Primary Teacher Resource Pack KS2

Introduction Every school would like to be a litter-free zone, in a litter-free community. Most South Gloucestershire Primary Schools may not regard litter as a big problem although it can become a major issue at Secondary level. Please help by educating your pupils about the problems with litter, so we can create responsible citizens and clean communities. Litter creates a very negative image for school visitors, pupils and staff. It looks unpleasant and has been shown to lower staff morale and pupil pride. Litter can be dangerous; becoming a health and safety concern. Food waste is a particular problem causing hygiene issues and attracting vermin such as rats and gulls. Litter picking takes up a large chunk of janitorial time which in the average South Gloucestershire Secondary School can cost as much as £10,000 a year. All state-funded schools have a legal responsibility to make sure that their grounds are kept free of litter. Any private individual can take legal action against a school for not clearing litter from its grounds. The school could be fined up to £2,500 plus a daily fine until the litter is cleared. South Gloucestershire Council spends £1.4 million of tax payers money a year on Street Cleaning. Litter makes an area look uncared for and increases the fear of crime. Litter can attract more litter, graffiti and antisocial behaviour. Most litter in and around schools is a symptom of a throw-away society and pupils consuming a large amount of junk food. It does not have to be like this though, so please use this pack to help tackle litter in and around your school. The activities are aimed at KS2 but can easily be adapted for younger pupils. There is more information about the problems with litter at www.southglos.gov.uk/litterbug for use on the classroom whiteboards.

Contents Pupil and Teacher Fact Sheet Activity 1: Litter pick Practical tidy up of school grounds or local area

Activity 2a: Litter audit A survey of litter in your school and audit sheet

Activity 2b: Data analysis Follow-on from the survey

Activity 3: Grot spots How tidy are your school grounds?

Activity 4: Who is to blame for litter? Responsibilities, with Worksheet

Activity 5: Word search worksheet Activity 6: Designing a poster Activity 7: Materials worksheet Activity 8: Big number worksheet Case studies, Resources, websites, Links to the National Curriculum

Litter Fact Sheet Litter kills wildlife! Small animals get trapped in bottles. Large animals, like horses, can die from eating carrier bags. London Underground collects 16 tonnes of litter every day. That’s the weight of 4 large elephants.

The most common litter is sweet wrappers, cigarettes, drink containers and fast food wrappers. None of these can be easily recycled! The maximum fine for littering in England is £2,500. South Gloucestershire Council spends £1.4 million of tax payers money every year on keeping the streets clean. This could be spent on schools or other local services. There are 6 litter bins per 1,000 people in the UK. Glastonbury festival has 1 bin for every 13 festival goers. How many does your school have?

South Gloucestershire Council picked up approximately 100,000 black bags of litter in 2005. That’s the weight of 113 adult elephants!

Rough estimates of how long it takes rubbish to rot: Orange peel/ banana skin

up to 2 years

Plastic Bottles

forever

Plastic bags

10-20 years

Aluminium cans

80-100 years

Cigarette butts

up to 2 years

Plastic is made from oil, a non-renewable resource made from dead plants and animals over millions of years. Scientists predict oil will run out in 50 years. 15 million plastic bottles are produced in the UK every day. In 2001 only 3% were recycled. How different! In Singapore, anyone caught dropping litter is fined, forced to pick litter for one hour and has their name and photo put in the paper. Anyone who is caught three times faces a prison sentence. In 1992 Singapore banned all chewing gum.

Activity

1

Litter Pick Curriculum link: Citizenship and PSHE (KS1/KS2 1.2.3.4.5.), Geography (KS1/KS2 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.)

Aim To tidy up your school grounds or a local area. Involve all pupils in positive community action. Instil environmental awareness and responsibility for local area.

Resources Black bags (or reused carrier bags easy to tie handles together when full) Picker sticks

7 Collect litter with pair swapping roles. 8 When finished put the full bin bags in appropriate bin or skip. 9 Wash hands.

Possible extras: Gloves if no sticks are available Wet wipes if on a site with no hand washing facilities

10 Discuss findings: How much stuff did they collect? Did it surprise them?

A whistle or bell to call everyone back when finished

How did it make them feel?

A hanging measure to weigh bags (usually part of Science equipment)

What was the most common item of litter?

Camera to record class activity.

Where did they think it had come from?

Lesson plan

(allow 1 hour)

1 Do an introductory talk about what constitutes litter and why you are doing a litter pick. 2 Health and Safety - explain what not to pick up and what to do if you find something dangerous. 3 Put pupils in pairs - one to hold bag and one to collect rubbish. 4 Distribute equipment. 5 Set parameters - is it a walk with a litter pick along the way? Are there areas pupils must avoid? Can they roam freely? 6 Set a time limit (15-30 mins depending on weather, site, amount of litter and pupils’ enthusiasm).

