South Carolina ETV

The Rotten Truth (Grade 4)

Master Teacher

Teri Marriott

Time Allotment

45-60 minutes

Overview

Through the video, The Rotten Truth, students will realize that people produce more solid waste than is safely disposed of in sanitary landfills. Students will identify and interpret data on the types of trash that are thrown out the most. Through hands-on experiments and use of the Internet, students will see the long-term effects of taking solid waste to the landfill.

Subject Matter

Science—Environmental Science

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

  • analyze data on the types of trash that get thrown out the most
  • analyze how waste is disposed of in the landfill
  • identify the long-term effects of landfills
  • identify ways that they can reduce the amount of solid waste generated
  • create their own landfill so they can see the changes over time

South Carolina Standards

These Standards can be found online at Office of Curriculum Standards.

Science—Grade 4

II. Life Sciences

B. Organisms and Their Environment

1. Humans change the environment in ways that can be both detrimental for themselves and other organisms.

a. Describe changes in the environ- ment caused by humans.

b. Infer the impact of agricultural technology (e.g., air/land, water pollution and improved crop yield) on society and the environment.

c. Infer the impact of industrial technologies (e.g., air/land/water pollution and improved standard of living) on society and the environment.

Media Components

Video

The Rotten Truth explains that people in the United States are responsible for producing solid waste at an extraordinary rate—averaging about 5 pounds per person per day. The video will take students to the world's largest landfill to show them how we dispose of most solid waste.

To purchase a copy of this video, contact:

Children's Television Workshop
Sunburst Communications
101 Castleton St.
Pleasantville NY 10570
800 321-7511

Web Site: Recycle City

Materials

  • Teacher-made poster—The Rotten Truth
  • Basket 1: plastic bag, banana peel, sock
  • Basket 2: newspaper, leather purse, disposable diaper
  • Basket 3: wooden chair, glass container, picture of Statue of Liberty
  • mini-chalkboards
  • chalk
  • eraser
  • Science Response Journal
  • Teacher-made poster—What A Waste
  • Worksheet—What A Waste (one per Learning Club)
  • one 2-liter bottle per Learning Club (Cut the top part of the bottle off. See picture on Two-Liter Landfills worksheet for a picture explanation.)
  • soil
  • water
  • cup
  • permanent marker
  • garbage items (such as plastic, paper, foil) No meat!

Prep for Teachers

Prior to teaching, bookmark the Web site used in the lesson.

Cue the videotape to the appropriate starting point.

Have all materials ready for the Learning Clubs. (Learning Clubs are groups of 3-4 students working together.)

Make "The Rotten Truth" poster and the "What a Waste" pie chart.

Copy worksheets needed for class discussions:

Activity 1: Science Response Journal (includes reflections, Recycle City, and Two-Liter Landfills worksheets)

Activity 2: What a Waste

Introductory Activity

Step 1: Begin the lesson by asking students the question, "What is trash?" List their ideas on the teacher-made poster, "The Rotten Truth." (Note to Teacher: At the end of the text section of the lesson, you will find an example of what this poster can look like.) Then, have students generate a list of synonyms for the word "trash." List the words on the poster. (Guide students to these possible answers: garbage, waste, solid waste, rubbish, junk to name a few.)

Step 2: Ask students how many pounds of solid waste—trash and garbage—they think each of them throws away in one day. List estimates on the poster.

Step 3: Ask students what kinds of solid waste people are creating each day. If needed, ask guided questions such as: "Where do empty cereal boxes and milk containers end up?" or "Where do the empty bags used to carry the cereal and milk home from the store end up?"

Then tell students the alarming truth. Americans throw out about 200,000,000 tons of solid waste every year. That is an average of 5 pounds per person per day. Ask students to compare this fact with their estimates from the beginning of the lesson.

Learning Activities

Step 1: Quiz students on how long it takes for different kinds of garbage to disintegrate. Hold up each of the three items in the three different baskets. Working in Learning Clubs, have the groups come to a consensus on which they feel takes the longest to disintegrate. Have the recorders write down the groups' decisions on the mini-chalkboards.

Basket 1 includes: a plastic bag, banana peel, sock.

Basket 2 includes: newspaper, leather purse, disposable diaper.

