Earth Day

Here are some ideas/activities I use for Earth Day:

*Read What the World Needs...this is a great book written by a fourth grade class. It illustrates what they think the Earth needs to become a better place. After
reading this story, I have each student draw/color a picture of something they think the Earth needs. They then write a sentence under their illustration (Our Earth needs__________) We bind all the pages together to make a class book.

*Create coffee filter Earths. Have each student color a coffee filter using a green and blue marker. I stress that they should use more blue than green as the Earth is made up of more water than land. Then using a dropper, drop several drops of water onto the filter so that the colors bleed together or use a spray bottle and squirt the filters. Allow time to dry. I then attach a wallet size dig. picture to each Earth and then laminate them. I also have each student trace their hand on green construction paper, cut it out, and write one thing on it that they can do to protect our Earth. You can use these to make a bulletin board or hallway display titled "Earth: It's in our Hands"...(see attached image)

*Read The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry. Draw a large tree outline on chart paper and make a class generated list of the animals from the story that were going to lose their homes if the tree were to be cut down. Then add other items that trees provide us (fruits, nuts, wood, oxygen, beauty). Discuss what it would be like if the Earth had no trees.

*Read The Lorax. Have your students create Earth Day posters to hang around the school for awareness.

Here's a closer view of my coffee filter Earths.

I send home a note (about a week before Earth Day) asking the students to bring "clean trash" to our room. I explain that "clean trash" means items that won't smell up our classroom after sitting here for a week. They are each to bring in some items that CAN be recycled and some items that CANNOT be recycled. Then on Earth Day, while the students are out at recess, I scatter all of the "trash" around the room. When they come in, they have to help clean up the room and sort the items. (i.e. all recyclable plastics go on one table, all glass goes on another, newspapers and magazines on another, etc.) With the items that are left, we discuss that those would need to go to the landfill. However, we brainstorm ideas of ways that we could reuse any of those items before they really go to the landfill. Another bonus...we have plenty of items sorted and ready for recycling day when the truck comes. : )

Destination Conservation is one of the programs that our school uses. Google it for many ideas. :D

You could also continue to encourage your students to look for solutions to some of the things you experienced:

No place to recycle while on holidays? Bring it home with you and use your local depot...

Be an environmental hero and pick up the garbage on the beach...

Write a letter to McD saying how you understand the need to use sanitary procedures but giving suggestions on avoiding the excess plastic around spoons. Choose to write to other companies that seem to use too much plastic/non recyclable material to wrap their products (I'm thinking of some of the Polly Fashion sets that my daughter has recieved)

Don't just have a paper recycling bin in your classroom, have a "reuse" bin for those pieces of paper that have little on them. We use these scraps to write reminder notes, doing math scratch work on, book marks, etc.

When a student asks to throw away an old assignment, juice box, shoebox, etc, I no longer say "sure", I say "put it in the correct bin"

Give them a visual...my grade 5/6 students like this one.... imagine Bambi, Thumper and the rest of their friends with sad faces standing amongst a whole bunch of tree stumps... let's keep Bambi happy!!

Discuss/draw alternate transportation that they could use as adults. Plant the seed now.

Brainstorm ways that "garbage" can be reused.

Look at new technology -- how about those new lightbulbs --might be more expensive but last so much longer --- less waste when thrown away.

Explore the opportunities for recycling in your area (I used the internet, yellow pages, newspaper features, word of mouth). We now know where to recycle old paint, paper, cardboard, milk containers, juice boxes, pop cans/liquor containers, tin cans, old computers/T.V. sets/electronic components, car batteries, regular batteries, clothing, unwanted household items, toys, garden waste, natural Christmas trees, etc.

Teach "respect for the environment", look at native legends in many cultures that emphasize this type of respect.

Do some "Did you know" facts (thinking of all of the Everest expeditions and how there are specific ones just for cleaning up all of the junk left behind by some of the climbers -- oxygen tanks, old supplies, etc)

This can't happen all at once but it's a lifelong topic for the students.

This past Earth Day, our school had a day of fun activities. One thing we did was to collect as much recyclable or clean trash as possible the week before including packaging material, styrofoam trays, lids, bottles, cartons, etc, and in the gym, they built sculptures from them. It was one of their favorite activities. We had thought a contest to bring in the most materials on a given day would help us get enough, but we didn't need to do it. You may want to try something like that. We only have the option to recycle aluminum and cardboard in our community so there were lots of donations. You could do the art project (reusing) or sort and haul the materials yourselves to be recycled as a learning opportunity. That way you don't compare writing and drawing abilities, but really see how much can be recycled instead of tossed.

Last year we had a school wide t-shirt decorating contest. We had a small assembly where the whole school attended. 1 student from each class was chosen to be a "model" to wear the class made shirt. 1 or 2 students were chosen to tell about the t-shirt design. When the student walked down the runway, their class chosen song was played. The principal and other school staff were the judges. It was really cute. The students had to be involved in making the shirt. The class song was extremely cute too. The younger grades picked "cutesy" songs that got the whole school singing. Overall it worked out great. Hope this may be of some help!

