Did you know that Earth Day is an international celebration that takes place every year on April 22nd. It is a time for our global community to reflect about our impact on the environment and commit to making a difference for the better.
Looking for ways to celebrate in your classroom? Here are 5 easy low prep activities that you can do with your students.
1. Clean Up Your School Yard
If you are like us and live in a snowy climate, spring time often means all of the litter that was previously buried in the snow is now visible.
Ask your custodian if you can use some extra gloves and trash bags to pick up garbage around your school yard, most will be happy to help.
2. Read a Picture Book
Their are so many wonderful picture books that are great for all ages to teach your students about the importance of environmental stewardship. Check out our post Great Picture Books for Earth Day to get some ideas!
3. Shrink Your Footprint Posters
Our environmental “footprint” is the negative impact we have on the earth from our actions. Things like using excess amounts of plastic, burning fossil fuels, and polluting all contribute to a larger environmental footprint.
Have students make an informative poster about ways that they can shrink their environmental footprint. These posters can be hung outside your classroom or around the school to encourage others to also shrink their environmental footprint.
4. Complete Earth Day Reading Comprehension
Exploring a reading comprehension passage with your class is a great opportunity to learn all about Earth Day while still completing curriculum.
In this passage students will learn the history of Earth Day, when it started, the purpose of the day, and how they can make a difference.
Once students are done reading they can check their comprehension with multiple choice questions, short answer questions, a long answer question, and a vocabulary matching activity.
Find this ready to print activity here.
5. Write a Letter to a Politician
While our individual choices and actions are important to helping the environment, the choices our politicians and big corporations make often have an even larger impact.
Have your students write a letter to your local politicians to persuade them to take action against climate change. In their letter students can include why protecting the environment is important to them and some ideas for changes they would like to see.
Before having students write their letters you may want to explore local news article about climate policy, or brainstorm as a class some large scale changes that politicians could make. Some of these changes may include encouraging green energy, large scale tree planting, banning single use plastic, etc.
There are so many great ways to celebrate Earth Day in your classroom. Hopefully we gave you some inspiration and you are ready to get your students excited about saving the environment!
