Showing posts with label earth day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label earth day. Show all posts

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Measurement Recycled Garden

Celebrate Earth Day by creating a class garden of upcycled flowers! Check out this math/art activity at We Are Teachers!

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Lunch Math

Students organize, represent, and interpret lunch data! Before throwing their lunch away, students sort it into categories (paper, plastic, aluminum, glass, compost, trash). They tally how many they have of each item. Then, as a class, create a graph of all of the materials that were found in their lunch. 

Which material was most commonly found in their lunches? Was this material recyclable? If not, could they generate a solution to minimize the trash in their lunch? Is their a place to throw recyclables and compost in their cafeteria? What can they do about it? 

To celebrate Earth Day have a Trash-Less, Waste-Free Lunch Party! Challenge students to bring in a lunch that does not have any item that needs to be thrown away or even tossed in a recycle bin! Can they do it?

Reinforcement: Recycle-Roundup Game

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Egg Carton Flyer

Save your egg cartons to construct a flying wing! It soars with the help of a penny inserted in the "cargo bay!" Click here for the template and instructions!

integration:
geometry: angles (best angle for distance)
estimating: distance
measuring: distance
science: potential / kinetic energy / wind

Monday, March 11, 2013

Earth Day: Design a Bag

Online Project: "The Earth Day Groceries Project is an easy, cost-free environmental awareness project that teams up youth and grocers to spread the message of Earth Day. To participate, teachers simply borrow paper grocery bags from a local grocery store. Students decorate the bags with environmental messages about reuse, recycling, wildlife, etc. The bags are then returned to the grocery store, and on Earth Day, April 22 of each year, customers receive their groceries— along with the message that kids care about our environment— in the decorated bags."- Earth Day Bags

Click here to get your class involved!

(Note from Earth Day Bags): "Another Idea: If you can't use paper bags, you can have your students decorate individual fliers, or even bookmarks, which can be handed out to shoppers or inserted in their shopping bags.  These will be counted in the project tally."

Friday, January 11, 2013

Juice Box Project

Kids measure the length, width, and height of different juice boxes to find out: "Which manufacturer has the largest volume of juice and uses the least amount of packaging material." Visit Science Buddies for all the details! Also, check out the extension activity: Rectangular ice cream containers vs. cylindrical.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Let's Rock - Sound Energy


Explore the science of sound by creating your very own rock band of recyclables!
Sound Wave Experiments - ehow
Featured Above:
1. Kazoo -Martha Stewart
2. Tin Can Phone - DSO Kids / Bongo - Sophie's World
3. Membranophone - Exploratorium
4. Zither - ehow
5. Pan Pipe Flute - Krieger Science
More:
Sound Sandwich - Exploratorium
Scientific Sound Effects - E is for Explore - Make Music
Whirly Twirly Sound Hose: Explore

Monday, June 18, 2012

Sun Baked Bricks

Make your own mini bricks, while learning about soil composition and solar energy, from 60 Second Science. All you need is clay-rich soil, water, ice cube tray (or mold), dry grass, and a sunny spot outside. Place your soil into a bowl, add a little bit of water, and stir around with a craft stick until you get a "thick" mud consistency. Next, mix in your grass. Then, press your mixture into your mold and smooth your bricks out on top. Now, bake your bricks in the sun! Talk about how the sun is a form of radiant energy, as well as thermal energy. The sun is a renewable resource that we can utilize to heat things up! When the bricks are ready, remove them from the mold and build something! You can keep your bricks natural or paint them. You can make houses for action figures, caves for animal figurines, etc. 

Sunday, June 3, 2012

3D Newspaper Shapes



Classroom Magic, The Brainy Bunch, and Year 4 made newspaper dowels to construct 3D geometric shapes! Kids roll newspaper into dowels. Visit Classroom Magic for a video tutorial on how to roll your newspaper. Then, kids tape or staple the dowels to form the edges of their geometric figure. This activity helps kids remember how many edges geometric shapes have. Once constructed, they can count the vertices and open faces.

You can make your geometric shape as large as you'd like. You can even create a geodesic dome fort! Visit Geodesic Green House or Instructables for instructions. Also check out Mrs. Amelia Preschool's newspaper sculpture.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Balloon Car




Have kids design a balloon car, bring it to class, and see who's can travel the fastest and farthest. They could uses legossoda capstops of fast food cups, or even cds for wheels. Tell kids to get creative with the car's body. They can make long thin cars or big fat boxed cars. Design elements are completely up to the kids. Their goal is to make a car that is not only fast, but can travel super far. In the classroom, have kids use their measuring skills to figure out the distance their vehicles traveled. Who's car has the most stamina?

See written instructions for Steve Spangler's balloon car (featured above) as well as more racing toy experiments here

Aso check out Design Squad's 2 wheel (made with life savers candy) and 4 wheel balloon car!


image credit: Design Squad Nation (2 wheel balloon car)

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Solar Power

Go green, learn about radiant and thermal energy, and have a snack! Upcycle a pizza box into a solar oven! Whip up smores, roast a hot dog, munch on nachos, or zap leftovers. The oven heats up to 275 degrees. Click here for written instructions!



