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April 22nd is Earth Day - Things to do with your Kids

FRIDAY, APRIL 22ND IS EARTH DAY AND WE ARE SUPER EXCITED TO LEARN ALL WE CAN WITH YOUR KIDS!

What is Earth Day? I Earth Day Videos for Kids I Our Earth Day Post 2021

A lot of our classrooms have done Creative Curriculum Units, like Trees and Recycling, about protecting their planet. They have learned poems about The Litter Monster and read books on all the wonderful things trees do to keep our planet healthy and safe. Even in the Busy Bees’ Space Unit, they cover that Earth is our little blue dot in the vast expanse of the universe, and the only known one to hold life!

In celebration of Earth Day, rather than focusing everything on the one day, we have provided a month’s worth of activities, songs, and experiments to awaken curiosity and excitement for the subject from a bunch of different avenues!

  1. World Wildlife Fund Activities and Presentations

    1. Millions of Monarchs: A Journey Through The Monarch Butterfly’s Winter Home
      Court Whelan, Natural Habitat Adventures
      April 26, 2022
      1pm ET | 10am PT Register now and download the supplemental material pack for pre- and post- activities.
      Recommended for grade levels: 2-6

    2. 3 things you can do to help your local pollinators Article

    3. Plant a pollinator garden
      Interested in a hands-on project that supports pollinators? Use your green thumb and our Pollinator Garden Guide to create a garden of wildflowers at school, in your community, or at home. Learners can track the garden’s progress (and its visitors!) with the included wildflower science journal.
      As part of the One Square Foot campaign, Air Wick and WWF are giving out free native wildflower seeds suitable for your region. Visit the Air Wick page to get your free seeds and learn more.

    4. Discover the Northern Great Plains
      Teach about ecosystems and the impacts of human activity through the lens of one of the last remaining healthy temperate grasslands in the world using lessons from our Grasslands of the Northern Great Plains Content Pack.

    5. Just added! An activity book with fun printable puzzles and easy-to-read infographics on pollinators, wildflowers, and grasslands.

  2. Some Excellent Teachers Pay Teachers Activities: We know it seems a little counterintuitive to print a bunch of activities out on paper for your kids… but these are really fun and simple. You can do math activities, language art activities, art activities, anything that interests you!

    1. Letter Trace and Color Earth Day Page

    2. Color By Number, Color By Word, Dice and Mathtivities Earth Day Activities

    3. Headband, Writeables, and other Coloring Activities

  3. Science Experiments for Earth Day: We are so excited for these we may do some of them at school! But if you’re looking for a “non-screen” activity to do with your kids, these are excellent options.

    1. Left Brain Craft Brain: Global Warming Toast Activity

    2. Left Brain Craft Brain: Layers of the Earth Snack

    3. One Time Through: Water Pollution Experiment for Kids

  4. Fun Songs to Sing Together — Have an Earth Day Dance Party!!!

    1. Earth Day Recycling Song by the Kiboomers

    2. Recycling Song by Jack Hartmann

    3. Save the World by Jack Hartmann

    4. Water Cycle by GoNoodle

    5. Earth Day Would You Rather? by PE with Mr. G

  5. Excellent Books to Share Together

    1. The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle

    2. Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert

    3. This Class can Save the Planet by Kristen Brittain

    4. What if Everybody Did That? By Ellen Javernick

    5. Up in the Garden, Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner

What kinds of songs, books, and activities do you have? Do you all do a family clean-up day, or daily activities to help the Earth out? We would love to hear from you! If we all share and learn together, we can do incredible things.

All The Earth is a Garden! Let’s grow together.

LJ and your CG Family

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CG Birthday: Celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd

April is not just our birthday month! It’s the month we celebrate our incredible home: The Planet Earth.

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  • What is the History of Earth Day?

    • April 22nd, 1970 was the very first Earth Day! Proposed in 1969 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day was celebrated all over the nation in a collaborated effort between grass roots groups and their local governments. Elementary schools did trash-pickup and anti-litter movements. Flowers were planted. People swept their streets. Mothers protested the pollution destroying their children’s air quality.

  • Did it work?

    • By the end of 1970, the Nixon administration had established the Environmental Protection Agency and passed the Clean Air Act.

    • Environmental justice gained momentum in New York especially.

    • Activists increasingly emphasized “environmental racism,” or how toxins and lack of green spaces in poorer neighborhoods disproportionately affected communities of color.

    • In the 1980’s El Puente and WE ACT formed to oppose environmental hazards like sewage plants and other pollutants that contributed to health disparities, including high rates of asthma.

    • Many observers have invoked the threat of climate change and pollution during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have pointed to falling pollution levels in cities, as certain industries are on hold and transportation has slowed.

  • What can you do?

  • How you can celebrate at home

    • Animal Exercises to do at home with your kids ALL MONTH.

    • Stock up on reusable bags and try to go a month without using plastic ones!

    • Plant pollinator friendly local plants in your garden

    • Walk whenever you can or take public transportation (Keeping in mind Covid-19 precautions)

    • Use blankets or open windows rather than cranking up the Heater or AC

    • Pick up trash when you can! Even one piece can make a difference.

    • Watch Our Planet or Planet Earth to get your kids excited and curious about Earth

Remember everyone, we all share ONE COMMON GROUND. Our little blue planet is precious, and we have to take good care of it.

Love Love Love,

Your CG Family

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