Forums

Hello, I am wondering what some of you do for Earth Day. My School has about 350 sixth graders and every year we have had the opportunity for a half day field trip related to Earth Day followed by indoor school activities. It is no longer possible for us to do what we have done in the past. We have a lot of flexibility to plan for this day...give me some ideas. Thanks a million ahead of time.

There are several good websites that have Earth Day Activities for students of all ages. http://www.earthday.org/greencities/earth-day-2014/ This site has a tab for resources and materials as well as the history of Earth Day, http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/earth-day.htm Resources for all ages, but especially geared to K-8. http://www.nea.org/tools/lessons/Earth-Day-Curriculum-Resources-Grades-6-8.html Lesson plans and ideas for 6 – 8.

Celebration of Earth Day has always been one of my favorite times of teaching science, and a celebration that I keep going all week! I begin the week with a trip to our computer lab and have the kids participate in a scavenger hunt type activity on Google Earth. We locate our school's campus and neighborhoods and explore the tabs to show change in time and geography. After analyzing local changes, we visit areas that have experienced natural disasters. We are located in Colorado, so the students were very interested in looking at before and after satellite images of the devastating summer fires. I have attached the self directed activity, feel free to make changes to fit your location and students' technology level. Alyce

Attachments

Google_Earth_Webquest_2014.doc (0.04 Mb)