Free Resources: Celebrate Earth Day with Edmentum

From its beginnings in 1970, Earth Day has evolved into a day of global environmental awareness, celebrating the natural beauty of the planet and the innovative ways people have helped reduce, reuse, and recycle all over the world. To help you celebrate our planet and discuss with your class all the different ways we can help make our world a cleaner, safer place, we have prepared a FREE Earth Day resource packet from Edmentum, stuffed with fact sheets, a critical thinking prompt, an activity, lesson plans, and posters.

Because Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 each year, it has the happy coincidence of falling at the perfect time for spring cleaning. Over the school year (or the years you have been teaching out of the same classroom), you’ve probably accumulated quite a lot of stuff. Now sounds like the perfect opportunity to do some green cleaning. If you’re ready to celebrate Earth Day and declutter your classroom, check out these four Earth-friendly classroom cleaning tips:

1. Know your local recyling rules

When it comes to recycling, everyone should get a little spark of joy from dropping a piece of paper, plastic, or glass into the bin. But, sometimes, if all three of these materials get tossed into the same bin, there might not be any recycling in their future after all. Recycling programs can have different rules depending on where you are, so it’s always a good rule of thumb to check with your local recycling facility and/or your school’s recycling program to get the scoop on what needs to go where in order to be properly recycled. To check the rules in your area, visit Earth911, and avoid letting your recycling end up in the trash.

2. Give old papers new life

Often, when we clean out our desks, the reams of old papers and documents we’ve collected over time can be a little shocking. While it’s easy enough to just dump out old papers into the recycling bin, taking an extra moment to sort through the stack and pull out pieces to place in a “scrap pile” will not only save you some money on your classroom paper supply, but it will also help you cut down on the amount of paper you are using in your classroom. You can still reuse papers that have only been used on one side as scrap paper for math problems, pop quizzes, or essay rough drafts. 

3. Donate to your neighbors

As you sort through your classroom, you’ll probably stumble across some old but still usable classroom supplies, decide you’re ready to let go of the fake plant you just never can find the right place for in the classroom, or determine to look for a replacement rug for the class reading nook. Before you toss out anything, ask around in your school or check with fellow educators in your area to see if anyone might want some of the items you’re looking to get rid of. Teachers, after all, are notoriously crafty, and you never know what in one classroom’s trash could be another classroom’s treasure.

4. Try eco- (and child-)friendly cleaners

Cleaning out clutter is only half the battle when it comes to giving your classroom a spring tidying up. The next step is making sure that things stay squeaky clean and sparkly day to day, which is a lot easier said than done when you’re dealing with a classroom full of children. Instead of spending time after school or between classes endlessly wiping down every surface with a heavy-duty disinfectant, try out some of these easy-to-make, nontoxic, and child-friendly, green cleaning solutions from Really Good Teachers. These child-safe cleaning solutions not only help you save time, money, and the planet, but they’re also a great way to safely get your students involved in keeping the classroom clean and green.

Interested in exploring more content to build your classroom strategies around your students and the unique needs this year requires? Check out our FREE classroom resources page on Edmentum.com.