1. Take nature walks---enjoy the peace and beauty of nature. Use field guides to identify flowers, trees, insects, etc. in nature. Discuss how litter and other forms of pollution destroy the beauty of nature.

2. Take field trips to landfills, recycling centers, etc. Discuss issues and processes related to solid waste disposal.

3. On a trip to a grocery store. Identify different types of packaging. Discuss which types of packaging are the most Earth-friendly.

4. Collect trash for a week, weigh it, and multiply the weight by 52 to determine how many pounds of trash you create each year. Sort the trash into categories: paper, plastic, aluminum, glass, other. Find out where you can recycle these products in your community.

5. Select an environmental problem and write it in the center of a sheet of paper. Identify causes or contributors to the problem in your community and write them in "bubbles" around the problem. Draw arrows from each cause to the problem. Use a T-chart to plan a way to reduce the effects of each of these causes.

6. Identify environmental problems and issues in your community. Plan and implement a family or class program for solving one of the problems in your community.

7. Identify consumable products that you use. Plan a way to reduce or eliminate the use of consumable products.

8. Watch for newspaper and magazine articles about the environment. Start a scrapbook about the environment, conservation, nature, etc.

9. Participate in a collaborative internet project related to the environment.

10. Read children's books about nature and the environment.

11. Have children write acrostics or other types of poetry about nature and/or the environment.

12. Have the children write stories (individually, in pairs, in small groups, or as a class) about what the world would be like if we continue polluting the environment, don't conserve natural resources, etc. Publish their stories as books.

Earth Day Information

All About Earth Day

Earth Day Network

Amazing Environmental Organization Web Directory

Earth Day Canada

Environmental Issues

The Environmental Site

Division of Endangered Species

Lesson and Activity Web Sites

K-12 Earth and Environmental Science Lesson Plans

Easy Earth-Friendly Actions

Songs4Teachers: Earth Day

Earthways: Simple Environmental Activities for Young Children by Carol Petrash, illustrated by Donald Cook

Janice VanCleave's Ecology for Every Kid: Easy Activities that Make Learning Science Fun by Janice Pratt VanCleave

Teaching Kids to Love the Earth by Marina Lachecki, et.al.

For younger children:

Woodsy Owl

Eddy, the Eco Dog

Ecology Strikes Back

Planetpals Earthzone

Pond Ecology

Earth Dog

The Green Frog News

Ecosystems

Biomes of the World/Freshwater Ecosystems

Exploring the Environment

Planet Protectors

Miss Maggie's Earth Adventures

Explorers' Club

Animals of the Rain Forest

BrainPOP: Ecology

BrainPOP Tropical Rain Forests

Take a Walk in the Rain Forest

Environment of Planet Earth

EPA Student Center

Science/Nature for Kids

Endangered Species: How Kids Can Help

Garbage: How Can My Community Reduce Waste?

Internet Consumer Recycling Guide

Conserving Wildlife and Habitats

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Kids' Page

Environment Canada--Greenlane

EcoNews Africa

Safari Splash

Our Changing World

Before and After: A Book of Nature Timescapes written and illustrated by Jan Thornhill.

River Ran Wild: An Environmental History by Lynn Cherry.

The Encyclopedia of the Environment by Stephen Kellert and Matthew Black, editors

Weather and Earth Forces

The Drop in My Drink: the Story of Water on our Planet by Meredith Hooper and illustrated by Chris Coady.

One Child by Christopher Cheng.

The Big Rivers: The Missouri, The Mississippi, and the Ohio written and illustrated by Bruce Hiscock.

Erosion written and illustrated with photographs by Sherie Winner.

Nature

What are Food Chains and Webs? by Bobbie Kalman and Jacqueline Langille.

From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons.

What is the Animal Kingdom? by Bobbie Kalman and Greg Nickles.

The Case of the Mummified Pigs and Other Mysteries in Nature written by Susan E. Quinlan and illustrated by Jennifer Owings Dewey.

