English/ Language Arts

As with all resources, check it out to make sure that the book or article is appropriate for your students in your context. 

Picture Books

Many: The Diversity of Life on Earth -- Nicola Daives

The Wartville Wizard --Don Madden

The Adventures of an Aluminum Can: A Story About Recycling -- Alison Inches 

One Plastic Bag : Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia -- Miranda Paul 

What a Waste: Trash, Recycling, and Protecting our Planet -- Jess French

Why Should I Recycle -- Jen Green

Recycle! -- Gail Gibbons

Plastic: past, present, and future --Eun-ju Kim 

This Book Stinks  --National Geographic Kids

National Geographic Resources

K-5 Articles

"Plastic Pollution" -- National Geographic Kids

"Companies cut down on millions of plastic straws, after Girl Scout's letter"  (Newsela)

"Great Pacific Garbage Patch an example of growing plastic pollution" (Newsela)

"When helium balloons come back to Earth, animals can get hurt" (Newsela)

"Freeways and fruitflies: Residents help L.A. museum study nature in city" (Newsela)

"Save the bees, bats, birds! Pollinators are disappearing, report says" (Newsela)

Poetry

Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature 

Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices

Middle School Books

National Geographic Learning Reader Series: Green

High School & Adults Articles & Books 

Garbage Land -- Elizabeth Royte

Garbology -- Edward Humes 

Rubbish -- the Archeology of Garbage

Planet or Plastic website (includes informative articles on the topic)

Site with really interesting articles on the social studies of waste, pollution & externalities including "PSA: Beware of Easy Narratives"

"WE MADE PLASTIC. WE DEPEND ON IT. NOW WE’RE DROWNING IN IT." -- Laura Parker

"This is what it's like to swim through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch" --Mary Anne Potts

Here's how much plastic trash is littering the earth -- Laura Parker

ELA Common Core Standards

Kindergarten

RI.K.1  With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. (Tied to K-ESS3-2)

W.K.2 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic. (Tied to K-ESS3-2)

SL.K.3 Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood. (Tied to K-ESS3-2)

SL.K.5 Add drawings or other visual displays to descriptions as desired to provide additional detail. (Tied to K-ESS3-2)

Grade 1

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.1)

Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.2)

Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.3)

Grade 2

W.2.7  Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., read a number of books on a single topic to produce a report; record science observations). (Tied to 2-LS4-1)

Grade 3

Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.1)

Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.2)

Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.3)

Grade 4

Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.1)

Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.2)

Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.3)

Grade 5

Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.1)

Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.2)

Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.3)

Grade 6

Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.1)

Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.2)

Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes) (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.6.3)

Grade 7

Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.1)

Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.2)

Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events). (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.3)

Grade 8

Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.1)

Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.2)

Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories). (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.3)

Grades 9 & 10

Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1)

Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.2)

Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them. (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.3)