Happy Earth Day everyone! Every year at this time we are reminded of how important it is to preserve the environment for future generations. Whether it be on the radio, television, social media or in educational environments, the flood of content blends into a common message – protect the earth!

We’d like to share a short, yet compelling video clip that made us pay just a little more attention this year. It’s called Dear Future Generations: Sorry. We hope you enjoy it too, and of course … share it.

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My favourite line in the video was ‘An error does not become a mistake, until you refuse to correct it’. That is a powerful statement – in all facets of life, but particularly when it comes to taking care of the earth.

With this in mind, I’d like to share some classroom connections …

After many months of collecting recyclable materials, we finally set out to transform old boxes into new ART.

We used materials from our Art Centre (containers made from recycled products) to help with this Earth Day project.

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Here is a showcase of some beautiful pieces from our growing collection of Recycled Art:

Fashionable Writing Utensil Caddies

hybrid cars

Spring Basket

An enchanting castle

building blocks

Jewelry box

 The latest smartphone

A downtown apartment building

bird feeder

Binoculars

Toy Box

Marker holder

 

 Decorative Tissue Boxes

 Pirate Ship!

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Recycle is a poem I came across online that was written by Meish Goldish . Students enjoy the familiar rhythm, and the catchy pattern makes it a great math extension as well (don’t we teachers love that?!).

After reading many books relating to Earth Day, our class sat down to brainstorm ways in which we can protect our environment. We also reviewed some of the things we were already doing in our classroom (i.e., recycling , reducing, reusing, composting, conserving energy, using only as much water as we need, not littering, etc.). Students then all had a chance to reflect on what more they could do (at school and home) and completed a promise note reminding them to take action and contribute in whichever way they could. No contribution is ever too small – every little bit helps.

To download a copy of the poem and writing template, click on the image below.

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Sometimes we may feel overwhelmed and wonder how these very small acts can possibly solve such a massive problem. But if we all contribute one little building block, we can turn an error into an opportunity.

For more ways you can help, click HERE.

As always, thank you for your time!

Lora