Earth Day Unit

Since I do have a GT class, I plan my units using our icons of depth and complexity as well as trying to incorporate activities that include critical thinking and creativity. This is my plan for next week to talk about Earth Day.

Big Ideas:

This is such a great story about creating your own little piece of wildlife in a backyard. The little girl starts off protecting an area from being mowed by Dad and it turns into a regular little preserve. The best part is neighbors copy her idea and create lots of backyard preserves.

Another case of a little girl making a small change that turns into a big change for her community. She sees what she thinks is a rosebush growing in an empty lot and decides to do whatever she needs to in order to help it thrive. The whole community pitches in.

I love lists! Here is a very easy to understand story about ways to help the world. My parents always get mad at me because the kids are going around turning everything off or yelling at them for wasting water while brushing their teeth--but at least that message is getting through.

Ethics:  Factories-this is a good topic I think because there are really 2 sides to the story. Factories cause pollution, but they are also a very important part of our society.

*bottled water-all those extra plastic bottles ( a friend of mine gives her kids bottled water all the time and they were freaking out the other day because they ran out-we don't have any water! She had to remind them that water does come from the tap on the sink.

* ice caps melting

Multiple Perspectives:  -perspective of the grass, of recycled material

* Compare perspective of the Earth to that of another planet like Pluto

* An interview with the Earth, what would you ask, what would it reply

Over Time- look at pics from the 1800's to now and what will happen in the future

Patterns: the orbit of the Earth, water cycle, recycling

Rules: for taking care of the Earth, conservations

Critical Thinking: come up with a more environmentally friendly way to manufacture things, design your own factory/car

Creativity: Create protest posters or brochures to show how to help the environment

* Papier mache earths-I know, I know, this is a time-consuming project-but it turns out sooooo good.

* Collages using recycled materials