Where was most of the litter?

And how long would it take to rot? (use fact sheet)

Notes Most schools are very unlikely to have broken glass, dog faeces or needles. But tell pupils not to collect anything dangerous or dirty. All pupils should wash their hands after litter picking. If you are collecting litter in school grounds remind the pupils to stay quiet if other classes are still working.

Activity

2a

L i t t e r Au d i t Curriculum link: Citizenship and PSHE (KS1/KS2 1.2.3.4.5.), Geography (KS1/KS2 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.)

Aim To tidy up your school grounds. To involve pupils in positive community action. To instil environmental awareness and responsibility for local area. Also - To collect data on how much litter there is at school and what contributes to litter in school. See lesson plan for Activity 1 - an audit is very similar to a litter pick but includes data gathering. An audit is very useful for schools with litter problems to help determine the source of the problem. However even in an apparently tidy school you might be surprised how much you find!

Resources Black bags (or reused carrier bags - easy to tie handles together when full)

7 Collect litter and fill in forms with group members swapping roles.

Picker sticks

8 When finished weigh bags.

Clip boards

9 Wash hands.

Audit sheet (overleaf) Pencil

10 Count up total items of litter and fill in sheet.

A hanging measure to weigh bags (part of school’s Science equipment)

11 Collate results possibly onto a table on the board or a spreadsheet.

Camera to record class activity.

Lesson plan

(allow 50 minutes)

1 Do an introductory talk about why you are doing a litter pick. 2 Health and Safety - explain what not to pick up and what to do if you find something dangerous. 3 Put pupils in groups of three - one to hold the bag, one to fill in the audit form and one to collect rubbish. 4 Distribute equipment and sheets. 5 Set parameters - can all pupils go everywhere or do you want different groups to target different areas? 6 Set a time limit (20mins is usually enough but can vary depending on weather, site, amount of litter and pupils enthusiasm).

Notes Make sure pupils collect only litter from the ground; not leaves and not rubbish from the bin!

Activity

2a

A u d i t S h e et

Group Name Item

Tally

Total

Crisp packet Chocolate / sweets in plastic wrapper Drink bottle Can Drink carton Banana peel Orange peel Apple core Foil Sandwich bag Paper

Weight of bag

kg

Total number of items

Activity

2b

D a t a A n a ly s i s Follow-on from activity 2a. Curriculum link: Maths (KS2 Ma2.Ma4.) Geography (KS1/KS2 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.) Science (Sc3)

Aim To To To To To To

analyse the results from the litter audit. get an idea of how much litter the school creates. understand what the litter consists of. think about where the litter may be coming from. think of how the litter could be reduced. display and share results.

Resources Whole class results from Activity 2a. White board or black board Pupils could use Excel or paper and pencils

Lesson plan

Encourage a class discussion of the findings. Refer to the discussion points for activity 1. You might also like to consider some of these questions: 1 Would healthier food help to reduce litter in your school?

The data can be used in a very wide range of ways depending on pupils ability and place in the curriculum. Topics easily covered include: percentages, graphs, mean, median, mode, ICT.

2 Would the 3 Rs (Reduce - Reuse Recycle) help to reduce litter?

Sample questions:

4 Do other people use your school?

3 Does your school have enough litter bins? Are they in the right places? Do pupils use them enough?

1 What was the most common item of litter?

5 Do you have a compost heap? Do you use it?

2 Display the different items collected in a bar chart or pie chart

6 Do parents waiting outside school make any litter?

3 How many pieces of litter did each group collect on average?

7 Which company made the litter? Should they take any blame?

4 How much did the average bag weigh? 5 How much did the average piece of litter weigh? 6 What percentage of litter was food? 7 What percentage was packaging? 8 What percentage was plastic? 9 What percentage could have gone in the compost heap? 10 If you were outside for 20 minutes and collected 300 items of litter how many things did you pick up per minute?

Notes You can tailor the exact outcome of the data analysis to suit your age group, topic and level of ability.

Activity

3

Grot Spots Curriculum link: Citizenship (KS1/KS2 1.2.3.5), Geography (KS1/KS2 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.)

Aim To review the school grounds and discuss ways to improve grot spots.

Resources Map of school - optional Digital camera - optional

Notes Look out for differences between infant and junior play areas. Also consider whether any of the litter in school is caused by parents? This activity can lead on to Activity 4. Who causes litter?

