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Re-Think Activities
An educational Unit for children up to Grade 4
Written by Valerie Thom, B.Ed. and edited by Allard W. van Veen, APR, Fellow, CPRS

This unit has six chapters, each filled with information, ideas and projects. Words in bold and in italics are featured in the glossary which you can reach by clicking here

Skills: grouping            

Time: one class period

Learning Objective: students will group household garbage into two groups: made from things that grow, made from things that don’t grow, to explore the concepts of renewable and non-renewable resources.

NOTE: OUR GARBAGE: ACTIVITY 8 is a pre-requisite for this Activity. This Activity is a variation of OUR GARBAGE: ACTIVITY 10. You may wish to do both or select the activity that best suits your class.

Materials and Equipment: as in OUR GARBAGE: ACTIVITY 8.

Activity:

1. Carry out steps 1-3 of OUR GARBAGE: ACTIVITY 8.
2. Brainstorm with the class to make a list of "Things that Grow" and "Things that Don’t Grow", such as rocks, sand, etc.
3. Explain to the class that all the items in our garbage are either made from "things that grow" such as plants and trees, or from "things that don’t grow", such as rocks (metals) and sand (glass).
4. Help students to look at each of the garbage groups they’ve made, and decide which of the two headings apply to each group.
5. Make up labels "Garbage from Things that Grow" or "Garbage from Things that Don’t Grow" and place each group of garbage under the correct heading.

RE…Think

Discuss:

• When we use up and throw away something made from the "Things that Grow" group, how can we get more of the "thing that grows"? (By growing more trees, plants, etc.)
• When we us up and throw away something made form the "Things that Don’t Grow" group, can we make more of the "thing that doesn’t grow"?

Explain to students that "Things that Grow" are renewable resources and that "Things that Don’t Grow" are non-renewable resources.

Put these two headings on the board and ask students to name objects for each category by looking around the classroom and thinking about their bedroom at home

OR

Have each student make two collages, one for each category, using catalogue and magazine pictures.

Discuss:

• How can we help to make our non-renewable resources last as long as possible?
• What is paper made of, a renewable or non-renewable resource?
• What do the forestry companies have to do to "renew" the supply of trees for paper?

If your community has a paper recycling program:

• What do we do with our newspapers at home so that as few trees as possible have to be cut down?

Have students make a poster showing one thing they can do to help non-renewable resources last as long as possible.

Click here to return to the Index for Chapter 4 and more activities

Click here to return to the Index for Re-Think