Earth Day is one of my favorite days of the year and I love sharing that passion with my kiddos. I really wanted my Firsties to understand that Earth Day is truly every single day, so I started the day by reading the book Earth Day Every Day, by Lisa Bullard.
The Magic School Bus Compost Stew by Mary McKenna SiddalsGets Recylced
by Anne Capeci
We also watched this video (quite a few times - the Firsties loved it!) about reducing, reusing and recycling:
We had a really great discussion about how gardens in general are helpful for the earth, and how our gardens at school are beneficial for the students. We talked about how growing our own food is good for our bodies and good for the environment. Many of them made connections with their experiences of seeing their families and friends grow produce in gardens. It was a very meaningful moment, and it helped solidify our own gardening activities we've been doing in the classroom and in the gardens.
We also did a really meaningful activity that I found for free (yay!) on TPT. After reading fiction and nonfiction books and watching the "Going Green" video, I asked to students what they might consider promising to do to help the earth. I wrote down a few ideas on the board and I had the kids prewrite their promises during center time so we could proofread them and check for punctuation and spelling. They colored their planets and rewrote their promises on the heart, they cut it all out, and then I attached the heart to the earth with a piece of blue yarn. We hung them up in the windows and they looked really neat! It was a neat way for the students to solidify what they had learned about Earth Day and to give them something tangible they could take home and reference in the future.
Here's a photo of a couple of their Earth Day promises:
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