Earth Day can be a very exciting unit. I do several things to prepare for the day, but the part the kids find to be the most exciting I will share now. I make recycled hats for each child! You will need two sheets of newspaper (large sheets) for each studens,lots of masking tape, and a stapler (lots of staples). I learned how to do this at a convention one year and have done it ever since.

1)With the child sitting in a chair, double the newspaper (both sheets together) and place the middle of the newspaper on top of the child's head.

2)Take masking tape and go around the top of the newspaper so that it forms the top of the hat. (the tape will look similar to a ribbon that would go along the base of the hat..like a band).

3)Now, begining at the front of the hat, roll the edges of the newspaper up out of the face of the child and just staple wherever to hold it in place and to make the beginning of the rim of the hat.

4)Continue rolling and stapling around the hat until you have gone completely around the child's head and the hat is finished!

OPTIONAL: I have brought in a big box of "clean" trash such as scrap paper, kleenex, toilet paper tubes, etc and let the children glue and staple "trash" on their hats. They love it if their is time! And, I have also taught myself how to make different styles of hats....such as huge baseball hats, cowboy hats, etc.....Takes practice and if you do this just be prepared for everyone to want a different style.

5) We then have a "Recycled Hat Parade" throughout the school. What fun!

NOTE: While I am making the hats, the students watch two short videos on Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. I also send home a "Scavenger Hunt" page to do with parents to find things around their home that could be recycled.
A pledge that they copy for their poem books was taken from one of the videos. It goes like this:
No job is too big,
No action too small,
For the care of the earth,
Is a task for us all.

Reading books related to any topic is usually how I introduce a topic. Look into Wump World by Bill Peet or Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg for Earth Day, or Arbor Day....let's take care of our environment any day. Also, one time I challenged the kids to pack a lunch that involved little or no trash! We had a fun picnic together. You could have a regular lunch picnic first and sort/measure the trash and then compare with the no trash day. Have fun!

There was a cute display idea on page 11 in the 2005 April/May Edition of The Mailbox Magazine (K/1st). It was called Earth Day Promises. The students put a green handprint on a blue construction paper circle and then add marker details along the edge of the circle (land) to resemble the earth. On a piece of paper, have each student plege how he/she will take good care of the earth. Then mount the artwork and writing on construction paper to display.

We have made trash monsters in the past. I send it home as a family homework project. They use only materials that would otherwise be thrown out. No buying materials! The families have made soda bottle people, milk jug robots, dish soap dispenser creatures, you name it. They have used paper towel tubes, squirt bottle tops, tuna cans, wrapping paper, shredded tissue from gifts, etc.. The creatures are always very creative! We have also each brought in one clean recyclable each day for a week and then seen how much it all adds up.. how much space we are saving in the landfill by recycling instead. On the last day, we sort it by material, graph the different recyclable items and then take it to the local recycling center for a environmental tour!
I also have them make Earths by cutting out blue circles and splotting green paint on it, folding the circle in half and pressing.. open to see the green continents. We write on each a way to help protect the earth and put them together to make into a book.

Earth day globe with space for about one sentence.

This is 3 R's by Jack Johnson -- very catchy and fun for Earth Day! I just downloaded off of iTunes! Here are the lyrics.

Three it's a magic number
Yes it is, it's a magic number
Because two times three is six
And three times six is eighteen
And the eighteenth letter in the alphabet is R
We've got three R's we're going to talk about today
We've got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
If you're going to the market to buy some juice
You've got to bring your own bags and you learn to reduce your waste
And if your brother or your sister's got some cool clothes
You could try them on before you buy some more of those
Reuse, we've got to learn to reuse
And if the first two R's don't work out
And if you've got to make some trash
Don't throw it out
Recycle, we've got to learn to recycle,
We've got to learn to
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Because three it's a magic number
Yes it is, it's a magic number
3, 3, 3
3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36
33, 30, 27, 24, 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, and
3, it's a magic number

I use:
1. Brother Eagle, Sister Sky
Have students take a quote from the book and make an inspirational bumper sticker.

2. The Great Kapok Tree
Discuss distruction of habitats, I do a reader's theater of the book, enjoy snacks from the rainforest while watching a related video, make step books of the layers of the rainforest

3. Just A Dream
Students create a paper T-shirt with an environmental message, take a litter scavenger hunt around school grounds (collect trash, chart how many of each item you find, and graph)

4. Recycle
I give the hstudents a juice box to enjoy while I read. They then rinse out the box, and put in powdered tempra paint, water and plaster of Paris. After two days they have their own sidewalk chalk.

5. The Wump World
Compare and contrast the Pollutiants and the Wumps

6. The Lorax
We always watch the video and then I have partners write a plan for saving the truffula trees. They can also illustrate their plan.

7. Whare Does the Garbage Go?
Challenge students to take an empty plastic beverage bottle from home (water, pop,, milk, etc) and make something new from it. Have students bring them to class and present them to their classmates. Display th efinished products.