Protecting the Earth: Plastic Pollution

Lesson 4
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ELA

Unit 3

5th Grade

Lesson 4 of 16

Objective


Explain how Leo Baekeland invented plastic. 

Readings and Materials


  • Book: Trash Vortex: How Plastic Pollution Is Choking the World's Oceans by Danielle Smith-Llera  pp. 14 – 20

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Target Task


Writing Prompt

In the 1900s, Leo Baekeland invented plastic. Explain how using details from pages 18–20 (top paragraph). 

Sample Response

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Key Questions


  • How did early Mesoamerican civilizations create and utilize rubber? Why did Europeans need to adapt the use of rubber?

  • What invention did Charles Goodyear make? What problem did this invention solve?

  • What did the chemist Alexander Parkes discover? How did John Wesley Hyatt improve his discovery?  

  • What did the chemist Leo Baekeland discover? How? 

  • Why was Baekeland’s invention called the “material of a thousand uses?” 

Vocabulary


mechanism

n.

a part of a machine

moldable

adj.

able to be changed into different shapes

intrigued

v.

wanting to know more about something

synthetic

adj.

made of not natural substances

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Common Core Standards


  • RI.5.3 — 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.

Supporting Standards

L.5.4
L.5.4.b
RF.5.3
RF.5.4
RI.5.1
RI.5.4
RI.5.10
SL.5.1
W.5.10

Next

Analyze how plastic became such a large part of everyday life.

Lesson 5
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Lesson Map

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