Earth Day Serena Mahoney

Literature Focus Unit

EDU 315

Literature Selection • The Lorax by Dr. Seuss • The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry • The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge by Joanna Cole • The Curious Garden by Peter Brown • Here Comes the Garbage Barge by Jonah Winter • Michael Recycle by Ellie Bethel • Michael Recycle and the Tree Top Cops by Ellie Bethel • Arthur Turns Green by Marc Brown • The Garbage Monster by Joni Sensel • The Green Mother Goose: Saving the World One Rhyme at a Time by David Davis

and Jan Peck • Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion by Laurie Griffin

Burns • The Earth Book by Todd Parr • The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle: A Story About Recycling by Alyson Inches • Recycle!: A Handbook for Kids by Gail Gibbons • Global Warming by Seymour Simon • Understanding Global Warming with Max Axiom, Super Scientist by Agniesezka

Bizkup • What’s the Point of Being Green?: And Other Stuff About Our Planet by Jacqui

Bailey • How the World Works: A Hands-On Guide to Our Amazing Planet by Christian

Dorion • The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming by Laurie David • Step Gently Out by Helen Frost • Footprints on the Roof: Poems About the Earth by Marilyn Singer • Color Me a Rhyme: Nature Poems for Young People by Jane Yolen

Theme Study • Students will take part in a thematic

unit on the importance of Earth Day and the environment. This unit will integrate reading and writing with social studies, science, mathematics, art, music, and physical education.

• Students will develop an understanding of the environment, the problems affecting it, and how to conserve it.

Language Arts: Reading Activities • Students will read various fiction and non-

fiction books and poetry about the environment and conservation through silent reading, partner reading, guided reading, and reading aloud.

• Students will read newspaper and magazine articles about the environment.

• Teacher will read Here Comes the Garbage Barge, How the World Works, The Curious Garden, and The Great Kapok Tree to students.

• Students will read their writings (poems, stories, and letters) aloud in class.

Language Arts: Writing Activities • Students will write haikus about nature. • Students will write diamante poems about

recycling. • Students will write found poems about recycling. • Students will decorate and write action slogans on

how people can help the environment on paper bags to be distributed and used at a local grocery store on Earth Day.

• Students will observe the outdoors and write a story from the point-of-view from an animal or insect that they find.

• Students will write a skit about the environment to perform in front of other classes and parents.

• Students will write letters to city and state leaders about the importance of recycling programs.

Language Arts: Speaking Activities

• Students will discuss the effects of global warming, pollution, and littering, as well as generate possible solutions to motivate people to change.

• Students will read their poems and stories aloud to the class.

• Students will perform a written skit about recycling in front of other classes and parents.

Language Arts: Listening Activities • Students will listen to audio version of

environmental literature. • Students will listen to read aloud of

environmental literature. • Students will listen as the teacher

discusses the environment, the problems, and why, as well as possible solutions.

• Students will listen respectfully to their peers as they share their stories and poems.

• Students will listen to their peers opinions during grand discussions.

Language Arts: Viewing Activities • Students will view Magic School Bus

episodes “In the Rainforest” and “Recycling”.

• Students will take a nature walk or visit a local arboretum.

• Students will view the performance of the skit.

• Students will visit www.epa.gov/recyclecity to learn about the 3 Rs: Recycle, Reduce, and Reuse.

• Students will watch videos about recycling and environmental problems.

Language Arts: Visually Representing Activities

• Students will decorate brown paper bags with the importance of the 3 Rs to be distributed at a local grocery store.

• Students will create posters advertising Earth Day and promoting recycling to hang around the school.

• Students will present their poetry artistically.

Science Activities • Students will study the effects of pollution

and global warming. • Students will identify what is needed for

plants to be able to grow by planting seeds in reusable milk cartons and measuring and recording the growth.

• Students will make recycled paper using newspapers, hot water, cornstarch, and foil.

• Students will create a terrarium using reusable materials and observe the water cycle.

• Students will create leaf rubbings from leaves collected on nature walk.

Mathematics Activities • Students will participate in a recycling

program, and weigh, measure, record, and graph the weight of recycled materials each week.

• Students will measure, record, and graph the growth of seedlings planted in milk cartons.

