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Teach students about Earth Day in 2023 with printables, worksheets, activities, crafts, and more about being kind to our earth and living a more sustainable life.
This collection of teacher-created resources for ELA, math, and science teachers touches on a variety of eco-friendly themes, including sustainability, environmental impact, and recycling. Most resources are curriculum-aligned and editable so you can differentiate work for individual students, and each has undergone rigorous review by an expert teacher on the Teach Starter team.
Teaching Earth Day for the first time this year, or need a quick guide to the 2023 holiday? Read on for tips from our teacher team!
Earth Day is held on the same day each year, which means this year the holiday will be on April 22, 2023. This is Saturday, so students will not be in school, but you can celebrate being kind to our mother earth before the holiday or after!
Following the Earth Day theme — chosen annually by EarthDay.org — can help you focus your lesson planning to save time and have the greatest impact on your students. The 2023 theme is Invest In Our Planet.
As EarthDay.org President Kathleen Rodgers explains, "In 2023 we must come together again in partnership for the planet. Businesses, governments, and civil society are equally responsible for taking action against the climate crisis and lighting the spark to accelerate change towards a green, prosperous, and equitable future."
Depending on the grade level you are teaching this school year, explaining the state of our planet can be a challenge. So how do you touch on the importance of being green and sustainability in kid-friendly ways?
First, you may want to consider why it's so important that our students learn about Earth Day in the first place. Earth Day is an important opportunity for children to learn about the environment, the importance of conservation and sustainability, and to understand their role as active citizens.
Among the issues kids are learning when you teach about Earth Day in the classroom:
This collection is full of activities you can use with your students this Earth Day, and here are some things elementary schools can do to mark this important annual event:
Read and learn about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with a reading comprehension passage and worksheet pack.
Teach about Arbor Day or Earth Day with an infographic poster and a cloze note-taking worksheet about the importance of trees in our environment.
A worksheet for students to record the growth and changes in a plant over time.
Display this poster when learning about sustainability.
Use this flip book to build awareness of actions that are good and bad for the environment.
Enhance your students' comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills with this nonfiction Earth Day passage and accompanying activities.
Explore where natural resources are found with a pair of differentiated natural resource worksheets.
Make an Earth Day mini book that your students can complete to explain how they can help the planet.
Write about why we recycle and create this recycling craft to display in the classroom.
Encourage students to get involved in environmental responsibility with this collection of 8 Earth Day activities that focus on Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences.
Teach your students about the things we do that affect the Earth with an ecological footprint reference sheet.
Build comprehension skills and learn about human impact on ecosystems with a reading passage and worksheets.
A coloring sheet to be used in the classroom when learning about Earth Hour and Earth Day.
Build your students’ vocabulary around the topic of recycling with this recycling-themed word search.
Show your students the process materials go through when they are recycled with printable recycling posters.
Encourage students to write about ways to be kind to people and the planet with a printable sprinkle kindness activity book.
Help your young students learn about recycling and conservation with an illustrated word wall.
Display different ways to save water with this water conservation foldable.
An acrostic poem template to use in the classroom to celebrate Earth Day and National Poetry Month.
A poster that encourages students to think about the Earth every day!
Learn about The Great Barrier Reef with a comprehension and note-taking activity.
Show off your procedural writing skills with a pack of recycling writing prompts.
Piece together the life cycle of a tree with this cut-and-paste worksheet.
Explore how natural resources are used by humans in the 21st century with an instructional slide deck.
Inspire your students to reduce, reuse, and recycle with a fun Earth Day craft project.
Investigate water pollution and discover the effects of oil spills on wildlife with a hands-on science lab!
Learn about the importance of water to life on Earth, along with where our water comes from, with an instructional slide deck.
Identify environmental terms with this Earth Day word search.
Make a promise to protect the planet with a printable Earth Day flip book.
Explore the process of recycling plastic with a printable recycling worksheet.
An art activity to use for discussions about ocean pollution and environmental impact.