Unit+of+Instruction

 Title of Unit: The Down and Dirty of Pollution.

Author: Aubrey Rule

Elementary

Grade Level: Fourth

Introduction:

This unit will focus on pollution. We will be exploring the causes, effects and prevention of pollution in our waters, air and land. Students will learn how their choices impact the natural world, and how pollution affects different forms of life. Students will design a "green" home, and will think of ways to reduce their carbon footprints.

Unit Objectives:


 * Student will be able to describe where different forms of pollution come from.
 * Student will be able to describe how pollution affects different life forms and ecosystems.
 * Student will understand the impact humans have had on the earth
 * Student will understand limited resources and conservation.
 * Student will be able to think of ways they can conserve in their own lives.
 * Student will be able to utilize the scientific method to determine how pollutants affect living things.

Time Required: 2 weeks

Lesson 1

Title of lesson: Dirty pollutants

Description of lesson: This lesson will be an introduction to pollution. We will be brainstorming and listing different pollutants in our society. We will be introducing concepts such as acid rain and air, water and land pollution. We will discover where pollutants come from.

Assignment (homework or in-class): We will watch Dr. Suess's "The Lorax" as in introduction to this unit. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6650219631867189375. We will be discussing different types of pollution in class. After discussion, the class will be divided into small groups of 3-4 and each given either air, oceans, rivers and lakes, or land as their focus. Each group will create a poster that shows the different ways each of those are polluted, and possible causes of that pollution. Each group will need to come up with at least 8 different causes of pollution in their respective environments. These posters will be presented to the class by each group, and we will create a class poster of all the different pollutants that were presented. This poster will be hung up, discussed and added to throughout the entire unit.

Students will view a slide show of images of pollution. They will then create their own slide show of pollution images at slide.com. This will give students a visual representation of the effects of pollution on the environment. These slideshows will be shared with the rest of the class.

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Resources/materials needed: Poster paper, markers, large poster for class project, internet access.

Lesson 2

Title of lesson: Pollution and H2O

Description of lesson: This lesson will explore how pollution affects water. We will be doing an activity that shows how pollutants such as detergents and oil affect our waters. We will discuss what pollutants go into our water, and how they get there. Students will also create their own flashcards at www.iqfuse.com

Assignment (homework or in-class): Discuss pollution in our waters, and how we know it is there. It is not always visible like litter, or smog. We will be creating a "lake in a bottle." This could mean a river, an ocean, a spring, or a lake. In pairs we will be filling up a plastic water bottle about 1/3 with water. (We will make sure these are bottles that would have been already recycled!) Using the scientific method we will hypothesize what will happen if we add oil to the water. Using a funnel, each pair will pour in about 4 tablespoons of oil. The team will record their observations after pouring, shaking and letting the bottle sit. As a class we will discuss our findings about the oil. The bottles will then sit overnight, and we will record our findings again in Lesson 3.

Students will answer the questions at [] and then will be asked to create their own flashcards about water pollution by going to []. This activity will require students to pick important information about water pollution from a website dedicated to educating the public about water pollution.

Resources/materials needed: plastic 2 liter bottles, oil, water, observation sheets

Lesson 3

Title of lesson: Our Waters!!

Description of lesson: This lesson will continue to demonstrate how pollution affects our waters. The students will observe what happened overnight with oil and water, and then find what happens when detergent are introduced with oil into our waters. Students will also compete a research assignment about water pollution in small groups.

Assignment (homework or in-class): Observe what happened in the bottles overnight. Discuss how that might affect the wildlife in our oceans. Introduce detergents as another pollutant in our oceans and lakes. Each pair will once again hypothesize what will happen if detergents are introduced into the water with the oils. Give each student dish soap to mix into their bottles of oil and water. Have the students shake them up and record their findings. Discuss what happened when detergent was introduced to our "mini lakes." The oil could now mix with the water. Discuss how that might affect our oceans. All the pollutants in our water are not always visible. How could that affect our oceans and wildlife? We will view a PowerPoint depicting different effects pollutants have had on our oceans. We will also discuss how this pollution in our waters affects us.

Students will be grouped up and given the group research assignment, which can be found at: [].

Students can use the books found below on shelfari for research as well.

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Resources/materials needed: Bottles from lesson 2, dish soap, observation sheets from lesson 2. PowerPoint presentation of water pollutant effects.

Resources/materials needed: Lesson 4

Title of lesson: Land of Litter

Description of lesson: This lesson will focus on how our land has been polluted. We will discuss litter and landfills and how that affects wildlife, and us. We will be discussing where litter comes from, and ways we can reduce the amount of litter. We will watch the short animoto video to get us thinking about the effects of litter, and ways we can reduce it. media type="custom" key="3468252" This video gives a visual representation of the topics we are learning about in this unit. Students will see the effects of pollution on the land, and to animals.

Assignment (homework or in-class): Homework: Wearing gloves, we will be walking around our school/neighborhood area picking up litter. Students will bring the litter back in and we will display it on newspaper for the class to see. We will go through the litter and think of how and why it became litter. We will discuss the places litter comes from. Not only does litter come from people throwing trash out of their cars and while walking, it also comes from home garbage not properly covered, business and commercial dumpsters and trash cans, construction or demolition sites, loading docks and commercial storage. We will brainstorm ways to prevent garbage from becoming litter. We will discuss what items in our pile of litter could be recycled, which could be reused and which we could compost. We will discuss the benefits of these three concepts and think of ways we could do more of them in our own lives. We will create a map of the school, and mark where recycling containers are kept, and what things could go in there.

