Earth Day, April 22nd, is a great time to talk to your students about the environment. Many schools, including most in Connecticut, will be on break during that time, but you can always talk about it after break.
Earth Day was started in 1962 as a way to bring attention to environmental issues. As polution increases, and the environment is continually affected by humans, it is a great time to get our students thinking about environmental issues.
Here are some resources you can use with your students:
National Environmental Education Week - This week (April 10-16) is Environmental Education Week. This site has an entire section with resources for educators that includes curricula, quizzes, professional development and more.
Earth Day Network - this is another great resource for teaching about the environment and Earth Day. The educator resource page has lesson plans, Green your School guide, grant programs and more to help educators.
Science Museum Climate Science Info Zone - information and resources on climate change, carbon footprint, and more.
Think Green from Discovery Education - Think Green is another great free resource from Discovery Education that contains lesson plans, videos, and activities for teachers to use in their classroom. The resources are sorted by grade level and are interactive and educational.
You can also go to the Think Green Resource Page to search for more resources by grade, topic, or resource.
Discovery Education, Siemens STEM Academy (another great resource from Discovery) is hosting a webinar entitled Earth Day: The Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill One Year Later with Jeff Corwin on Tuesday, April 19, 2011, 1pm ET. Teachers can register for free and share it with their students.
You and your students are invited to join biologist, environmentalist, author and Emmy winner Jeff Corwin to take an in-depth look at the impact of the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill as we approach the one-year anniversary. Jeff, who hosts Animal Planet’s The Jeff Corwin Experience, will examine the intricate and wide-spread ecological effects of the spill on life in the surrounding ecosystem and beyond. As a defining moment in environmental history, the oil spill will forever change societal awareness of the relationship between humans and the environment. You and your students will walk away with a better understanding of the role we play in protecting the aquatic habitat of the gulf and the positive impact we can make on the environment every day
Every classroom can, and should, talk about Earth Day and the environment. We all need to help make sure that the Earth will be a healthy, viable, place for generations to come.
English classes could write about the environment, including persuasive essays and letters on different topics.
History classes could look at the history of Earth Day and the Environmentalist movement, along with the history of different environment events.
Science classes can delve into the science of the environment, energy resources, energy production and more.
What do you do for Earth Day in your classroom?
Some More Environmental Resources