Earth Day

Earth Day Activities for the Classroom

Air Pollution Grades 4-6
This multi-subject theme make it an ideal lesson plan for Earth Day.

All School Earth Day Music Program
An easy-to-prepare Earth Day program.

Celebrate Earth Day with The Lorax
Play the fun game and help save the trees.

Celebrating Earth Day
Learn about "March for Parks," the nation's largest Earth Day event for parks and open spaces.

Celebrating Earth Day With Kids Grades Various
Here is a great list of activities for you and your students.

Cleaning Up for Earth Day Grades All
During the week prior to Earth Day, you can introduce the concept of Earth Day, why and when we celebrate it, and engage the students in a fun, helping the environment activity.

Creating Built Environments Grades 7-12
Students learn about land use planning, built environments, and cooperative living habitats.

Designing an Ecologically Sound City Grades Intermediate
This lesson will make students aware of the need to respect their environment, and its natural resources.

Dive In To Earth Day
Join tens of thousands of people during the week of Earth Day (April 22), and take action to protect our planet's underwater world. After all, over 70% of the earth is covered by water!

Don't Use it All Up! Grades 3-6
How can water be conserved? Using sponges as an example, students need and use water daily in many ways, and often in unrealized amounts.

Earth Care Grades Elementary
A unit on the environment.

Earth Day 1970 & 1990: Historical Precedents
Learn about the history of this historic movement.

Earth Day 2003 Online
Learn about Earth Day's history, find ideas to plan your celebration and much more!

Earth Day Energy Fast
"Cut back or go without man made energy." Learn more about this energy conserving activity.

Earth Day, Every Day Grades Primary
Focus on the environment and Earth Day with these great literature related ideas.

Earth Day for Kids
This site was created several years ago, but students can take a fun quiz and learn how they can save energy.

Earth Day History
Learn about how this day got started.

Earth Day Lessons
Here is a great collection of activities. One page for K-3 & one for 4-6.

Earth Day Mini Unit Grades 2-3
This two day unit will focus on various environmental aspects.

Earth Day in Your Neighborhood
Learn ways to get your whole neighborhood involved in this special day.

Earth Day Network
Search for events, browse the Earth Day store, read today's environmental headlines, and much more!

Earth Day Projects
A great resource for ideas and activities.

Earth Day Rhyme Away Grades Elementary
Here is a recycling poem that children can finish.

Earth Day Unit at ABC Teach Grades K-6
A great set of lessons that cover all subject areas. Find printable pages and more.

Earth Force: Youth for a Challenge
A great site to learn how children can make a difference in their community.

Easy Earth-Friendly Actions
Practical ideas for the classroom especially for K-6 teachers.

Eddy the Eco-Dog
Eddy is a hip and fun dog who helps kids learn new and exciting things about the environment.

Education Planet Earth Day
Find great information and web sites!

Energy Plug
This is a FREE resource guide for K-12 teachers and students that lists low-cost or no-cost energy & conservation resources. Order online!

Environmental Education Web Sites
In honor of Earth Day, which falls on April 22, this month’s column presents a collection of Web sites that will make it easy to infuse environmental education into your curriculum.

Environmental Fair Grades K-6
Students need to become aware of the environmental concerns of the earth.

Garbage
Learn how waste is handled now and how some communities are doing it better. In the activities, you can test your knowledge about hazardous waste we generate in our homes and try to shrink a landfill.

Happy Earth Day
Download a free coloring and activity book.

Helpful Hints for Planet Earth
A class of 1st graders from Pocantico Hills School created this original, online book. Learn why every day is Earth Day!

The Imagination Factory Grades Various
Find great recycling lesson plans & activities.

International Earth Day Site
John McConnell, the founder of Earth Day, shares the origin of Earth Day. Find out how to become an Earth Trustee and read the Earth Magna Charta.

Kid's Domain Earth Day
Find history, free downloads, games, and more.

Paper Mache Planet Earth
Here is a great craft to help your students celebrate Earth Day.

Planet Pals
Learn about great activities and celebrations around the world.

Rain Stick
Make a rain stick for Earth Day.

Six Simple Things You Can Do To Help
Fun and easy things kids can do to help the earth.

Squigly's Earth Day Fun
Learn how to create things from recycled items, send a postcard, color pictures, and much more.

Superfund for Kids
This site is sponsored by the EPA and has a great collection of Earth Day Activities.

The Earth Day Grocery Bag Project
Have your class participate in one of the largest and oldest Earth Day Celebrations.

The National Wildlife Federation
This site is a great resource for environmental issues.

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General Environment

All I Want for Christmas is a Nice, Clean Earth Grades 4-6
This particular activity is designed to allow students to investigate those items of litter that cause harm to the environment.

Amazing Environmental Organization Web Directory
Search for any organization?

The Beauty of Nature - A Sensory Experience Grades K-3
Students investigate the flora, fauna, and landscapes of natural areas/regions and places using their senses.

Can You Dig It? Grades K-6
Students will be able to identify interrelationships between daily activities which require energy and the renewable and nonrenewable resources which are used to provide the energy.

Composting in Schools Grades K-12
A complete guide to the importance of composting and how to get started.

