Earth Day for Older Students

Earth Day is an opportunity for students to get involved in their local environment. While browsing Pinterest today, I found tons of ideas and resources for Earth Day, but quickly realised that a lot of them were for mostly for the primary grades. What about your Grade 4 and up students?  Yes, I agree, the  handprint-earth craft on Pinterest is completely adorable, but I doubt that the boys in Grade 6 will want to do that.  So, what can your students do for Earth Day (other than a cutesy craftivity)?

image from My Cute Graphics

• They can do a research project on issues such as green energy, conservation and recycling.
• You can get involved with gardening projects in your local community.
• Together, you can plan, organize and publicize a community cleanup.
• Plant trees in a local park or in the school yard.
• Visit a local recycling and/or waste management plant.
• Build a composter for the school.
• Have a paper-free day! No worksheets!
• Build birdhouses for the school yard, or for the local nursing home.
• Visit a local zoo or aquarium.
• Do a pond study in your area.
• Do a nature scavenger hunt.

That last one gave me some ideas.  Why not take your group of older students on a nature hike and do a photo scavenger hunt?  Students can take artistic photos of things they find in nature, and then display them on a class bulletin board for others to enjoy.  Or, they could create a slide show and present it to other classes, along with a research project on environmental issues!  

To help with a project like this, I've created the following product, in both French and English:

If you're a French Immersion teacher (or Dual Immersion teacher for my friends in the US), you'll love this word search.  Students have to translate English Earth Day vocabulary words to French, then find the French words in the word grid.  Again, perfect for Grades 4 and up, and for students who need practice looking up words in the dictionary! ;)

What do you plan on doing with your students to celebrate Earth Day on Monday?