🌎 15 Ready-to-use resources for Earth Day

Plus a space station tour!

Celebrate Earth Day!

Welcome to our Earth Day edition of What’s New in K-2! This week, we are turning our focus toward the beautiful planet we call home and discovering the many ways even the smallest hands can make a big difference. Earth Day is a wonderful time to step outside, observe the changing season, and talk with our students about how we can care for our trees, oceans, and wildlife. From learning the basics of recycling to planting the seeds of environmental stewardship, we are excited to share simple, hands-on activities that bring the spirit of conservation right into your K-2 classrooms.

Inside:

  • 💡 Tips, Tools and Templates: Ready-to-use Earth Day resources

  • 📺 Teaching with Teachflix Junior: Take a space station tour!

  • 😄 Giggle of the Week: They have to go somewhere right???

  • ❤️ Share your ideas with us!

💡 Tips, Tools and Templates

🌎 15 Ready-to-Use Resources for Earth Day

Image created with Google Gemini

Earth Day is just around the corner! To help you inspire your little environmentalists, we’ve gathered 15 incredible, low-prep resources perfect for the K-2 classroom. From virtual field trips to hands-on STEM, there is something here for every learner.

🎥 Multimedia & Virtual Trips

  1. Earth’s Day and Night from Space: Show your students the "big picture" with this stunning footage from PBS Learning Media.

  2. Virtual Landfill & Recycling Tour: Go behind the scenes to see how waste is managed with Republic Services.

  3. Earth Day Video Collection: A curated list of engaging videos from WeAreTeachers to introduce key conservation concepts.

  4. Recycle City: Let your students explore an interactive digital town to learn how citizens reduce, reuse, and recycle.

📝 Hands-On Activities & Games

  1. Nature Observation Bingo: Get outside and get active with this printable bingo card from PBS Parents.

  2. Earth Day STEM Pack: This comprehensive PDF includes supply lists, coding activities, and hands-on challenges.

  3. Nature Walk Activity: Use this Canva template to turn a stroll around the schoolyard into a scientific exploration.

  4. Earth Explorers Word Scavenger Hunt: Part of the Van Andel Institute’s science-themed lessons.

  5. Found Art Project: Encourage creativity by making masterpieces out of recycled materials with this lesson guide.

📖 Literacy & Curriculum

  1. KidLit Crafts & Read-Alouds: Pair your favorite Earth Day books with these creative crafts.

  2. Scholastic News – "Happy Birthday, Earth!": A classic K-2 resource exploring how kids can help the planet.

  3. Think Earth Curriculum: Download full curriculum guides designed specifically for classroom environmental education.

  4. "Let’s Find Out" by Scholastic: An Earth Day digital issue made just for early elementary readers.

💻 Interactive Lessons & Digital Tools

  1. Earth Day Choice Board: Give your students agency with this interactive Google Slides board.

  2. Interactive Pear Deck: Engage the whole class with this Earth Day Pear Deck presentation to check for understanding in real-time.

📺 Teaching with Teachflix Junior

🛰️ Take a tour of the space station

Did you know some astronauts live in space for months at a time? Join Jessi and Squeaks for a tour of the International Space Station and learn what life is like in low gravity!

After taking a virtual tour of the International Space Station with Jessi and Squeaks in this SciShow Kids video, keep the cosmic curiosity alive with these 6 ready-to-use extension resources!

🛰️ Interactive Missions & Games

  1. NASA Kids' Club: After seeing how astronauts live on the ISS, head over to NASA’s K-4 Learning Hub to meet real astronauts, download coloring pages of the station, and listen to "Story Time from Space."

  2. Ready Jet Go! Astronomy Games: Extend the video’s lesson on low gravity and technology with PBS Kids’ interactive games. Students can build their own rovers or explore the solar system alongside Jet Propulsion.

  3. Space Bingo Challenge: Turn your post-video review into a game! Use this digital Bingo board along with this interactive spinner to reinforce space vocabulary mentioned in the tour.

🎨 Creative Space Exploration

  1. "Out of This World" Art: Use the World Space Week educational resources and Crayola’s space-themed activities to let students draw or build their own version of a futuristic space station.

  2. Solar System Fact Sheet: After learning about Earth from above, have students fill out their own Solar System Information Sheet to compare our home planet with its neighbors.

  3. Planet Research Posters: Use this colorful Canva template for a "Mini-Research" project where students can showcase one fact they learned about space travel or the planets seen from the ISS.

🤭 Giggle of the Week

Where DO they go???

h/t to Buzzfeed.com

❤️ Share your ideas with us! 

Click the button to submit an idea for a future edition of the newsletter.