencil

holder. And even though the bowl was designed to eat out of, you decide to turn it into a

place to keep your paperclips, thumbtacks, rubber bands, and other small office

supplies.” Fill one of the vases with pencils and one of the bowls with small office

supplies to show how they could be used for these purposes. “So that’s how something

could be used again by the same person for an entirely different purpose. Now that

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 we’ve learned all about how we can reuse things instead of throwing them away and

creating waste, let’s see if you can tell me how some other things might be reused. How

could an old toy that you don’t want anymore be reused? How could a large, durable

paper shopping bag be reused? How could beads from a broken necklace be reused?”

Allow students to share their responses to each question. Encourage them to consider the

three types of ways that materials can be reused as they come up with their responses.

“Nice job! Okay, let’s move on to the third and final R: recycle.”

c. Recycle – “So when we were talking about the first two R’s, reducing and reusing, our

goal was to avoid disposing of things, or throwing things away, in order to create less

waste. Now when it comes to recycling, we are actually disposing of our waste, but we

are doing this in ways that allow it to be made into something new, instead of it just

turning into pollution that will harm the environment. Maybe it would help to think of it

this way. The amount of time that you spend using a certain material is that material’s

‘life.’ If you just throw that material in the trash when you’re done using it, that material

will die, and it will be dead forever because no part of it will ever be used again. But if

you dispose of that material in the proper way—that is, if you recycle that material—that

material will come back to life after it dies! Its new life will be different from the one it

had with you because it will be used by other people, it might be made into something

different, and only parts of it might be used again—but the point is that it will still ‘be

alive!’ A material can have multiple ‘lives’ if people continue to recycle it after they are

done using it. But not all types of materials are able to be recycled. There are four types

of everyday materials which can be easily recycled: glass, paper/cardboard, plastic, and

metal.” Show students the items made from these different materials. “If you’re ever in

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doubt about whether or not a material is recyclable, look for a special symbol similar to

the ones that are on these materials.” Point out the recycling symbols on each of the

materials, and have students pass around the “Recycling Symbols” poster. “Now there

are a few different ways that you can recycle materials like these. Nowadays, more and

more public places and buildings have receptacles where you can dispose of various

recyclable materials. These receptacles are usually located near trash cans and are

individually labeled so that you know which type of material belongs in which bin. So

that’s one way to recycle when you’re ‘on the go.’ The most convenient way of

recycling materials that you use at home is to set them out in a bin at the end of your

driveway for your neighborhood recycling crew to pick up, once a week, just like you do

with your trash. Unfortunately, not all neighborhoods offer this service. If this is the

case, but you’re still devoted to recycling materials that you use at home, you can take

the materials you’ve collected to a place that will recycle them. The most popular

example of this is taking your ‘empties’—your empty cans and glass or plastic bottles—

to the bottle return at a store. Sometimes recycling literally pays off; when you take your

empties back, you get a little bit of money in return for each one of them! But remember,

you can only recycle something if it’s made of glass, paper/cardboard, plastic, or metal.

Keeping that it mind, I’m going to name a bunch of different objects, and you tell me

whether or not each one is recyclable; say ‘Yes’ if it can be recycled, and ‘No’ if it

cannot. Here we go! Pop can. Stuffed animal. Pickle jar. Toothpick. Cereal box.

Sandwich. Notebook. Rubber band. Bottle of water.” Allow students to respond to

each prompt. Be sure to give gentle corrections to any wrong answers and explain why

the answers were wrong. “Wonderful! Class, you’ve done a great job of showing me

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 how much you’ve learned about the three R’s.”

d. The Three R’s Quiz – Pass out the quizzes. “Alright, to make sure you’ve really

understood what we just learned about the 3 R’s, I’m going to have you take a short quiz.

I promise you that this will be a piece of cake if you were paying attention! If you have

any questions about the quiz or if you don’t understand a question, please raise your hand

and I’ll come over to help you.” Give students several minutes to take the quiz. Students

who finish early may quietly start looking at past student examples of posters. Collect

the quizzes. Students who don’t finish within the allotted amount of time may finish

later in the day when they have some free time. Make sure to grade the quizzes before

the end of the day so that you have time to give feedback to any students who need it,

before they start on their posters.

e. Poster Making – The students will create a poster at home describing ways to promote

the 3 R’s they learned about in class today. These posters are going to be like graphic

organizers so the teacher can easily evaluate what the students have done. Have students

pass around past student examples of the poster, and while passing out

templates/directions and rubrics for the poster to each student, explain to them exactly

what you are looking for. “There is one last thing that I need you to do for me tonight at

home. I want you to create a poster with definitions and examples of the 3 R’s we went

over today in class, and I need it to look similar to these past student examples, and have

a layout that follows the template. We provided many examples of the words in class,

but if you like you can use some other sources to help you come up with new ideas,

which I’ll show you in just a minute. I need a sentence about what each word means, a

sentence with an example of how people can practice each word, and a picture to go

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along with each one of your examples. In the ‘Recycle’ section, you must also include a

list the 4 recyclable materials. Also, at the top of your poster, I want you to write a

sentence about how practicing the 3 R’s helps the environment. If you get stuck with

this, there’s a hint on the template to use the word WASTE within this sentence—

remember how we were talking about waste earlier and how it relates to the 3 R’s? All

of your text needs to be written in your own words so that I can be sure you’ve

understood what you’ve learned.” Go through a couple of past student examples

thoroughly to show how those students met each of the requirements with their poster.

