This Friday, April 22nd, we celebrate Earth Day! If you want your classroom to have a conversation on conservation, we have several Units and Topics that you can use with your students. Here are 5 cross-curricular lesson ideas from our Units on Conservation, Endangered Species, Earth, and more! You can share with your class to help them feel a new excitement about Life and Earth Science.
Social Studies
Have students prepare for Earth Day. They can make plans for and carry out an event to promote Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle at home and in school. Students might list ways they and other students can conserve resources in their daily lives. For example, they can make and use cloth lunch bags. They might create artwork by reusing things in a new way or set up recycling centers at home or school. Our Conservation Unit will be a great place to inspire your students for Earth Day!
Geography
Have students work with a partner and come up with their own choices for the seven natural wonders of the world. The sights should not include any of those shown on Our Planet from Surface to Core, from the Earth Unit. Students should try to get a picture of each sight and include it along with a one-paragraph description of the site. The description should include where the site is and what makes it so spectacular. Remind students that natural wonders are not man-made.
Art
After your class reads about the Everglades from our Wetlands Unit, students should imagine that they are part of an organization devoted to saving the wetlands. In groups, have them come up with slogans for protecting the wetlands. Groups should display their slogans on a bulletin board, and the class should discuss them.
Language Arts
There are many treasures and special features of the rain forest. Challenge students to find at least one word for each letter of the alphabet. Write the alphabet running down the left edge of a large sheet of paper. As students read our Rain Forests Unit, they can look for rain forest treasurers, creatures, or features that begin with each letter of the alphabet and write them next to the first letter in that word.
Science
Ask students to list 20 or more endangered species of animals and identify why each is endangered. They can learn more from our Endangered Species Unit. On a class map, have students label a map with the name of each animal and where it lives. Display the map and students’ list on a bulletin board.
