Tons and Tons of Garbage
10 min
Narrative
The purpose of this Warm-up is to elicit ideas about how much space a ton of garbage takes up, which will be useful when students consider 3,300 tons of plastic trash in shipping containers in a later activity. Some students may not know the precise definition of a “ton.” Encourage students to visualize what 2,000 pounds of trash might look like. While students may notice and wonder many things about this image, the kinds of trash and the amount of trash produced in their community are the important discussion points.
Launch
- Groups of 2
- Display the image.
- “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
- 1 minute: quiet think time
Teacher Instructions
- “Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
- 1 minute: partner discussion
- Share and record responses.
Student Task
What do you notice? What do you wonder?
Sample Response
Students may notice:
- There is a garbage truck.
- The truck looks like it is parked or waiting at a stoplight.
- It looks like the truck is near a park.
Students may wonder:
- What is in the truck?
- How much garbage is in the truck?
- Where is the garbage truck?
- How much space is inside the garbage truck?
- What is the volume of the garbage truck?
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
- “The average garbage truck can hold 12–14 tons of garbage.”
- If needed, “1 ton is the same as 2,000 pounds.”
- “If this truck collects trash from only our school (or neighborhood), what kinds of trash might be in the truck?” (food wrappers, paper towels, milk cartons, pencil shavings, paper)
- “How long do you think it would take our school (or neighborhood) to completely fill the truck?” (I think a whole neighborhood could fill the truck in one day. I think it would take our school about a week to fill a truck like that.)
Standards
- 5.MD.3·Recognize volume as an attribute of solid figures and understand concepts of volume measurement.
- 5.MD.C.3·Recognize volume as an attribute of solid figures and understand concepts of volume measurement.
20 min
20 min
Knowledge Components
All skills for this lesson
No KCs tagged for this lesson
Tons and Tons of Garbage
10 min
Narrative
The purpose of this Warm-up is to elicit ideas about how much space a ton of garbage takes up, which will be useful when students consider 3,300 tons of plastic trash in shipping containers in a later activity. Some students may not know the precise definition of a “ton.” Encourage students to visualize what 2,000 pounds of trash might look like. While students may notice and wonder many things about this image, the kinds of trash and the amount of trash produced in their community are the important discussion points.
Launch
- Groups of 2
- Display the image.
- “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
- 1 minute: quiet think time
Teacher Instructions
- “Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
- 1 minute: partner discussion
- Share and record responses.
Student Task
What do you notice? What do you wonder?
Sample Response
Students may notice:
- There is a garbage truck.
- The truck looks like it is parked or waiting at a stoplight.
- It looks like the truck is near a park.
Students may wonder:
- What is in the truck?
- How much garbage is in the truck?
- Where is the garbage truck?
- How much space is inside the garbage truck?
- What is the volume of the garbage truck?
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
- “The average garbage truck can hold 12–14 tons of garbage.”
- If needed, “1 ton is the same as 2,000 pounds.”
- “If this truck collects trash from only our school (or neighborhood), what kinds of trash might be in the truck?” (food wrappers, paper towels, milk cartons, pencil shavings, paper)
- “How long do you think it would take our school (or neighborhood) to completely fill the truck?” (I think a whole neighborhood could fill the truck in one day. I think it would take our school about a week to fill a truck like that.)
Standards
- 5.MD.3·Recognize volume as an attribute of solid figures and understand concepts of volume measurement.
- 5.MD.C.3·Recognize volume as an attribute of solid figures and understand concepts of volume measurement.