1-2-3 Come Do Some Earth Day Activities With Me!

Earth Day is April 22nd, so I'm posting 6 quick, easy and fun activities you can do to help celebrate our earth, and practice a variety of standards as well. 

First up is a super-cute, newsprint craftivity.  To help recycle, students trace the cat or dog template on an interesting looking section of the newspaper, or page in a magazine, that's free of pictures.

They cut out their animal, mount it on a sheet of construction paper and add facial features.

I've included "headers" for each one, as well as dog/cat tags with a recycle symbol on them, which can be tied on a piece of ribbon or yarn to make a collar, and add a bit of 3D pizzazz.

Older students can complete the writing prompt: Why "It's a dog gone good idea to reduce, reuse and recycle" or why doing those things makes "'purr-fect' sense" on the back of their paper.

Completed projects make an adorable Earth Day bulletin board.  I've included six, "reduce, reuse & recycle" photo posters to introduce the lesson, then use in your display. 

Another recycle art craftivity I call "Shape Up!" You can do it anytime, but it's especially appropriate for Earth Day, as students can see first hand how they can reuse old magazines, and recycle them into a piece of art.     

I've included patterns for a circle, oval, square, rectangle, triangle, hexagon, pentagon, octagon, trapezoid, rhombus, heart, star and crescent.

Run off whatever 2D shapes you're working on, then give your students a choice.  They choose however many strips they need to fill in that shape, glue them on, then flip their paper over and trim.

Completed projects turn out absolutely awesome and make a great bulletin board.  

Display as is, or mount on a variety of bright colors of construction paper.  Use the  "Shape Up!" poster for the center of your display.

I've also included a pattern for "prize ribbons" in all of the shapes listed above. 

Have students pick the one that matches their collage, then write their name, the shape name and a title of their shapely piece on the "ribbon tag". Hang these along side children's "masterpieces".   

The "Give a Hoot. Don't Pollute!"  is also an interesting way to review 2D shapes, and has several options. 

I use this as a whole group, "listening & following directions" activity, where students listen to the spatial directions, then glue that particular shape on their owl. 

For some 3D pizzazz, cut the beaks on a fold so they flip up, and fold the wings in half. (See photo).

The other version is the shapely owl on a worksheet. Simply run off on tan construction paper for children to color and trim.  After everyone is done, discuss what pollution is and why we should give a hoot about it.

Older students can write their thoughts out on the owl worksheet (2 options) then glue it to the back.  Punch a hole at the top, tie a yarn loop, and suspend from the ceiling.

I’ve also included an “I give a hoot! I don’t pollute” bookmark in color, plus black & white.  

Another writing prompt craftivity is  "Be A Litter Leader, Not A Litterbug"

Children color the litterbug, staple a Dixie cup to the base, then wad up some scrap paper and fill it.

The packet also includes a writing prompt for older students.  Use the "Be a litter leader not a litterbug" poster to introduce the lesson, then for the center of your bulletin board display.

I have my kiddos raise their hand and promise, as well as sign the contract.  They enjoy helping me clean up litter from our playground, and receive a bookmark (color or B&W) plus a "slap bracelet" afterwards.

Without fail, someone starts singing the enclosed poster song, then everyone chimes in. 

Another Earth Day writing prompt option is to make a class book.  My students love contributing a page to our class-made books.

After I explain what it means to reduce, reuse and recycle, we discuss ways that even young children can make a difference.  My students are always amazed at the many simple things they can do to help out.

I list them on the board, so they can refer to our ideas as they complete their own page. There are 2 cover options, plus 5 "inside" pages to choose from, or run them all off and give students a choice.  

When we read our booklet aloud, the child who wrote that page comes up and shares theirs. 

Finally, "Time To Recycle"   is a quick, easy & fun game that practices telling time to the hour, while reviewing things we can recycle.  

Children pick a partner and take turns rolling 1st one dice for numbers 1-6, then 2 dice, adding them together for numbers 7-12.

They glue the matching numbered square, depicting a recycled item on their clock. The first one to complete their clock is the winner. There are several options for this activity as well.  

