Waste Management/Recycling

In this lesson from WET in the City's Water Watchers Guide, students learn how to read a water meter and water bill to get an overview of their school's total water consumption and the cost of that water. They monitor the water meter twice a day for two weeks, which helps them develop an idea of water consumption patterns.

In this lesson, students calculate total and average daily water consumption including both direct and indirect uses. They compare and contrast their water use with other students and represent their data graphically.

In this activity, students are given different scenarios about the water needs of communities and families. Using the engineering design process, they develop methods for utilizing and cleaning water sources.

In this activity, developed by the University of Colorado at Boulder, students investigate different methods of removing pollutants from water. They also design and build their own water filters.

The Fix a Leak Week Learning Resources, developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Water Sense program, are a set of activities designed for students in grades 3-5 to help them learn about water supplies and the importance of saving water.

This set of activities, produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Water Sense program, was designed to help students in grades 3-5 understand the connections between the source of the water they use and the ways their water use habits affect the environment and human health.

Students learn about the world's largest "landfill," make a connection to their own lives, and calculate how much trash they generate in a week, a year and ten years.

This classroom project is an exploration of building life-giving humus. Students explore soil health by building a lasagna garden.  By marking off a garden area and adding layer after layer of compost, organic matter and high-nitrogen materials students explore the process of decomposition and learn the importance of nutrient-rich soil as a base for a successful garden.