What the Earth signifies to me… We've covered that already. The Earth is suffering from pollution, and we must protect it! Been there, done that! Let's design Earth Day activities that offer a fresh perspective for our students!
1. Get Poetic!
Ever heard of the line: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning? Have your students rewrite this sonnet to include Earthly metaphors, lists, lines, and specific reasons they love the Earth—nature, weather, animals, outdoor activities, etc.
How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
2. Spring Suncatcher Guessing Game:
You’ll need clear contact paper, access to the outdoors, and notecards. This activity is supposed to encourage interaction with nature. Students should then write creative clues to help their classmates guess which suncatcher is theirs just by describing it.
- Give each student one piece of contact paper; size is up to you, but you want it to be big enough they can place things found outside in nature on it and then fold it over to seal it.
- Bring students outside in an area that offers various types of nature (leaves, trees, grass, flowers, dirt, etc).
- Have students gather whatever parts of the Earth they think are beautiful or worth admiring. It can also be just random items with no theme. Have them stick them to their contact paper in a collage way.
- Once your allotted time is up, go back inside. Fold over the contact paper they did not cover to seal the nature items inside.
- Cut them out in a circle shape.
- Now, give each student a notecard. Have them describe their sun catcher in great detail and creativity on this notecard. They cannot use the names of the things they have on there, like green maple leaf or yellow flower; they must only use adjectives and describing phrases to give clues without being specific.
- Collect the notecards and hang up the sun catchers in your windows. Read a clue notecard out loud and have students guess which one they are referencing. If they can guess correctly, reward them or keep score for a game setting.
3. Create a short video highlighting an environmental issue or about how to reduce waste at school.
Video Ideas- How to avoid being wasteful at breakfast or lunch, tips for saving or composting food
- What can be recycled at school?
- How many trees are cut down every year to create paper, pencils, and textbooks?
- Promote a schoolwide cleanup.
- How to pack a lunch using reusable bags and containers.
- Peek into nature around school—what is growing in the school gardens, what types of trees, plants, and wildlife are on school grounds? How can students protect the habitat around them?
Video Requirements
- Must be between 30 seconds and 2 minutes long
- There must be an intro, body, and outro (Students should write an outline before shooting their video).
- Have fun and be creative!
4. Write a letter to your representatives advocating for environmental change in your state.
Make sure students know who their state representatives are. If not, have them use a search engine to find out who they are and how to contact them.
Tips for writing representatives:
- Keep your message brief
- Identify your three most important points/requests.
- Personalize your letter
- Establish a firm tone but keep it courteous, too.
- Format your letter professionally.
- Use a letter template as a guide.
5. What's My Impact? Venn Diagram
What are students doing to help or hurt the Earth? Have students use a Venn Diagram with two sides that read:
- How I help the earth now:
- What I want the Earth to be like:
- The intersecting middle section will then be what those two prompts have in common and reveal their overall impact. This should get students to reflect on their actions or non-actions in making our world more sustainable.
