Showing posts with label Earth Day. Show all posts

Friday, April 22, 2016

PPBF: What Does It Mean To Be Green

Posted by Amazing People, on 4:00 AM
Today I'm happy, because we're celebrating my Dad's 79th birthday. 
On Earth Day. 
So fitting for a farmer, who made his living off the land, right?
Today's PPBF is the perfect fit for Earth Day, too.


Title: What Does It Mean To Be Green?
Author: Rana DiOrio
Illustrator: Chris Blair
Publisher: Little Pickle Press
Date: March 15,  2010
Suitable for ages: 4-8
Themes: recycling, conservation, citizenship
Brief synopsis: This treasure trove offers lots of ideas that we
 {young and old alike!} can all use to go green and save our planet.
Opening page: What does it mean to be green?

Resources:  Sign up to download lesson plans for the book {here}.
Share this beautiful tribute song to the earth. 

Encourage students to upcycle something, like this, brought to me by a fifth grader. It's an empty tissue box that he filled with handwritten, heartfelt cheer-up notes, perfect, he said, for a counselor like me. And he was spot on! 


Download an Earth Day freebie from Denise at Sunny Days {here}.
Watch the book trailer on You Tube:


Let your students host a recycling campaign.


Our Student Council is collecting clean grocery bags this week.


Don't you love their handiwork that's hanging all over our school?


Or make a Go Green wall of fame, like this one spotted by the character cam in the second-grade hallway at the school next door.


Why I like this book: Its silly start and simple conservation suggestions hooked us; its adorable illustrations reeled us in.


Looking for green things like the frogs subtly placed on the pages sealed the deal. Actually, it took an observant kindergartener to point that last part out ... 


and oh, what fun we had going back through the pages once we realized that there were little green frogs hidden on most every page!


We started the lesson with Boris the bear, who told our young sponges that he was "green with envy" that they get to go to school at Westwood, his former school. That engaged them and got them laughing and thinking and ready to read. 
But first, a song.

If You're Green And You Know It
by Barbara Gruener
Sing to the tune of If you're happy and you know it. 

If you're green and you know it, plant a tree. {clap clap}
If you're green and you know it, plant a tree. {clap clap}
If you're green and you know it,
then the world will surely show it; 
if you're green and you know it, plant a tree. {clap clap}

After singing the first verse, let the students write the next verses by suggesting phrases to replace the lyrics plant a tree. 



We sang about four verses, then we read the book aloud before singing a few more verses, all sparked by the new ideas we gleaned from the book. Check it out and enjoy going green!

For other PPBF picks today, hop to Susanna's blog next.
While you're there, wish HER a blessed day as well.
{A little birdie told me it's her dad's special day, too!} 







Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Earth Day 2015

Posted by Amazing People, on 3:00 PM
First things first; April 22nd is my father's birthday. And every year, he shares it with Earth Day. It's a pretty good fit for a dairy farmer, someone who made his living off the land. Farmers have to be uber-responsible. I always tell my students that responsibility is all about choices and chores, and, believe me, 
there were a lot of chores on that farm. 

Now that he's semi-retired, Dad spends a lot of his time in his wood shop, crafting cool stuff. Here's a picture of the rain barrel that he and the boys worked together to make when he was here a few years back. He's really good at building things. And people.


Birthday blessings, Dad. Thank you for your strong example.

Today one of my littles asked, "What's Earth Day?" and it felt weird to try to explain that it's a day set aside for us to celebrate the Earth, 
because I could hear what was coming next. 
"Shouldn't every day be Earth Day?" Why yes, yes it should. 

Did you know that our responsibility pillar is colored green because of our responsibility to the earth? From the Character Counts! website: As in being solid or reliable, like an oak. 

And before I could even look for something Earth-Day-ish to post, look what found me. Click it to go to its source, the HeartMath Institute.


Harmony. 
My 2015 one little word. 
Being one with Mother Nature.
On Earth Day. And Every Day.

Oh, and we finished our state testing, so I'm ready to celebrate.
Birthday cake anyone?





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