4 Earth Day Videos and Activities for Upper Elementary Classrooms

If you follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, then you know that I just LOVE to engage and motivate students by tying the seasons and holidays into my everyday lesson plans.

And when the calendar is turned to April, Earth Day is front and center in my upper elementary classroom. You can find my students knee-deep in Earth Day reading, science, and research writing activities.  I love to watch them learn so much about our planet and vow to help protect it!

No matter how you involve your students in learning about how to take care of our planet, these FREE Earth Day videos will inspire, educate, and motivate your students to learn more ways to help take care of our planet this Earth Day. And bonus...you can grab a set of note-taking graphic organizers for free at the bottom of this post, perfect to help your students take notes as they watch these educational videos. (see more hands-on Earth Day activities HERE.)

Note: As with any video, website, or resource that you bring into your classroom, be sure to preview each video before sharing with your class to make sure that they are appropriate for your cohort of students.

Read Aloud: Here Comes the Garbage Barge (11 minutes)

This picture book is a true story about a town that had so much garbage and they did not have any place to put it. The Garbage Barge tells the story about how important it is to take care of garbage correctly and teaches environmental awareness.

Happy Earth Day (17 mins long)

This video talks about Earth Day, endangered animals, how to make less garbage, what it means to reduce, reuse, and recycle and how to compost.

What Happens When You Throw Out Plastic Bottles? by TED-Ed (4 mins)

This video goes on a journey as plastic bottles are discarded in different ways and illustrates the importance of recycling plastic bottles.

National Geographic Kids: Save the Polar Bears (3 mins)

This video is one in a series that includes an overview of the species, why they are at risk of becoming extinct, and how kids can help to save animals around the world.

Other videos in the same National Geographic Series:

• Save the Elephants
• Save the Wolves

While Brainpop and Brainpop Jr are {amazing}subscription websites, they do offer free videoes of the week. 

When April begins, they usually have free videoes of the week related to Earth Day. Be sure to check their sites weekly to see what free videos they are offering that week. If you are unfamiliar with these sites, Brainpopjr is geared towards grades 1-3 and Brainpop is geared towards 4th grade and older.

Want to get your kids up, singing, dancing, and moving around? Try these super catchy music videos that will have them singing all month long!

Recycling Song

Jack Johnson Recycling Song 

No matter how you decide to bring Earth Day into your classroom, include these videoes. These websites will help engage students, too.  Have students take notes, summarize, discuss, or just enjoy the information they are learning on different ways to save our planet, help endangered species, and reduce, reuse, and recycle.

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Earth Day Activities for Upper Elementary

Earth Day is one of those holidays that I always get so excited to bring into the classroom! It is such an important topic to discuss and is highly engaging for students. Earth Day celebrates our planet and home and all the different ways that people everywhere can work together to keep our planet clean and safe.

Earth Day topics naturally lend themselves to being taught across all content areas, making learning about this holiday seamless.

Here are some of my favorite content-rich activities to do with students to celebrate Earth Day using meaningful and educational activities. 

Be sure to scoop up the FREE Earth Day writing activity at the bottom of this post.

Earth Day Read Alouds

What is a holiday without a few favorite read-aloud books? There are so many great books to share with students during the month of April and several that relate directly to Earth Day. Here are a few of my favorites and the activities that I do with each.

Miss Rumphius written by Barbara Cooney

This book is perfect for any lesson on character analysis and theme. The main character is given the task to make the world a more beautiful place, which becomes her life mission and a task she passes on to her niece. Following a reading of this book, simply provide students with a blank piece of paper and ask them to create an illustration that shows how they will make the world a more beautiful place.

The Great Kapok Tree written by Lynne Cherry

This is one of my favorite books to read anytime during the year, especially during April. This book is about saving our precious rainforests and lends itself perfectly for students to write persuasive writing pieces. (more details on this activity below).

Wartville Wizard written by JP Madden

This is an oldie but a goodie! The Wartville Wizard has the power to stick garbage to the person who threw it away. An interesting tale with valuable lessons about the 3Rs. After reading this book, students read informational passages about the 3rs (reduce, reuse and recycle).

Will We Miss Them? written by A. Wright and Can We Save Them? written by D. Dobson

Both of these books carry the same message of helping save endangered animals from extinction. They make great read alouds before, during, and after my class complete their endangered animal research projects (more details on this activity below).

Michael Recycle written by Ellie Bethel

This book is the first in a series of Earth-friendly picture books focused on how children can make changes to help protect the planet and practice using the 3Rs. With colorful illustrations and rhyming verse, the kids love listening to these stories. Following a reading of this rhyming book, I have my students create their own poems to tell how they will help protect the planet.

