Earth Day Writing Freebie

I'm a big fan of Earth Day.  I think looking out for our world is HUGE and it needs to happen now.  Each and every one of us needs to do what we can to help this place be around for our grandchildren and our grandchildren's grandchildren.

I always celebrate every Earth Day with plenty of good literature.  Here are some of my favorite children's books with an Earth Day theme:

          

Earth Day is an ABC book, and makes a great introduction to the concept of protecting the environment.

The Lorax, is classic Seuss!  He tells about a mystical land of fantasy, which, in true Seuss fashion, a much deeper real story.  Even my second graders understand this valuable lesson.

The Wump World is a fun book to read to the children and NOT show the illustrations (even the cover) until the children have had a chance to show the Wumps and Pollutians that they visualized while listening to the story.  Another great story about a fantasy world with very real lessons!

This one is a new discovery to me, and my new "Earth Day Favorite". 

A River Ran Wild is a story that dates back to the days the Native Americans ruled this area, and respected the earth.  It continues through European settlers, the industrial age, and attempts to clean up the river.  This book is based on a local river, which makes it near and dear to my heart, but it's a valuable message about protecting our world.  My students became very upset when they saw what happened to the beautiful river!

See THIS BLOG POST for more about this book, and an art activity to go with it.

You can click the images above for a link to Amazon, to learn more about these books.

After reading, I intend to have the children do some opinion writing and/ or explanatory/ informational writing based on what they have learned about protecting the environment.

Here's a collection of writing paper with the Earth Day theme that I'll be using.  

Come over to Elementary Matters to download this freebie.

How are you honoring Earth Day this year?

Hurricane Learning

We had a huge hurricane last week!  I tend to turn everything into an opportunity for learning, and Hurricane Sandy is no different.

These are some of the books I found on Amazon with the topic of Hurricanes:

                                   

I have the Gail Gibbons book and it's great.  I love all her work, and this book is no exception.  She has a great way of explaining complicated topics to young children and make it understandable.  

After reading about hurricanes, I thought I'd include some writing instructi 

2.W.1:  Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g. because, and also) to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section.

Click image to download freebie.

I made up this graphic organizer, along with a couple of samples.  I thought they could choose from a few hurricane related topics:  favorite kind of weather, favorite "non-electric" activity, favorite book, etc.  I always believe that children need to talk before they write, so I'd share my samples, and enhance each time to make the story more interesting.

I also found a good informational video on Youtube about Hurricanes.

My heart goes out to all those in the New York and New Jersey areas.  I was very lucky here in New Hampshire.  Most people lost power and a few trees came down, but there was minimal damage, and everyone seems to have made it through the storm.  I know things are far worse to our south!