Earth Day with intermediate students can be so much fun! They are passionate, aware, and ready to do whatever they can to protect our Earth. These activities and ideas will help you integrate Earth Day throughout your week. (Note: This post contains affiliate links. This means I receive a small commission at no cost to you if you make a purchase through these links.)
GETTING ACTIVE, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE!
1. Playground Pick-Up
You could also have students make signs for the playground after the big clean-up to remind other students to take care of their school environment. Another idea would be to sort the trash into recyclables and waste!
2. Minute to Win It {Earth Day Edition}
- Pop It To the Sky (make sure to ask for CLEAN and empty soda cans)
- Newspaper Airplane
- Pyramid Stack (we used recyclable Solo cups!)
INTEGRATE EARTH DAY IN ANY LESSON!
Michael Recycle + Writer’s Workshop
Litterbug Doug is lazy, messy, and gross. He hates to recycle! His neighbors are suffering from the stench of his trash piles. Even the army of rats that accompany him are growing weary of His Grossness. Michael Recycle to save the day!
We follow this up with a writer’s workshop on Hero stories. Students design their own environmental hero and develop a story in which they are needed to save the day! We use DC Kids’ Super Hero Me to design our heroes and go from there!
Make Connections Across Content Areas
Last year, I found Here Comes the Garbage Barge and had a burst of creativity. We made it our mentor text for the week and had a blast learning all about what happens to our garbage once it leaves our homes. One of the reasons I really love this book is that it’s a part of Storyline Online’s library! So if I don’t feel like rereading the book, or if more than one student needs to use the text we have an easy way to get around that!
We ended up with so many activities that I put them together in a unit that’s perfect for Earth Day, or any time of year that you’re studying pollution and conservation! I’m even sharing my favorite lesson and a close reading passage with you!
I was working on the close reading activity from my unit with some fourth-grade friends, and had an “A-HA!” moment in the middle of our work. They were having trouble understanding all of the steps involved in transporting garbage to its final destination. Then I remembered the final scenes from Toy Story 3.