Today's FREEBIE is another fun game you can play on Earth Day.  It's a color matching game that I call "Keep Our Earth Bright & Beautiful"

Little ones can match earth to earth, while older students can practice their color words and match a colorful earth to its color word. 

Well that's it for today.  I hope you and your kiddos have a super-de-dooper Earth Day.  

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not.” - Dr. Seuss (The Lorax)

1-2-3 Come Do Some Earth Day Activities With Me

Since Earth Day is just around the corner (April 22nd), I thought I'd design some quick, easy and fun writing prompt craftivities. 

Tossing in a bit of craftiness to a writing activity, grabs my students' attention and gets them excited to start writing.  With that in mind, I came up with the Earth Day: Lend A Helping Hand Dangler.

Students can choose to dangle their "writing prompt" circles vertically under their hand, or they can glue them together to form a sphere (like the earth).

The child's hand print makes this a sweet keepsake craft.  PK children can skip the writing prompts and simply color their circles.

Completed projects look wonderful swirling and twirling from the ceiling. 

Another Earth Day hand print craftivity I call "Reach Out!"

After studying the importance of taking care of our earth and discussing the fact that even little children can make a difference, I’d give a few directions, and tell my Y5s that they were going to be part of Mrs. Henderson’s “Kids Care Cleanup Crew”. (Name badge included.)

Each child got a pair of non latex gloves and armed with their own plastic grocery sack to put litter in, we’d hit the playground when no one was using it. My kiddos absolutely LOVED running around picking up all sorts of debris. They were always very proud of themselves.

Afterwards we'd do the craftivity. Adding flat-backed "jewels" to "rings" and polish to the nails on their hand print, was a big "woo hoo" for the girls.

Older students can complete the writing prompt (2 options) and glue it to the back of their poster.  Younger kiddos can color their poster-poem certificate and glue that to the back.  Punch a hole at the top, tie on a yarn loop and suspend from the ceiling. 

Next up is a "What's In Your Garbage?" writing prompt craft, which features a teachable moment to review the cylinder shape by making the garbage can "windsock".  (The writing prompt is completed on the colorful "ribbon" strips.) 

In general, I don’t think students realize what or how much garbage their family throws away, nor the importance of recycling, which they soon discover isn’t all that difficult, thus the reason behind this craftivity, which includes ...

* A letter to parents,
* A “Tally Time” data collection worksheet
* Graphing worksheet with a matching . . .

* Whole-group graphing activity
* 2 writing prompt worksheets (boy & girl options), plus . . .
* A 3D writing prompt craftivity (“I Can Reduce, Reuse and Recycle" garbage can dangler) to pull it all together. Add a school photo for that finishing touch.

"I CAN Make A Difference" is another "dangler", which is one of my students' favorites.  I think it's because they really like the eye graphic with the recycle symbol inside the pupil.    

Older students can write how they can make a difference on the back of their "dangler", while PK kiddos simply do the craft.

Run off the R (for reduce, reuse & recycle) on a variety of colors of construction paper.  Children choose one and trim. They can either write the 3 Rs on their letter, or cut & glue the labels.

The packet also includes a boy/girl "promise pledge" for added accountability. Plus separate "How I can make a difference" writing prompt worksheets, which can be done as a whole-group activity, with younger students on the "How WE can make a difference" paper.

The patterns come on a full page, as well as a smaller, 2-on-a-page pattern for PK. Add extra pizzazz with a school photograph. 

Finally, my personal favorite is the "Reduce Your Envoronmental Footprint" writing prompt craft.  I'm sure your girls will enjoy making a 3D flip flop and adding a flower as much as mine do.     

Read my background information about environmental footprints, and share a few things with your students.  I've added a checklist of things even a child can do to help reduce their footprint.

You can do this as a whole-group discussion.  I’ve also included a page of links with lots more interesting information.

There are several options for the “craftivity”.  For that “keepsake” effect for younger kiddos, or to add a nice variety to your display, have students trace their foot with their shoe on.

