Classroom Earth Day Bulletin Board Ideas Elementary School

Get ready for Earth Day in your upper elementary classroom with these simple bulletin board ideas that will encourage and motivate your students to be kind to planet Earth!

Creating an Earth Day bulletin board display is an easy way to get your upper elementary classroom ready for spring and Earth Day while reinforcing the important message of caring for our planet.

A motivational Earth Day bulletin board display can add a dash of décor to your upper elementary classroom and has many other benefits.

Why should I have an Earth Day bulletin board in my classroom?

✔ Encourages Environmental Responsibility – Seeing daily reminders about being kind to the Earth helps students develop a mindset of conservation and sustainability. As students learn about human impact on the environment, this display will encourage them to care for the planet. 

✔ Creates a Kind Classroom Atmosphere – You know I love kindness in the classroom! It is always a focus each month. I love to display different kindness bulletin boards and have different kindness challenges going each month. Having a bright and uplifting bulletin board supports your kind community and a shared responsibility for protecting our planet. 

✔ Sparks Meaningful Discourse – Thought-provoking phrases and visuals can lead to class discussions about ways to reduce waste, recycle, and care for the environment. 

How can I create a meaningful Earth Day bulletin board in my classroom?

If you are just getting started with creating a classroom Earth Day bulletin board display, decide which type of bulletin board you want to create. You can create a motivational bulletin board with quotes and tips for Earth Day or a student-centered bulletin board with Earth Day student work as the focus. 

These Earth Day bulletin board ideas will help you plan, hang, and display the perfect Earth Day bulletin board!

1. Earth Day Kindness Posters - Be Kind to Planet Earth

This all-in-one Earth Day bulletin board kit makes it easy to hang a bulletin board and encourage others in just minutes! It includes 12 posters, banners, bulletin board letters, accent pieces, borders, and more! 

If you know me, you know that I love to bring kindness into the classroom with each chance I get! I display a kindness bulletin board with a different theme each season. This Be Kind to Planet Earth bulletin board is a great way to tie kindness into caring for our planet during spring and Earth Week. After we discuss the posters in this set, we begin our Be Kind to Planet Earth challenge. We track the amazing, kind deeds we do each day to help us care for our planet.

2. Dear Mother Earth - Student Writing Project

This student-focused Earth Day bulletin board encourages students to reflect on how they should be treating our planet, Mother Earth. You will want to do this fun and meaningful writing activity with your students year after year! To practice friendly letter writing, have kids write a letter to Mother Earth, sharing how they help care for her. Encourage them to include specific examples from their lives and add colorful illustrations.

 

Grab the free writing page!

3. Stop Pollution - Persuasive Project

This is my favorite writing project of the year! The students' persuasive writing pieces about pollution and human impact on the environment are amazing, so why not hang them and display them on your Earth Day bulletin board?

This engaging pollution persuasivewriting project is perfect for upper elementary students and doubles as a high interest writing project and bulletin board display. With the included nonfiction passages on land, water, and air pollution, students will build background knowledge before beginning an age-appropriate step-by-step persuasive writing piece to convince others to stop pollution. 

4. Great Garbage Challenge - Science Activity

Hands down, this science project for Earth Day is a crowd pleaser! 

The idea is simple - take a piece of garbage and transform it into something new and useful. I like to have students work in groups of 2-3 to encourage brainstorming and creativity. To kick things off, I bring in a bag of carefully chosen "garbage" and spread the items out on a table. Each group discusses and agrees on one item to repurpose, then takes turns selecting their piece. Using classroom supplies, they work together to give their item a creative makeover. When they are finished, groups present their creations to the class. For a fun twist, invite your  teacher friend from next door to judge the most creative project - students love the challenge, and their scientific workmakes a great display!

Creating an Earth Day bulletin board is such a simple yet powerful way to inspire your students to be kind to our planet! Whether you go with motivational quotes, student work, or an interactive display, your bulletin board will serve as a daily reminder that small actions can make a big difference. Plus, it adds a fun and meaningful touch to your classroom for spring! So, grab your supplies, get creative, and celebrate Earth Day with a bulletin board that encourages kindness to the Earth this April!

You will also love to read:

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6 Picture Books to Celebrate Women's History Month

3 Must-Try Tips for Your Next Biography Project

Earth Day Videos for Upper Elementary

7 Simple Ideas for to Celebrate Earth Day

   Save time, grab the Earth Day Bulletin Board Kit!

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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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4 Kindness Bulletin Board Ideas Upper Elementary Classrooms

When it comes to kindness in the classroom there can never be enough lessons, read alouds, activities, or bulletin board displays!

