Module 5: We Love Our Things
We Love
Our Things
LOVE
Objective: to hold space for the children to form an opinion on where our things come from and where they go
Vocabulary: (recap) material, natural resources, respect, impact
Reading: Little Blue Chair
Creative Activity: Last Marker Box
Earth Friends Lesson
Module 4: Lesson 5
Begin Lesson
move & discover: 7 minutes
Materials Make Things
Passing around the materials will be repeated at the beginning of each lesson; however, each week the children will be asked to identify or categorize the materials in a different way.
Materials Needed: a sample* of the following 10 materials
Wood: (we cut down trees)
Plastic: (we dig up or drill fossil fuels)
Rubber: (we dig up or drill fossil fuels / we cut down trees)
Metal: (we dig up rocks and minerals)
Fabric: (we cut down plants; we take from animals)
Glass: (we use sand)
Paper: (we cut down trees / we cut down plants)
Ceramic: (we dig up clay, rocks, and minerals)
Cardboard: (we cut down trees / we cut down plants
Leather: (we take from animals)
Have the children sit in a circle and then pass around the material samples one at a time. What is the impact each has on Earth? Remind the children the impact is how much we take from Earth and how much waste we create. What happens if we take too much? To Earth? To animals? To humans? Could we use a different material?
*Samples of materials should be: nondescript (plastic cannot be a straw, metal cannot be a can), about the size of a smart phone, safe with no rough or sharp edges. You can find a good amount at a home renovation store or flooring store.
Curious Question
I wonder how we can keep our things out of a landfill.
While the obvious answers will be Recycle, Reuse, and Compost, take any suggestions that the children have to keep our waste from going to a landfill.
Main Lesson
We get our materials to make our things from Earth's natural resources. We can take less from Earth when we take care of our things and respect them, because we won't need to make new things. Using natural resources to make materials and throwing our materials away is our impact. Humans can have positive (thumbs up and smiles!) impact when we don't take too much and we keep our things out of landfills.
sit & learn: 5 minutes
Last Marker Box
Where does a marker go when it's used up? We can't recycle it. We can't reuse it. We can't compost it. What can we do with it?
Bring out the last marker box*. Instead of throwing the markers away or recycling, children will put each marker in The Last Marker Box. We have been putting our markers in here instead of the garbage, because we want to see how many markers will go to a landfill.
Let's count!
Have the children count the markers and discuss that it's a lot of markers to throw in the garbage. But we want to keep our things out of landfills, so what if we decide to use crayons and colored pencils and paint instead of markers?
*If this is the first year for the Last Marker Box, you could make this a creativity activity for the class to discuss and design a Last Marker Box. This simply a box that is decorated as a recipitle for all used-up markers.
Closing Sentiment
We can pay attention to our impact on Earth and learn to love and respect all the things humans make. We can reuse, recycle, and compost our things whenever we can so they do not go to a landfill.
move & learn: 7 minutes
End Lesson
Teachers in the Classroom
Teacher Activity
A Message for the Next Earth Friends
Now that we have concluded our Earth Friends lessons, this is a chance to give the children an opportunity to express what Earth Friends meant to them and how and if they are excited for new Earth Friends with next year's class. It is likely that many children will repeat the lessons, but this activity can be a way of connecting one school year to the next.
Materials Needed: Paper + Crazy Crayons and Colored Pencils
What do you want a new Earth Friend to know? What do you want to learn about in Earth Friends next year?
Throughout the Week
Discuss: The Respect Rules. Who is following them? How does it help take care of our things?
Explore: What is growing in the garden? What can you harvest to eat? What needs water?
Discover: different ideas to keep things out of landfills. What can the school do? What can the children do? Discuss how composting helps and using materials you can recycle helps.
Reading: Little Blue Chair
Vocabulary: (recap) material, natural resource, respect, impact
Good Choices
I can make choices to keep my things out of landfills.
I can talk to other children and friends about being an Earth
Friend.
I can learn about and love my home and the Earth Friends I share it with.
Vocabulary:
material: Humans make all different kinds of things, and our things are made out of different materials.
natural resource: The materials we use to make our things are found in nature, like trees and rocks, and we call these natural resources. Some come from underground, like fossil fuels, rocks, and minerals. Some come from plants, like trees and leaves. Some come from animals. We create all our materials from natural resources
respect: Humans make many things from natural resources. We don't want to use too much of what we find in nature (what Earth gives us) so we can learn to respect and care for our things. When we respect our things, we can make them last longer
Impact: Humans use natural resources from nature to make our things.
Humans also create waste when we are done with our things. The natural resources we take and the waste we make is called our impact
Families at Home
Discuss: The Toy Swap. Our Toy Swap Party is nearly here, and maybe your child has chosen a toy to swap. If not, you can keep that conversation going and encourage your child to choose just one.
This is not always an easy concept to grasp, so you can start off by making a pile of toys that are "maybes." Maybe I'm too old for this toy. Maybe someone else will love it more. Maybe I have too many toys like this toy. This will help your child ultimately narrow down to one toy they can bring in for the toy swap.
*Try not to pick a toy you no longer want. Give your child time to choose and understand that 2 things might happen. 1) Your child may choose a toy that you love. 2) Your child might not choose a toy you really want to let go of.