Earth Day Countdown

Earth Day is almost here!

Warm spring days show us Earth is waking up from a cold, cold winter.  That makes March and April the perfect time to celebrate this wonderful planet we call home.

One great way to introduce your students to Earth Day is through picture books.  Here are a few books to share with your class:

The Wump World by Bill Peet,    The Wumps live on a peaceful, clean and beautiful planet. Then one day a fleet of space crafts arrive bringing new creatures who make lots of changes in their world.

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss,    One of the best loved books by Dr. Seussl  It tells the story of what happens when the natural world collides with modern progress.

Earth Smart by Leslie Garrett,     Easy to read introduction on how we can all take care of the environment.

Holiday Histories, Earth Day by Mir Tamim Ansary,    Tells about the origins of Earth Day and what we need to do to save the environment.

Click! Energy, Splash! Water, Blow! Air, Yuck! Waste  Taking Care of your planet series by Nuria and Empar Jimenez      Wonderful series of books, beautifully illustrated with great information about our environment.

Dear Children of the Earth by Schim Schimmel   Beautiful book in the form of a letter from Mother Earth, asking children to help protect her.

Living Sunlight by Molly Bang,   Wonderful book that explains how plants and animals need each other to continue living on Earth.  The illustrations are amazing!

The Tree by Dana Lyons,    The illustrations by David Danioth are beautiful.  The story is told through the view point of a tree and encourages us all to work together to save the environment. 

Along with these wonderful books you can start an Earth Day Countdown. I've put together 10 activities so you can have a countdown to Earth Day with your class.  There are 10 pages to share with your class as you learn about Earth Day and the environment. Here's one sample page you can download.

The packet also has a mini-book for students.  Each half page of the mini-book is a brief activity to complete that connects to that day's discussion. Click here to see the full packet on Crockett's Classroom on TPT.