Celebrate Earth Day with Discovery Education’s collection of Earth Day activities to build an understanding of sustainability, the Earth’s natural resources, and how we can all take action to keep our planet healthy. This Earth Day, invest in our planet and inspire your students with lessons that teach about climate literacy, ending plastic use, cleaning up our planet, and sustainable fashion!
Climate Literacy
Find ways to help our planet from land to sea! Wondering about the importance of water to our world, what issues our planet is facing, or how we can help? DE has pulled together engaging lessons, videos, and activities to show how we can care for our environment.
Start the climate literacy journey for students in grades PK-5 with DE’s Earth to Luna: So Much Water, Fishtronaut: The Case of the Underwater Desert, and Fishtronaut: A Case of the Missing River videos to learn where our water comes from and how to protect the creatures that live in it. Next, let students in grades 3-5 dive into the different climates and weather conditions around the world with DEmystified: Climate and consider how human choices affect the environment as they explore Minecraft’s Sustainability City.
Take climate literacy to the next level for students in grades 6-12 by exploring real-world environmental issues. Learn about greenhouse gases with DE videos on The Greenhouse Effect and SF6 greenhouse gas, then investigate climate change. Apply this newfound knowledge of environmental issues to the real world and learn about people living in a California drought with When a Town Runs Dry or about how commercial farming impacts life in the Gamo Highlands of Africa with A Thousand Suns.
End Plastics
Evaluate the problems single use plastics create for our planet and learn about ways to help the planet! Peer into The Problem With Plastics and consider how even the smallest plastic use can impact the environment with Earth to Luna: No More Straws and Fishtronaut: The Case of the Plastic Bottles.
Next, take a peek at the solutions scientists are creating for handling plastic waste and helping the environment. Watch The Recycling Process video to discover how plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, and aluminum cans can be transformed into something new, then consider how recycling procedures are being improved further with In Real Life: Plastic Time Bomb. Step into a science lab in this Elements video to learn about a new “super enzyme” that can degrade plastic materials faster than before.
Check out DE’s Earth Day Collection to find on-demand events and resources for students of all grade levels!
Plant Trees
Plant seeds of knowledge about how planting new trees can help our planet! Ask your students to consider what life would be like without trees, and introduce them to how our planet’s natural resources impact our daily lives with DEmystified’s video: What are Natural Resources? Next, branch out and learn about what it takes to help trees grow and flourish with Earth To Luna: Yummy Dirt and the Plant a Seed Exercise!
Grow students’ understanding of how planting new trees can help the planet with real-world stories! For students in grades PK-2, read the story of Jadav “Molai” Payeng in The Boy Who Grew a Forest from Vooks, and completing the activity sheet about the story after reading. Students in grades PK-8 can learn about how living things are all connected with stories of real students’ actions in We Are One, and students in grades 3-12 can see the impact newly planted trees are having on climate changes in cities around the world with Newsy: How Cities are Using Trees to Combat Climate Change.
Global Clean Up
Get your students excited to create a better tomorrow for our communities by cleaning up our communities, lakes, rivers, and parks! Our actions can help keep our environment clean and take care of nature. Help students in grades PK-2 see how their actions matter with the Make Our Earth Better video and mini-lesson, and guide older students toward sustainable living with N*GEN’s video on Sustainable Living.
One big reason to keep our planet clean is to help preserve the Earth’s resources! Learn about the difference between renewable and nonrenewable resources, and determine how to protect these resources with videos from DEmystified, then take the resource research even further with Elements videos that explain how we can clean up our water and create useful materials from trash!
Sustainable Fashion
Bring sustainability into style by learning about sustainable fashion options! Fashion is a global industry that can be improved for the environment, and DE has a variety of resources to help students learn about the impact fashion has on the planet.
Find out about Fast Fashion’s Impact on the Environment with a video from Newsy, which shines a light on the effects of inexpensive clothing and provides solutions to help avoid clothing waste. Next, turn your classroom into a design studio with the Plastic Fabric STEM Challenge, and encourage your students to learn about the sustainability of everyday materials by creating a makeshift fabric from recycled plastic.
Wrap up your fashion-focused lessons for students in grades 6-12 with the following reading passages about the fashion industry’s impact on our environment and how we can make a change:
Earth Day is on April 22 each year, but we should invest in our planet year-round! With engaging content from Discovery Education, you can elevate your students’ understanding of environmental issues any time of the year.
