Effects of Plastic Pollution

Title of Project: Effects of Plastic Pollution

How does plastic pollution affect our environment and what can we do to make a change?

Schools and Teachers

West Islip - Oquenock Elementary School Teacher: Tatiana Lisica

ENL Proficiency Level | ENL Program | Standards | Technology

Emerging, Transitioning, Expanding | Stand-Alone | 3W2, 3W7, SL5, R4 | Book Creator, YouTube, Flip, BrainPOP, Flocabulary, ReadWorks, CommonLit, Epic Books

Assessments

Understanding of the concept of plastic pollution
Quality of research and information gathered on the Explore Board Organizers
Creativity and originality of the Book Creator project
Clarity and effectiveness of their action plan
Presentation skills (if time permits)

Book Creator Checklist & Rubric (self-assessment): I created a checklist for students to follow to give them a little more direction while working independently. The checklist was helpful for most and I’ll definitely use it again when using Book Creator as an independent assessment.

Description

Students in my 3rd grade ENL stand-alone classes participated in a unit to help them better understand the environmental impacts of plastic pollution in our oceans. This unit was made using the sustainable development goal #14, Life Below Water. I focused my lessons on emphasizing the causes of plastic pollution, the health of our oceans, how it impacts the environment, especially marine life, and how we can take action to reduce the use of plastic in the world. Topics covered are The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Plastic Pollution, Polluted Oceans, The 3Rs, etc.

To begin, students will learn, research, and critically think about the plastic pollution problem that is affecting our oceans through a teacher-created explore board that allows them to watch videos, read articles, analyze real-life photographs, listen to music (Flocabulary), take virtual trips, read infographics, and other age-appropriate resources to help build their knowledge around the topics. Students will also be introduced to new content vocabulary words throughout each lesson. Throughout the entire unit, students will be focused on using all four language domains in order to develop and become equipped with the academic and linguistic skills to understand the topic.

This unit will culminate in a project where they will create their own informational books using Book Creator to reflect on their understanding about the effects of plastic pollution on the oceans and how they can raise awareness to the issue of plastic pollution.

Content

I can define and give examples of what plastic pollution is
I can read and write about plastic pollution
I can explore and examine how plastic pollution affects our oceans

Language

I can use content-specific vocabulary associated with plastic pollution
I can organize and summarize information about plastic pollution in my own words

Technology

I can use Book Creator to write an informational book about the impact of plastic pollution on our environment and how we can reduce plastic in our daily lives.

Student work

Example of teacher hyperdoc on plastic pollution

Procedure

Day 1: Activate Background Prior Knowledge

To begin the unit, students will use Flip to record what they currently know about plastic pollution.

Day 2: Vocabulary Development

Introduce and reinforce vocabulary related to plastic pollution, such as "pollution," "plastic," "environment," "recycling," "ban," "sing-use plastics," "Microplastics," etc.
I will encourage students to use context clues and visuals to understand the meaning of new words.

Day 3: Watch Video: Plastic Disaster - Listening Activity

Show the video: Plastic Disaster (Youtube)
Allow students to view the video and build a deeper understanding of the issues of plastic pollution in the environment.
Students will watch the video for a second time and answer questions about the video.
Finally, students will review the answers and jot down new information of what the students learned from the video about plastic pollution.

Dat 4 & 5: Building Knowledge with Teacher-Created Explore Board

Students will continue to build on their knowledge using an “Explore Board” that will allow them to watch videos, analyze pictures and cartoons, listen to music, read books/articles on their level, look at infographics, take virtual field trips, etc. to get a better understanding of the topic of plastic pollution.
I will hand-out Explore Board Organizer
Next, I will model and guide the students in locating and evaluating information from the explore board.
Each student will then work collaboratively to conduct basic research on the topic of plastic pollution using an additional 3 age-appropriate resources on the explore board.

Technology Integration: Brainpop Video, Flocabulary, ReadWorks, CommonLit, Epic Books: Polluted Oceans

Day 6: Watch Reduce, Reuse, Recycle BrainPOP

Build understanding around what people can do to help protect the earth from preventing plastic pollution. After viewing, discuss & list examples for each on an anchor chart. This chart will serve as a resource to help them with an Action Plan for their Book Creator project.

Day 7: Introduce Book Creator Project and Organizer

Students will use Book Creator to create nonfiction books to demonstrate their understanding of what plastic pollution is and how it impacts the environment, and what we can do to help.
Hand-out project organizers and discuss the organizer
Show exemplars of different nonfiction Book Creator projects
Join Book Creator classroom

Final Days: Book Creator Project Preparation and Publishing (anticipated 3-5 days)

After writing the ideas on their organizers, editing for grammar, capitals and periods, reading it to a friend, and then checking in with me, they were able to publish their piece using the Book Creator app.
For those students who had the extra time after completing the organizer, I included a bonus page on Book Creator in which they could do an “About the Author” page and include a selfie. I had a template for them to follow with sentence stems to guide their writing. The sentence starters had them introduce themselves, how old they are, where they live, what grade they are in, what school they attend, and two things they like to do in their free time.

Resources and Other Materials

Book Creator
Flip
BrainPOP
Flocabulary
ReadWorks
CommonLit
Epic Books
YouTube

Reflection

For starters, teaching about plastic pollution and working cooperatively with students to create a nonfiction book on the topic has been an incredibly rewarding experience. It's heartening to witness how young minds can grasp complex environmental issues and engage passionately in finding solutions to make a difference in their environment. Since this was planned to be one of our final ENL projects, I wanted to allow the students to take ownership in how they build their background knowledge without simply doing introductory tasks. The students really seemed to enjoy all the activities on the explore board. Additionally, allowing the students to work cooperatively allowed them to leverage each other's strengths, fostering a sense of teamwork and collaboration to better help each other understand the activities.

What stood out the most was the level of participation and creativity the students brought to the Book Creator project. Each student had a unique perspective to share, whether through visuals, written words, or innovative ideas for spreading awareness. Moreover, I have found that Book Creator offers my students a fun and engaging way to showcase their thinking – everything from book layout to page layouts, the different colors, texts, and images.

In the end, the creation of our nonfiction books on plastic pollution symbolizes not just a culmination of learning, but hope for a cleaner future. I am incredibly proud of the students' dedication, creativity, and passion throughout this unit, and I am confident that they will continue to make a positive impact on the world around them.

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