I’ve also included 5 other footprint options, as seen on the cover. Older students complete the writing prompt, starting on the front of their shoe, then completing their thoughts on the back.

Children can glue their shoe to the large earth pattern which they’ve colored, or older students can make the 3D earth sphere, by gluing the 3, smaller earth-circles together.  Completed projects look awesome swirling & twirling from the ceiling. 

Today's FREEBIE also centers around Earth Day and is an "Every Day Should Be Earth Day!" bookmark.

I've included a 4-on-a-page pattern in color, as well as black & white, so students can enjoy coloring their own.

Older students can explain "why" they think "Every day should be Earth Day" on the back of their bookmark, then share with their classmates. 

Well that's it for today; thanks for stopping by.  I hope you found something useful. To help celebrate Earth Day, all of the above writing prompt crafts are on sale for just $1.95. 

It's FINALLY spring here in Michigan, and a gorgeous 73 degress, so it's time for a much-needed break.  Wishing you a happy-go-lucky day. 

"Look deep into nature, then you will understand everything better." -Albert Einstein

1-2-3 Come Give A Hoot With Me

Are you looking for an activity for Earth Day (April 22nd)? If you're into owls, then I think you'll enjoy the "Give a Hoot; Don't Pollute!" writing prompt craftivity.  Take a close look and you'll see that I used 2D shapes to design the owl, which provides a teachable moment on Earth Day to review shapes, as well as ways your students can take care of the earth. 

The packet includes the owl poster pattern pieces and a writing prompt for older students.  They can glue this to the back of their poster. 

Completed projects look wonderful suspended from the ceiling. 

I set this up as a listening and following directions-whole group activity, so that I could assess how my students were doing with that life skill. 

Everyone got a large sheet of blue construction paper at their desk, along with the owl body and caption to cut and glue to their poster. 

When everyone accomplished that, I passed out the shapely owl pieces. 

To expedite this, I had set all of them out in student piles ahead of time.  From there I'd hold up a piece and glue it on my sample and my Y5's would do the same. 

We continued "monkey see-monkey do" 'til everyone had their poster done, which took us about 12 minutes.  If you have older students, they can simply get their supplies and work away. 

I've also included some "Give a hoot" bookmarks in full color as well as black and white for your kiddos to color.  Click on the link to view/download the Give a Hoot Earth Day Owl packet.

Well that's it for today...  Short and sweet, or at least I'm trying.  Thanks for visiting. I have my grandchildren Kaitlyn and Kaiden today. (5 months and 2 years)

Hopefully the weather will warm up, so we can go for a nice long stroller ride.  Regardless, it will be a day filled with snuggles and giggles.  Wishing you a love-filled day too.

“Is the spring coming?" he said. "What is it like?"... "It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...”  -Frances Hodgson Burnett  from The Secret Garden

1-2-3 Come Make Some Earth Day "Craftivities" With Me!

Earth Day is April 22nd.  I feel it's very important to do a little something to make students aware that they too can help take care of the earth.

After studying the importance of taking care of our earth and discussing the fact that even little children can make a difference, I’d give a few directions, and tell my Y5’s that they were going to be part of Mrs. Henderson’s Kids Care Cleanup Crew.

Each child got a pair of non latex gloves (You can buy a pack of 50 at The Dollar Store.) and armed with their own plastic grocery sack to put litter in, we’d hit the playground when no one was using it.  

Because their hands are so little, I also bought a pack of soft ponytail holders and slipped those around their wrists to hold the gloves on.

It’s amazing how much garbage gets caught up against the fence!  My kiddos absolutely LOVED running around picking up all sorts of debris.  This only took about 15-minutes and was certainly worth it.  We’d head to the dumpster and toss our sacks and gloves in.  They felt important, empowered and very happy with their accomplishment.

This "good feeling" and pride in themselves truly helped build their self-esteem.   I made sure that the principal knew what we were doing and he always thanked our class over the P.A. during the announcements the next day.  

Afterwards, we’d wash our hands really well and then settle down to watch a short and educational Earth Day video.  One of my favorites is an awesome 6-minute clip of the paper recycling process at the Staten Island Paper Mill.

