I am very excited to have a guest talk to you on my blog today :) Her name is Blair Crawford, and although she does not have a blog yet, I know when she gets one that it will be a hit :)
Hi! I’m Blair and I’m very excited to get to talk to the
LoveToTeach community! I don’t currently have a blog (I’m not as organized as
Laura!) but you can reach me at @blair_crawford on Twitter.
Earth Day is right around the corner and this year I
wanted to do something other than watching the Disney Earth Day release with my
class. Don't get me wrong, the kids and I love them but I feel like I haven't
done anything new since
I got my teaching certificate! As you'll read below I've
compiled a list of interactive things to do with the kids.
Teaching the kids about reducing, reusing and
recycling is the center of Earth Day so if you go over things that the kids
recycle at home and have them bring some of the items in you can do fun
projects in the class room with very few extra supplies!
1. Plant seeds in toilet paper rolls or tin
cans
The
rolls are biodegradable (teachable moment!)
and once the seeds sprout you can plant them outside or have the kids take them
home to plant. If you go with the tin cans the kids can decorate the cans and
then can keep them in class for a while before they take them home for the
summer.
2.
Make wind chimes out of recycled materials
There
are a lot of materials to do this one and the kids will
instantly see the fruits of their labor.
3. Decorate your bulletin board using only
recycled things
Have
the kids decorate used paper or paper grocery bags with Earth Day themed images
or "things they can do to help the Earth" and staple them to the
board. They'll love looking at their art and knowing that you can reuse almost
anything!
4. Make and decorate a composting bin
Composting
can be pretty tricky (and smelly) but it makes great soil and is a great tool
to teach the kids about the circle of life. Plus - what kid doesn't want to
paint a large bin?
5. Plant the top of a carrot or pineapple
The
tops of carrots and pineapples sprout again when planted so it's
a fun way to show your class the growing process. Things coming back to life
always get kids excited.
Depending on your school's budget, how dirty
you want to get and how much time you can spend on a new lesson plan there
should be something in this list you can do in your classroom. Enjoy and Happy
Earth Day planning!
Hi Laura! I just wanted to say that I'm not awesome at responding to comments, but it always makes me super happy every time you leave a sweet comment on my blog. Thank you! :)
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