On April 22nd, the United States and over 191 other countries will be celebrating the 47th official Earth Day. The very first Earth Day was established in 1970. United States Senator, Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin saw the devastating effects of an oil spill off the coast of California. Recognizing the urgent need to protect our environment for future generations, he went on to help create the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
From planting trees to recycling trash or even creating nature-centric poetry, there are many ways to participate in Earth Day. The Walking Classroom has several Earth Day podcast options for you and your class to enjoy.
Notable Environmentalists
Rachel Carson (5-#8, STEM-#37, Combined-#157) and her game-changing book, Silent Spring, published in 1962, helped to create a national awareness of the dangers factories were creating for the environment.
Another pioneering woman, Dr. Inez Fung (5-#9, STEM-#38), goes even further to describe the effects these factories have created on our atmosphere in the form of greenhouse gases. She reiterates the importance of understanding how our behavior directly impacts, not only the earth today, but the earth tomorrow.
You don’t need to be a scientist or environmentalist to appreciate nature. One of America’s most beloved poets, Robert Frost (4-#23, Combined-#33), is able to evoke goose-bumps with his incredible description of a cold winter New England day, even if it’s 75 degrees outside! Reading a poem about nature or creating your own is a wonderful way to celebrate Earth Day! Feel free to share your students’ creations by posting them in our secret Facebook group.
Let’s Do Something about It!
In the podcasts highlighted above, we celebrate nature through poetry and learn about the environmental problems confronting us today. However, Conservation (5-#7, STEM-#36, Combined-#129) gives some suggestions as to how we can actually help to protect our environment. Do you have a class project planned?
Check Out These Fun Links!
If you’re looking for a few additional physical activities for the kids, youtube is a great source. There you can find a good kid-friendly overview of conservation ideas or a catchy rap for the kids to use throughout the month.
One of the things that I particularly enjoy about The Walking Classroom is that I can use the podcasts as part of a project-based unit of study. The more I use The Walking Classroom, the more I discover new ways to incorporate the podcasts into already existing units or use them to create new units. I’m already thinking about ways for next year to further utilize The Walking Classroom to enrich my teaching and especially my students’ learning.
I really like Leigh Ann’s idea of having the students pick up trash as they’re walking! I hadn’t thought of having the kids do so. This is a wonderful way to help the students understand that they can also take part in protecting our environment.
I agree! What a great way to bring the podcast to life with a real-life application!
We live in a small town and often walk around our community. What a great idea to incorporate community service with our walking and learning! Thank you!
In fifth grade we really valued the wealth of resources available to us to properly celebrate both Black History Month in February and Women’s History Month in March. Thanks Walking Classroom!
My fifth graders walk laps around our field and building. While learning with The Walking Classroom they also pick up trash and recycling. They earn bonus points for each piece of trash or recycling collected and keep our environment clean. Win-Win!
Thanks so much for the suggestion!
Kathy Medlock
Program Coordinator
My class is ending PARCC testing today. They are looking forward to getting out to walk after the exam. We listened to #7 at the beginning of the year when we learned about renewable and non-renewable resources. This would be a great one to use for Earth Day!