For more interesting Earth Day YouTube videos, click on the link for  the Pinterest board:  "Favorite Earth Day Videos on YouTube" .

 The “craftivity" that day was “I can lend a hand.”  Children chose a partner and took turns tracing each other's hand.  

Afterwards, they cut out their print and glued it to a variety of colors of construction paper.  For young children, you could have a room helper do this for you the day before.

Even the boys enjoyed decorating their hand posters with "tatoos" and jewelry. To add a bit more pizzazz,  have students paste on some flat-backed jewels over their "rings" using glue dots.  Some craft stores also sell them with adhesive backs, so they can simply peel and stick.  My girls absolutely loved this little extra.

Older students can complete the "Pitch in" writing prompt and glue that to the back of their poster. Punch a hole in the top and suspend from the ceiling.

My students enjoyed discussing the many different ways little kids can "pitch in" to make a big difference. 

At the end of the day have students color their certificate.  These always prompted parents to ask their child about the cleanup activity, which I also mentioned in our newsletter.

Click on the link to view/download the Lend A Hand Earth Day activity. 

Another Earth Day craft that you can choose, or give students a choice, is the "Helping Hands Dangler".  Like the above poster, students pick a partner to help them trace their hand, or they can do it themselves. 

There are several options for "dangling" these mobiles from the ceiling. I've taken a photo of both samples to help explain this. 

Students can glue all 4 circles together in such a way that they make a 3D sphere (like the earth) or they can glue the circles vertically to a length of yarn.  Both writing prompt options, dangle from the child's hand.

For the latter option, give students 3 of the "I can help" writing prompt circles.  They write 3 ways they can lend a helping hand and then glue them back-to-back on to the other circles.  Punch a hole at the top and suspend from the ceiling.  Click on the link to view/download the Helping Hands Dangler. 

Thanks for visiting today.  To see more Earth Day FREEBIES, click on the link to pop over to that section of my site.  I also have more free ideas, activities, and crafts on a Pinterest board devoted to Earth Day goodies.

Gotta run...my poodle pup Chloe, was just diagnosed with Addison's disease last week, so we're off to the vet this morning.  Breaks my heart to see her so sick. :-( But... the sun is shining, the birds are chirping and spring is FINALLY in the air!  Wishing you a keen-green day.

 “Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” —John Muir

1-2-3 Come Make An Earth Day Craftivity With Me!

Are you looking for a quick, easy and fun writing prompt for Earth Day?  Then I think you'll enjoy this "I can make a difference!" craftivity.

Depending on the age of your students, there are several ways they can put together "The 3 R's" Earth Day dangler.  

Run off my patterns. Students add some color, trim and mount the "I can make a difference" square, on construction paper.  They cut out the letter R, punch a hole at the top and attach it to the bottom of the square.

Older students can write how they plan to make a difference on the back of the eye square.

If you want little ones to make a ceiling dangler as well, run off double copies, so that they can glue them back-to-back.

Otherwise, simply display them as a border against a wall.

I've also included a heart-shaped earth template you could glue to the back of their work.

Because I glued a school picture behind the hole in the letter R, I glued the heart over the back of it to finish things off.

The packet also includes two certificates of praise. One for a boy to color, and one for a girl.  These act as a pledge or promise to do their part too.

I truly believe that breaking stuff down for young children, by showing them simple things they can do to help the earth, empowers them.  Just making youngsters aware of the necessity for conservation is important.

Click on the link to view/download the I Can Make A Difference Earth Day writing prompt craftivity.

To see more interesting Earth Day activities, click on the link to pop on over to that section of my site to grab even more FREEBIES.

I also have an entire Earth Day Pinterest board.  Click on that link to find more ideas and activities.  I pin LOTS of educational FREE stuff, which is a wonderful time saver.

So before you spend a ton of time reinventing the wheel, or searching for materials, make this your first pit stop; you'll hopefully find some goodies.

