Lesson 7 — Wasting Less

Summary

Learners discover what it means to waste less: using just what you need, turning off a tap, reusing a bag or basket, using both sides of paper, and taking only as much as you will use. They actually do one waste-less action and say why it helps, learning that small choices made by many people add up — and that in places where water is scarce, saving even a little truly matters.

Objectives

• Name one way to waste less, such as turning off water or reusing a bag, and do it. (D10.S4.01.01)

Connection

Think of a tap left running while no one uses it, or a bag thrown away after one use. That is wasting — using more than we need. Now think of turning the tap off, or using the same bag again and again. That is wasting less. Wasting less is not about feeling bad; it is about using just enough, so there is enough for everyone and for the living things around us. In places where water is hard to come by, every drop saved truly matters.

Materials

• Supplies for one waste-less action (a tap, a reusable bag or basket, paper, a cup)
• Paper and crayons for a “waste less” promise card

Preparation

• Choose one or two safe, simple waste-less actions learners can really do: turn off a tap, reuse a bag or basket, use both sides of paper, or take only a little water.
• Set out the supplies for each action.

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner (“you”). Make the action real, not symbolic — learners should actually turn off a tap, reuse a bag, or flip a paper over. Keep the tone hopeful, never shaming: wasting less is about care and agency, not guilt, and no act is too small. This is especially true where water is scarce — in such places, “wasting less water” may be the single most important act, and it is just as real as any other; adapt the examples to the learners’ own lives (a precious jug of water used carefully, a basket reused for years, a field watered only as much as needed). Never frame any family as wasteful; honor the care people already show. For a learner with motor differences, the choosing and the saying are the act — they may direct a partner’s hands to turn off the tap while saying why it helps; adapt the tool (a long-handled tap, a light basket). A learner who is blind or has low vision can feel the tap turned, hear the water stop, and hold the reused bag. A non-speaking learner can point to the action and to a picture for “saves” to show why it helps.

Procedure

1. Gather (5 min). What does it mean to waste something? (To use more than we need.) What would wasting less look like?
2. Meet ways to waste less (10 min). Name some ways: turn off the tap when you are done; reuse a bag or basket instead of a new one; use both sides of a piece of paper; take only as much water or food as you will use. For each, say why it helps: “Turning off the tap saves water for other living things.”
3. Choose and do one (15 min). Pick one waste-less action you can really do right now, and do it. If your body makes the doing hard, choose the action and guide a partner’s hands while you say why it helps. Feel what it is like to use just enough.
4. Make a “waste less” promise (10 min). Draw a promise card: one way you will waste less, and why it helps.
5. Close (5 min). One person wasting less helps a little; many people wasting less helps a lot. Wasting less is a way of caring — for water, for trees, for everyone and everything that shares our home.

Differentiation

• Support: Do one action together hand-over-hand and say the “why” together aloud.
• Motor differences: Choose the action, direct a partner’s hands, and say why it helps; the choosing and the saying are the act of care. Adapt the tool too (a light basket, a long-handled tap).
• Blind/low vision: Feel the tap turn and hear the water stop, or hold the reused bag; a partner names the action and its reason.
• Deaf/hard of hearing: Show each waste-less action with sign, pictures, and acting; the learner signs or points to the action and to a picture for “saves” to show why it helps.
• Extension: Name a second way to waste less at home or in the neighborhood, and tell who or what it helps.

Assessment

• Formative (observation): Did the learner name one way to waste less, do it, and say why it helps?
• Artifact (portfolio): The “waste less” promise card.

Home connection

Take your promise card home. Do the waste-less action with a grown-up — turn off a tap, reuse a bag, or use both sides of paper — and tell them why it helps our shared Earth home.