For this activity, the directions were pretty straight forward - color a plastic water bottle with Sharpie markers, cut the water bottle into a spiral, and then add to a wire hanger. Before the students began coloring their water bottles, they shared some of the recycling facts they had learned with me and then we talked about using 4th grade coloring and design skills to fill in the space of their water bottle. There was to be no scribbling and it should take longer than 60 seconds to color! They did an awesome job of thinking about the colors they were selecting, adding special designs or notes, and overall caring about the aesthetics of how their water bottle was decorated (I always tell students that the "A" in STEAM is not just for ART, but also AESTHETICS).
The fun tie-in that we had for this activity is that the class will have it as decorations for their Thanksgiving celebration next week and then they will be giving it as a gratitude gift to the local Senior Center so they can enjoy the students hard work (and recycling facts!).