Earth Day Science Reading and Group Presentations

There are so many topics that students can read about related to Earth Day. The history of Earth Day, How to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, and Water Pollution and Water Conservation to name a few. 

I love to have students read Earth Day close reading passages to gather information or research different topics related to Earth Day that they find interesting Teacher Tip: Make sure each group has a different topic. Then I have students work in groups to present what they learned. After they read the materials, they discuss the key points and then create a presentation to teach the rest of the class what they learned. Students can create digital presentations or speeches to share with the class. By doing these presentations, you give students the opportunity to learn about many different topics related to Earth Day even though they just researched one. My kids love learning from each other with projects like this!


More topics your students will enjoy as you celebrate our planet:

• Pollution
• Endangered Species
• Rainforests
• National Parks
• Composting, Bees, and Arbor Day
• Spring Equinox and Water Cycle

Earth Day Songs and Videos

Get out your singing voice and get ready to belt the lyrics to a few of my favorite Earth Day songs!

1. One Sweet World (Dave Matthews Band) Grab the lyrics HERE.
2. 3Rs Song (Jack Johnson) Grab the lyrics HERE.
3. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (Numberrock)
4. Big Yellow Taxi (Counting Crows version) Grab the lyrics HERE. 

While just singing these songs and discussing their lyrics is powerful, go a step further and have students illustrate the song. You can have students create one illustration to wrap up the song, or you can have groups of students work together to create an illustration for one line of the song. Then when all students are done, compile their illustrations to create a class book that illustrates the entire song.

Get the links to all of my favorite videos to use for Earth Day instruction HERE.

Endangered Animals Research

There is no project that I look more forward to each year than this Endangered Species Project. I have my students research the endangered animals that they choose, again making sure that students pick different animals. They use multiple sources, both internet and books, to gather important information for their research project. One great science website students use for this project is the WWF (World Wildlife Foundation). It includes the most up to date list of endangered species.

After students research and write their reports they share their work with their classmates in creative ways. They can make a book, video commercial, handout or give a speech. How ever they want to share the information is just fine with me. In fact, the more creative and unique the better!

Science Project: The Great Garbage Challenge

The kids just love this science project and are always so engaged.
The concept is simple: turn a piece of garbage into something that can be used again in a different way. When I do this activity, I have students work in groups of 2-3. It helps with the brainstorming and creativity needed for this project. I bring in a large bag of garbage (items that I think can be turned into something else) and display them on a table. While the students are in their groups, they discuss which piece of garbage they would like to use for the project. All members must agree. One group at a time is called to select a piece of "garbage" from the table. Students work together to makeover the item they selected with classroom supplies. Students share their finished creations with the class when they are done. Have the teacher next door come in and vote on the most creative for an extra challenge! The kids love it!

Persuasive Writing Topics

Earth Day began with the persuasive acts of one US Senator from Wisconsin named Gaylord Nelson who urged Congress to help educate people to care for our planet. What better way to honor this man than by writing persuasive essays about Earth Day topics.

Here are a few of my favorite Earth Day topics, perfect for persuasive writing:

• Stop Pollution
• Save the Rainforest
• Celebrate Earth Day Every Day
• Start Using Solar Energy
• Why You Need to Start a Compost
• Why You Should Reduce
• Why You Should Reuse
• Why You Should Recycle

Dear Mother Earth Letter Writing

This sweet writing activity is one that you will want to do every year with your kids. To practice friendly letter writing skills, have students write letters to Mother Earth telling her how they are taking care of her. Encourage students to use specific examples from their lives and include an illustration. Bonus-this makes a great bulletin board display, too! Grab this activity for FREE at the bottom of this post.


I love watching my students' faces light up as they learn all about protecting our planet. One thing I always remind my students is that Earth Day should be celebrated every day, not just on April 22nd. With all of these lesson ideas to choose from, you can easily weave Earth Day throughout your lessons all year long. Happy Earth Day!

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*affiliate links: “Think Grow Giggle is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.” (source: Section 5)

4 Quick Tips for Using Exit Slips in the Classroom

There sure was a learning curve the year I was moved from teaching third graders in a self-contained setting, to teaching math and science to different groups of fifth-graders. I had to learn how to manage older students, who switched classes and were only with me for a set amount of minutes each day. Gone were the days where I had one group of students all day long, allowing me to catch up with each child at different points throughout the day. I knew that since my time was limited with each class, I had to make the most of every moment. 