Sunday, March 25, 2012

Kids Go Green!


1. One little person can make a huge impact on our planet. Encourage kids to be greener! For Earth Day, calculate your students' carbon footprints at Zero Footprint, a carbon footprint calculator for kids and schools around the world!

2. Make an Earth Day circle map to get them inspired to go green for Earth Day! Earth image via coloring pages 7

3. Encourage kids to do one green activity each day, during the week of Earth Day. Have them draw a picture or take a photograph. Then, write down what they did that was green under their picture in their Go Green Journal. 

What Can I Do? Examples:
1. 3 R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!
2. Walk or ride a bike or bus.
3. Turn the light, television, video game, computer, or any other device off when not in use.
4. Don't leave the water running when brushing your teeth.
5. Use florescent light bulbs.
6. Plant a seed!
7. Make a compost bin.
8. Pick up trash.
9. Don't leave the fridge door open.
10. Work together! Start a Green Team or join in on Nickelodeon's Big Help!

For the last page in their Go Green Journal, have the kids make something out of recycled goods, turn trash into treasure! They can create an artistic sculpture, a bird feeder, anything they'd like! After they make it, they record it in their journal and bring it into class to share. Tell them to get creative!




4. Pass out Go Green buttons for the kids in the class! Pin them on with a safety pin.









Saturday, February 25, 2012

The Lorax Activities




Inspiring Activities via Web Teaching:

1. Throughout the story Dr. Seuss only lets us see parts of the Once-ler (his eyes and hands). Draw a full body picture of what you think this greedy guy looks like. 

2. Dr. Seuss loved to make up his own words. Write your own definitions for the following words from the story: moof, gruvvulous, slupps, snergelly, rippulous, snargled, cruffulous, smogulous, biggering

3. Imagine you were the Lorax and were chosen to speak for the trees. What would you say to persuade the Once-lers to stop cutting down the trees?

4. Make a Lorax mustache!

5. Write instructions for how to plant a tree. 

6. Design a seed packet for truffula seeds.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Bean Necklace

Sprout a bean close to your heart with this green fashion statement! Visit Shivaya Naturals for instructions!









Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Birds

Grab your binoculars and head outside for a bird watching expedition! Build a recreational center for birds right in your own backyard! Kids can view birds up close and personal, seeing the various species that reside in their environment.

binocular pic via squidoo

1. Milk Jug Feeder - With an x-acto knife, cut large "windows" in a milk jug. Next, tape off the edges, where you cut, with duct tape. The tape will prevent birds from getting hurt on any sharp edges. Then, punch holes with your blade underneath the "windows" you created. Find long, sturdy sticks in your backyard. They will serve as perches for the birds to rest on while they eat. Insert the sticks through the holes, so they criss cross inside. Then, punch holes in the top of your jug to hang your feeder. Thread heavy twine through the top holes. Now, pour bird seed into your jug and hang it outside. You'll see a wide variety of birds visiting for a snack! We did this in my class to celebrate Earth Day!

2. Bird Bath - Create a place for birds to cool off! Visit  Vicki O'Dell for the tutorial!

3. Nest Collector - Help birds make a nest by providing them with material! Visit Fiber Farm for the full tutorial!

4. Conduct an experiment to see what color seed birds are most attracted to. Visit Science Bob for the full tutorial!







Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Egg Carton Flowers

Upcycle an egg carton into a flower bouquet! Check out how Krokotak turned an egg carton into a floral wreath!

photo via Krokotak


Friday, February 3, 2012

Super Foam-erator

photo credit: my gratitude attitude and piseco 
Let kids go wild with the foam-erator! They can shoot foam in the tub or on each other outside! It shoots out long strands of foamy bubbles that swirl. Plus, it's completely made out of recycled goods! Visit Betz White for instructions!

Math - Measure your foam snake. Who could make the longest strand of foam?

Monday, January 23, 2012

Acidic Ocean Experiment

Adventures of Ed the Bear did an awesome experiment to demonstrate what would happen if acidity in the ocean got out of hand, due to fossil fuels and global warming. "Acid oceans are caused by increased amounts of carbon dioxide absorbed by oceans, putting many marine animals in danger."Adventures of Ed the Bear 

materials:
2 jars (one filled with vinegar, the other water)
2 seashells

Below is the seashell submerged in vinegar:


photos via adventures of ed the bear

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Oil Spill!


Can you undo water pollution? Along the Way conducted an experiment to see if kids can get the water back to its original state.


Can marine animals get cleaned up after an oil spill? Visit the The Kitchen Pantry Scientist for instructions to conduct this experiment with kids on Earth Day!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Rocket Launch

photo credit: Great Fall Elementary via Connection Newspaper
Soda straw rockets from NASA! After you construct your rockets, have a math lesson. See how far your students can launch them! Measure how far they land. What is the best angle to shoot your rocket? NASA Rocket template (download here

photos via family fun
Other Rocket Activities:
Spring a Red Solo Cup Rocket up into the air!
Blast a Bottle Rocket outside!

3D Earth Puzzle

Visit Planet Pals to download this 3D earth globe puzzle!