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Login to Readworks and choose the article titled "All About Earth." Read the article.

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Assign articles and research-based reading comprehension curriculum to your students at www.readworks.org, completely free.

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Login to Readworks and choose the article titled "The First Earth Day." Read the article.

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Improve your students' reading comprehension with ReadWorks. Access thousands of high-quality, free K-12 articles, and create online assignments with them for your students.

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Login to NewsELA (via this link or clever) and read the article titled "The History of Earth Day."

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Write an Earth Day Acrostic Poem! Grab a piece of line paper to draft your acrostic poem. When you are ready to publish, ask Ms. Chambliss for an Acrostic Poem handout.

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Write about Earth Day by writing about all of the ways that you can make Everyday like Earth Day!

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Watch the video to learn more about climate change

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Watch the video to learn more about climate change.

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Recycling Center Field Trip | PBS LearningMedia

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Penny and the KidVision VPK Kids tour a recycling center. They note the difference among various materials and get to see firsthand the people and machines used to recycle everyday items such as water bottles and soda cans.

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Create an Earth-Day Mini-Poster! Grab a piece of mini-poster from Ms. Chambliss and create an informative, visually appealing poster to hang up. This poster should help the viewer learn about Earth Day and should look good!

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Bees are an important part of our planet Earth! Learn more about bees and how they help us on Earth.

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Write a persuasive letter to someone about Earth Day. Persuade them to learn more about Earth Day, make better choices for the Earth, or something else! Talk to Ms. Chambliss about your writing choice. Then, grab a piece of line paper (or Microsoft Word on your iPad) and start writing.

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Create a comic or skit related to Earth Day. Comics should be made on copy paper and should have words, pictures, and color. Skits can be planned and videoed. Share your video with me through air drop if you made a skit.

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Don't see a project you like? Have an idea for your own mini project? Ask Ms. Chambliss!

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Don't see a project you like? Have an idea for your own mini project? Ask Ms. Chambliss!

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The History of Earth Day (National Geographic)

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The History of Earth Day (National Geographic)

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Our planet is an amazing place, but it needs our help to thrive! That's why each year on April 22, more than a billion people celebrate Earth Day to protect the planet from things like pollution and deforestation. By taking part in activities like picking up litter and planting trees, we're making our world a happier, healthier place to live.

The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, when a United States senator from Wisconsin organized a national demonstration to raise awareness about environmental issues. Rallies took place across the country and, by the end of the year, the U.S. government had created the Environmental Protection Agency. By 1990, Earth Day was an event celebrated by more than 140 countries around the globe.

You can celebrate and protect the planet at the same time. Check out these Earth Day ideas to help save the planet any time of year.

BECOME A WASTE WARRIOR

The number of garbage trucks Americans fill each year would stretch halfway to the moon. Toilet paper tubes, made from cardboard, take two months to decompose in a landfill. A plastic bottle sticks around for way longer-it can take over 450 years to break down! But instead of turning to the trash bin, you could turn these items into an awesome telescope or a flower planter. Before you throw something away, think about whether it can be recycled or repurposed. You can also limit waste by reducing the amount of things you buy. For example, check the library for that book you have to read before visiting the store.

PLANT A TREE

Researchers estimate roughly 15 billion trees in the world are cut down each year, so help offset that loss by planting a tree of your own. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen for people to breathe. They also provide shelter and food for animals such as squirrels and owls. Depending on where trees are planted, their shade can even reduce the need for air-conditioning in hotter months. How many more reasons do you need to go green?

TURN OFF THE LIGHTS

Does that lamp really need to be on while the sun is out? Electricity doesn't just happen-it has to be produced from things around us. A lot of times it comes from fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, or natural gas) that contribute to climate change. But electricity can also be made from renewable sources like wind, water, the sun, and even elephant dung! No matter where it's coming from, try conserving electrical energy by using only what you need.

LIMIT YOUR WATER USAGE

It might seem like it's everywhere, but clean, drinkable water is a limited resource. In fact less than one percent of the water on Earth can be used by humans. (The rest is either too salty or too difficult to access.) Turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth can conserve up to eight gallons of water a day. To help save even more water, challenge yourself to take a shorter shower (but still get clean!).

OFFER YOUR TIME

With a parent's permission, volunteer to pick up trash at a nearby park, start a collection drive for recyclable items, or organize a screening of an environmentally themed movie. By getting involved and working with others, you're not just helping the Earth-you're making new friends too!

SPREAD THE MESSAGE

Talk to your friends and family members about what you're doing and ask them to help. Need to get the conversation started? Get everyone together and reconnect with nature by taking one of our Get Outside challenges, or check out some other green tips you can share. The more people do, the better off our planet will be!

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Celebrate Earth Day with these tips for helping our environment.

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Read tips from National Geographic about protecting the Earth from climate change.

