WEBQUEST (Teachers Guide)

Title: Recycling Paper Project

Grade Level: 5th
Curriculum Area: Science
Time Frame:2 Weeks (10 days)
Developed By: Beth and Sharelyn
Lesson State Standards:
NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards)
Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to
protect the Earths resources and environment
5-ESS3.C: Human Impacts on
Human activities in agriculture, industry, and everyday live have had major effects on the land,
Earth Systems
vegetation, streams, ocean, air, and even outer space. But individuals and communities are
doing things to help protect Earths resources and environment
STATE GOAL 11: Understand the processes of scientific inquiry and technological design to investigate questions, conduct
experiments and solve problems.
Formulate questions on a specific science topic and choose the steps needed to answer the questions.
Collect data for investigations using scientific process skills including observing, estimating and measuring.
Construct charts and visualizations to display data.
Use data to produce reasonable explanations.
Report and display the results of individual and group investigations.
STATE GOAL 12: Understand the fundamental concepts, principles and interconnections of the life, physical and earth/space
sciences.
Identify and classify recyclable materials.
STATE GOAL 13: Understand the relationships among science, technology and society in historical and contemporary
contexts.
Explain why keeping an accurate and detailed record is important.
Explain how technology is used in science for a variety of purposes (e.g., sample collection, storage and treatment; measurement; data
collection, storage and retrieval; communication of information).
Compare the relative effectiveness of reducing, reusing and recycling in actual situations.
5-ESS3-1: Earths Systems

INTRODUCTION:
In this Recycling Paper Project, students will be examining various ways in which to
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle paper products. This will be a hands-on, group
assignment which should increase your understanding of the processes of reducing,
reusing, and recycling paper goods, as well as being able to share your findings and
results with the class.
They will be assigned to a team and the individuals on each team will decide who will be
responsible for each role within that team. They will be using computers to take notes,
keeping track of their progress, creating an infographic to inform the rest of the school
about their project, and presenting their findings using a Prezi presentation.
This should be a fun and exciting project in which they will be expected to research,
create, and present ideas that will in the long run, give others useful information about
reducing, reusing, and recycling paper products.

TASK:
1 | Page

Each Team will be working on a Recycling Paper Project that will help to
Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse paper in your school.
While doing their project they will:

Create an infographic to hang in the hallways to introduce the school

to the Recycling Process
Collect and examine paper collected from the classrooms
Present a Prezi presentation on their findings

PROCESS:
Break up into stages/lessons for each week:

Research the Recycling process and create an infographic.

Their team will be assigned to a classroom at your school to collect all
the recycled paper from the recycle bins.
Measuring paper collected from their teams assigned classroom.
Record the amount collected from your assigned class on your
computers.
They will be collecting recycled paper for 2 days and adding the
amounts together and thinking about how to Reduce waste.
Each group will create a presentation using the Prezi program and give
ideas on how they can Reuse the paper collected.

Monday

Recycling Paper Project Schedule

Tuesday
Wednesday Thursday

Introduce
the Recycle
Project
Video Intro
Divide into
groups and
assign
classrooms
Take notes
on
computer

Introduce
students to
Prezi
Research
Take notes
on
computer

Start on
info graphic
and create
poster
Research
Collect
recycled
paper and
record in
notes
Take notes
on
computer
Work on
Prezi

Video
what
happened
when
paper
thrown
away
Discuss
Take notes
on
computer

Work on
Prezi

Finish
infographic
and hang
in hallways
Take a
picture of
infographic
Collect
recycled
paper
Take notes
on
computer
Work on
Prezi

Friday

Vocab
Research
Finish
work
Taking
notes on
computer

Present
Prezi to
classmate
s

2 | Page

Here is the daily schedule that the students will be following:

Day 1:
1. Your team will create a Word document to take notes every time your team meets
2. Please e-mail the following information to your teacher: Team member names and
responsibilities within your group
3. Watch the following video "How Paper is Made" in the Resource section
4. Discuss the video with your team members and record notes on your team's Word
document

Day 2:
1. Watch the following video "Piktochart Tutorial" in the Resource section
2. Your team will be creating an infographic poster to hang in the hallways of the school
3. Research the recycling process and search online using the provided websites for things you would like
to include on your infographic poster
4. Team member assigned to collect recycled paper from your assigned classroom will collect paper and
record data in team's
Word document. Use the Recycle Trash Calculation Formula on the Resource page
5. Take notes on your team's progress and record on your word document

Day 3:
1. Watch the following video "Following The Paper Trail" in the Resource section
2. Discuss the video with your team members and take notes
3. Continue to work on your infographic poster