If you have followed me for any amount of time, than you know that teaching and bringing kindness into the classroom is an important part of my teaching life. I love to dive deep into what kindness looks like during morning meeting times, read as many picture books with kindness themes as possible, and catch kindness taking place in my classroom community in authentic, meaningful ways.

Displaying kindness quotes and creating kindness bulletin boards are two ways that you can easily bring kindness in your classroom and set the tone for your community of learners that kindness is important to you and the classroom environment. 

Here are some of my favorite kindness bulletin boards that I love to leave up all year long!

1. Kindness Rules

When it comes to classroom expectations, kindness is always my number one focus. By displaying these simple kindness rules and expectations right from day one, it is clear to students that being kind is a big part of our classroom community. To make sure it is clear how important it is to our classroom home, we all sign the kindness rules as a kindness classroom pledge. I love displaying the pledge as an important reminder for students and all who enter our room.

2. Seasonal: Kindness Through the Year

Since kindness is a big part of the classroom community, I make it a point to create an inspirational kindness bulletin board that changes with the seasons. I love decorating for the seasons and these posters are perfect to tie together kindness expectations and the changing seasons. The kids look forward to the new batch of kindness phrases each season!

3. Words of Wisdom: Kindness Can Move Mountains

Motivational kindness quotes are a great way to bring kindness into your classroom and spark meaningful discussions about being kind. I love using this mountain theme to really bring home the concept that kindness can move mountains. That phrase becomes our class mantra and plays an important part of our positive classroom environment.

4. Student-Created Kindness Posters

Once students realize how important kindness is and how proudly it is displayed in your classroom, they begin to come up with their own kindness catch phrases. Once students create their own kindness quotes you can use those to display around your room and to kick off morning meeting discussions, too!

Want to get started with kindness in your classroom right now? Grab these free kindness posters and let your students create kindness quotes that you can display!

BONUS IDEA: Kindness Alphabet

When I was moved from teaching third graders to fifth graders I knew I had to up my alphabet game! That is why I created these cursive kindness alphabet posters! The kids LOVE them! They are a great way to increase kindness, empathy, and community all year long.

Displaying kindness rules, expectations, and inspirational quotes is a small thing that makes a big impact. Doing this helps students to understand how important kindness is to you and the classroom community. Students truly do take in the message and begin to show kindness in all that they do!

You will love reading these related posts:

4 Ways to Create a Kind Classroom

10 Kindness Read Alouds for the Upper Elementary Classroom

How to Use Kindness Quotes in the Classroom

Growth Mindset Strategies for the Upper Elementary Classroom

Looking for kindness posters that make a difference? Try these!

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Kindness Ideas for Teaching in the Classroom

Looking for ways to bring kindness into your classroom so that it just becomes a part of your classroom culture? I can help!

There is nothing more important to me than setting the tone right at the beginning of the year that kindness is an important part of our classroom community. These tried and true kindness lesson ideas, classroom tips, picture book list, and teacher freebies will surely get you started.

Click each image to learn easy-to-implement ways to make kindness a priority in your classroom.

Looking for even more ways to bring kindness into your classroom? Try these!

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Using Kindness Quotes in the Classroom to Promote Change

Having a truly kind classroom is much harder than it seems. While we all want to have a classroom filled with random acts of kindness and witness kind behavior on a daily basis, it is not something that usually just happens. It takes a lot of encouragement, planning, teaching, modeling, and consistency to create a classroom that oozes with kindness.

Teaching kindness takes time, and as classroom teachers, we know that our time is always at a premium.

That is why I work hard to make sure that I am constantly weaving kindness quotes into our classroom routine. When kindness is a part of your classroom culture, it becomes a natural part of the day; not something extra that you have to fit in.

Here are three quick and easy ways to use kindness quotes in your classroom to promote change and encourage goodwill in your classroom.

Morning Meeting Time

I love using morning meetings as a time to discuss important concepts and ideas. The students are fresh, focused, and truly enjoy gathering together as a community. They feel empowered and know that their voices are heard when we are all together during this time. That is why it is the perfect time to use kindness quotes with your students.

Instead of sharing a new quote each day, we spend a great deal of time with just one quote a week. Here is a quick overview of how we spend an entire week digesting a single quote.

• Monday: share the quote, hang it up, and let it sink in 
• Tuesday: have a few students share what they think it means
• Wednesday: have students discuss in pairs their interpretations of the quote
• Thursday: have students share how they can apply the quote to their own lives
• Friday: have students write about or illustrate what the quote means and how they can put it into practice-these are fun to display in your classroom

Those Awkward Five Minutes

We all have those awkward five minutes that pop up or are just in our schedules. The five minutes between special and lunch, the five minutes after recess and before a guest teacher, the five minutes you have after you finish a lesson and before an assembly begins...they pop up everywhere.

