Earth Day Activities for Grades 2 - 12

Part of our responsibility as science teachers is to teach our science students how to be good stewards of the environment.  I think the first step is to get our kids excited about the living organisms that inhabit this planet.  As a biology teacher, I do this every day!  Each day in my class, I throw out a bit of fun trivia, or discuss the characteristics of an unusual creature or show a 1-2 minute video from youtube.  I do this each and every day.  It only takes a couple of minutes, and then we move on to the lesson of the day.

But now we are to the time of the year that we need to start thinking about some special activities for Earth Day.  I have developed a set of PowerPoint slides that I call "The Mother Nature Awards for the Planet Earth."

Here is an example of one of the slides:

Each slide has a photograph (or two) of an unusual plant or animal, followed by 4-6 fun and interesting facts about that living organism.  The response from my high school students is quite good.  They really enjoy hearing about my "award-winning" creatures.

These are suitable for grades 2 - 12.  

For the younger kids, I developed a set of activity worksheets.  The listing for grades 2-5 comes with a set of activity worksheets (42 pages) for the students to complete as the PowerPoint slide is being viewed.  The finished worksheets can be put together to make a great Mother Nature Award book.

The listing for grades 6-12 comes with a worksheet for students to conduct their own research to develop a PowerPoint slide for a Mother Nature Award of their own choosing.  This makes a nice homework assignment for a grade, or for a great extra credit opportunity.

And finally, students of all ages can enjoy this FREE PowerPoint that I created on the history and the background of Earth Day.

Whatever you decide to do for Earth Day, just make sure the students understand how important it is that we all work together to save Planet Earth.

Happy Earth Day!