I began to implement exit slips to help me get a pulse of student understanding after the day's lessons. Not only did the use of exit slips help me to grasp student understanding, but it also provided students with the opportunity to reflect on their own understanding of the objectives taught, holding them accountable for their own learning.

Here are some helpful tips to use when implementing the exit slips in your classroom.

Teach Your Expectations

Teach your students how to fill out an exit slip when you teach all of your classroom expectations at the beginning of the year. Like any other strategy, you implement in your classroom, completing an exit slip must be explicitly taught. I use four levels of understanding for my exit slips. At the start of the year, we go over each level, what it means, and how students can tell what level of understanding they are at after each lesson. I have the four levels hanging up in my classroom, as well as a small sign next to the exit slip basket. On each exit slip, I expect students to write the topic or objective of the lesson, what level of understanding they are at, and to give a reason or example that proves they are at that level. Sometimes I will write a problem or pose a question and have them complete it on their exit slips. Other times they just express their understanding using their own words. Grab this "levels of understanding" printable for free at the bottom of this post.

Keep It Simple and Use Consistently

The exit slips that I use are open-ended. This is helpful for both the students and myself for many reasons:

• Students always know how to complete the exit slips.
• They can be used for any subject and any topic.
• I only make copies of one type of exit slip and always have them on hand.
• Exit slips can still be used when a substitute is in the classroom.

By using the same exit slips consistently, students understand how to complete them, improve on their reflections skills, and become accountable for their own learning.

Ditch the Names

My classroom runs on student numbers! My homework bins, cubbies, notebooks, everything is labeled with classroom numbers, so our exit slips are no different. I have students use their classroom numbers instead of names so that they feel more comfortable sharing their true understanding of the lesson on the exit slips. At the beginning of the year, we talk all about growth mindset and not comparing your own learning to others' learning. As time goes on and students feel comfortable in our classroom community, they are able to complete the exit slips with honest reflections.

Use Colored Slips

One teacher hack that I have found to be helpful for using exit slips with multiple groups of students is to color code the exit slips. With two sections of fifth-grade math and science, I use white exit slips for one group of students and use Astrobrights colored copy paper for the second group of students. This helps me quickly sort the exit slips once they are collected, review them, and adjust my lessons for the next day. Grab the exit slips that I use for free at the bottom of this post.

There are so many benefits to using exit slips in the classroom. Exit slips are not just for classrooms that switch classes, but for any classroom. They are a simple way to connect with students, have evidence of student growth, address student's individual needs, and reflect on your own teaching.  

Looking for more ideas for holding students accountable for their learning? Check these out and grab the freebies along the way!

Using Quotes to Empower Students in the Classroom // Samson’s Shoppe

Empowering Students to Revise Essays (with Persuasive Rubrics Freebies) // Feel-Good Teaching

Teaching Responsibility with Habits of Accountable Students // Tarheelstate Teacher

How to Increase Accountability with Student-Led Conferences // The Learning Effect

*affiliate links: “Think Grow Giggle is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.” (source: Section 5)

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Making Inferences Teaching Idea for Upper Elementary Students

When it comes to reading strategies, making inferences is one that students must master in order to dive deep into other reading units such as understanding characters, questioning, and themes. Inferring is the groundwork for developing readers. It propels them forward as readers, giving them the skills that they need to dive deeper into texts and understand more challenging concepts such as symbolism and foreshadowing.

So what is an inference? An inference is a conclusion made by the reader using text evidence and background knowledge to understand the author’s intended meaning. 

Making inferences is no easy task. It requires careful reading work from the reader including collecting important text support and evidence. So how can we make sure that students are inferring, and inferring successfully, too? By taking a step by step approach, using concrete examples, teaching student monitoring and self-reflection strategies, and providing ample opportunities to practice inferring students will not only understand how to successfully infer, but will become more engaged readers, inferring on each and every page as they read.

When it is time to begin our inference unit, I always begin with this easy to implement lesson that always gets my students hooked on making inferences! All of your students, including struggling readers, will be engaged and understand the concept of inferring immediately! Follow these steps and your students will become experts in making inferences, in no time. (Grab resources for this lesson for FREE at the bottom of this post.)

1. Setting the Stage to Infer

I love to kick off inferring in my classroom with an introduction activity that provides a concrete visual of how to make an inference. This inferring activity is based on the book, The Wretched Stone by Chris Van Allsburg. Before a read aloud of this book, I go over two important concepts I want the students to remember, first is what I call the making an inference secret equation and second is the 3 steps of inferring that I teach my students to use as readers to help them to make an inference.

