KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Teacher Candidate:

Erin Dougherty

Date: 4/10/15

Cooperating Teacher: Professor Varano

Coop. Initials

Group Size:

Grade Level

20

Allotted Time 45 minutes

Subject or Topic: Garbage

4th

Section

STANDARD:
S4.B.3.3.5: Describe the effects of pollution (e.g., litter) in the community.
I. Performance Objectives (Learning Outcomes):
A. The 4th grade students will examine what happens in a landfill by participating
in an experiment.
II. Instructional Materials
A. BrainPop Video
B. Brain Pop vocabulary worksheet (attached)
C. Where Does the Garbage go? By Paul Showers
D. Plastic Cups
E. Markers
F. Cheerios
G. Water
H. Plaster for Paris
I. Crayons
J. Inquiry worksheet (attached)
III. Subject Matter/Content (prerequisite skills, key vocabulary, big idea, outline of
additional content)
A. Prerequisite skills
1. Students should understand the effects humans have on their
environment
2. Students should give examples on how to save their environment,
reduce pollution.
B. Key Vocabulary
1. Decompose- make or become rotten; decay or cause to decay

2. Compactors- a machine or mechanism used to reduce the size of

waste material or soil through compaction.
3. Composting- make (vegetable matter or manure) into compost
4. Hazardous- risky, dangerous
5. Incineration- to cause to burn to ashes
6. Municipal- of or relating to a city or town or its governing body
7. Refuse- fail to perform a required action, matter thrown away or
rejected as worthless; trash
8. Waste-to-energy plants- is the process of generating energy in the
form of electricity and/or heat from the incineration of waste
C. Big Idea
1. Where does trash go and how can we reduce the amount of garbage
in landfills?
IV. Implementation
A. Introduction
1. To introduce the lesson, the teacher will play the Brain Pop video
a) Note to the students to listen to the vocabulary words, they will
be filling out a vocabulary worksheet after the video
B. Development
1. The teacher will go over the following vocabulary words that the
students heard while watching the Brain Pop video
a) Decompose
b) Compactors
c) Composting
d) Hazardous
e) Incineration
f) Municipal
g) Refuse
h) Waste-to-energy plants
2. The teacher will ask the students the amount of trash someone
throws away in one day
a) The average is 4 pounds everyday
3. The teacher will ask the students where does the garbage go once its
picked up at your house
4. The teacher will discuss with the class that garbage used to go to the
dump, which is a piece of land where all kinds of trash is dumped
a) The dump lets the trash sit there and pile up
5. The teacher will tell the students that now most cities use landfills
a) Landfills spread trash out and smash it into the ground by
bulldozers, and dirt is put on top of it
b) It is healthier and cleaner
c) After several layers, something will be able to build on top of it
6. The teacher will give an example of tires being in landfills

a) Tires can sit in landfills for thousands of year and not break
down
b) They can be used for something else
7. Each student/group will need a plastic cup with a line drawn in the
middle
8. Fill each cup to the line with cheerios
9. Cheerios represent tires in a landfill
10. The students will record on their inquiry sheet what the cheerios
represent and will draw what their cup looks like
11. The teacher will provide a marker to each group and will have the
students smash the cheerios
a) The teacher will discuss what they see now after smashing the
cheerios
b) Do they cheerios reach the line?
c) By smashing up the tires we reduced the space they took up
12. The teacher will add 3 scoops of Plaster of Paris and 6 spoon fulls of
water into the cup, the students will stir them all together.
13. The students will be given a plate, so they can create a road out of
their concrete they made
14. The students will then draw a picture of their road they created and
will explain what it is and what they did
C. Closure
1. The teacher will read Where Does the Garbage Go? By Paul
showers to close the lesson.
D. Accommodations/Differentiation
1. Students with a visual disability can have their group members read
the worksheet to them, they can use their sense of touch to record the
difference of the before and after smashing of the cheerios
E. Assessment/Evaluation Plan
1. Formative
a) The teacher will collect the vocabulary sheet and the inquiry
worksheet
2. Summative
a) There will be a test at the end of the unit

V. Reflective Response

A. Report of Student Performance in Terms of Stated Objectives (Reflection on

student performance written after lesson is taught, includes remediation for
students who fail to meet acceptable level of achievement)

Remediation Plan

B. Personal Reflection (Questions written before lesson is taught. Reflective

answers to question recorded after lesson is taught)
1. Is there enough time provided for the students to complete this
lesson?

2. How could this lesson be improved?

3. Is this lesson developmentally appropriate for these students?

VI. Resources (in APA format)

A. Brain Pop Video/worksheet
1. https://www.brainpop.com/technology/scienceandindustry/wasteman
agement/
2. https://www.brainpop.com/technology/scienceandindustry/wasteman
agement/activity/
B. Inquiry
1. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Where-DoesGarbage-Go-An-Earth-Day-Experiment-671174
C. Showers, P., & Chewning, R. (1994). Where Does the Garbage Go? New
York, New York: HarperCollins.