Earth Day - Save our Planet

We spent a lot of time on Friday learning about the environment and celebrating Earth Day in a very techie way.  I try to have a healthy mix of non-tech books and activities, so I thought I'd share some resources here, as well as document them for my own reference next year.  My students used PicCollage Kids, Kahoot, Seesaw, BrainPop Jr., and YouTube to begin to understand the importance of taking care of our planet, and what kids can do to help.  Here's how we spent our day:

We read the big book Kids for the Earth, discussing the easy things we already do and can begin to do, such as plant trees, recycle, pick up trash, using less water, and more.

Other books I love to share for Earth Day:

It's always good to do a little wiggle break after sitting awhile for a story.  So we got up and danced to Harry Kindergarten "If You're a Kid...(Earth Day Remix)"

Another song we liked was "Jump if You Love the Earth".  Both songs provided a great list of things to discuss after we sat down.  We can do so much to help the earth, such as turn off the TV, take care of the oceans, and more.

After the wiggle break, I gave the students their project assignment in PicCollage EDU.  They learned how to do an image search within the app, using a word bank I provided.  They were to search for and select a nice image of Earth, then 3 additional items to show things they know are important to make every day good for our planet.  Students searched for words such as trash, trees, recycle, water, etc.  Their collages turned out great!  Those that finished quickly were able to help others.  It's awesome to see them collaborate.

searching for their choice of Earth Day terms

arranging their images and typing their name

collaborating to get the job done

Once the collage was finished and saved to their camera roll, they put in into Seesaw and used the microphone to tell why they selected those images and how they represent what they learned about Earth Day and conservation.  I can tell that the students learned a lot about how to make every day Earth Day. Here are a few great examples:

Another Seesaw activity was assigned after a recess break.  This Earth Day coding activity was found on Twitter, created by Sara Malchow. I just love how the kids can all find the path, but their approach may be different and that's perfectly okay!  First they drew their path to gather all the items, then they put the coding arrows down at the bottom.  I did not require them to record their thinking, but some always do!  I especially liked this student's narration:

BrainPop Jr. is a wonderful resource for almost any curriculum topic, and of course Moby the robot wanted to learn about recycling in this episode.  Students were also introduced to the idea of reduce and reuse.  They noticed a few old coffee cans and ice cream buckets in our classroom that have been repurposed for markers and crayons!  We talked about how much trash we make if someone at home drinks one can of soda every day, versus using one large bottle and pouring into our own up at home that we wash and reuse.  Only one piece of trash!  Such great discussion!

Reading Rainbow has a fabulous segment on how trash gets recycled.  The kids were so engrossed, and I'm so glad I found this for them to see!

For more "teacher approved" Earth Day videos, visit Simply Kinder -- she posts amazing video collections for many seasonal and curriculum topics!

We had some special area classes after lunch, but had time to play an Earth Day Kahoot quiz. The students really like Kahoot!, and you can read more about how we use it by visiting this previous post.  Questions included vocabulary and ideas we discussed earlier in the day.

If I had more time in my day, I would have done the Earth Day activity on Starfall.  It's really fun to clean up trash from the scene, and watch the animals return.

Other Seesaw activities are also available from other teachers, but I didn't have time. Check these out!

Sorting activity

Recycle Sort

Fun Maze

Write an earth promise or poem

Also, here is some non-tech math I found to use this year - Roll (or spin) and color games are always a hit:

And finally, take a moment to check out another techie blogger's post with some great Earth Day ideas, too!  Many are for students older than kindergarten, but it will definitely get your wheels turning!

If you are teaching about Earth Day on Monday, or if you did on Friday, share your ideas in a comment, please!