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