How can we help stop Climate Change in our community (NYC)?

Third Grade

Ms. Giardino

ngiardino@schools.nyc.gov

INTRODUCTION

Do you like to play in the park on a sunny day? Do you enjoy taking a long shower after a long day? Do you spend hours playing video games when you get home from school? What if I told you that some of the things that you do every day could potentially cause harm to our environment? Don’t worry though, there are many things that we can do to help reduce our impact on the environment!

With Earth Day approaching we need to talk about how we can make a difference in our environment and save our valuable resources! Global warming can affect our environment in many different ways, including the loss of animal homes/habitats, lack of clean drinking water, and air pollution. The activities that I listed above can cause greenhouse gasses to be released which causes heat to get trapped in the atmosphere. (hint- This is not good for our environment) Dont worry! There are small things/ changes that we can do to help make our daily activities less detrimental to the environment.

TASK

During this unit we will learn to focus our attention on the world around us and the very real problem of climate change. We are going to go on a web Quest in our HIVE Groupings. Each group will work together to do research about climate change in NYC and things that we can do as a school community to make small changes to help reduce climate change. Each group will put together a Prezi where you will create a plan on how students from P.S. 84 Steinway in Astoria, New York can help our community by taking actions to reduce climate change!

PROCESS/RESOURCES

Let's think back to our SEL lesson on being a community helper. As a group we discussed ways that we can help our community such as composting and recycling. We worked on using the six step PPA Process to create a policy that would help us be better community helpers. Over the next few days, you will be using that same PPA Process to create a presentation on how our school community can work together to help reduce our carbon footprint!

Day One & Two (Define the Problem & Gather Evidence):

Climate Change (also known as Global Warming) is a very real problem especially in a popular city such as ours (NYC). In your groups use your chrome books to search how Climate Change is a problem.

Here a few links to help you do your research:

https://climatekids.nasa.gov/kids-guide-to-climate-change/

https://www.timeforkids.com/g34/global-warming/

Day Three (Identify the Causes & Evaluate the Existing Policies):

After researching and learning about Climate Change in our country and City that we live in, we will identify the causes of Climate Change, especially here in heavily populated cities such as NYC. (These causes will help us determine what we can do to help)

After, in your groups you will begin researching the already existing policies to help reduce climate change.

Here are a few links to help you:

https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/climate-change

https://kids.kiddle.co/Climate_change_in_New_York_City

ways kids can help reduce Climate Change

Information on Climate Change Policies in NYC

Climate Change Policies

Day Four (Develop a Solution):

After researching policies and laws on Climate Change, you and your group will now come up with several policies or actions that we as a school could put into place to help reduce our carbon footprint at school and in NYC. As a group you will create a Prezi Presentation that will show the steps we will take to prevent further climate change.

Day Five (Presentation Time)

Students will present their Prezi’s to the class! The best Prezi will be given to our principal to really help enact action in our school!

EVALUATION

Task	3 Great Work!	2 Getting there!	1 Keep Trying!
Group Work	Student works together and each individual student is bringing their own ideas and participating in the group conversations.	Student is sometimes sharing out their ideas and participating in the group conversations	Student is rarely participating in the group conversation and isn’t providing their own ideas to the group.
Knowledge of Content	Student has done research and has a good understanding and knowledge of the topic.	Student has done some research and has a bit of understanding and knowledge of the topic.	The student has done limited research and has little understanding and knowledge of the topic.
Presentation of Content- Prezi	The Prezi is clear and purposeful and has included all necessary parts.	The Prezi is somewhat clear and has some purpose. It may be missing some necessary parts.	The Prezi is not clear, is missing purpose and is missing more than 3 necessary parts.
Organization	Materials and Information are organized in a way that is neat and easy to follow.	Some materials and information are organized but can be difficult to follow.	Materials and information are not neat and difficult to follow.

CONCLUSION

As a classroom community, we have worked together to understand the impact that climate change and our daily actions can have on our environment and the community we live in. We have come up with some amazing ideas and solutions to take steps to limit our footprint on the environment!

STANDARDS

3R1: Develop and answer questions to locate relevant and specific details in a text to support an answer or inference.

3R4: Determine the meaning of words, phrases, figurative language, and academic and content-specific words.

3R8: Explain how claims in a text are supported by relevant reasons and evidence.

3W1: Write an argument to support claim(s), using clear reasons and relevant evidence.

3W1a: Introduce a claim, supported by details, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.

3W2a: Introduce a topic and organize related information together.

3W2b: Develop a topic with facts, definitions, and details; include illustrations when useful for aiding comprehension