Lower School Observes Earth Day in Meaningful Ways

We love planet Earth! Indian Creek Lower School observed Earth Day on Friday, April 20, with a variety of conservation-themed activities and adventures.

 

Pre-K3 through Kindergarten students held an Earth Day Immersion Experience, based on the book The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle. With the incredible proliferation of plastic bottles in our society today, it became the desire of the faculty to help awaken in our students the need for people to reflect about the amount of plastic we use and dispose of on a regular basis. To help the students be more mindful about their ecological footprints, the teachers created several stations for the students to enjoy. Ms. Moran, Ms. Mindy, and Ms. Andrews provided a lesson on “The Plastic Bottle: How it is made, where it travels and what can we do about it.” Mrs. Watson and Mrs. Petrocelli teamed up for an experience in “Conserving Water: How we can help!” Ms. Bryant and Mrs. Critcher hosted a Water Art activity, titled “Creating with Water.” And Mrs. Sterling and Mr. Langrick hosted “Water Games: Learning through Play.”

 

First grade students spent the day learning about Clean Energy, by reading the book

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind to inspire thinking and inquiry. After this, the students used Epic! and relevant videos to conduct research on Wind Energy. To demonstrate their new knowledge, the students put on their ‘city planning hats,’ and built a wind turbine to power Lego City (in all of it’s LED light glory!)

 

Second grade focused on Recycling and Repurposing, as they read One Plastic Bag by Isatou Ceesay and The Recycling Women of Gambia. After this, the students researched what happens to plastic bags in the U.S., then discussed, planned, and designed alternative uses for used plastic bags. Finally, the students worked together to create a product using plastic bags that could be sold to help the women of Gambia.

 

Third grade students undertook an Earth Day Erosion STEM Challenge. First, the class read the book called Erosion Changing Earth’s Surface and watched a brief video about erosion. After this, the class team of engineers collaborated about how the placement of a house on a hillside is important with regard to how water flows downhill. Students demonstrated ways to prevent erosion through this STEM challenge. To complete the lesson, the students enjoyed an “erosion walk” outside in order to identify areas that have erosion and discuss ways to prevent it.

 

The fourth and fifth grade students took an Earth Day field trip to Camp Woodlands to work on activities related to water management and erosion. The sixth grade students worked closer to home, as they travelled to the Upper School campus to work on clean up and recycling activities. Fourth through sixth grade students ended Earth Day with a Family Cook Out together on the Evergreen Campus Fields.

Click here to view a video about our Early Childhood Earth Immersion Day.