Tag: earth day

Rustle the Leaf

Kelly Tenkely5 Comments on Rustle the Leaf5079 views

What it is: Rustle the Leaf is an enchanting site that I learned about from @alexgfrancisco’s excellent blog ZarcoEnglish-Tool of the Day.  Rustle the Leaf is a collection of online comic strips that teach about the environment.  The comics star Rustle the Leaf (don’t you just love the name?) and his friends.  Each comic is designed to help kids think about and understand their relationship to the planet and how their actions affect the Earth.  The site has a great collection of teaching resources that include lesson plans, offline games, and comics.  In the kids fun section, students will find Earth Day e-cards, printable cards, computer desktops, printable posters, and book downloads.

How to integrate Rustle the Leaf into your curriculum: I feel like when I was in elementary school (in the 80’s), that protecting the environment was a much bigger theme in schools than it is now.  Maybe it just isn’t as widely taught at the schools I am in, or maybe it has been cut out of curriculum because it isn’t tested on.  Regardless, the environment is as important to teach today as it was when I was growing up.  Rustle the Leaf is a fun way to help your students think about and understand environmental issues.  Use the site as the basis for a unit around Earth Day or help your students understand that everyday is Earth Day by reading and discussing a new comic every day.  The comics would be great discussion starters at the beginning of the day.  The resources on Rustle the Leaf are really well done, these can be used throughout the year, monthly, or all together as a focused unit.  Set the desktops on classroom computers with Rustle the Leaf wallpapers as a daily reminder of how to care for the environment.

I have a feeling that students will fall in love with the Rustle the Leaf character.  If this is the case for your students, they may enjoy creating their own Rustle the Leaf comics about the environment.  They could even create a Rustle the Leaf comic reminding others to turn off the water or lights to be posted next to sinks and light switches in the classroom.

Tips: At the bottom of the Rustle the Leaf homepage in the left sidebar, you will find links to animated shorts starring Rustle the Leaf.  These are entertaining and have a great message that tie directly into the comics and lesson plans on the site.  Don’t miss them!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Rustle the Leaf in your classroom!

Ollie’s World

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on Ollie’s World3281 views

Picture 1

What it is: Earth Day is April 22nd, Ollie’s World is a fantastic place to begin the celebration early.  Here students will learn about the 4 R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink as they apply to the 5 action issues of waste, water, energy, air, and biodiversity.  The site is packed full of games, puzzles, information and projects.  Students can create web pages using a free (downloadable) version of WebEasy.  The information section has kid-friendly reading about the 4 R’s and 5 action issues.  In Ollie’s clubhouse, students can play games and work on puzzles.  Students can also watch the Mis-adventures of Ollie, 3 animated videos about Ollie and his friends, dealing with issues of sustainability (currently there is only 1 video available).  In the movie section, students can watch short flash movies about important environmental issues.  This site is loaded with information, games, and video.

How to integrate Ollie’s World into the classroom: Ollie’s World is a nice introduction for students learning about their ecological footprint.  Starting out in info, students can read about the 4 R’s and how they apply to the 5 action issues.  Students can watch videos and play games that reinforce the lessons they are learning.  You can use the videos as discussion starters in your classroom.   Download WebEasy to your classroom computers where students can build a webpage about their new learning.

Tips: Check out the educators section of Ollie’s World for professional development opportunities, lesson ideas, and project instructions.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Ollie’s World in your classroom.

UPM Forest Life

Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment on UPM Forest Life3278 views

virtual forest

What it is: UPM Forest Life is an excellent interactive site that lets students explore a forest virtually.  This is the next best thing to actually being in a forest, I can almost smell the pine trees!  UPM Forest Life aims to teach about forest sustainability through an outstanding ‘hike’ through the forest.  Along the way, students can click on points that will reveal videos, pictures with information, and sounds.  Students will learn about forest planning, harvesting, regeneration, respacing, thinning, transport, recreation, training, berry picking, bird watching, hunting, fishing, natural forests, valuable habitats, deadwood, forest structure, water, and native tree species.  Students will also learn about the various animals that call a forest home.  This is an outstanding way for students to learn about tree species, habitat, and animals because it is learning through exploration. UPM Forest Life will teach them in a way that no textbook can.

How to integrate UPM Forest Life into the classroom: Although I am sure we would love to take our students on a field trip to a forest to explore and learn first hand, it isn’t always practical or possible.  UPM Forest Life is a fantastic virtual substitute.  It is so realistic and well done that your students will feel as if they have taken a trip into a forest.  This would be an excellent site to use with an interactive whiteboard.  Allow students to take turns being ‘tour guides’ for the journey.  They can click on the various videos, pictures, and information embedded in the forest.  Create an observation journal where students can jot down observations of trees, animals, and sounds that they expereince while in the forest.  This site would also be a great one for students to visit individually in a computer lab setting.  Be sure that students are equipped with headphones so they can enjoy the full experience of the site.  After students explore the forest, discuss what it means to have a sustainable forest and why it is important.  This site is perfect for the science classroom or Earth Day but it would also work well in the language arts classroom.  Students could use the UPM Forest Life as a writing prompt, after exploring the forest they could write a story with the forest as the setting, or use one of the animals in the forest as a character in the story.  The scenery and sounds in the Forest are so peaceful and restorative, this may be a good site to have going in the background while students silent read…almost like reading above the trees in a tree house!

