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Choose Your Lesson Plans!
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Videos | Lesson Plans | Additional Resources
Earth Day Lessons
Introduction:
Earth Day, celebrated April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. It is held annually during both spring in the northern hemisphere and autumn in the southern hemisphere. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year. The United Nations celebrates an Earth Day each year on the March equinox, a tradition which was founded by peace activist John McConnell in 1969. - Wikipedia
Lesson Plans:
- Students identify causes of pollution and ways they can prevent it in this bilingual photo story (K-3)
- Here is an idea for an Earth Day Song (K-4)
- This is an Earth Day poem or song appropriate for religious or Sunday schools (K-4)
- These are Rain Forest lessons (K-5):
- This lesson introduces students to the class recycling bin and its importance to their environment (1)
- Aquatic wildlife and pollution are the topics taught in this lesson plan (1-3)
- Dance your way into learning about Earth Day with the book "Earth Dance" here (1-3)
- Here students learn the difference between the terms reuse and recycle (1-3)
- "Taking Care of the Earth" is also a four seasons lesson plan (1-6)
- This ESL recycling lesson integrates English vocabulary, science and environmental consciousness (2)
- "Create the Environment" is a game involving the characteristics of the seven continents (2)
- In this creative lesson, students make an animal and choose an environment (2-3)
- The student categorizes nonrenewable vs. renewable resources in this lesson and learns the effects of overusing our resources (3)
- This lesson on oil spills focuses on writing a letter to a senator (3)
- Here is a brief idea for studying soil with discussion questions for the class (3)
- Forest ecology and human interactions with forests are the topics of this lesson (3-4)
- In this project, students research, write, and use media to help a local environmental issue (3-5)
- Students love this Earth Day Jeopardy game activity (3-12)
- Students work collaboratively here to create ecosystem concept maps using Kidspiration software (4)
- This is a lesson on earth's various biomes and the climate associated with each (4-6)
- Here's another large, well-developed unit; this one is on erosion (4-6)
- Below is a short unit on National Parks (4-6):
- Here's an idea for using a computer to graph the litter in school (4-8)
- This is an idea for creating a simulated landfill to prevent erosion (4-8)
- Here is a fun, well-developed unit on Garbage and Recycling that makes use of the Internet (4-8):
- Here are two great Earth Day ideas from Planetpals.com:
- An Earth Day history timeline is created here (5)
- This lesson teaches about ecosystems while also teaching Diamante Poetry (5)
- This lesson is called "Ecosystem in a Box" (5)
- Chief Seattle's Letter and ecosystems are the topics in this great lesson (5-6)
- Although part of a unit on Mars, this lesson's discussion of the greenhouse effect, trees, and leaves may be helpful on its own for Earth Day (5-6)
- ESL students create a recycling brochure in this SIOP lesson (6-8)
- This multimedia research unit reports the facts about Environmental Injustices (6-8):
- This is a 10-day Environment Curricula from Do Something, Inc. (7-12)
- Here is a reading comprehension quiz over a nuclear water contamination article (7-12)
- Here is a lesson on the effects of urban sprawl on our environmental footprint (9-10)
- This is just a set of handy questions that can be used after listening to a radio program available on the Internet on nuclear waste cleanup (9-12)
- This is a global warming lesson disguised as a measurement conversion worksheet (9-12)
- This globalization and the environment unit culminates with a mock Kyoto Protocol negotiation (9-12)
- In this hydraulic water cycle and water quality lesson, students prepare posters, test water samples, compile results, and create a display board as a class (9-MO)
- This is a four-part environmental unit on climate change and the water pollution problem (11-12)
Videos:
- Here is news footage from the first Earth Day - what's changed? (Environment Change 1:13)
- In this animated movie, a hip Polly Bear tells kids about Earth Day and what they can do to save the planet (Habitat Heroes 1:54)
- In this shocking, fact-based video ad, National Geographic asks "Will Fresh Water Disappear for the Next Generation?" (Bing 3:28)
- This is an adorable, well-produced, and just fun video of preschool kids r-e-c-y-c-l-i-n-g (SchoolTube 5:47)
- This is an HD version of Michael Jackson's Earth Song video (Daily Motion 7:30)
- "Quest" is the story of the San Francisco Bay area's transformation from environmental disaster to an inspiration for a new generation (KQED 26:48)
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Here are green and environmental videos on climate change, energy, and recycling made primarily, but not exclusively by students
- Earth Day TV celebrates Earth Day everyday with videos on global warming, getting active, alternate energy, greener living, authors and a special in the classroom channel
- National Geographic offers a collection of thirty environmental videos and nine on "Going Green"
Additional Resources:
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