Clean Up Australia - Play the Litterbug: Year 4, 5 & 6

Activity Introduction

Quick summary: Students will create a presentation in which they consider concepts of personal responsibility and active citizenship as they relate to the litterbug. They will investigate the environmental and social impacts of littering.

Following this lesson plan is an ideal way for your school to take part in Schools Clean Up Day or a Clean Up on any day of the year. You’ll be joining thousands of amazing teachers in making a difference and creating positive environmental change.

Learning intentions:

Students understand the social implications of littering
Students begin to take responsibility for unwanted food packaging
Students will rethink the concept of why people litter.

21st century skills:

Communicating Critical Thinking Problem Finding

Australian Curriculum Mapping

Content description:

Year 4 English

Create literary texts by developing storylines, characters and settings (ACELT1794)
Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations incorporating learned content and taking into account the particular purposes and audiences (ACELY1689)
Create literary texts that explore students’ own experiences and imagining (ACELT1607)

Year 5 English

Create literary texts using realistic and fantasy settings and characters that draw on the worlds represented in texts students have experienced (ACELT1612)
Clarify understanding of content as it unfolds in formal and informal situations, connecting ideas to students’ own experiences and present and justify a point of view (ACELY1699)
Plan, rehearse and deliver presentations for defined audiences and purposes incorporating accurate and sequenced content and multimodal elements (ACELY1700)
Understand the use of vocabulary to express greater precision of meaning, and know that words can have different meanings in different contexts (ACELA1512)

Year 6 English

Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, choosing and experimenting with text structures, language features, images and digital resources appropriate to purpose and audience (ACELY1714)

Syllabus outcomes: EN2-10C, EN2-2A, EN2-6B, EN3-1A, EN3-2A, EN3-6B, EN3-7C.

General capabilities: Critical and creative thinking.

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.3, OI.8.

Topic: Waste, Clean Up.

Time required: 60+ mins

Resources required:

Various props as required.

Keywords: Food, packaging, waste, litter.

Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.

Worksheets

Teacher Worksheet

Teacher Preparation

Learning intentions: Students will...

... understand the social implications of littering
... begin to take responsibility for unwanted food packaging
... will rethink the concept of why people litter.

Success criteria: Students can...

... explain how and why people litter
... explain how littering can impact our environment.

Teacher content information: To litter is to illegally dispose of waste, whether intentionally or by accident. In the past, it was legal to throw waste into the street.

This became a problem when people began living in close proximity as cities developed during the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s. Unsanitary disposal of waste encouraged the breeding of insects and rats that carried disease rapidly through the urban population. The government took action to remove rubbish from city streets to prevent the spread of disease.

Today, there are laws against littering in each State and Territory of Australia. The anti-litte

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Student Worksheet

Thought Starter: If you have littered before, why did you do it?

Fill in the table below.

Why do people litter?

How do people litter?

Plan a scheme you would like to see put in place to help reduce littering.

There are many types of litterbugs in the world.

A study was completed by the Beverage Industry Environment Council, which gave names to these litterbugs. Read about some of them below.

Name	How to spot a litterbug
Foul Shooting Litterbug	Litter is thrown at a bin, it misses the bin and the person walks away
Clean Sweeping Litterbug	On arriving at a table where others have littered, waste is swept onto the ground.
Flagrant Flinging Litterbug	Litter is flung through the air or dropped without any apparent concern
90% Litterbug	Most of the rubbish is put into the bin, but some of it is left behind, or smaller items are dropped.
Wedging Litterbug

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Activity: Clean Up Australia – Play the Litterbug: Year 4, 5 & 6