Tips: I have really enjoyed exploring this site and haven’t closed it since I opened it.  I learned about the UPM Forest Life site from @atkauffman on Twitter, I highly recommend a follow!  Andrew often has great resources for teachers and shares them on Twitter.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using UPM Forest Life in your classroom.

Virtual Forest Challenge

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Virtual Forest Challenge2484 views

 

 

What it is:   Scholastic and Nature’s Source have teamed up to create the Virtual Forest Challenge game to help students understand how their actions have real implications in local and global ecosystems.  The game leads students through a variety of virtual environments and along the way asks them to make decisions about how they would act in the ecosystem they are in.  If students answer correctly (make the correct decision) they continue in the game.  If they answer incorrectly, they are offered the correct answer accompanied by an explanation.

How to integrate Virtual Forest Challenge into the classroom:   Virtual Forest Challenge would be a good site to use in conjunction with Earth Day.  However, since the principals of Earth Day are valid year round, it can be used any time throughout the year.  This would be a great challenge to take on as a class with an interactive whiteboard or projector.  As students make decisions in the virtual world, discuss why one option is better for the ecosystem than another.  Virtual Forest Challenge would also be a good challenge for students to take on solo in the computer lab setting.  

 

Tips:  Visit the Teacher Resource section for some great accompanying lesson plans and resources.  Here you will find a Community Planting guide, a Community Planting poster, a lesson plan about the delicate balance between people and the ecosystems we are a part of, and a lesson about Our Community Past Present and Future.

The Greens

Kelly Tenkely1 Comment on The Greens8972 views

 

What it is:  Earth Day is tomorrow!  The Greens is a great site to get your students thinking about the earth and going green.  The Greens is a collection of 10 short flash movies that teach students important concepts for taking care of our planet.  Episodes touch on topics such as: paper use, recycling, composting, conservation, consumption, pollution, and energy.  The goal of The Greens is to instill environmental ethic in students.  Teachers can download a Greens activity guide (pdf form).  Students can use the carbon calculator to calculate their carbon footprint.

How to integrate The Greens into the classroom:   This is an awesome site to generate conversation on Earth Day (or any day!).  The Greens episodes are short enough to use several in class and can be used as discussion and idea starters for students.  Watch the videos in class and discuss ways that students can be greener at school and home.  Download the activity guide for some great extension activities.  Set up a “green” center in your classroom where students can watch an episode and write down ideas of implementation in their own lives.  Share these ideas at the end of the day.

 

Tips: The video episodes require a Flash Player (this is a free download if you don’t already have one). 

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using The Greens  in your classroom.

Emerald Island

Kelly Tenkely2 Comments on Emerald Island2204 views

 

What it is: Emerald Island is a great place for kids to play and learn more about the earth and ways that they can help the earth, perfect for Earth Day!  Emerald Island is a virtual world created specifically for kids (6-12).  Students can pioneer, prevail over, and protect the Island.  Emerald Island is more than just a game, it is a story that students take part in.  The students job is to help Tamino (the hero) to save Emerald Island (a green island) from Pirats (pirate rats).  Each player plants seeds and cultivates gardens to replenish Emerald Island.  Emerald Island helps students to learn about and experience important contributions that are part of an interconnected world.  It provides young students with a sense of community and a beginning understanding of a global society.  Students begin to build knowledge, empathy, and appreciation for an environment that emulates earth.  While playing, students are empowered to make a difference and become true eco-heroes as they take on challenges to save the world.  Along the way students meet other citizens of Emerald Island, many of whom give students tips about how they can save energy and be more responsible citizens.

How to integrate Emerald Island into the classroom:   Emerald Island is a great game for students to play throughout the month of April as they learn about Earth Day and how to become more earth-conscious citizens.  I love how Emerald Island involves students in a story and a quest to save a planet.  On the way they learn about how they can be better citizens of our planet with helpful tips from the Emerald Island citizens.  The games and activities help students to develop problem solving, reasoning, social, and computer skills.   Emerald Island can be played as a whole class exploring and reading clues together with an interactive whiteboard or individually in a computer lab setting. You can expand on what students are learning in Emerald Island by keeping a class notebook of green tips that students learn in Emerald Island.

 

Tips:  Emerald Island provides an outstanding introduction to registering for a website, it is easy enough to use with young students and reinforces Internet safety rules before the game begins.

 

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Emerald Island in your classroom.