Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

Rita Recycle and the Plastic Posseâ€™s Educational Journey for K-2 Studentâ€™s Based on the PA Academic Standard 4.2.4 for Ecology & the Environment. Using the Standard, I created a 45 minute science lesson for students in grades K-2. It meets the state criteria for the academic standard for Renewable & Non-Renewable Resources. My lesson included: an 11 slide power point, classroom & at- home activities, vocabulary lesson, and review; focused on the importance of recycling to save our natural resources. It highlighted the degradation time of plastics, the use of natural resources in plastics and the time it takes to produce our natural resources.

The students also received a companion coloring book with hand drawn characters that my girl scout troop and I had previously created.

All of the material presented was a compilation of hours of research which I compiled and then modified to be engaging for students in the K-2 grade levels.

I find it productive to engage younger students in the excitement of the environment and the challenges of its protection. I determined this based on advertising research which shows that a majority of advertising dollars are spent targeting children because their voice influences where parents spend money. Consequently, Rita Recycle and the Plastic Posse Coloring Book uses the purposeful placement of a story about a champion for plastic recycling who saves a ketchup bottle from life in a landfill. If the child asks to recycle perhaps that house will begin a new recycling process, or expand one they already practice.