Check out these fun activities to bring Earth Day to your classroom! We also have a 10% discount on Errols’ Garden and The Biscuit Moon through April 30th. Use coupon code EARTH21 for these bilingual books!
Earth Day in the Classroom
Earth Day first began on April 22nd, 1970. This event came together because of the unified efforts of Senator Gaylord Nelson, Congressman Pete McCloskey, and activist Denis Hayes. They brought together 20 million Americans to protest decades of unregulated industrial development. Without this first Earth Day, there would be no Environmental Protection Agency or Clean Water Act.
50 years later, we have a greater understanding of the impacts of climate change and unregulated pollution. Earth Day continues to be an important event and a useful way to teach your students about the environment. There are many lessons you can modify for your bilingual classroom.
Here are some simple activities you and your students can try in your classroom:
- Earth Day Poster: Roll out a long piece of poster paper on the floor, scatter crayons or pens along it and let your students go to it! Tell your students to draw the people, places and things they think about when they think about environmental justice or climate change. Have students sign their name somewhere on the poster and then display it along the wall in your classroom. When the poster is up, have students look at it and discuss what they see and how it makes them feel.
- Earth Day Action around the World: Many cultures around the world approach environmental justice in different ways. Ask students what they do with their families to help the environment. Choose one to three different countries and investigate how they combat climate change. Have your students identify similarities and differences between how they help the environment at home and how people around the world do it.
- Read a Book: Find a book that explores themes of sustainability and protecting the environment. Invite your students to read the book together. You can have them act it out as a class or in small groups. Come back together at the end of class and ask how they can teach their families at home about Earth Day.
Errols’ Garden
–Gillian Hibbs
This book is a heart-warming and inclusive tale about how one boy’s garden unites a diverse community. Errol loves gardening and has filled his home with beautiful plants, but he does not have a real garden. He dreams about an outdoor space where he can grow things. Then for the first time he discovers a rooftop space on his apartment building… perfect for a community garden! But Errol can’t do everything on his own. Luckily, help is near at hand.
The Biscuit Moon
–Jesús Zatón
This story is a tale about Buffalo, Lion, and the delicious biscuit that never was. This is a powerful and discussion worthy story about scarcity, greed, the futility of fighting. Ultimately, it is the wisdom of a humble animal that leads to cooperation and migration. The story can also be a metaphor for communities making a new life far away from home.
Both of these stories offer a way to discuss the importance of Earth Day and the effects of climate change. Furthermore, they explore the concepts of community, migration, teamwork and conservation. Errols’ Garden and The Biscuit Moon are both available in over fifteen different bilingual editions. To access teacher’s notes and activities for these books, visit our Free Multicultural Lesson Plans page. Until April 30th, you can use coupon code EARTH21 for a 10% discount!
Tell us which books you like to use to celebrate Earth Day!