Apr 02 2009
The Best Earth Day Sites
Earth Day, a time to recognize and celebrate environmental awareness, is on April 22nd. I thought it might be useful to have a “The Best…” list for that day.
This list isn’t very long since a previous list, The Best Sites To Introduce Environmental Issues Into The Classroom, really has the best environmental-related resources.
In order to make this list, of course, sites had to accessible to English Language Learners.
Here are my picks for The Best Earth Day Sites (not in any order of preference):
The History Channel has a nice Earth Day feature.
Everyday Is Earth Day is a “talking story” from Starfall for Beginning English Language Learners.
A Florida elementary school has a good description of Earth Day that provides audio support for the text.
ESL Holiday Lessons provides audio support for the text in its Earth Day Lesson. It includes this interactive sequencing activity.
The official Earth Day website has plenty of adaptable curriculum ideas for teachers.
Scholastic has an article describing the history of Earth Day.
CBS News has a slideshow showing Earth Day celebrations around the world in 2008.
Earth Day Around The World is a slideshow from Forbes Magazine.
Earth Day Through The Years is a slideshow from the Atlanta Constitution.
A Colorful History of Earth Day is a slideshow from TIME Magazine.
Earth Day 2009 is a series of photos from the Boston Globe’s The Big Picture.
Celebrating Earth is a slideshow from The Wall Street Journal showing Earth Day activities around the world.
CBS News has a slideshow also sharing 2009 Earth Day images from different parts of the globe.
Earth Day Celebrations is a slideshow from The Washington Post.
ABC News has a slideshow on Afghanistan declaring its first National Park on Earth Day.
You can send Earth Day eCards (you can post links to them on a teacher or student website) from either Blue Mountain or Yahoo Greetings.
Teaching Tolerance is on The Best Places To Find Free (And Good) Lesson Plans On The Internet list, and they just came out with two good lesson plans for Earth Day. Both are related to environmental racism — the fact that low-income communities often have more hazards and pollution than in places that are better — off.
The two lesson plans are:
Fair is Fair: Introducing Kids to the Idea of Environmental Racism
Reporting on Environmental Racism
Thinkfinity also has a fair amount of resources, including lesson plans, on Earth Day.
NASA has some amazing multimedia resources related to Earth Day.
Redefining Progress has some very good lesson plans on Earth Day.
As always, feedback is welcome.
If you found this post useful, you might want to look at previous “The Best…” lists and also consider subscribing to this blog for free.
6 responses so far
Create a free edublog to get your own comment avatar (and more!)
great list, and a date that I’ll never forget (my sons birthday!) tweeting and stumbling.
[Reply]
Thank you for the great sites on Earth Day. My students are taking part in the Earth Day Groceries Project. http://www.earthdaybags.org/
[Reply]
Wow Larry ! You’ve done it again. I passed on the recent list you sent to the Tech Mentor listserv to the whole ESL Department at CCSF.
Thanks, as always, for finding such great stuff and sharing it !!!
Diane
[Reply]
Thanks for the list, I’ll be checking out some of these sites!
I’ve posted an Earth Day Challenge on my blog, so if anyone is interested in joining, come on over and post your plans for celebrating Earth Day with your family! I have a toddler, but all ages are welcome!
http://paintingpinkpajamas.blogspot.com/2009/04/celebrating-earth-day-with-toddler.html
[Reply]
Thanks for another great tip, Larry! Came here, browsed for a couple of minutes, and produced a great post for my teen students: http://www.pageflakes.com/gladysbaya/14549284 (2nd blog on the right-hand side).
Thanks a million!!!!
Gladys
[Reply]
[...] Larry Ferlazzo’s blog for The Best Earth Day Sites for ELL, ESL, AND [...]