Instead of wasting those five minutes, use them to your advantage. Use those five minutes to discuss kindness. Here is how!

• have students share what a kindness quote you have displayed means to them
• have students share how they can put a quote you have displayed into action
• have students create their own kindness quotes to inspire others (grab the free kindness quote template for students to complete at the bottom of this post)
• have students share random acts of kindness they witnessed in your classroom and school community
• have students tell about kindness themes they have come across in the books that they read, podcasts they have listened to, or even a show or movie they have watched
• read aloud or revisit favorite kindness picture books 

Display All the Quotes

Displaying kindness quotes is a great way to have your students see influential words of positivity every day. When students see a bulletin board display or walk past a kindness poster in the cubby area, they read it. After time, the messages become a part of their routine and you will begin to hear students use the kindness quotes in their conversations with other kids. Whether they are reminding others how to act, sticking up for a friend, or just spreading positivity, the kindness quotes you display do make an impact on those that read them and see them each day.

It is easy to weave kindness discussions throughout your day especially when you use kindness quotes to get the dialogue going! Want even more kindness classroom tips? Check out THIS POST with easy to implement kindness strategies you can start using today.

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10 Books to Promote Kindness in Upper Elementary Classrooms

You do not need to celebrate a Kindness Challenge or Random Acts of Kindness Week to celebrate kindness in your classroom. These read alouds will effortlessly make kindness a classroom focus all year long.

Being kind is a way of life. Teaching one kindness lesson, or reading one book about being kind is not enough to have a truly kind classroom. That is why I teach about kindness all year long. By kicking off the school year with community building and kindness activities and continuing to weave them throughout the year, students truly digest the message that is being sent.

One simple way to create a classroom climate rich with kindness is to use your read aloud time to share books with kindness themes. There are so many books appropriate for upper elementary that have a strong theme of kindness. By discussing the theme of kindness you can easily tie in kindness read alouds with all of your themes in literature lessons, too!

While there are so many books about being kind, I have found that these work perfectly for upper elementary classrooms. You will love these books as each book can be re-purposed for other lessons in your classroom, helping to save you valuable time in the classroom. Teacher win!

Read about each of my favorite kindness books below and scoop up aligning kindness activities for FREE at the bottom of this post. 

Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed
written by: Emily Pearson

Bust out the chart papers and markers and get ready to calculate just how far one random act of kindness can go! I love that this in-depth story includes math concepts, perfect for the upper elementary classroom. Following a reading of this book, challenge students to figure out how long it would take to reach 100 people if they completed a random act of kindness to two people in their lives. Modify the number to meet the needs of your students. Want to go further? Watch this quick heart warming video to bring this story to the real world for your students.

Re-Purpose this Book!  Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed is perfect for identifying character traits and emotions. Revisit this book during character and making connections units.

Enemy Pie
written by: Derek Munson

This is one of my classroom favorites to read each year! With its themes of friendship and being kind, it is a great choice to read right at the start of the year. Enemy Pie pairs well with creating "recipes" for kindness and friendship. You can create recipes with students as a class, or send students off in pairs to create recipes to share with the class.

Re-Purpose this Book!  Enemy Pie is perfect for character development lessons in your classroom, specifically discussing how characters change throughout the story.

A Bike Like Sergio's
written by: Maribeth Boelts

This book is chock full of important messages for children: kindness, empathy, and integrity. The main character Ruben experiences it all. Students always connect with Ruben and cheer him on even as Sergio brags about his bike. This book lends itself to discussions on being kind, showing empathy, and using integrity. Try this: following a reading of this book, have students create a list of things that Sergio should have said to Ruben about his bike if he chose kindness instead of bragging.

Re-Purpose this Book! Use this book again during story structure lessons. Pairs perfectly with story elements, problem/solution, and cause and effect lessons.

Each Kindness
written by: Jacqueline Woodson

No list of kindness read alouds is complete without Each Kindness.  This book tells the story of Chloe, who chooses not to be kind to a new student in class. After the student moves away, Chloe regrets how she treated Maya and is saddened by the fact that she can not make it up to her. The teacher in the book explains kindness as a ripple in a pool of water. Grab a big bowl and mimic the lesson the teacher in the book gives with your own students. It is an amazing visual of the power of kindness that your students will not forget.

Re-Purpose this Book! Use Each Kindness to practice students' story ending writing skills. Since the book ends with Chloe feeling regretful, have students write the next chapter or sequel of the book.

The Big Umbrella
written by: Amy June Bates

I love that the red umbrella in this book is a symbol for kindness! This book tells the story of the "big, friendly red umbrella who loves to help others and spread its arms wide." Share this book with students during a figurative language unit and challenge students to create other symbols for kindness.

