By JESSICA MARTIN
Math Specialist
It’s Earth Day!! Sometimes this day goes under the radar without a chance to truly celebrate at school. And, when we do, we often implement the same type of activities: recycling, gardening, etc. Don’t get me wrong, let’s keep pushing forward with these, but it usually keeps all the fun in the Science classroom; this year, let’s spread the love! Here are a few cross curricular activities that you can do to celebrate Earth Day…and yeah, I know it’s just for a day, but if you need to spread it out over the week, go for it! Have fun!
- This week is definitely the day to encourage recycling; maybe focus on recycling one type of thing, like bottles. Make it a school wide competition, and through the week, you can collect data with tally marks and begin working on a school wide graph (bar or picto, depending on the grade level) to represent how each class is doing!
- One of my favorites, a little mix of Art. You don’t want to waste those bottles you’ve collected. Let’s REUSE! Give each student a certain amount, in which they must use those bottles, coupled with other “used” items to create something new. This can be a take home project due at the end of the month! Of course, display their work!
![Lake Eola Earth Day]()
- For our older kids (5-8th grade), Scholastic has a very cool Math Hunt Activity for Earth day; students go online a mission to find the answers to math-related questions about the environment. Take a minute to check this out: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/activity/earth-day-math-hunt-activity
- What a great time to read/watch (or maybe both; good compare and contrast) The Lorax. Combine that with a writing activity, in which the students decide how they would help the Earth, if they were the Lorax.
- If you don’t use Skype in the Classroom; this is the time to do it! I’ve heard of classes skyping with NASA Space Scientist; what kid wouldn’t absolutely love this!
- And what would this day be, without simply planting a flower; whether potted plants that maybe could be used for Mother’s Day (hint, hint), or even a tree on school grounds!
Today is definitely a day to be celebrated! And the kids will definitely appreciate something a little different from the normal!
