Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Part B: Practising Through Play (One)

30 minutes

Part C: Practising Through Play (Two)

10 minutes

Reflection

Make the learning intentions and success criteria visible for students throughout this lesson.

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1

Gather students on the floor with a piece of packaging. This packaging could be sourced from a lunchbox or around the classroom, or check locally from the template images provided.

If you are sourcing packaging from your environment, make sure that it uses the Australasian Recycling Label. The template images will give you some suggestions as to common items that are already using it.

Step 2

Display the four Australasian Recycling Labels (you can use the template images to do this or the packaging you've sourced). Facilitate a discussion with students using the teacher content information above and questions such as:

Do you know what these are?
Have you ever seen them before? Where?
What do they do?
What does recycling mean?
Why is it important to recycle?

Step 3

Explain to students that packaging must be recycled properly in very specific ways, otherwise, it will be sent to landfill. This damages the environment and stops recyclable materials from being turned into new things. You might watch the following video with the class.

Planet Ark - Australasian Recycling Label Animation (https://youtu.be/zWMeNH0AKRU)

Step 4

Ask students if they can find an ARL on their piece of packaging, and if so, whether it comes with any special instructions.

Part B: Practising Through Play (One)

Some packaging can be recycled with no additional steps. Some go straight in the bin to landfill. And some require conditions to be met before it can be recycled.

Step 1

Explain to your students that they will now practise some of the common ways in which packaging needs to be treated before it’s recycled.

Step 2

First, ask your students to act out some of the different types of recycling actions, imagining that they are different types of packaging. For example, you could ask them to roll up in a golf-ball-sized ball, like aluminium foil.

Step 3

Next, ask them to mime the recycling actions that need to be taken to prepare packaging to be recycled. For instance, you could ask them to mime scrunching up a ball of foil in their hands (rather than pretending to be the ball).

Note: Try to associate the actions with specific items of packaging, rather than just having students carry out the actions in isolation. For example, you could hold up a bottle and say ‘Squeeze', or ‘Return to store!’ so there is a visual association between the object and the action.

Other suggested actions include:

Folding packaging, e.g. large aluminium foil items (frozen baked goods)
Flattening paper/cardboard by stomping on it. Note: plastic and aluminium do not need to be flattened
Squeezing a bottle and screwing the cap back on

Or any of these other common actions associated with recycling:

Note: these instructions may change with time. For up-to-date information on recycling guidelines, check out this website: arl.org.au.

Part C: Practicing Through Play (Two)

Step 1

Take students outside where you have prepared a hopscotch path leading to three different bins. Mark each of the bins with one of the Australasian Recycling Labels. One at a time, students select a piece of packaging, find the Australasian Recycling Label, correctly identify it, and perform any additional steps if necessary.

Step 2

Give an instruction as to how the student should move down the hopscotch path, such as “Hop on one leg” or “Jump like a kangaroo.”

The student should then move down the path and place the piece of packaging in the correct bin.

Note: For packaging that is conditionally recyclable, you could have students carry out the associated action that they practiced in the previous part of the lesson. For instance, if they have a ball of foil, they could hop or skip down the hopscotch path, and then curl themselves up in a ball to ‘prepare’ the packaging before it’s put in the bin.

Reflection

Address any wondering students still have. Check in with some students that they have retained the learning.

Students may complete these worksheets to further ingrain their knowledge.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

National Recycling Week - Recycling Labels Hopscotch

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Summary

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