January 2009

 

Earth Day - April 22nd
(Tune: “Clap Your Hands Together”)

Earth Day, Earth Day! Let’s all come together.
Earth Day, Earth Day! To make this world much better.
‘Cause we love our planet Earth, beautiful and blue.
We want to take care of it with everything we do.

We can recycle – tell your friends and neighbors!
Glass, aluminum, plastic and paper.
‘Cause we love our planet Earth, beautiful and blue.
We want to take care of it with everything we do.

We can plant a tree, to create green spaces;
Walk or ride our bikes to go different places.
‘Cause we love our planet Earth, beautiful and blue.
We want to take care of it with everything we do.

Activities:

• The “Earth Book” was on my April 2008 website. Just in case you didn’t see it, here it is again. Your students will enjoy making the book and then taking it home to share with their families.

 Earth Book


• Write letters to politicians (local as well as national) asking them to help protect our beautiful planet.

• Adopt a class tree. Find a special tree on your playground and explain that your class can adopt that tree as your “pet” plant. Have a contest to name the tree. (This is a great way to use a graph!) Take photos of your tree and encourage the children to draw pictures of it during different seasons. Ask children to hug your tree. What does it feel like? What does it smell like? Can you hear your tree? Read books, have picnics, or sing songs under your tree.

• Plant a tree on your playground. Contact your local cooperative extension service, Forestry Services, or National Arbor Day Foundation for free seedlings. Discuss what your tree will need to thrive. Prepare the soil, water your tree, and record its growth.

• Make a class quilt for Earth Day. Give children 6” squares and ask them to draw something in nature that they appreciate. Punch holes in all four corners of their squares and then tie the squares together with yarn. Hang in your classroom or in the hall.
Hint! You can also make quilts with fabric crayons. First children draw pictures on 8” squares of paper with fabric crayons. Then iron their images on muslin or an old sheet cut into 9” squares. I’m sure you have a parent or friend who would sew the children’s fabric pieces together to complete your quilt.

• Sit and watch. You can do this activity on your playground, at a park, or as part of a field trip. Each child takes a hula hoop or 6’ piece of string that has been tied into a loop. Children spread out and place their hoop or string on the ground. They then sit quietly and use all of their senses as they “sit and watch.”

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