Earth+Day+-+1st+Grade

Emily Hayes

This Earth Day unit is designed for use with my 1st grade son in a one-on-one learning environment, but I did try to consider ways to accommodate a full classroom of diverse learners, as well. I have chosen a variety of texts – some mostly pictures to a more balanced mix to more heavily text-laden – at a range of reading levels and focusing on several topics relating to the health and well-being of our planet. We begin by learning the background and principle purposes/goals of Earth Day. A student-led brainstorm (jumpstarted from students’ individual KWLs) produces ideas for further inquiry. This brainstorm might necessitate the changing of the sub-topics from those included in this list in an effort to match the interests of each unique classroom. For this particular unit with my son, we explore birds, trees, butterflies, and earthworms/composting. We also learn about the three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Some of the texts are used for teacher read-alouds, others are only used for parts of their content, and still others are provided for student reading and discussion. The websites have been chosen for similar purposes. Some lend themselves to whole-class exploration under the direction of the teacher. Others are appropriate for student exploration and game-ification of learning. The major project-based assessments for this unit include a nature walk for bird watching and identification, another for tree identification and observation, the protection and observation of the life-cycle of a Monarch butterfly, and the creation and maintenance of an earthworm bin for composting. In a classroom setting, this list might need paring down. I have certain freedoms as a homeschool parent that are not practical in a traditional education setting. Also, these subjects excite my student, whereas an extended unit like this risks really boring at least some section of the class. I do not have ELL learners, but if I were adapting this to a classroom where this was a need, I would begin with an whole class creation of a Word Wall with nature and Earth Day related words. We would then look up or ask our ELL students for the translations to these words in their native languages. These pairs would be placed together on the wall with a picture of the definition whenever possible. For example, “tree,” “arbol,” and a picture of a tree for easy recall. For students with extra learning or reading needs, I tried to choose texts from preschool to 3rd grade to meet the abilities of all likely 1st graders, and there will be reading guides, anticipation guides, and other graphic organizers employed to scaffold student comprehension and retention of the content as well as to teach literacy strategies for future use.