Basket 3 includes: wooden chair, glass container, picture of the Statue of Liberty.

Then have each Learning Club report to the class on which items they feel will take the longest to disintegrate.

Step 2: Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by directing students to watch the first video clip. As they watch the clip, ask students to note which of the items takes the longest to disintegrate. Explain that at the end of this segment of the lesson, they will have to record their thoughts and feelings on the "rotten truth."

START the tape at the beginning. Stephanie (the girl in the video) will appear wearing a yellow raincoat and holding an umbrella. She will welcome students to the "rotten truth!" PLAY the tape until Stephanie has told the number of years it will take for each of the items to disintegrate. She will explain what garbage is and how long it can last. PAUSE the tape after she says, "I've got news for you. Garbage is not going to just go away if we throw it away."

Step 3: After this segment, ask students to write their thoughts and feelings on the "rotten truth" in their Science Response Journal. (Note to Teacher: Distribute the sheets that make up the Science Response Journal at this point.)

Possible guided questions include: Did the numbers of years that it takes one plastic bag to disintegrate surprise you? What should you do with a plastic bag after you have finished with it? Were any of the number of years that it takes for an item to disintegrate alarm you?

Then, as a class, discuss their reflections. Students may suggest ways that they can cut down on the amount of trash that is thrown away daily.

Years it takes for items to disintegrate:

  • Plastic Bag 20-30 years
  • Banana Peel 2-5 weeks
  • Sock 1-5 years
  • Newspaper 1 year
  • Leather Purse 50 years
  • Disposable Diaper 300-500 years
  • Wooden Chair 20 years
  • Glass Container 1 million years
  • Statue of Liberty 1500 years

Step 4: Have students work in their Learning Clubs to brainstorm a list of what they think are the most commonly thrown out household items. The recorder can record the list on the mini-chalkboard. Then, have each Learning Club report to the class their brainstorming list. Write their responses on "The Rotten Truth" poster.

Step 5: Display the teacher-made pie graph "What a Waste!" (Note to Teacher: An example of this poster can be found at the back of this lesson.) Explain the pie graph to the students. Generate a class discussion on the data from the pie graph. Then, have each Learning Club work together to analyze and interpret the graph. Each Learning Club should complete the worksheet, "What a Waste!" Next, as a class, have each Learning Club report what they interpreted from the graph. Learning Clubs should use their worksheet during this part of the lesson. Ask if any of the information on the graph surprised the students.

Step 6: Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by directing students to watch the next clip of the video. START the video with the song "What Does Your Garbage Say?" STOP the video immediately after Stephanie says, "What would you say if you were told a new landfill was going to be built in your old neighborhood?" Have students respond to this question.

Then, START the video to see how Stephanie and her friends answer the question. STOP the video after Stephanie says, "It's called `Not in my backyard syndrome.'"

Step 7: Direct students to the computers and have them go to the bookmarked site, Recycle City. Direct students to the landfill in the city. Point out to the students that there is a sign that says, "Dump—Closed." Then, point out that there is a "Recycle City Landfill." As a class, discuss reasons why there might be a dump, which is now closed, and a new city landfill.

Step 8: Next, have students read about the old landfill and the new landfill. Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by asking them to read to answer the following questions (part of the Science Response Journal activity):

1. What happened to the environment as a result of people throwing everything into the same big hole in the ground?

2. Who was responsible for paying the costs of the city cleanup?

3. What are your feelings about having the businesses responsible for contaminating the water actually paying for the cleanup?

4. What important lesson did the townspeople learn from the old landfill?

5. What are your thoughts and feelings about Superfund? Do you feel it is helpful and beneficial?

6. Explain the purpose of a landfill.

7. What purpose does the liner in the landfill serve?

8. Why do trucks cover the landfill with soil?

After the students have completed the reading and answered the questions in their Science Response Journals, discuss the answers as a class. If time permits, students may explore other areas of Recycle City.