Re-Purpose this Book!  The Big Umbrella can also be used to kick off any figurative language unit. Using kindness as a focus, students can create similes and metaphors about kindness, too!

I Walk With Vanessa
written by: Kerascoet

This is a wordless book with a big impact! Students instantly connect with Vanessa and empathize with her. Students always cheer and clap at the end as they imagine the words that tell the story of the beautiful images they see on each page. This book lends itself perfectly to having students turn and talk throughout the book to tell the story with words. Pair students up following the read aloud and have them write a summary of the story. I also love to have students write letters to Vanessa to cheer her up.

Re-Purpose these Books! Use I Walk With Vanessa to teach students the power of images for lessons on visualizing. Try this! Have students write short kindness stories without any illustrations. When students share their writing with a peer or the class, have the listeners close their eyes and visualize what they are hearing. Students then draw a quick sketch and share how their mental images helped them to understand the writer's words more deeply.

Every Living Thing
written by Cynthia Rylant

If you are looking for short stories about kindness, this is it! Each short story has different characters, themes, and life lessons. Though each short story is different, evidence of kindness can be found throughout. This book is perfect to read aloud during those awkward chunks of time you often find yourself with. Create a class chart or bulletin board display of the different acts of kindness and other related themes that students find as you read this book.

Re-Purpose this Book! Use this book to reinforce how to site evidence from texts.

Kindness is a Kite String
written by Michelle Schaub

With easy-to-read and rhythmic pages, this book will ignite the kindness bug in anyone who reads it! What I especially love about this book is that the illustrations truly bring the theme of one: small kind act can make a difference to light. Students of all ages will love connecting with the characters who do different acts of kindness throughout the book.

Re-Purpose this Book! Use this book to learn about figurative language, especially similes and metaphors. The author's note at the end of the book explains how she used similes and metaphors to describe kindness. Challenge your students to come up with more similes and metaphors to describe kindness. Have students write their similes and metaphors and then illustrate them, too! This activity makes a great bulletin board display.

Kindness to Share from A to Z

written by Todd and Peggy Snow and

 

What Does it Mean to be Kind?

written by Rana DiOrio

The Mitten Tree

written by Candance Christiansen

What Does it Mean to Be Kind? and Kindness A-Z

While both of these books have a more simpler text than the others, I love them both. They are perfect to help introduce how to be kind to others. Kindness to Share A to Z is perfect to read and then have students create their own A to Z kindness book of how they can be kind at school, at home, and their community. A similar activity can be done with the book What Does it Mean to be Kind?. I use a flip book to have students share how they can be kind. Grab the flip book for free below.

Re-Purpose these Books! I love using these books when my upper elementary students work with their younger " book buddies." The simpler text is perfect for their younger buddies and the activities mentioned above allow my students to truly promote kindness with the younger students that they work with.

The Mitten Tree

While I love this book, it does have a winter theme, making it perfect for the long season of winter. This book follows the story of kind deeds exchanged by one special community member and the kids who live there.

Share Some Kindness, Bring Some Light written by Apryl Stott

The book, Share Some Kindness, Bring Some Light, written by Apryl Scott is one of my new favorite kindness books. This sweet, sweet story follows Bear, a large animal that the other animals say is mean just because he is big. As Bear and his friend Coco travel around the woods to spread some kindness they discover that kindness is a gift that only comes from the heart. This will be your new favorite! Grab the free printable to use with this book at the bottom of the post.

Re-Purpose this book: This book is perfect to discuss themes and life lessons. The characters in this book also change from the beginning to the end, making it a great read aloud for any character focused lesson.

Will You Be the I in KIND? written by Julia Cook

The talented Julia Cook has done it again! This easy-to-relate-to, kid-friendly book helps kids to see how easy it really is to spread kindness. Your students will see themselves in each page of this book as they learn simple ways that they can make a big difference! This book lends itself to important classroom discussions about being kind and doing random acts of kindness for those in need. Grab the free printable to use with this book at the bottom of the post.

Re-Purpose this book: This book is perfect to accompany different social-emotional lessons such as asking for help when you need it, every person can make a difference, and mindset shifts.

When it comes to promoting kindness in your classroom, begin with a book. The conversations that develop among your students after one of these powerful read alouds is what will develop kindness in your classroom. Is there a book you read with your students that promotes kindness? I would love to hear about it in the comments below!

Looking for more Kindness activities and bulletin board sets and cursive alphabet?
Click the image below or  HERE. 

You might also be interested in these 

Kindness Writing Activities and Bulletin Board Display!

You will love displaying this Cursive Kindness Alphabet set in your classroom!

And these Classroom Expectations to promote kindness, too!

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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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