How Can You Help Stop Food Waste?
Lesson Plans
Grades2, 3, 4, 5Science, Health
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Provided by University of Maine
What it is
- This slide deck can be used by educators to teach about food waste, why it is an important problem, and what students can do to avoid it.
- This slide deck is specific for schools in Maine, contains speaker notes, and provides an opportunity at the end of the presentation for students to share what they learned.
Teaching tips
Positives
- This resource can easily be adapted to your own needs by making a copy and adding or removing any elements as needed.
- There are multiple opportunities for students to participate in the lesson through discussion.
- Statistics and data are presented in a way that is easy for even young students to understand.
Additional Prerequisites
- Some of the speaker notes are written as a script, with directions for speaker in parenthesis, but review speaker notes prior to teaching the lesson to assure you do not read directions out loud.
- Speaker notes mention that the cafeteria has a share basket, as well as other sorting stations indicated in slides 16-20. Make sure your cafeteria has these before mentioning them to students.
- If you do not have stickers to give to students for sharing what they learned, remove the mention of stickers from slide 22.
Differentiation
- A shorter version of this slideshow is available here.
- This presentation would work well before or after a lesson on the effects of food waste on the planet.
- For students who are reluctant to share out, turn-and-talk or think-pair-share strategies can be used in the sections that require student participation.
- Students can create their own infographics or posters about food waste and how to stop it.
From the scientist review
This presentation introduces the concept of food waste to students and shares ideas of what they could do, as a school and individuals, to reduce food waste. Climate change and the effects of food waste on the environment are also connected to food waste in a simple but accurate way. The presentation empowers students to take action. The information presented is accurate and this resource is recommended for teaching.
How we review resourcesReady to use it?
Hosted on docs.google.com
Want this to fit your class?
Add your location for local examples, questions, and action ideas.
