Poems and pictures portray your gratitude for Earth's natural resources.

• 1.

  What natural wonders of Earth make our planet unique? Choose one topic that really interests you, such as water, mountains, or endangered species. Research information on how these natural wonders can be preserved now for the future.

• 2.

  Outline a scene that reflects the beauty of nature and findings from your research with Crayola® Washable Markers on white construction paper.

• 3.

  Cover your work area with newspaper. Dip Crayola Colored Drawing Chalk into white Crayola Washable Paint to add color and texture to your scene. Add details with Crayola Washable Watercolors and Watercolor Brushes. The wet paint will create a dewy effect that is perfect for waterfalls and morning meadows when it touches the marker outlines. Dry.

• 4.

  Add finishing touches to your art with markers.

• 5.

  On white paper, write a colorful accompanying poem thanking Earth for its natural gifts. Describe the beauty represented in your painting, and convey the urgency for preservation of resources in a convincing way. Display your art and poetry in a public place to share your message with others.

Standards

• LA: Read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.
• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade level topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• LA: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
• LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
• SCI: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the types of habitats in which organisms live, and ask questions based on that information.
• SCI: Use models to evaluate how environmental changes in a habitat affect the number and types of organisms that live there; some remain, move in, move out, and/or die.
• SCI: Use data about the characteristics of organisms and habitats to design an artificial habitat in which the organisms can survive.
• SS: Compare ways in which people from different cultures think about and deal with their physical environment and social conditions.
• SS: Identify and use various sources for reconstructing the past, such as documents, letters, diaries, maps, textbooks, photos, and others.
• VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.
• VA: Employ organizational structures and analyze what makes them effective or not effective in the communication of ideas.
• VA: Integrate visual, spatial, and temporal concepts with content to communicate intended meaning in artworks.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: The EARTH Book by Todd Parr; Can We Save Them? Endangered Species of North America by David Dobson; Eyewitness: Endangered Animals by Ben Hoare; Earth's Resources (Investigate) by Sue Barraclough
• Invite a natural resource specialist to visit with the class and discuss local environmental issues. What concerns have been identified? What is being done to improve identified issues? After the visit, students post learning to a class blog.
• Interview a parent or grandparent that remembers the community when it was less developed. Prior to conducting interviews, students compose a list of questions for the people being interviewed. Encourage students to take digital photographs of community areas being discussed to document how they look today. Use archived community documents and photos to illustrate how the area looked years ago. Students work in small groups to compare and contrast changes.
• Students collaborate to create a proposal for an Earth Day celebration for their school. Arrange a meeting with the school administrators to seek approval for the proposal. Invite community members to participate in the celebration, thus bringing Earth Day issues into focus in your community.