Earth Day Activities

Tonight as I was checking out facebook, I ran across the Teaching Resources page that shared several Earth Day Activities that I felt was worth passing along. I am so totally impressed with the number of teachers who not only teach/share/promote Earth Day on this day but who also practice it daily. In this ever changing world we live in, I am beginning to realize just how important and necessary it is for us to preserve our environment and not take it for granted.
Anyway, here are a few activities that teachers locally and from around the world have done to help their students better understand the importance of being aware of the effects humans have on the environment.
1. Played Earth Bingo and gave out prizes from junk the teacher had from home.
2. Read the story "The World that Jack Built" and discussed what could be done by children to "Go Green". Students then wrote a letter to Jack suggesting ways that he could become more environmentally friendly.
3. Had our students clean, rake, paint, you-name-it all around town for 3.5 hours in the morning.
4.  Our school had lights out until 11:30. Only used sunlight. Then the 2nd half of the day we were paperless. Kids loved it! We picked up trash around school grounds too.
5.  My school is located about 100 feet off Lake Michigan in Gary, IN. For our specials time we had a beach clean-up! It was amazing what the kids found! Tomorrow it's cleaning the school grounds! Monday was making a pledge and discussing ways to help our planet, Tuesday was a competition to see what class could bring in the most batteries, CFL bulbs, and phone books (My class came in 3rd!). Yesterday, we turned off lights for the last hour of school!
6.  We did a tally chart of the materials of which everything we put in the garbage can was made. Then we made a bar graph and talked about how we could reduce the amount of plastic and being more conscientious of recycling what we can.
7.  We went to a local grocery store and got paper bags for each child. We then brainstormed tips and messages for Recycling and saving our Earth. The kids decorated the bags with these statements and pictures. We are returning the bags to the store and they will be used by local shoppers with a little reminder to keep our Earth healthy.
8.  At the begining of the week, our students took a recycling quiz to see just how much they knew about recycling. Then for one week had to track/tally the kinds/types of items they threw away. They also had to categorize which items could be reduced, reused, and recycled and this information was put together into a PSA and presented on Earth Day.