Digging into Earth Day

Earth Day in the classroom was a buzz of activity and learning, but inspiring none-the-less.  It's lovely to think how just doing a little can mean so much to the kids.  On Friday, a few kids stayed in at recess to create a LARGE cut out of the earth.

Monday morning we glued down the letters and I gave the kids the low down on the lunch time project we were planning.  About 3 kids at a time would take shifts down in the lunch room; with a roll of tape, markers and cut outs of bare feet.  Kids from the school could make a pledge to help the earth.  The idea was based off the book - 50 Simple Things Kids can do to Save the Earth.  The Earth Club created the book earlier in the winter and we had a copy of it at the table so the kiddos could get some ideas.  My class handled their responsibilities quite well; following the schedule, leaving for "work" on time and helping others in the building to do for the earth.  The picture shows the final results.  As you can tell, I neglected to have the kids place the feet around the earth and they plopped them all over the earth!!!  If you can't see the message, it says, "Steps to Save the Earth".

Later in the afternoon, with our 2nd grade buddies, we walked the the trail and picked up trash.  The weather forecast was dire - with radar calling for rain throughout the day.  Anne, the 2nd grade teacher and I tend to just GO FOR IT and we were pleasantly surprised.  The sun peeped out and soon we were putting our coats around our waists.  All in all, there's less trash scattered around and the kids learned some valuable lessons about "DOING FOR THE EARTH".

The important lesson I've figured out from this is...it doesn't have to be SUPER planned or elaborate to be AMAZING.