Our Trashtastic! curriculum for 3rd through 5th graders includes three forty-five minute classroom sessions.

 

Lesson One: Our first lesson focuses on plastic production and disposal, and covers plastic composition, local waste systems, and the distinctions between downcycling, recycling, and upcycling.

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Lesson Two: Our second lesson introduces the impact that plastic, once-disposed, can have on marine ecosystems, and the ways in which ocean plastic pollution effects human health and well-being. We discuss the Pacific Plastic Gyre, the production of plastic microbeads, and the species most hurt by marine plastic. We build on the plastic composition discussion in lesson one to talk about how harmful chemicals in plastic can work their way up the food chain and land on our plate.

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Lesson Three: Our third lesson is an art advocacy project! Many environmental education efforts leave students feeling overwhelmed with the enormity of global environmental change. We're combatting that by empowering our students  as environmental advocates. In this project, students create an upcycled plastic fish from water bottles, plastic utensils, and other trash collected around town. Eventually, these fish will contribute to a sculpture depicting a Monterey Bay ecosystem, to be displayed in a local museum.