Year 2 Guided Reading Level H - What Happens to Recyclables

Book Snapshot
• Title: What Happens to Recyclables
• Genre: Nonfiction (informational)
• Subject: Science (Environmental Science)
• Primary Topic: How recyclables are collected, sorted, and reused
• Estimated Guided Reading Level (A–Z): H

What This Book Teaches Best
• How recycling begins at home: people put materials in blue bins for a special truck.
• What happens at a Material Recovery Facility (MRF), including the “tipping floor” and conveyor belts.
• How workers and machines separate materials (sorting workers, a magnetic separator, optical sorters using infrared light, and star screens).
• What happens after sorting: materials are crushed into bales, moved by forklifts, taken to factories, and made into new products.

Learning Goals
• Describe how recyclables get from blue bins to a truck and are hauled away.
• Explain what the book says happens when a truck arrives at a Material Recovery Facility (MRF).
• Identify what sorting workers remove from the conveyor belts and give examples from the text.
• Explain how a magnetic separator changes what stays on the line and what gets pulled away.
• Describe how optical sorters use infrared light and air to separate plastic bottles.
• Describe what happens to sorted materials after they are made into bales and sent to factories.

Key Vocabulary From the Text
• sanitation — keeping places clean by picking up trash and recyclables.
• facility — a place or building where work happens.
• conveyor — a moving belt that carries things from one place to another.
• separator — something that pulls different materials apart.
• infrared — a kind of light machines can use to tell things apart.

Printing Tips

1. Best Printing Method (Recommended)
   “Booklet” Printing (Best if Available)
   If your printer or PDF viewer supports Booklet Printing, use this.
   Settings to use:
   • Print mode: Booklet
   • Paper size: Letter or A4 (either works)
   • Orientation: Landscape
   • Print on both sides: Yes
   • Flip on: Short edge
   • Scaling: Fit to printable area
   • Booklet subset:
   o First test: Front sides only
   o Then: Back sides only
   This will automatically:
   • Pair pages correctly
   • Put the cover on the outside
   • Align everything for folding
   After printing, fold in half and staple along the spine.

2. If “Booklet” Printing Is NOT Available
   You can still print this correctly with manual duplex printing.
   Step-by-step:

3. Open the PDF.

4. Choose Print.

5. Set:
   o Orientation: Landscape
   o Pages per sheet: 1
   o Print on both sides: Yes
   o Flip on: Short edge

6. Print all pages.
   Because each PDF page already contains two facing book pages, the result will still fold cleanly into a book.