Materials
Wartville Wizard by Don Madden Plastic gloves for each child
Plastic grocery bags with handles Polaroid camera
Safe area where there is human-made litter, for example, a playground, park or recreation area
Instructions
1. Read the story Wartville Wizard. Discuss how the children's families get rid of their waste. Discuss the meaning of the word litter and the difference between human-made and natural litter. Children sometimes pick up sticks and leaves. Explain that this is natural litter.
2. Tell children that you will be going on a litter walk. Explain that they will be picking up human-made litter so they must wear gloves to protect their hands. Tell them not to touch any broken glass or items with sharp edges.
3. Take several pictures of the area before children pick up any litter, while they are picking up litter and after the area is clean. Later, post these on a bulletin board.
4. Take the litter back into the classroom. Dispose of the litter properly.More to doLanguage: Ask the children to dictate or write sentences about the litter walk. Staple them to the bulletin board.More science: Before you dispose of the litter, select pieces of litter that are a sampling of what was found. Glue your selections to a large piece of cardboard. Write the sentence "Did you drop something?" on the cardboard. Display the litter collage in an area where other classes can see it.