“You can make your poster by hand, writing out your text and drawing your pictures, or

you can make it on the computer and print it out, typing out your text and using pictures

from the computer—it’s up to you! Either way, I want you to make it colorful and eye-

catching because we will be hanging them up in the hallway to tell others about what we

have learned. I will be providing you with poster board, so don’t worry about that.

Make sure you closely follow your template, directions, and rubric to guide you through

the process. Remember to be creative and have fun making it!” Finally, show students

the books they may check out from the classroom library to help them come up with

ideas for their poster. Also have the Internet link posted on the board

(http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/explore/reduce/) so that students may write it down and use it

as a reference if they wish. Give students some time to look through the past student

examples and the reference books, and encourage students to ask any questions about the

poster they might have. Make sure that each student picks up a sheet of poster board

before going home for the day. This project is homework, but if students have free time

during the day, they may use classroom supplies to start working on it.

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4. Assessment:

a. Oral Student Responses – All of these are informal formative assessments and can be

found in the Anticipatory Set, in sections (a), (b), and (c) of the Instructional Input Plan,

and in section (a) of the Closure. Collectively, these assessments measure all four

objectives. Having students orally respond to questions during instruction and discussion

is a simple way for the teacher to make sure that they are generally understanding and

retaining the information well enough to independently accomplish the objectives when it

comes time for later, more formal assessments.

b. The Three R’s Quiz – This is a formal formative assessment which can be found in

section (d) of the Instructional Input Plan. This assessment measures all four objectives.

Having students complete this quiz independently is an effective way for the teacher to

make sure that each child has understood and retained the information well enough to

independently accomplish the objectives when it comes time for the formal summative

assessment.

c. Poster Making – This is a formal summative assessment which can be found in section

(e) of the Instructional Input Plan. This assessment measures all four objectives. Having

students make individualized posters about the Three R’s is an effective way for the

teacher to make sure that each child has understood and retained the information well

enough to independently accomplish the objectives and is ready to move on to new

learning.

5. Closure:

a. Summary of learning – Close out the lesson by playing the YouTube video. Then have

students share a few different things that they have learned throughout the lesson.

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b. Reinforcement of objectives – “Thanks for sharing what you learned from today’s

lesson about the 3 R’s. Remember that we need to practice the 3 R’s on a daily basis to

protect the environment, or to limit the amount of waste that gets dumped into the

environment. I hope that you encourage others to practice the 3 R’s, too, so that together

we can keep our environment a clean and safe place to live!

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 Recycling Symbols

Metal Recycling Symbol

Paper/Cardboard Recycling Symbol

Plastic Recycling Symbols

Glass Recycling Symbol

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 The Three R’s Quiz – Key (13 pts. total)

1. What is the connection between the Three R’s and waste? Circle
the letter of the best answer. (1 pt.)
a. Practicing the Three R’s increases the amount of waste in the
environment, which makes the environment cleaner and healthier.
b. Practicing the Three R’s reduces the amount of waste in the
environment, which makes the environment cleaner and healthier.
c. There is no connection between the Three R’s and waste.

2. For each of the comparisons below, circle the option which reduces
waste. (1 pt. each, 4 total)
- one giant bag of cereal OR several normal-size boxes of cereal
- disposable camera OR digital camera
- several normal-size notebooks OR one thick notebook
- rechargeable batteries OR normal batteries

3. On the line next to each item, write a short phrase about how you
could reuse it. (1 pt. each, 3 total)
- scraps of colored paper ____________answers will vary_______

- an old blanket _______________answers will vary___________

- a pickle jar _____________answers will vary_______________

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4. After reading over the list of materials below, circle the letters of
the 4 materials that can be recycled, or are recyclable. (1 pt. each,
4 total)
a. glass
b. cotton
c. wood
d. paper/cardboard
e. rubber
f. plastic
g. metal
h. stone

5. Which of the following is not a proper way to recycle? Circle the

letter of the best answer. (1 pt.)
a. Put recyclable materials in public recycling receptacles or bins
b. Set out recyclable materials at the end of your driveway so that
your neighborhood recycling crew can pick them up
c. Throw recyclable materials in the trash
d. Take recyclable materials to a store or other place that offers
recycling services

OPTIONAL: In the space below, draw a picture to go along with one of

your answers from question #3.

answers will vary

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 Name:________________________
The Three R’s Quiz

1. What is the connection between the Three R’s and waste? Circle
the letter of the best answer.
a. Practicing the Three R’s increases the amount of waste in the
environment, which makes the environment cleaner and healthier.
b. Practicing the Three R’s reduces the amount of waste in the
environment, which makes the environment cleaner and healthier.
c. There is no connection between the Three R’s and waste.

