Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle Study

February 2024

Dear Families,

Some of us do not spend much time thinking about trash and garbage. We might give the problem some thought when our community needs a new landfill, a crisis arises regarding dangerous waste, or litter gets out of control. But we often forget about the ever-present challenge of dealing with trash and garbage. We think studying how to reduce, reuse, and recycle trash and garbage will engage children because they are familiar with and curious about the topic.

We need your help gathering items to investigate. We will need many different objects and pictures related to trash and recycling. We will begin our study by collecting them. Here is a list of suggested items, but you may also send in others not on the list if they are clean and safe.

Garbage/trash cans           empty plastic or paper food containers       flour                                  Recycling bins/boxes             plastic plates, cups, & bowls                        silicone muffin tin

Old t-shirts              immersion blender      seed packets                     watering cans

Recyclable items, e.g. paper towel rolls, newspaper, egg cartons, magazines

As we study trash and garbage and how we reduce, reuse, and recycle, we will learn concepts and skills in language and literacy, math, science, social studies, the arts, and technology. We will also be developing thinking skills to observe, investigate, ask questions, solve problems, make predictions, and test our ideas.

What You Can Do at Home

Talk to your child about trash and garbage. Help raise your child’s awareness of the kinds of trash and garbage your family creates each day. If you dispose of your trash at a dump or landfill, take your child along to where the trash goes. Borrow some library books about trash, garbage, and recycling. If you recycle at home, help your child take responsibility for sorting items into your family’s recycling bins.

When you are outside with your child and notice a piece of trash on the ground, point it out and talk about it. For example, “I wonder why someone dropped that candy wrapper on the ground. Is it supposed to be there? Is there a better place to put it?”

At the end of the study, we will have a special event to show what we have learned.

Thank you for playing an important role in our learning.