Grab the free printables that go along with this lesson!

Making an Inference Secret Equation

When it comes to making an inference, I tell my students that they cannot
infer without using the secret equation. This secret equation is a visual reminder of how to infer. Using the yellow + blue = green concept, students are able to remember that in order to infer, they need to use story evidence (yellow) and background knowledge (blue) to make an inference (green).

3 Steps of Inferring  

After we go over this secret formula, we go over the following simple steps that readers do when making inferences:

Ask What You Already Know: Ask yourself what you already know about what you are reading that can help you to make an inference.

     Ask "Thick" Why Questions: Ask thick questions as you read to make inferences about what is happening in the text. Ask “why” questions to help you infer. Avoid asking questions with one-word answers.
Answer The Questions You Asked: Collect story evidence to answer the questions you asked as a reader. Now infer.

Note: This lesson is taught after I teach questioning so students are fully aware of the differences between thick and thin questioning.

2. Get Students Hooked

Once I have gone over the secret formula and the three steps, I engage the students to infer even more before our read aloud. Here is how:

• I take out three empty cups, a jar of water, and food coloring. 
• I enlist the help of students to pour water into two of the cups and add a few drops of yellow dye into one cup of water to represent the story evidence we will be collecting during our read aloud. 
• Another student will add a few drops of blue dye in the second cup of water to represent the background knowledge that will help make an inference.

One of the three cups is left empty. This cup is empty because we have not yet made our inference. By the close of the read aloud, we will combine all of the story evidence yellow water and what we already know blue water and form an inference we will have a cup of green water, and voila…an inference is made!

Time to hook the readers with a read-aloud of the Wretched Stone! 

If you have not read the book, The Wretched Stone by Chris Van Allsburg, it is centered around a large rock that is found on a mysterious island and negatively changes the ship’s crew that brought it aboard. Spoiler alert, the stone is a TV. During the read-aloud of The Wretched Stone, we stop periodically to ask thick questions and record story clues and evidence, along with our background knowledge on a T-Chart to help us infer what the wretched stone could be.

The students are usually stumped about what the wretched stone could be
throughout the reading. Following the reading, we review all of our clues and all of our background knowledge from the chart and it becomes clear what the stone really is. I emphasize to the students that the more clues and background knowledge that we have, the easier it will be for us to infer. 

At this point, the student who correctly infers that the stone is a TV, comes up 
and combines the yellow and blue water into the empty cup, and we have a cup of green water representing the inference made by using story clues and background knowledge. 

This lesson is a great concrete visual for the students to remember what an inference is and how to make an inference, too. It also shows how making an inference truly helps you to understand the author’s theme and message. This inferring lesson is one that students never forget, making it perfect to refer back to as students continue to practice inferring throughout the year! (grab resources for this lesson for FREE at the bottom of this post.)

3. Teach Students to Self-monitor

Making inferences is a tricky concept and requires many lessons and activities. Students must learn how to reflect and self monitor the inferences that they are making. As students read longer and more complex texts, students’ inferences will need to be adjusted as they collect more story clues and evidence. Using a continuum style self-monitoring chart, students can see how they are growing as readers on the path to making powerful inferences to help them understand the stories they read more deeply. I have a chart size poster of this continuum in class and students keep a copy in their reading notebooks so that it can be easily referred to all year long! This is a great tool to refer to during your reading workshop one on one student conference to help guide your discussion. 

4. Practice, Practice, Practice!

When it comes to making
inferences, continual practice is a must! In my classroom, we practice making inferences in isolation with short text and inaction while independently reading. Using task cards, short texts, and picture books, students can work together to practice making inferences. Once students are able to successfully make inferences in isolation, we transition to making inferences before, during, and after we read. Graphic organizers, note sheets and sticky organizers are all ways that students can record text evidence that helped them to make inferences.

Making inferences is hard, but rewarding work. It is a skill that must be 
explicitly taught and practiced continuously.  

Being able to successfully make inferences while reading is a foundational skill that students need in order to go beyond the basic comprehension of a book.

It allows them to understand the author’s meaning, compare themes, and fully grasp complex character development. By inferring as they read, students become active readers and begin to fill in the blanks, really searching for the author’s message and information that was not directly given to them in written words.

You would also love to read:

Differentiating Summarizing Instruction

3 Tips for Teaching Character Understanding

Classroom Management Ideas that Work

Teaching Students to Visualize as Readers

Looking for more inference book activities? Try these!

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*affiliate links: “Think Grow Giggle is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.” (source: Section 5)

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