The second part of the lesson will include going to the toondoo cartoon of Lucas and Maria. Students will create their own comic to illustrate ways to reduce litter and pollution and restore the picnic area to it's original state. This lesson will require students to think of creative and different ways to reduce pollution and restore a pristine area.

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Resources/materials needed: gloves, plastic bags, newspaper, large map of the school, internet access, Toon

Lesson 5

Title of lesson: Reuse Recycle Compost!!

Description of lesson: As a follow up to lesson 4 we will be discovering even more ways to reduce our litter. We will be having a pizza party, and we will use the boxes to create a mini-garden in our classroom, that we can enjoy for many weeks to come!

Assignment (homework or in-class): We will be using leftover pizza boxes to create a mini garden in our class. We will look for water bottles that are going to be either thrown out or recycled, and use them as watering pots for our garden. We will discuss composting, and how it benefits our soil. We will discuss how we can take something that was going to end up in a landfill, and use it to create new life. We will line the boxes with grocery bags (reuse), and fill them with soil. We will then be planting easy to grow seeds. Students will create watering cans out of plastic water bottles, using a tack to make holes. Homework: Find a piece of garbage at home, and think of a way it can be reused as something useful. Bring it in to share with the class.

Resources/materials needed: pizza boxes, grocery bags, soil, seeds, used plastic water bottles, tacks

Lesson 6

Title of lesson: The Air up There

Description of lesson : Students will explore how our air gets polluted, the effect it has on our health, and what we can do to reduce it. We will have an online scavenger hunt and discuss our findings.

Assignment (homework or in-class): Students will participate in an online scavenger hunt. They must listen to the podcast, answer the questions, and be the first group finished. Students will be working in pairs to find the answers to the questions. We will discuss the answers and brainstorm ways to reduce the amount of air pollution. We will add these ideas to our class poster. We will also be setting up for tomorrow's lesson. We will add different colors of food coloring to the water of white carnations and hypothesize.

media type="file" key="Scavengerpod3.mp3"

Resources/materials needed: Internet access, scavenger hunt, prize for first place, podcast

Lesson 7

Title of lesson: You Are What You Eat!

Description of lesson: This lesson will focus on the effects pollution has on animals and how those pollutants travel through the food chain. We will learn [|bioaccumulation], and how that affects us. We will examine our carnations and use the food coloring as an example of toxins. We will also be playing a game that demonstrates how bioaccumulation affects animals.

Assignment (homework or in-class): We will examine our carnations, and discuss how our water has changed the color of the flowers. We will relate the food coloring to toxins, and discuss what would happen if the food coloring was toxic, and then ingested by animals and made it's way through the food chain.

We will divide the class into 3 groups. Assuming we have 26 children:  We will then scatter "food" around the floor. The food will be small pieces of paper, 20 white and 10 blue for each child. The ladybugs will be given 30-45 seconds to collect as much food as possible and will be put into a bag. The lizards will then have 5-10 seconds to "eat" (tag) as many ladybugs as possible. Any lizard with less than 2 bags will starve and die. The hawks will then have 5-10 seconds to eat as many lizards as possible. Any hawk with less than 2 bags will starve and die.
 * 18 will be ladybugs
 * 6 will be lizards
 * 2 will be hawks

We will count the number of blue and white pieces each hawk has. The blue pieces represent food that was contaminated with DDT, a pesticide. We will discuss the effects of DDT on humans, and animals. Each ladybug that had 10 or more pieces of DDT was unsafe for the lizards to eat. Each lizard that had 25 or more pieces was sick, and unsafe to eat. Each hawk that had 40 or more pieces was sick, and laid eggs with thin, weak shells which is an effect of DDT on birds. We will discuss how the DDT accumulated in the hawks through the food chain.

Students will then brainstorm their own bioaccumulation food chain. They will describe the toxin, and how it accumulates through a food chain. We will share these with the class. We will also talk about how bioaccumulation could affect humans through mercury in fish.

Students will listen to a [|Read the web.com]document. They will then respond to the questions asked in their own readtheweb document. Students will get the benefit of hearing and seeing the information presented, and will then be asked to problem solve and produce solutions to the question. media type="custom" key="3357560"

Resources/materials needed: "Food", paper bags, internet access

Lesson 8

Title of lesson: What Can I D??

Description of lesson: This lesson will teach students "carbon footprint." Each student will find their carbon footprint and think of ways to reduce it.

Assignment (homework or in-class): We will introduce the concept of a "carbon footprint." Students will figure out their own carbon footprint on http://www.zerofootprintkids.com/kids_home.aspx. Students will think of ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Students will start brainstorming ideas for their green homes. Students will also create a podcast describing ways to reduce their carbon footprint on[| Vocaroo.com] and share these with the class.

The class will also begin their Google Earth assignment. Students will be grouped up into groups of 2-3 to work on this assignment.

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Resources/materials needed: Internet access

Lesson 9

Title of lesson: Design Green!

Description of lesson: Students will be designing a green home. Students will be divided into groups of 2-3. We will utilize recycled materials to create these homes. Students will be asked to bring in boxes and other materials to build their homes. Students need to think about land, air and water pollution when designing their homes. Any materials they can find that are recycled or trash may be utilized in creating their homes. They need to think about heat, water, food production,transportation and garbage disposal when designing their homes. We will work on this throughout the lesson.

Students will also finish up the Google Earth assignment.

Resources/materials needed: Recycled items, glue, paint, staplers,

Lesson 10

Title of lesson: Design Green!

Description of lesson: Students will continue to work on their projects, and will present them to the class, describing all the ways their homes are green.

Assignment (homework or in-class): Continue work on the group projects. We will end the lesson by presenting the green homes to the rest of the class.

Resources/materials needed: Recycled materials, paint, glue