http://www.brainpopjr.com/ ||  This site offers engaging and concise videos on a variety of topics aimed directly at school-aged children. The Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle and Natural Resources videos are free and provide a great alternate source to scaffold the learning in the texts. ||  || [] ||  Willie the Worm provides a child-friendly filter for the topic of composting. Students will most likely need support to decode the material, but the text is broken down into bulleted lists and separated by bolded headings and frequent paragraph breaks. ||  || [] ||  Vermi the Worm is an interactive game that allows learners to participate in the compost process, and learn about how to reduce waste, reuse products, and the importance of recycling as the worm. ||  || [] Discovery Kids: Tell Me Worm World [] ||  These two particular sections of the Discovery Kids: Tell Me site focus on topics that both reiterate and compliment topics covered in the texts listed above. For example, in Worm World, students can choose to learn about the anatomy of a earthworm, how to make an earthworm bin, or about other types of worms. The material is primarily presented in text, but the separated pages help keep the information organized and easily consumed by young learners. ||  || [] ||  This extensive site offers information, activities, and videos relating to Global Climate Change. In the "Clues of Climate Change" page, students examine a picture for 11 signs of Climate Change. When they click on one of the signs (a mostly bare mountaintop, for instance), the symptom is labeled in the picture (Less Snow and Ice). The major sections are "Learn the Basics," "See the Impacts," "Think Like a Scientist," and "Be Part of the Solution." ||  || [] ||  Another amazing website, NASA's Eyes on the Earth site games to play, crafts to make, and a seemingly exhaustive list of topics to explore from how birds are impacted by Climate Change to new technology that can help areas losing their water supply locate water underground. There is so much information here that more advanced readers could be allowed free time to explore their interests at will, but most students will need reading guides and graphic organizers, as well as directed reading instructions to focus on the pertinent information. ||  || http://www.kidssoup.com/EarthDay/EarthDaycrafts.html#freeearthday || This list of free activities provides inspiration for instructors to plan hands-on elements of learning to support the content coming from the nonfiction texts. ||  || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">[] || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> This list of 50 Earth Day activities can be discussed with students as choice activities or just used as teacher inspiration to use in the classroom to support content from the texts. It also would make excellent information to share with parents to maintain that home-school relationship and assist parents in reinforcing the learning going on in the classroom. ||  || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">[] || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> The Arbor Day Foundation provides 10 free trees to members upon payment of the membership fees. They also support programs to gift trees to various organizations for a variety of purposes. Students could raise money to either join as a class and plant their 10 trees around the school or community or consider some of the areas that might need the trees and donate them. In any case, it opens a dialog and awareness about the roles trees play in the health of our climate. ||  || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">[] || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> Three videos capture the migration of Monarch butterflies, the safety they can find in sanctuaries set up to ensure they have some appropriate environment available, and a time lapse video of the butterflies' life cycle. All three can help students visualize different pieces of content from the texts above. ||  || Hi,
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Title ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Explanation ** || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Grade Level ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Cella, Clara. (2012). Earth day. Mankato, MN: Capstone Press. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">This text provides a brief and colorful background of the Earth Day celebration. After my student completes a KWL on Earth Day, I plan to use this to provide foundational knowledge and jumpstart scaffolding conversations. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Kindergarten-Grade 1 ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Pfeffer, Wendy. (2003). Wiggling worms at work. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">This text provides information on the functions worms perform in our soil: how they eat, move, improve soil, etc… Its large pictures and accessible vocabulary make the topic approachable. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Kindergarten- Grade 3 ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Himmelman, J. (2001). An earthworm's life (nature upclose). New York, NY: Children's Press. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">This resource provides another look at the earthworm in an approachable format for young learners. Used in support of Wiggling Worms at Work, it will provide a well-supported foundation of knowledge of worms for the learner. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Kindergarten and up ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Gibbons, G. (1996). Recycle! A handbook for kids. New York, NY. Little, Brown Books for Kids. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Recycycle! follows a Problem-Solution organizational frame to teach young readers about landfills and the inherent problems with too many landfills and then explain how recycling works to solve this problem and help the earth. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Preschool-Grade 1 ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Parker, W. (2010). Kids can compost. N.p.: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">This picture book has very few words and the vocabulary is focused on familiar items from the home, like "food," "paper," "fruit." The pictures on each page reinforce the meanings of the words, which will help support ELL language acquisition and participation in the unit. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Preschool-Grade 1 ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Gibbons, G. (1991). Monarch butterfly. New York, NY: Holiday House. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Students can follow one monarch butterfly through its metamorphosis, pairing pictures and leveled text to understand the amazing changes that take place as the caterpillar becomes a butterfly. The book also lists steps to shelter and care for a caterpillar during that important time in its life cycle. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Grades 2-4 ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Marsh, L. (2010). National geographic readers: Great migrations butterflies. Washington D.C.: National Geographic Children's Books. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Learners explore more about the Monarch butterfly than just its metamorphosis in this text. This expands the focus to include the impressively long and dangerous migration the butterflies make to Mexico. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">2-4 ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Pasternak, C. (2012). How to raise monarch butterflies: A step-by-step guide for kids. Richmond Hill, ON, Canada: Firefly Books Limited. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">This text provides more detail than others about how to protect and raise Monarch butterflies. It reinforces information provided in other texts of this list, but will serve as a long-term reference piece for our own raising of a monarch from an egg or caterpillar to butterfly. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Kindergarten ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Alderfer, J. (2013). National geographic kids bird guide of North America: The best birding book for kids from national geographic's bird experts. Washington D.C.: National Geographic Children's Books. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">As this book contains information on 100 birds but provides two-page presentation of only 50, this text not only is useful for the reliable and appropriately leveled content, it also provides an opportunity to explore methods authors/publishers use to prioritize information. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">2-4 ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Cate, A. L. (2013). Look up!: Bird-watching in your own backyard. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">City dwelling students can use this very colorful picture-filled books to support bird-watching without heading for more open spaces. This is very full of information and will provide an excellent opportunity to introduce/practice using literacy techniques to organize material when sheer volume can seem overwhelming. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">3-7 ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Arnosky, J. (1992). Crinkleroot's guide to knowing the trees. NewYork, NY: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">This book covers everything about trees, from types to leaves to seeds to changes in fall, in a mostly picture-based format supported by carefully chosen text. The information on the way other animals interact with these trees adds a dimension particularly useful to this larger Earth Day unit. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Kindergarten – grade 3 ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Cox, M. (2009). Wildlife Gardening. New York, NY: DK Publishing. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">This text and its various activities - which are broken down into easily accessible steps and tailored for kids - will be used to extend the learning of this unit beyond its end. Gardening is one green activity kids can actively engage in, and we will use the Table of Contents to pick and choose which particular activities seem interesting and then learn about step-by-step organization as we plan and carry out a chosen few from the book. || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Grade 1-4 ||
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Websites ** ||  ||   ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Brain Pop, Jr.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Composting with Willie the Worm
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">The Adverntures of Vermi the Worm
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Discovery Kids: Tell Me Earth
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">a student’s guide to Global Climate Change
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Climate Kids: NASA’s Eyes on the Earth
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Earth Day Crafts
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">TinkerLab: Creative Activities for Makers and Experimenters 50 Earth Day Activities for Kids
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Arbor Day Foundation
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Kid World Citizen

This is a video that my first grade students enjoyed about water conservation. Diane Baima

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOjI6vhxH5M

Thanks, Diane, but this link takes me to "Awesome Cat's Circus in Russia." :-) Maybe it's just a little off?

Hi, This page (scroll down) has a great earth day recycled craft that I've used before. Its a bolero ( ball and cup game) made from recycled materials: water or pop bottles and tinfoil. Lisa Erickson

http://www.kidssoup.com/EarthDay/EarthDaycrafts.html#freeearthday Thanks, Lisa! -Emily