Day 4:
1. Finish infographic poster and hang in the assigned area to display in your school's hallway
2. Take a picture of your infographic poster and add to your team's notes
3. Team member assigned to collect recycled paper from your assigned classroom will collect paper and
record data in team's Word document
4. Discuss your infographic poster with team members and record your reflection on your team's Word
document

Day 5:
1. Each team member will be working on a vocabulary worksheet provided by your teacher.
You will be using the computer to research the definitions on Dictionary.com in the Resource section and
write a complete sentence for each vocabulary word
2. When complete, each team will be discussing the vocabulary worksheet. Each team member will comment
on a word that they were not familiar with on the vocabulary list and what they learned about the word. All
comments will be recorded on the team's computer Word document

Day 6:
1. Watching the following video "Prezi Tutorial" in the Resource section
2. Each team will create a Prezi presentation to share with the class
3. Team will start researching material for their Prezi presentation
4. Team will discuss their research findings with their team and record their notes on their team's
word document

Day 7, 8, 9:
1. Team's will meet with their groups and work on Prezi presentation
2. Research for their Prezi
3. Teams will discuss their research findings with their team and record their notes on
their team's word documents

Day 10:
1. Teams will present Prezi presentation to their classmates
2. After Prezi presentation is presented to their classmates, team's will meet with their group
and reflect on their Recycling Paper Project. Each team member will write a paragraph on their

3 | Page

word document.
3. When team is complete with their reflections, the team will e-mail their team word document to the teacher

Name _____________________________

Recycle Paper Project

Vocabulary Worksheet
WORD

DEFINITION

Write a Sentence using

the word.

recycle
reduce
reuse
landfill
pulp
paper
natural
resources
dispose
Created by:
Beth & Shari

4 | Page

RECYCLE TRASH CALCULATION FORMULA:

Calculation Formula for will be used by each team to calculate the paper
gathered from their assigned classroom:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Length x width x height of trash in recycle bin = Volume of trash

Volume of trash for 2 days= Total volume of trash
Total volume of trash 2 = Average volume of trash per day
Length x width x height of classroom = classroom volume
Classroom volume average daily volume of trash = number of days to fill
classroom with trash.

MATERIALS NEEDED FOR PROJECT:

Chrome books/Ipads
Headphones
Recycle bins
Ruler
Calculator
Pen/pencil
Poster board
Markers
Color pencils
Scissors
Tape

5 | Page

EVALUATION:

Recycling Paper Project Rubric

0

Collaboration

Partners do not
cooperate in
meeting the goals
of the assignment.

Partners usually
cooperate in
meeting the goals
of the assignment.
Each partner
makes a
significant
contribution to the
project.

Partners fully
cooperate in
meeting the goals
of the assignment.
Each partner
makes a
significant
contribution to the
project.

Research

No notes are
taken.

Partners generally
do not cooperate
in meeting the
goals of the
assignment.
There is an
unbalanced
amount of
contribution to the
project.
Notes are taken
for some videos
and articles.

Infographic

No Infographic is
created.

Infographic does
not correctly show
the recycling
process.

Notes are taken

for all videos and
articles.
Reflective thought
is evidenced in all
notes.
Infographic clearly
and correctly
shows the
recycling process.

Prezi

No Prezi is
created.

Ideas somewhat
demonstrate
depth of
knowledge. There
are some spelling
or grammatical
errors.

Notes are taken

for all videos and
articles. Some
reflective thought
is evidenced in
notes.
Infographic clearly
and correctly
shows some of
the recycling
process.
Ideas
demonstrate
depth of
knowledge. Some
slides are grouped
in a way that does
not make sense.
There are some
spelling or
grammatical
errors.

Presentation

Students are not

prepared for
presentation.

Students are
somewhat
prepared for
presentation.
Volume is not
consistently loud
enough and/or
eye contact is not
consistently
established.

Students are
somewhat
prepared for
presentation.
Volume is loud
enough and eye
contact is
established.

Ideas
demonstrate
depth of
knowledge.
Slides are
grouped and flow
in a way that
makes sense.
There are no
spelling or
grammatical
errors.
Students are well
prepared. Volume
is loud enough
and eye contact is
established.

Comments:

Created by:

6 | Page

Beth & Shari 2015

CONCLUSION:
Students will now be knowledgeable about the benefits of Reducing, Reusing and
Recycling paper and ways to do this in our school. After completing this WebQuest and
all presentations have been made, students will vote on which recycling paper plan
presented should be put into action at your school. The entire class will then participate
in implementing the plan and present it to the school during an all school assembly.
During this assembly, each student will also share their personal reflections on their
recycling paper WebQuest journey.

7 | Page