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7 Earth Day Activities for STEM & Technology

earth-day-activitiesSpring is in the air and it’s a great time to remind students of ways that they can continue to take care of the Earth and make a difference. Earth Day is a great celebration of this. In response to that, here are 7 Earth Day activities that integrate STEM and technology to commemorate this day. 

 *Click any of the images or headings of the resource to be redirected to the link. 

Earth Day Activities #1: Caring For Our Earth Interactive Notebook

Ditch your paper notebooks for a few days and have students explore and record their thinking with my colorful slides. There are 21 editable templates that you can edit and share in Google Slides. Students will define important vocabulary, a podcast to listen to, make observations about a graph and more! 

Click here to grab this lesson for your class!

earth-day-activities

 

Earth Day Activities #2: Recycling Plant Makerspace Lesson

Help students understand the benefits of recycling and learn how it works. By using the collection of objects and labeled bins, students will build their own recycling plant. The goal is to have students create a system to help sort the items into the correct categories.

Click here to grab this lesson for your class! 

earth-day-activities

 

Earth Day Activities #3: Our Planet- Netflix Series

Learn more about our Earth and different species from around the world and how their lives are impacted by humans. It is a series, but you can definitely watch out of order to meet your classroom needs. 

 

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Earth Day Activities #4: Taking Care of Earth Reading Comprehension  

With these graphic organizers for Earth Day, it will help students record their thinking and find text that is relevant to Earth Day. There are printable and digital options that will work on any device.

earth-day-activities

Use any resource you have on hand to accompany these graphic organizers. Epic! Books is a great place to start! It’s a free-for-teachers online digital library that has books for any occasion and every learner. Have access to eBooks, read-to-me, audio and videos. 

 

Earth Day Activities #5: Earth Day Engineer Inspiration

Use any building materials available to recreate the images from the inspiration sheet. The one page of images look great printed out, in both color and black and white. Or save paper by viewing the images digitally. 

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Earth Day Activities #6: The Brains On! Podcast

Podcasts are a great way for students to build their visualization and comprehension skills. The Brains On! podcast is highly engaging and education. It’s a lot like listening to episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy. You can listen directly online from your computer, or connect your phone by using any podcast app. Episodes that are perfect for Earth Day are: 

Earth Day Activities #7: Bundle of Activities

Need even more inspiration? Check out this fun bundle of STEM & Technology activities to use with your students. Some of the activities above are included as well as others the help celebrate Earth Day. Everything can be printed or shared digitally to fit your sharing needs.

earth-day-activities

Resources Mentioned in this post:

Other Blog Posts You Might Enjoy: 

 

How do you integrate technology in your Earth Day instruction?  Feel free to direct message me on Instagram, @naomimeredith_ and I would love to chat with you!

 

 

 Want more resources to support Technology & STEM all year long? Grab this FREE downloadable guide that I’ve put together for you! 

 

 

 

 

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Must Have STEM School Supply List

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Must Have STEM School Supply List

The best resources to add to your STEM school supply list. 

Perfect for:

  • Teachers wanting to implement STEM in their classroom
  • Materials to add to school redesign of their STEM lab
  • STEM classrooms that need a supply refresh

This list of 20 resources are what I recommend for elementary students. There is a mixture of consumable and non-consumable items to fit your needs. 

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STEM School Supply List: Consumable Materials

These are my Amazon affiliate links. When you purchase through my link, it’s no added cost to you and I get a little kickback in return. Win-win!

Case of Play Doh: Use by itself or integrate with other materials. Great addition to Stop Motion animation (which you can read more in my blog post here)

 

Assorted Chenille stems: Replace once they are too twisted and bent

Masking Tape: Set clear expectations of how much tape can be used during projects or this will run out within a week


Velcro Dots: Perfect for labeling materials and also creating reusable STEM activities

Marbles: Technically, these are reusable. However, I seem to replace these each year as they roll into unseen corners in the classroom.

Felt Squares: These are a great size for little hands and this particular brand is a harder felt which is great for multiple designs.

Neon straws: Any straw works to build with, but neon is way more fun and colorful.

 

When collecting other consumables for your classroom, donations are a great way to get started. Here is an editable makerspace supply letter that can be sent home printed or digitally to families in the community.

makerspace-donation-letter

 

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STEM School Supply List: Reusable Materials

These are my Amazon affiliate links. When you purchase through my link, it’s no added cost to you and I get a little kickback in return. Win-win!

Brain Blox Wooden Planks: A cheaper version of Keva planks and work great for any STEM challenge. Comes with an idea guide that students can refer to during free choice.

Colored Domino Pieces: They don’t have dots on them, but this package comes with A LOT! A colorful building material students love.

Colorful Dice: Great for math games & coding challenges

Stackable Storage: organize and sort materials in easy to carry and clear containers

LEGO-like Mini Figs: Add an element of storytelling by adding characters to STEM designs

LEGO-like build plates: The original version can get pricey. These are compatible with real LEGO and helps make some structures more sturdy. They also work great in stop motion animation and green screen

Mixed bucket of LEGO: Of course, asking for donations might get you some as well. This is a great starter kit when on a budget. Add a bucket or two each year to add to the mix.

iPad Tripod: Improve student video quality with a steady camera. This tripod also has adjustable heights and easy to store when not in use.

Bee-Bot Robots: Great for beginning coders and, very durable and rechargeable.

Sphero Mini Robots: Great for more advanced coding and a nice addition when on a budget. You can read more about how I like this robot and others in this blog post.

LEGO WeDo 2.0: A great coding & building addition that is a must have. Multiple lesson ideas are included on the app.

Felt plastic needles: Great and safe for little hands

 

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Other blog posts you might enjoy:

Need more help with your list? Feel free to direct message me on Instagram, @naomimeredith_ and I would love to chat with you!

Want more resources to support Technology & STEM all year long? Grab this FREE downloadable guide that I’ve put together for you!