Well that's it for today.  I know that April showers bring May flowers, but rainy days sort of zap my energy and give me a sleepy feeling.  My long "to do" list might have to wait.  Wishing you a peaceful day filled with relaxing moments.

 "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtfully committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Mead

1-2-3 Come Do Some Earth Day Recycling Activities With Me

Are you looking for a little something to give your students on Earth Day?  How about a bookmark?   The "Every day should be Earth Day!" bookmarks come in full color or black and white, so your kiddos can color their own.  Click on the link to get your copy. 

April 22nd is the official Earth Day celebration, but because of the importance of taking care of our earth, I took an entire week to do all sorts of reduce, reuse and recycle activities with my Y5's, proving to them that even young children can make a difference.

Making a class book is a fun way to get your kiddo's excited about writing.

After a short video and class discussion, each child finished their page; I collected and collated them into a booklet. A cover is included.

On their worksheet, students complete the thought for each of the 3 sentences: How do they reduce, reuse and recyle to help our earth?

Remind them about capitalization, spacing and punctuation, so that you cover those standards as well.  When you share the completed book with your class, have each child read their own page.

Add some pizzazz by having students color the illustrations and then glue their own school photo over either the girl or boy's face.  Click on the link to view/download the Earth Day Class Book.

Another way you can have students learn and write about reducing, reusing and recycling, is to have them make this simple, but striking 3D Earth Day dangler.

The recycling symbols and hearts are glued together to form 3 sides; one for each R word. Students write how they reduce on one heart, how they reuse on another and finally how they recycle on the 3rd one.

Hang from a yarn loop so the writing prompt "craftivity" twirls and dangles from the ceiling. Add a photo for that finishing touch.  Click on the link to view/download the Earth Day Writing Prompt Dangler.

Finally, I made an Earth Day game that helps review clock numbers, simple addition, and things that can be recycled.

Students roll first one, and then two dice, to get a time-to-the-hour number that they write on their clock. 

They then glue the matching numbered item that it is "time to reduce, reuse or recycle."

Click on the link to view/download Earth Day: It's Time To Recycle Clock Game.

That's it for today.  I hope you found something here to get your sweeties excited about helping to take care of their planet.

The rain is splattering against my window; such a soothing sound.  I have it open a crack and the air smells wonderfully fresh.  Wishing you a blessed day.

"Everyone wants happiness; no one likes pain, but you can't have the rainbow, unless you have some rain." -Unknown

1-2-3 Come Learn About Reducing Your Environmental Footprint With Me

Since both my sons are Eagle Scouts, we were very into recycling while they were growing up.  From paper drives to cleaning up the parks and river projects, we enjoyed "going green" and trying to do our part to help conserve the earth's resources. 

Caring about conservation followed me into the classroom as well.  We collected paper trash in a box and I tried to do at least one recycled sort of craftivity each month. 

Even though Earth Day is celebrated only one day on April 22nd, I did a huge week-long unit about ways even a child can pitch in and do their part to help sustain the earth.  I can only hope that the information that they learned, became healthy habits for them. 

Reducing man's carbon footprint has been a much talked about topic lately, so I thought I'd design an Earth Day writing prompt and footprint craft with that in mind.

Start by explaining to students the fact that we’ve all seen our footprints on the beach or left in the mud.  When we step, we leave marks that can last even after we are long gone.

In the same way, all of us place pressure on the environment by the way we live our lives.  Scientists call this an “ecological or carbon footprint” one which can show how hard we tread on our earth’s resources.  

Leaving an environmental footprint means we have left things behind, that have not or can not be recycled, and the size of our footprint depends on how much biologically productive land and water we require to live our life. 

No matter what one knows about leaving a "carbon footprint" the fact is, that we all need to try to reduce them,  thereby impacting our world in a positive way.  I thought a good way to start, would be to make up a list of how to go about this. 

Hours of interesting research later, I comprised quite a long list, and was surprised at how simple many of these activities are to do.  Quite a few items are not difficult, expensive, or time intensive to perform, and merely easy behavioral changes.

Hopefully, just by sharing them, and making students aware of do-able things, via this checklist, they'll start implementing a few into their lives. 