Culminating Activity

Step 1: Have students work in their Learning Clubs to conduct the experiment, "Two-Liter Landfills." (This experiment will last for four weeks. Students will observe which items decayed in their landfills and which items did not.) Instruct a student to write the name of their Learning Club on the bottom of the 2-liter bottle. Then, fill the bottom of the bottle with a layer of soil. Place a layer of one type of trash on top of the soil. Place a layer of soil on top of the trash layer. Repeat this process with a different type of trash layer until there are four to five layers of trash. Place the landfill in a sunny location. Water it daily to keep it moist. Observe the landfill every week. Use the "Two-Liter Landfill" recording sheet to illustrate the landfill after one week. Then write underneath the illustration a brief description of the landfill and how it's changed. Continue to water the landfill and observe the changes that take place. Draw an illustration of the landfill after each week for four weeks. Then, write underneath the illustration a brief description of the landfill and how it's changed. At the end of the month, have students take the landfill apart. What items did disintegrate? Which items did not disintegrate?

Cross-Curricular Extensions

Literature Connections: Have students read one or more of the following books:

Fifty Simple Things People Can Do to Save the Earth by The Earthworks Group (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 1990)

Gardens from Garbage: How to Grow Indoor Plants From Recycled Kitchen Scraps by Judith F. Handlesman (The Millbrook Press, 1994)

The Great Trash Bash by Loreen Leedy (Holiday House, Inc., 1991

Waste, Recycling, and Re-Use (Protecting Our Planet series), by Steve Parker (Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers, 1998)

The Wump World by Bill Peet (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1981)

Social Studies: Help kids become aware of product packaging. Have them bring in examples of—or ads for—overly packaged items. List all the stuff that must be removed and thrown out before one can get to the product. Which stuff is necessary to protect the item? Which is not? Why might over-packaging cause problems? (It adds to the solid waste problem.) Challenge students to create effective packaging for products to benefit both the environment and the consumer.

Language Arts: Challenge students to write ads that promote the new, smaller product packages created by members of the class (from the above Social Studies activities). How might students attract a potential buyer's attention? How would students use magazine, newspaper, and TV ads to promote the new environmentally-minded packaging? Could they choose a celebrity to help promote the new packaging? Whom would they choose and why? Have students present their ads or TV commercials.

Art: Have students bring in one dry trash item from home. Then instruct then to use their imaginations to come up with ideas to make something different and useful from their objects. For example, an old glass jar can be decorated and used as a pencil holder and a milk jug can be transformed into a planter. Give students time to work on their projects. Once completed, have each student explain to the class how he/she came up with the idea for his/her project and what treasure he/she made from trash.

Reading & Writing: Where exactly does all the garbage go once it's collected? Read aloud Where Does the Garbage Go? by Paul Showers (HarperCollins Children's Books, 1994). Then, use the book to review the function of the landfill with your class. Next, have each student pretend to be a piece of trash that can't be recyled, such as an empty food container or a candy wrapper. Then instruct each student to write a story about what happens to the piece of trash (from the trash's point of view) from the time it is thrown away and transported to the landfill. Remind each student to tell what means of transportation he used to reach his destination, what happened along the way, and what he discovered there.

Math: One way to reduce the large amount of trash that is thrown away to is eliminate junk mail. How much junk mail do your students' families receive each day, each week, or each month? Find out with a junk mail jamboree! A few days in advance, send a note home explaining to parents that your class will be collecting junk mail. Ask them to send any appropriate junk mail to school with their child daily for one week. Place several junk mail collection boxes near the door of the classroom. At the end of the week, weigh the junk mail for a grand total. Based on the junk mail's total weight, help your students figure out how much the junk mail would weigh if collected for one month and then for one year. Brainstorm solutions for cutting down on junk mail and what to do with it once you have collected the mail. Solutions might include using the junk mail to make your own paper.

Critical Thinking: Have students work as a group to plan a recycling program. Components of the plan may include: background knowledge, the plan, the predicted outcome, letting people know about the plan, and the results.

Additional Web Sites

These sites may be visited after the lesson. All sites are in conjunction with the lesson.

Recycle Line
http://www.prc.org/rpdirect.htm

Recycler's World
http://www.recycle.net

Keep America Beautiful
http://www.kab.org

DHEC Office of Solid Waste Reduction http://www.state.sc.us/dhec

Community Connections

Visit the local recycling center.

Invite in guests to discuss their jobs at a recycling center and what their entire job encompasses.

Work with the local organizations to help with the school's recycling center. Organizations can work on the recycling collection, pick-up, etc.

Activity Sheets:

NTTI

South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545