2. For each of the comparisons below, circle the option which reduces
waste.
- one giant bag of cereal OR several normal-size boxes of cereal
- disposable camera OR digital camera
- several normal-size notebooks OR one thick notebook
- rechargeable batteries OR normal batteries

3. On the line next to each item, write a short phrase about how you
could reuse it.
- scraps of colored paper ________________________________

- an old blanket _______________________________________

- a pickle jar _________________________________________

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4. After reading over the list of materials below, circle the letters of
the 4 materials that can be recycled, or are recyclable.
a. glass
b. cotton
c. wood
d. paper/cardboard
e. rubber
f. plastic
g. metal
h. stone

5. Which of the following is not a proper way to recycle? Circle the

letter of the best answer.
a. Put recyclable materials in public recycling receptacles or bins
b. Set out recyclable materials at the end of your driveway so that
your neighborhood recycling crew can pick them up
c. Throw recyclable materials in the trash
d. Take recyclable materials to a store or other place that offers
recycling services

OPTIONAL: In the space below, draw a picture to go along with one of

your answers from question #3.

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 The Three R’s Poster Rubric
Excellent Good Okay Poor Unacceptable
Statement Statement is Statement is Statement Statement Statement
(8) clear, written in written in your shows is included not included
your own words, own words and connection but does (0)
and shows shows between the 3 not show
connection connection R’s and waste connection
between the 3 between the 3 (3-4) between
R’s and waste R’s and waste the 3 R’s
(7-8) (5-6) and waste
(1-2)
Definitions Definition Definition Definition Definitions No
(12) included for included for included for included definitions
each of the 3 each of the 3 each of the 3 for only 1- included (0)
R’s; all 3 R’s, but only 2 R’s, but only 1 2 of the 3
definitions are definitions are definition is R’s (1-3)
clear, accurate, clear, accurate, clear,
and written in and written in accurate, and
your own words your own words written in
(10-12) (7-9) your own
words (4-6)
Examples Example Example Example Examples No examples
(12) included for included for included for included included (0)
each of the 3 each of the 3 each of the 3 for only 1-
R’s; all 3 R’s, but only 2 R’s, but only 1 2 of the 3
examples are examples are example is R’s (1-3)
accurate and accurate and accurate and
mention specific mention specific mentions a
materials/items materials/items specific
and ways to and ways to material/item
practice the 3 practice those and way to
R’s (10-12) R’s (7-9) practice that
R (4-6)

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 Pictures Picture included Picture included Picture Pictures No pictures
(4) for each of the for each of the included for included included (0)
3 R’s; all 3 R’s, but only 2 each of the 3 for only 1-
pictures go pictures go R’s, but only 1 2 of the 3
along with their along with their picture goes R’s (1)
examples (4) examples (3) along with its
example (2)
List of All 4 materials 3 of 4 materials 2 of 4 1 of 4 List not
Recyclable included (4) included (3) materials materials included (0)
Materials included (2) included (1)
(4)
Poster All layout Most layout Some layout Hardly any No layout
Layout guidelines were guidelines were guidelines layout guidelines
(4) followed; layout followed; layout were guidelines were
matches is very similar to followed; were followed;
template (4) template (3) layout is followed; layout doesn’t
somewhat layout look at all like
similar to looks very template (0)
template (2) different
from
template
(1)
COMMENTS:

TOTAL SCORE: ___/44

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 The Three R’s Poster Directions

*Your task: to create a colorful, eye-catching poster which shows how much
you’ve learned about the Three R’s—and which can teach others about the
Three R’s, too!

*On your poster, you will need to include…

- A one-sentence statement about how practicing the Three R’s helps the
environment (HINT: use the word WASTE somewhere in your sentence!)
- 3 one-sentence definitions, one for each of the Three R’s
- 3 one-sentence examples, one for each of the Three R’s, of how people
can practice the Three R’s (NOTE: each example must mention a
specific material/item and a specific way of using that material/item to
practice that R!)
- 3 pictures to go along with your examples, one for each of your
examples (NOTE: each picture must show the material/item and/or the
way of using that material/item from the example that it goes along
with!)
- A list of the 4 recyclable materials, to be included in the ‘Recycle’
section of the poster

*Everything you write needs to be written IN YOUR OWN WORDS!!!

*You may create your poster by hand or with the help of a computer—
whichever you prefer. Be creative and have fun with it! =)

*Be sure to use these directions, your rubric, and the template to guide you
as you make your poster. Part of your grade is based on how closely you
follow the template layout, so be sure to pay careful attention to that! Also,
if you have trouble remembering something or coming up with ideas, feel
free to take a look at one of the books you checked out from class or this
website: http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/explore/reduce/.

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 The Three R’s Poster Template
TOP OF POSTER: Statement about how practicing the Three R’s
helps the environment (look for the HINT in the directions!)

Reduce Reuse
Definition Definition
Example Example

Picture Picture

The Three R’s:

Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle

Recycle
Definition
Example
List of 4 Recyclable Materials

Picture

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