Lesson plan In small groups ask the pupils to look at the school grounds... they could take photographs or mark areas on the map. 1 Where are your favourite areas in the school grounds? Why? 2 Where are your least favourite areas? Why? 3 Where does the litter collect? Why? 4 What does the litter consist of? Who drops it? Why? 5 How many bins does the playground have? Are there enough? 6 How could litter be reduced? How does the school playground compare with other local areas? Nearby shops, a park or local Secondary school for example? You can look on the website for grot spot images www.southglos/litterbug

Activity

4

Who Causes Litter? Curriculum link: Citizenship (KS1/KS2 1.2.3.4.5), Geography (KS1 1d. KS2 1d.2d.), PSHE (KS1/2 1.2.3.4.)

Aim To look at where litter comes from To consider who causes litter To introduce the idea of community responsibility

Resources Worksheet (provided)

Lesson plan Use the role-play worksheet to consider who is to blame for this litter. Pupils could read out different opinions or small groups could represent the different attitudes to spark discussion and debate. Who is to blame for litter? Is it: people who drop it? shops that sell the product? companies that make too much packaging? local council that don’t pick it up? local people who don’t pick it up? government and Members of Parliament?

Activity

4

Work Sheet

DANIEL (12) HAS A PACKET OF CRISPS AT BREAK TIME. HE USUALLY HAS SOMETHING FROM THE LOCAL SHOPS ON THE WAY HOME.

THERE IS WAY TOO MUCH LITTER AT MY SCHOOL. EVERYONE DROPS IT. IF I’M BUSY… LIKE PLAYING FOOTBALL I CAN’T STOP TO FIND A BIN. THERE SHOULD BE MORE BINS.

I SOMETIMES DROP LITTER. NOT AT SCHOOL OR WHEN I’M WITH MY MUM, BUT IF I’M WITH MY BROTHER AND HIS FRIENDS COZ I DON’T WANT THEM TO THINK I’M A LOSER.

NICK (8) IS DANIEL’S YOUNGER BROTHER. HE HAS FRUIT FOR BREAK TIME.

NATASHA (15) LIKES CHEWING GUM. LITTER’S DIRTY. IF THERE WAS A BIN I’D USE IT. BUT LITTLE THINGS LIKE CHEWING GUM DON’T REALLY MATTER. IF THERE WASN’T A BIN I WOULDN’T PUT ANYTHING IN MY POCKET.…THAT’S GROSS!

MARY (82) LIVES NEAR A SECONDARY SCHOOL. YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY HAVE NO RESPECT. THEY DROP CRISP PACKETS IN MY FRONT GARDEN. IT’S HORRIBLE… WHY SHOULD I PICK IT UP? SO NOW I DON’T REALLY BOTHER WITH THE GARDEN, WHAT’S THE POINT? I BLAME THE YOUNG PEOPLE; THERE WASN’T ANY LITTER WHEN I WAS A CHILD.

Activity

Work Sheet

5

Curriculum link: English (KS2 En3.1b)

CRACK THE CODE

no one wants to hug a litter bug ! no one wants to hug a litter bug ! A B C D E F G H I J K L MN O P Q R S T U VWX Y Z abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz ANAGRAMS Rearrange the anagrams to find the items of litter. Example: ballet T topic = plastic bottle

1 coca ken

2 picket scrap

3 bachelor coat

4 kind corn rat

5 big rare car

6 chin weg mug

TIP: Think of the types of litter you most often find in your playground or on the street. Do any of them fit the letter patterns?

Now rearrange all the letters in the slogan below to see if you can make a good anagram.

“Keep Britain Tidy” How many new words you can make from the slogan? And how many words with 5 or more letters?

WORD SEARCH

U V R U B B I S H U C

W T A I H R O I S G I

A G N D Y P B F Q T N

S F S S M E L L Y E E

T F V O Z J C E C H I

E N C K B M P Z M U G

M E L T P X N W A O Y

D E Q A Y O X D I D H

A R G R E T T I L J N

W C N A S T Y L K B U

Find these words in the grid Bin Litter Decompose Smelly Rat Waste Environment Unhygienic Rubbish Nasty Gum

Answers: Crack the code “NO ONE WANTS TO HUG A LITTER BUG” Anagrams: 1 coke can, 2 crisp packet, 3 chocolate bar, 4 drink carton, 5 carrier bag, 6 chewing gum

E N V I R O N M E N T

Activity

6

Design a Poster Curriculum link: Citizenship (KS1 2g), Art (KS1/2 2c), English (KS1 EN3 1a.3.5g.7 KS2 En3 1.2.3.5.9c)

Aim To design a clear and eye-catching poster to encourage other pupils or parents to take litter home or use a bin.

