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3rd, 4th, 5th Grades  Project 8 weeks

Too Good to Waste Warriors

Adrienne V
Updated
5-ESS3-1
4-ESS3-2
3-5-ETS1-2
3-5-ETS1-1
3-5.AF.1.5
+ 11 more
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The Challenge

When edible food and food scraps are discarded, you lose valuable resources while landfills release methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. This waste continues when food is not sorted by condition and material type, and when signs, symbols, and other visual messages are unclear, communities face environmental harm, lost nutrients and usable food, and confusion about what can be shared, composted, or thrown away.

Challenge Question

How can we take care of the food our school doesn’t eat, so it helps instead of harms our world?

Standards

  • 5-LS2-1 Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment. Performance Expectation
  • 5-ESS3-1 Earth and Human Activity Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment. Performance Expectation
  • MA:Cr3.1.4a / MA:Cr3.1.5a: Structure and arrange various content and components to convey purpose and meaning in different media arts productions, applying aesthetic principles such as balance and contrast (4th); create content and combine components to convey expression, purpose, and meaning in media arts productions, utilizing principles such as emphasis and exaggeration (5th)
  • ISTE Innovative Designer / Creative Communicator: students use technologies within a design process to solve problems and communicate clearly for a purpose and audience

Competencies

  • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Students consider a variety of innovative approaches to address and understand complex questions that are authentic and important to their communities.
  • Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
  • Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.
  • Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.
  • Self Directed Learning - Students use teacher and peer feedback and self-reflection to monitor and direct their own learning while building self knowledge both in and out of the classroom.
  • Academic Mindset - Students establish a sense of place, identity, and belonging to increase self-efficacy while engaging in critical reflection and action.

Learning Partners and Clients

Earth Matter (NYC) can serve as a learning partner by showing students how composting and worm bins turn food scraps into healthy soil and by sharing visual examples students can use to design labeled diagrams, prototype displays, and nature-inspired artwork connected to decomposition and ecosystems. Cafeteria Culture (NYC) can guide students in studying school food waste, designing share table systems, and creating kid-friendly PSA media that uses strong visuals, slogans, illustration, performance, and storytelling to encourage waste reduction. A school cafeteria manager or NYC Public Schools sustainability coordinator can act as a client by giving feedback on whether student prototypes, posters, videos, announcements, and exhibit materials are realistic, safe, clear, and useful in the school community.

Phase Overview

Phase Key Experiences
Discover
I can investigate our cafeteria's leftover food through a school waste sort, lunchroom observation, and quick sketch-notes or diagrams to notice what gets thrown away, ask why it happens, and identify root causes that affect people, the environment, and our community.
Examine
I can gather information from cafeteria staff, students, and partners like Earth Matter or Cafeteria Culture to learn why edible food and scraps are wasted at our school. I can sort food waste data into categories such as unopened food, compostable scraps, and trash and show what I learn with labeled charts, infographics, or annotated drawings that explain how materials can be reused, shared, or transformed. I can compare how share tables, composting, and donation systems work in other schools to decide which solutions best fit our time, space, and school routines. I can use models, notes, survey results, and visual maps to describe what happens to food waste in landfills and how different choices can help protect Earth's resources and reduce harm.
Engineer
I can develop a small-scale food waste solution with my group—such as a worm bin, share table, or garden-partnership pipeline—by planning roles, materials, criteria for success, and steps, and by designing signs, labels, color choices, and visual features that help our school community use leftover food in a helpful way.
Do
I can put our solution into action in the school community, collect surveys and monitoring data about how it is used, and study the results with charts, graphs, or visual displays to see how well it reduces food waste and helps people or the environment.
Share
I can share our solution, evidence, PSA media, and reflection through an interactive school showcase with classmates, staff, families, and community partners, using visuals, storytelling, and performance-based presentation choices to explain how our work changed what I know about food waste, teamwork, and myself as a learner and contributor.