Ecosystems

Alejandro's Gift written by Richard E. Albert, illustrated by Sylvia Long.

In the Forest (with touch and feel pages) by Maurice Pledger

In the Rainforest (A Nature Trail Book with touch and feel pages) by Maurice Pledger

Here is the Coral Reef written by Madeleine Dunphy and illustrated by Tom Leonard.

Marshes and Swamps written and illustrated by Gail Gibbons.

Nature's Green Umbrella: Tropical Rain Forests by Gail Gibbons.

The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry. Spanish Edition: El Gran Capoquero: Un Cuento de la Selva Amazonica by Lynne Cherry and Alma Flor Ada

Welcome to the Green House written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Laura Regan.

Destination: Rain Forest by Jonathan Grupper.

The Most Beautiful Roof in the World: Exploring the Rainforest Canopy written by Kathryn Lasky and illustrated with photographs by Christopher G. Knight.

The Young Oxford Book of Ecology by Michael Scott.

An American Safari: Adventures on the North American Prairie written and illustrated with photographs by Jim Brandenburg.

Summer Ice: Life Along the Antarctic Peninsula by Bruce McMillan.

To the Top of the World: Adventures with Arctic Wolves by Jim Brandenburg and Jo Ann Bren Guernsey

Welcome to the Sea of Sand by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Laura Regan.

Closer Look: Desert Life by Frank Greenaway

Eyewitness Books: Jungle, Ocean, Seashore, Desert

One Small Square series:

Pond	Cactus Desert
Seashore	Arctic Tundra
Coral Reef	Woods
African Savanna	Tropical Rainforest
Swamp	Caves
Backyard	Night Sky

 

Life Cycle

Bald Eagle written and illustrated by Gordon Morrison.

Gentle Giant Octopus written by Karen Wallace and illustrated by Mike Bostock.

Turtle Bay written by Saviour Pirotta and illustrated by Nilesh Mistry.

It's a Frog's Life: My Story of Life in a Pond (Nature's Secrets series) written by Steve Parker and illustrated by Robert Morton.

Monarch Magic! Butterfly Activities and Nature Discoveries by Lynn Rosenblatt.

Taking Action

Dear Children of the Earth written by Schim Schimmel

Children of the Earth.....Remember written by Schim Schimmel

Compost! Growing Gardens from Your Garbage by Linda Glaser and illustrated by Anca Hariton.

The Summer Sands written by Sherry Garland and illustrated by Robert J. Lee.

Berenstain Bears Don't Pollute Anymore by Stan and Jan Berenstain.

Shelterwood written by Susan Hand Shetterly and illustrated by Rebecca Haley McCall. Shelterwood: Discovering the Forest (Teacher's Edition) written by Judy Kellogg Markowsky, illustrated by Rosemary Giebfried

A Home by the Sea: Protecting Coastal Wildlife written and illustrated with photographs by Kenneth Mallory.

Back to the Wild written by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent and illustrated with photographs by william Munoz.

Project Puffin: How We Brought Puffins Back to Egg Rock by Stephen W. Kress as told to Pete Salmansohn.

Sweet Magnolia written by Virginia Kroll and illustrated by Laura Jacques.

Issues

The Shaman's Apprentice: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by Lynne Cherry and Mark J. Plotkin.

Rain Forests (Endangered People and Places series) by Sara Oldfield.

Oil Spill! by Melvin Berger

Will We Miss Them? by Alexandra Wright (a sixth grader), illustrated by Marshall Peck

Fiction for Younger Children

I Took a Walk (with fold-out pages) by Henry Cole

One Less Fish by Kim Michelle Toft and Allan Sheather

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

Liz Looks for a Home by Joanna Cole; Spanish edition: Liz Busca un Hogar by Tracey West

Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole, illustrate by Bruce Degan

Magic School Bus in the Rainforest by Joanna Cole

Magic School Bus Hops Home: A Book About Habitats by Patricia Relf by Nancy W. Stevenson

Wump World by Bill Peet