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 also has some great resources.
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. It's also a great way to incorporate STEM topics into any classroom and relate STEM topics to the environment.
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
Discovery Education Dawn Junior Wildlife Champions-free lesson plans about oil spills and wildlife
The Road Ahead - resources on electricity generation from Discovery Education
Discovery Education Turfmutt - environmental science lessons
25 Free Resources from Discovery Education
Discovery News - science news
Disney Planet Challenge - project based environmental contest with resources