Resources Rough paper for draft and spelling Paper, pencils, pens Computers if using ICT Laminator if posters are being displayed outside

Lesson plan (allow at least 1 hour) Your class may like to read the litter fact sheet and look at the website for background ideas. 1 Discuss as a class what makes a good poster: Eye catching Use of bold colour Identify and target your audience Clarify your message Good slogan e.g. ‘litter louts’, ‘litter bug’, ‘stamp out litter’, ‘keep Britain tidy’ Identify where posters will be displayed

2 Discuss useful words Litter, trash, rubbish, nasty, unhygienic, smelly, dirty, wildlife, environment, hedgehog, your / you’re 3 Make a rough draft to practice spelling etc. and discuss with partner 4 Create final draft 5 Display

Notes Pupils could create a questionnaire for parents or other year groups to gather opinions on the posters and see if the posters will make them change their behaviour.

Activity

7

Materials Worksheet Curriculum link: DT (KS2 3c.), Science

Read the Litter Fact Sheet first and then work through these questions

Chose the words below to complete the sentences plants and animals

Oil

run out

Plastic is made from

1

rot

, a non-renewable resource made

from dead 2

over millions of years.

Scientists think that the world’s oil reserves will

in about 50 years.

plastic bottles are produced in the UK every day.

3 4

15 million

Plastic bottles take forever to

Link up the correct meaning Renewable

A material that will run out

Non renewable

The process of using a material to make something new

Decompose

Using something again

Recycle

Cutting down on the amount of a material that you use

Reuse

The process of materials breaking down (also know as rotting)

Reduce

A material that has a constant supply

You are a designer creating a new chocolate bar... What kind of materials might you use for the packaging? Think if they can be reduced, reused, recycled. Material

Can you... Reduce it? Reuse it?

Recycle it?

Activity

8

B i g N u m b e rs Curriculum link: Maths (KS1 4. KS2 2e.4.)

Ask your teacher if you can use a calculator, then have a go at these ‘Big Number Challenges’.

A Primary has 11 classes and each class eats an average of 7 packets of crisps a day. How many packets of crisps does the school eat each day? How many in a school week? How many in a school year of 32 weeks?

Challenge! Imagine every crisp packet is put in the bin. Suggest how you could measuring the volume this many crisp packets would take up?

A Secondary school has 1,300 pupils and 50% admit to dropping litter. How many pupils drop litter? If each litter bug drops one item of litter a day how much litter is that in a school week? How much in a school year?

Challenge! South Gloucestershire has 17 Secondary schools. If they all have as much litter as this one, how much litter in total do they all create in one year?

Litter Bug Lessons incorporating litter can meet the National Curriculum Geography resources • pollution Science materials/physical resources • manufacturing processes • compost/decay • wildlife • habitats History Litterbin contents over time • development of materials • change in lifestyles Maths calculations • school litter audits • quantities/weights • formulas • graphs English poetry • drama • story-telling • writing • debating Religious, Personal and Social Education moral issues: poverty/exploitation /greed • lifestyles and environmental effects • effect of production & waste on other cultures Music lyrics • songs • instruments from trash Art, Design and Technology posters • murals • sculptures • fashion • recycled products

Case Studies There is more information on these and other case studies at www.southglos/litterbug Mangotsfield Secondary School has tackled litter by zoning the school grounds. Pupils are responsible for tidying their tutor group zone. This has raised awareness and saved the school approximately £10,000 a year. Elm Park Primary School has reduced litter through the Healthy Schools Programme, by improving snacks and packed lunches, and by following the Eco-School Programme. The school doesn’t allow anything other than fruit or toast at break times; and all fruit waste is composted as well. Elm Park now have a prestigious Silver Eco-School award.

Resources and links www.eco-schools.org.uk www.ecoschoolsscotland.org www.encams.org.uk [advice > knowledge bank > school litter]

www.recyclenow.com www.recyclingconsortium.org.uk www.rspca.co.uk www.wastewatch.org.uk Where to buy litterpickers www.helpinghand.co.uk

Raising awareness about litter can contribute to Healthy Schools Status (statutory by 2007). Litter, Waste and School Grounds are all key topics within the EcoSchool programme. Following the international Eco-School programme can link the school with the local community and the global community. It will improve environmental awareness with staff, pupils and parents. The programme can also save the school money through efficiency measures. Addressing litter in school can be included in Head Teachers Self Evaluation Form (SEF) for OFSTED. The Government White Paper ‘Every Child Matters’ states that every child should be healthy, should be safe, should be involved and should not be engaged in antisocial behaviour (DfES 2003). National School Fruit scheme - Litter reduction is wonderful by-product of encouraging healthy eating. www.nc.uk.net

Created by Sally Pattison [email protected] 01454 863681

Designed by South Gloucestershire Council Graphics & Mapping Services 11207/03/06 Printed on recycled paper 75% post consumer waste