After reviewing the information in the Reducing Your Environmental Footprint packet, (I've included a list of informative websites you may also want to visit) have students do the footprint writing prompt craftivity.  

To make things more personal and a keepsake, students can trace their own foot, or they can opt to use my flip flop template. 

After discussing things people can do to reduce their footprint and checking ones off the list that they can truly start doing, students write these down on their footprint. 

I've included several ways to go about this.  Students can write the prompt on their footprint, or they can write it on the back of the earth and simply glue their footprint on the globe. 

They can also make a smaller, 3 dimensional earth, by gluing 3 earth "circles" together, and then suspend their footprint from the sphere, or simply hang students' footprints from the ceiling and enlarge the earth and hang that in the middle of your display. 

A caption you could write on the large earth could be "Mr./Mrs. ____________'s class is stepping up to help the earth!"   Click on the link to view/download the Earth Day Footprint Writing Prompt Craftivity.  I hope your students enjoy it.

Every little bit truly does help and I find it comforting to know that many others are also on board, trying to make a difference one step at a time.  

If you're looking for a few more Earth Day recycling actvities and crafts, click on the link to pop on over to that section of my site. 

I also have a very "pinteresting" PIN board, entirely filled with more FREE Earth Day ideas, activities & crafts. I spend way too much time looking for free educational "stuff", but then you don't have to!

Thanks Stephanie, a librarian from Seattle,  who told me about a wonderful list of links to all sorts of recycling projects for children. (And a special thank you to Mary, her student, who shared it with her!)  If you have an educational website, craft or activity you'd like to share to help others, I'd enjoy hearing from you.  diane@teachwithme.com  or feel free to post a comment here.

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  Praise the Lord the sun is shining, especially since we had snow flurries yesterday (What? I's March 28th for pete's sake!) and it's only 27 degrees out.  Sigh... I guess this is just another cold Michigan spring.  Wishing you a clean and green weekend.

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed."  Mahatma Ghandi

1-2-3 Come Do Some More Earth Day Craftivities With Me

Are you looking for a little something to give your students on Earth Day?  How about a bookmark?   The "Every day should be Earth Day!" bookmarks come in full color or black and white, so your kiddos can color their own.  Click on the link to grab them.

If you're into owls, then I think you'll enjoy the "Give a Hoot; Don't Pollute!" writing prompt craftivity.  Take a close look and you'll see that I used 2D shapes to design the owl. 

Take advantage of this teachable moment on Earth Day to review shapes as well as ways your students can take care of the earth. 

The packet includes the owl poster pattern pieces and a writing prompt for older students.  They can glue this to the back of their poster. 

Completed projects look wonderful suspended from the ceiling. 

I set this up as a listening and following directions-whole group activity, so that I could assess how my students were doing with that life skill. 

Everyone got a large sheet of blue construction paper at their desk, along with the owl body and caption to cut and glue to their poster. 

When everyone accomplished that, I passed out the shapely owl pieces. 

To expedite this, I had set all of them out in student piles a head of time.  From there I'd hold up a piece and glue it on my sample and my Y5's would do the same.  We continued "monkey see-monkey do" 'til everyone had their poster done.  If you have older students, they can simply get their supplies and work away. 

I've also included some "Give a hoot" bookmarks in full color as well as black and white so that your students can color them.  Click on the link to view/download the Give a Hoot Earth Day Owl packet.

Another cute "craftivity" perfect for Earth Day, involves a litterbug.  We don't see littering as much as I used to when I was a child.  Eons ago, people threw lots of trash out of their cars, and the countryside was looking like an awful garbage dump. 

Thanks to Lady Bird Johnson way back when, laws were passed and fines implemented for littering and "Keep America Beautiful" became a popular slogan. 

With that in mind, I nostalgically drew a grumpy old litterbug and designed a "craftivity" around him, that encourages kids to be litter leaders and not litterbugs. 

Your students can create their own ugly litterbug, or color and cut out mine. 