• Students will survey the school to measure how “green” it is and graph the results using a bar graph.

• Students will collect their carbon footprint data and graph the results.

• Students will identify geometric patterns in nature.

• Students will classify recyclable materials using a Venn Diagram.

Social Studies Activities • Students will read about environmental issues across the

across the planet and use a world map to identify specific countries.

• Students will diagram what materials are recyclable, reusable, and renewable.

• Students will visit a recycling center to observe how materials are recycled.

• Students will examine the living differences between First-World, Second-World, and Third-World countries with the “Hunger Banquet” simulation.

• Students will examine the effects of growing population and demands on natural resources through the “Timber” activity.

• Students will analyze their carbon footprint by tracking their family’s gas and food consumption for a week and using the “Earth Day Footprint Calculator” at http://www.earthday.org/footprint-calculator.

• Students will prepare and participate in an Earth Day celebration.

• Students will visit an arboretum or take a nature walk/hike and document their experience and observations though journals and pictures.

Music and Art Activities • Students will create musical instruments

using recycled materials (guitar - tissue boxes, toilet roll, rubber bands, paint, and glue; drums – large plastic container, rubber band, piece of paper; shaker – empty can, rice, paper, glue).

• Students will perform the “Earth Rap Song”.

• Students will create seeded bookmarks that can later be planted in the earth.

• Students will decorate a clean, old t-shirt. • Students will use scratch or recycled paper

to create origami.

Physical Education Activities

• Students will have a scavenger hunt outside on the playground.

• Students will play “Nature Balance”.

• Students will compete in teams in a litter race.

• Students will complete a recyclable obstacle course.

Technology • Magic School Bus episodes “Recycling”

and “In the Rainforest”. • www.epa.gov/recyclecity • http://www.earthday.org/footprint-

calculator • Video on climate change:

http://www.neok12.com/php/watch.php?v=zX70746418734640507d676b&t=Earth

• http://pbskids.org/eekoworld/index.html?load=garbage_recycling

• http://www.meetthegreens.org/ • http://www.epa.gov/students/video.html

#rrr

Language Arts Strategies • Activating background knowledge: Students will

think about what they already know about the environment and conservation.

• Brainstorming: Students will think of different ways of helping to protect the environment through writing and group activities.

• Connecting: Students will relate topics to the world around them through reading and writing.

• Predicting and Monitoring: Students will predict growth of plants and record daily growth on chart paper.

• Playing with Language: Students will use language creatively through stories, poems, and journals.

• Revising: Students will make changes to written activities.

• Visualizing: Students will draw pictures in their minds.

Language Arts Skills • Print: Students will recognize words relating to

conservation and the environment on the word wall.

• Comprehension: Students will recognize different literary genres (poetry, fiction, and non-fiction).

• Language: Students will write journals, poems, stories, and letters, and apply proper grammatical conventions and formats to their writings.

• Reference: Students will create graphs and diagrams. Students will use encyclopedias and atlases to examine different habitats and conditions throughout the world. Students will read various newspaper and magazine articles about the environment.

• Study: Students will take notes in science and social studies. Students will follow directions.

Grouping Patterns • Large Group: grand conversations, nature walk

outdoor games, performing songs, skit, teacher read alouds, viewing videos, Earth Day celebration, “Hunger Banquet”, math survey, word wall, Venn Diagram, school survey, field trip, “Nature Balance” game, singing songs, measuring and recording class recycling, student presentation of writing and poetry

• Small Group: peer conferencing, creating skit, small group discussions, “Timber”, scavenger hunt, litter race, plant growth measurements and graphs, partner reading, creating a terrarium

• Individual: writing stories, journals, and letters; making decorations and crafts, carbon footprint quiz, reading environmental literature, recyclable obstacle course, leaf rubbings, identifying geometric patterns and shapes in nature.

Assessments • 6+1 Writing Traits for letters and stories. • Rubrics for poems. • Participation in discussions • Active participation in music and physical

education lessons. • Informal observation during student read

aloud of writing, skit, and group experiments. • Portfolio of art projects. • Art critique of drawings and art crafts. • Spelling test on environmental vocabulary

words. • Checklist for science journals and

experiments. • Completion of Math homework and graphs. • Completion of Social Studies diagrams.