EcoKids Online
Cool site that teaches you all about the planet and its animals. Includes games, news and facts about animals, special guests, gallery of children's art, and a discussion area.

Environmental Thematic Units Grades Various
Here is a great collection of lesson plans.

Environment Unit Grades Intermediate
This unit will address related actions and consequences in various ecosystems and their larger environments.

The Good Earth Tellers Grades 4-6
A Unit on Environmental Storytelling.

Guidebook Grades 4-6
Students will develop an understanding and appreciation of the environment around them through the research and publishing of a guidebook.

Identifying Biodegradable Materials Grades Intermediate
In this lesson, students will be able to identify which materials are biodegradable and which are not.

"I'm Warm Now" Grades Primary & Intermediate
Students are made aware of just how much clean fresh water is wasted as we wait for the water to become warm in our spigot.

Kids @ nationalgeographic.com
Amazing facts, fun puzzles, cool crafts and fascinating stories.

Lesson Plans Grades 1-7
Here is a collection of eleven lesson plans in recycling from the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC). In addition, there are three lessons on composting from the Texas A&M University.

Litter Detectives Grades K-12
The students will develop a positive attitude against littering. Students will develop solutions to help reduce littering.

Muncher, The Recycling Machine
Find recycling facts, information, and ideas.

National Wildlife Federation for Kids
Play games, go on cool tours of environmental habitats, even test your environmental savvy.

Oil Pollution Grades Primary
The lesson is part of a unit that deals with the topic of oil pollution. Through a hands-on activity, students learn how oil pollution can be harmful to animals.

One Person's Garbage, Another Person's . . .? Grades Intermediate
This lesson will ask students to consider the issue of waste recycling alternatives for isolated settings. They will be asked to transform discarded solid waste into a usable item.

Our Environment Grades 2-3
Because children are the leaders of tomorrow, educating them today to become responsible users and protectors of their environment, will result in a more positive future for our planet.

Outdoor Education Grades 4-6
This program stresses the "hands-on" approach. If the program is exciting and challenging to students, they will learn whether they realize it or not.

Planet Earth Grades 2-6
This unit could be a 9-week to year long project where all of the following objectives would be taught and achieved by all students.

Power Posse Grades K-8
This Energy Awareness Program web site provides it's visitors with numerous interactive activities.

Project Wild Grades Various
An activity based, K-12 environmental education program from the Council for Environmental Education. Click on "Project WILD Activity Guides" for information on the K-12 or Aquatic programs.

Rain Forest Erosion Grades Primary
Using a conceptual change model, students will make a connection between soil erosion by water and the effects it has on the rain forests.

Recycle City
Visit this city and play the Dumptown Game.

Recycled Paper Grades 2-6
Recycling is part of our everyday lives and this activity is a great way to show students that we can reuse paper even after it's already been written on.

Recycling Ideas for Teachers Grades Various
Find a great collection of ideas to share with your students.

Recycling Lesson Plans Grades K-12
These lessons will help teach your students about the important issue of recycling.

Recycling Paper Grades 3-8
This lesson educates students on the importance of recycling.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Grades 1-12
The main objective of this teaching unit is to change students' personal behavior through awareness. The lesson plan includes helpful background information, links to resources, student activities, and lecture notes.

Succession And Soil Compaction Grades K-6
Students will examine the influence of soil compaction on plant and animal habitat and on water infiltration.

Teacher Resources & Tools Grades Various
The EPA has put together a good collection of lessons and resources.

To Recycle or Not To Recycle Grades Elementary
In this web quest, students conduct research on the pros and cons of a mandatory recycling program and present their views to other members of a committee.

Waste Management Grades Middle School
There are four activities in this teaching unit in which students investigate household trash, biodegradability, packaging, and recycling.

Waste Not, Want Not Grades K-2
This set of lessons educate students on solid wastes.

Waste: Where Does it Come From? Grades K-12
The students will identify the various waste materials generated in the school. They will describe the sequence of collection and the destination of the materials identified.

Water Pollution Grades K-6
These activities will help students' understanding of water pollution and its potential effects on human and wildlife habitats.

Water the Dinosaurs Drank Grades K-1
This is a multi-disciplinary unit on water pollution. It contains content covering Math, Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts.

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Books

101 Great Nature Experiments
by David Burnie

Air Is All Around You (Let's Read and Find Out Science Series)
by Franklyn Mansfield Branley

Backyard (One Small Square)
by Donald M. Silver

The Bag Book : Over 500 Great Uses and Reuses for Paper, Plastic and Other Bags to Organize and Enhance Your Life
by Vicki Lansky

Be a Friend to Trees (Let'S-Read-And-Find-Out, Stage 2)
by Patricia Lauber

Berenstain Bears Don't Pollute (Anymore)
by Stan Berenstain

The Big Book of Nature Projects
by Len Rubenstein

Call Him Father Nature : The Story of John Muir
by Patricia Topp

Celebrating Earth Day (Circle the Year With Holidays)
by Janet McDonnell
*This book is out-of-print so check your library.*

Color Me a Rhyme : Nature Poems for Young People
by Jane Yolen