About
this Daily Classroom Special:
Science to Go provides easy yet meaningful
science activities for grades k-8. Science to Go was written
by Barbara Smith, Magnet Coordinator at Harvard Elementary, Houston
(TX) and former Teachers Network web mentor.
Celebrate Earth
Day
April 22, 2007
Earth Day is April 22. What are you and your students doing to celebrate?
Here are some
ideas:
- Have a speaker
come in from the municipal water office, and share information about
pollution, storm drains, water treatment, heavy metals, source and
destination of public water.
- Clean up a local
river or stream.
- Practice installing
low-flow shower heads or faucet aerators.
- Compare/contrast
performance of different types of light bulbs.
- Count the number
of light bulbs in a classroom, determine how much electricity they
use every day. How much does it cost to light the classroom for the
year? How much electricity could be saved by turning off lights when
the classroom is not in use?
- Search the school
for dripping, leaky faucets. Calculate rate of loss, and cost per
month. Bring information to custodian's or principal's attention.
- Conduct a trash
pickup around campus. Educate younger classes about litter and its
effects.
- Study cafeteria
trash. What can be done to decrease amounts of trash and waste? Devise
and implement an action plan. Design and build a wildlife habitat
on campus.
- Sponsor a car
free day campaign. Encourage others to walk, bicycle, or use public
transportation.
- Find out how
many reams of paper the average tree produces. Find out how much paper
your school buys every year.
- Sponsor an environmental
trivia quiz to be announced on the intercom.
- Save your classroom
trash for a week. Compare to trash generated at home and in the cafeteria.
How much does the average person produce per day? week?
- Discuss how to
make environmental awareness a year-round phenomena, not a one-day
event.
Good links
for students and teachers:
Ecological
Footprint Quiz
This quiz estimates how much productive land and water you need
to support what you use and what you discard. Compare your Ecological
Footprint to what other people use and to what is available on this
planet. Action plans at the end of the quiz.
Earth
Day Groceries Project
Decorate paper grocery bags with environmental messages which will
be distributed by local grocers.
Getting Involved
in Your Watershed
Environmental Protection Agency 15 activities, plus links to grants,
organizing kits, and other excellent sources. |