For some 3D pizzazz, staple a Dixie cup to the bug's belly and wad up a piece of trash paper to put inside. 

The packet includes a writing prompt that older students can complete and then glue to the back of their litterbug.

There's also a poster of a song-poem I wrote, plus a black and white "promise" version for students to color. 

I've also included some litterbug bookmarks in color as well as black and white.  Click on the link to view/download the Litterbug Earth Day Writing Prompt packet. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  For more Earth Day FREEBIES scroll down to take a look at the other blog articles with that theme, or click on the link to pop over to that section of my site.

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." -John Muir

1-2-3 Come Lend A Hand With Some Earth Day "Craftivities"

After studying the importance of taking care of our earth and discussing the fact that even little children can make a difference, I’d give a few directions, and tell my Y5’s that they were going to be part of Mrs. Henderson’s Kids Care Cleanup Crew.

Each child got a pair of non latex gloves (You can buy a pack of 50 at The Dollar Store.) and armed with their own plastic grocery sack to put litter in, we’d hit the playground when no one was using it.  

Because their hands are so little, I also bought a pack of elastic ponytail holders and slipped those around their wrists to hold the gloves on.

It’s amazing how much garbage gets caught up against the fence!  My kiddos absolutely LOVED running around picking up all sorts of debris.  We’d then head to the dumpster and toss our sacks and gloves in.  

They were always very proud of themselves.  I made sure that the principal knew what we were doing and he always thanked our class over the P.A. during the announcements the next day.  

Afterwards, we’d wash our hands really well and then settled down to watch a short and educational Earth Day video.  One of my favorites is an awesome 6-minute clip of the paper recycling process at the Staten Island Paper Mill.

For more interesting Earth Day YouTube videos, click on the link to this Pinterest board:  "Favorite Earth Day Videos on YouTube" .

 The “craftivity" that day was “I can lend a hand.”  Children chose a partner and took turns tracing each other's hand.  

They then cut out their print and glued it to a variety of colors of construction paper.  For young children, you could have a room helper do this for you the day before.

Even the boys enjoyed decorating their hand posters with "tatoos" and jewelry. To add a bit more pizzazz,  have students paste on some flat-backed jewels using glue dots.

Older students can complete the "Pitch in" writing prompt and glue that to the back of their poster. Punch a hole in the top and suspend from the ceiling.

My students enjoyed discussing the many different ways little kids can 'pitch in" to make a big difference. 

At the end of the day have students color their certificate.  These always prompted parents to ask their child about the cleanup activity. 

Click on the link to view/download the Lend A Hand Earth Day activity. 

While working on the above, I also designed another Earth Day craftivity that  I call the "Helping Hands Dangler".  Like the above poster, students can choose a partner to help them trace their hand, or they can do it themselves. 

There are several options for "dangling" these mobiles from the ceiling. 

I've taken a photo of both samples to help explain this. 

Students can glue all 4 circles together in such a way that they make a 3D sphere (like the earth) or they can glue the circles vertically to a length of yarn.

Both writing prompt options, dangle from the child's hand.

For the latter option, give students 3 of the "I can help" writing prompt circles.  They write 3 ways they can lend a helping hand and then glue them back-to-back on to the other circles.  Punch a hole at the top and suspend from the ceiling.

Click on the link to view/download the Helping Hands Dangler. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away. To see more Earth Day activities, scroll down to check out the other blog articles.

"We are living in a world where lemonade is made from artificial flavors, and furniture polish is made from real lemons." -Alfred E. Newman

It's Keen To Go Green!

Do you need a quick and easy writing center?

Run off this “Love the earth” bookmark.

Students trace the words, fold the bookmark in half and glue it.

They write 3 things that they will do to reduce, reuse, and recycle to love their planet.

After everyone is done have them share their goals with their classmates.

This is a nice culmination activity for your recycling or Earth Day studies.

Click on the link to view/download Love the Earth bookmark.

I hope you can roll on over tomorrow for another quick teaching tip.

Do you have one you'd like to share?  I'd enjoy hearing from you: diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to post a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas.

Thanks for your time and for visiting!