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.
How are you honoring Earth Day this year?
I read a lot about the brain because I find it absolutely fascinating. I also want my students to learn, so I'm always searching for ways to help them remember what I've taught.
I've found that kids learn best when they get a little bit at a time, frequently, rather than one big lesson all at once, then never to see it again. (Unfortunately, our present Math program does the latter.) 
There's also plenty of evidence to prove that connecting the learning to the passions of the children help the learning process as well.
Looking for some ideas for those cute little plastic eggs you find everywhere this time of year? 
I have some students in my class who don't quite have "number sense". These are the kids who still don't automatically "count on" when adding two numbers together, or determining the sum of two dice. They still count the dots! These kids need more "hands on" opportunity to get to know these numbers inside out!
I absolutely LOVE Cuisenaire Rods for helping children develop their number sense. I posted about them a while ago with THIS POST about using Cuisenaire Rods to practice math facts and fact families. I've got some kids who need to back up even further and really need to get to know the individual numbers by using these manipulatives.
Yep, it's that simple, and guaranteed to give you loads of giggles! Plus, there's a subtraction alternative! Come on over to Elementary Matters to download your freebie.
I've always had a love/ hate relationship with winter. I grew up in New England, so I'm no stranger to snow. I've been sledding, skiing, tubing on snow, snowmobiling, and ice skating. I've made snow forts, snow angels, and snowmen. I've done plenty of shoveling and scraping ice off the car. I've got plenty of experience driving in the snow and can manipulate my way out of a major skid. I've driven white knuckled to many a destination.
I can't believe I've already reached the end of my holiday vacation! I'd certainly love another week to catch up and relax!