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You can help protect the planet! Try some of these tips to conserve limited resources such as water, energy, and animals; prevent landfill waste; or decrease harmful gases, such as CO2, which contribute to global warming. So get green and give the tips a try. Make sure to ask your parents before trying any of these tips!

Recycle and Reuse

Set out cans and bottles for neighborhood pickup, or exchange them for cash at a recycling center. Most community trash services will pick up your recycled bottles and cans.

Choose rechargeable batteries, then recycle them when they die. You'd have to use hundreds of single-use batteries to equal the energy you'd get out of one rechargable battery. Be sure to recycle all batteries to keep harmful metals from entering the environment.

The next time you have the impulse to buy a new book to read, borrow it from the library or a friend instead of buying a new copy. Sharing books is a great way to reduce waste and reuse materials.

Don't drink bottled water! Use a reusable bottle instead.

Buy toys that last. Toys are made, directly or indirectly, from natural resources. Choose toys that won't break easily so you aren't always buying more stuff or creating more trash.

Improve the Outdoors

Plant a deciduous (leafy) tree that loses its leaves in fall on the south side of your home. Its shade will cool your house in the summer. After the tree's leaves fall, sunlight will help warm your house in winter. Trees help clean the air we breathe. They produce oxygen and reduce carbon dioxide.

Participate in cleanup days at a beach or park. Use those outdoor trash cans! Never litter. Keep our waterways clean. When you visit a park or beach, be sure you deposit your trash in containers and volunteer at some state and national cleanups.

Don't Kill That Spider!

There are an estimated 40,000 species of spiders, and they all eat insects. They're an important part of the food web and provide natural pest control.

Safeguard Storm Drains

Don't litter. Trash tossed carelessly outside often washes into storm drains, which empty into rivers and streams that eventually flow to the oceans. Pollution is a growing problem for all the Earth's ocean and its wildlife.

No Place for Pets

Never release a pet into the wild-it can become an invasive species! Cats, dogs, snakes, ferrets, and even hedgehogs prey on local wildlife. If you can't keep your pet, find it a new home, or give it to an animal shelter.

Cut Down on Waste

Ban all drips. If you have a dripping faucet in the house, ask your parents to replace the washer inside it. If you stop a faucet from leaking one drop each second, you can save 2,700 gallons (10,220 liters) of water a year.

Don't pile your plate. "When's dinner?" you want to know. You're starving after a long day at school! Even so, restrain yourself and take only what you know you'll really be able to eat. Enough edible food to feed 49 million people ends up in landfills in the United States each year.

Spread the Word

Tell your friends! The more people who treat the Earth well, the safer all its inhabitants will be.

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You can help protect the planet! Try some of these tips to conserve limited resources such as water, energy, and animals; prevent landfill waste; or decrease harmful gases, such as CO2, which contribute to global warming. So get green and give the tips a try.

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Learn about how habitats are being destroyed on Earth and ways we can avoid it.

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A jaguar paces at the edge of a rainforest in Brazil. The big cat once roamed through a jungle packed with trees, but now part of its home is a working farm with herds of cattle that have taken over the jaguar's territory.

A hundred years ago, jaguars ranged from the southwestern United States to Argentina, in South America. Today their territory has shrunk by more than half, and they live mostly in the Amazon rainforest. And jaguars aren't the only animals losing their homes-according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, habitat loss is the main threat to about 85 percent of all endangered plant and animal species.

LIVING ON THE EDGE

Tropical rainforests cover only about 7 percent of Earth's land, but they're home to an estimated half of all known plant and animal species. Most experts agree that about 80,000 acres disappear every day when trees are cut down for lumber and land is cleared for farms. Trees also play an important role in absorbing the carbon dioxide that contributes to climate change. Fewer forests means that more greenhouse gases remain trapped in the atmosphere.

Grasslands, underwater habitats, and wetlands are also at risk of habitat loss. For instance, the World Wildlife Fund estimates that about half of the world's wetlands have disappeared in the last hundred years due to being drained for farmland or other industries. That means less space for animals to feed, breed, and raise their young.

SHARING WITH WILDLIFE

Finding a balance between what humans and animals need will help prevent habitat destruction. Some scientists think that if we put aside half of Earth's land and water for nature, we could save up to 90 percent of all species. In the meantime, your everyday actions can build a better planet. Check out these tips to find out what you can do to protect Earth's wild places.

Habitat: The area where a plant or animal lives

Wetland: A habitat where water doesn't drain well-think swamps and marshes.

Grassland: A habitat where the majority of the plants are grasses

Sustainability: Using Earth's resources in a way that doesn't permanently harm the planet. For example, sustainable paper likely is made from trees that will be replaced in their environment.

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Clearing trees and and draining wetlands destroy habitats and affects the animals that live there. Here's how you can help.

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Read more about plastic pollution on Earth and what you can do about it.