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Image of a building made out of old bottles
Coreen Hildebrand/MaritimesMaven.com (Bottle House); MARCUS OBST (Junk Castle); Shutterstock.com (Tire House, Tires, Trash, Fly)
Mini Read,

Houses Made From Trash!

Would you want to live in one?

From the March/April 2025 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will understand that trash can be reused to make homes.

Lexiles: 500L
Featured Skill: Key Details,
Topic: Social Studies,

Standards

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Most people throw away their trash. But some people make houses out of it! Why would they do that? It is a way to recycle. That is when we use old things in a new way. Recycling helps keep our Earth clean.

Building With Junk

Bottle House

It is made from colorful old bottles. Pretty!

People have used all kinds of trash as materials for building. Used bottles, car parts, and old metal can be used to build special homes. 

Cool Homes

Tire House. 

These rubber tires used to be on cars!

These homes can even look cool. Glass bottles make colorful walls. Tires can be used as bricks. And junk can be turned into tall towers.

Junk Castle

Builders used old metal, car parts, and even parts of a washing machine.


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Slideshows (1)
Activities (2)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
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video (2)
Slideshows (1)
Activities (2) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)

More About the Article

English Language Arts Focus

Nonfiction text features

Key details

Science Focus

Recycling and conservation

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

Implementation

  • Whole group
  • Small group

Pairings and Text Connections

  • From the Storyworks 1 archive: “Picture This!: These Animals Are Made From Trash!” (March/April 2024)

Before-Reading Resources

  • Vocabulary slideshow (5 minutes) recycle, materials
  • Video: Earth Day Every Day (5 minutes) Build background knowledge on Earth Day
  • Video: Get Rid of That Trash! (5 minutes) Learn to help Earth by reducing how much trash you make

Suggested Reading Focus

Comprehension/ personal connections (30 minutes)

  • Tell students that they will be learning about an interesting way to reuse trash—to make houses!
  • Read the article aloud while students follow along in their magazines. Stop at the end of each section to ask questions and check for comprehension. What does it mean to recycle something? Why do we recycle? What kinds of trash have been used to make houses? What are some ways trash is used to make houses?
  • Next have students look at the pictures as you read the captions. Can they see the materials that were used to make each house?
  • Ask students to share their thoughts and reactions. Would they want to live in a house made from trash? Why or why not? What materials would they use if they were making one?

After-Reading Skills Practice

  • Skills: types of sentences; main idea (15 minutes)

Text-to-Speech