Put Your Old Markers to New Use with an Earth Day Project

Hi, Teaching Friends!

Do you have bins full of mostly-worn out or really-should-be-tossed markers? I didn't know this, but markers can't just be put into regular recycling. Although the cap and barrel are recyclable, you'll need to remove the tip and reservoir first, and talk about a tedious job ... no, thank you!

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Here's a solution that will make recycling markers simple, and let you include lots of learning along the way, right in time for Earth Day.

Crayola has an easy recycling system called CrayolaColorCycle, which is available to schools in the US and parts of Canada.

In a nutshell, here's how it works:

1. Get your administrator on board with participating.

2. Set up a collection box, or even more than one.

3. Pack all of your markers in a cardboard box, and print out a shipping label from the
   CrayolaColorCycle site.  

4. FedEx Ground will pick up your package, with Crayola paying all the shipping charges.

How simple is that?!? There are directions at the site that will walk you through the process.    

Crayola also provides some standards-based lesson plans that will help you turn this into the perfect project for Earth Day.

But... you don't even need those plans to easily integrate this project with math and literacy.

Just think of the possibilities!

* Brainstorm places to promote the project. Family newsletters? PTA? Posters around the school?

Teacher mailboxes? Your students could work independently or with partners to write/edit/publish these.

* Label the boxes, with student-created artwork and captions.

* When the boxes start to fill, the math learning opportunities are abundant! Counting, bundling by hundreds/tens/ones, sorting and graphing by colors, ...  If you give each classroom in your school a container to fill, you could even introduce some competition with a big wall graph in your hallway, completed by your students, of course! Could your students use a marker as your unit for measuring length?  How about writing some word problems about the markers? 

Here's a set of four math task cards, just to get you started! Click on the picture to download yours.

* After the project, write thank you notes - to Crayola, to parents, to others who've lent support to the project. If your students are young or time is short, a chart paper note created with shared writing and signed by all is a great alternative to individual notes.

    

Before you prep for the new year by buying some great new markers, I hope you'll consider giving this project a try!  All brands of markers are accepted for recycling, not just Crayola, and you can even send them highlighters and dry erase markers.

Have fun with this! I'd love to hear how it goes for you!

Happy Teaching!

Earth Day, Plus a Spring Math Freebie!

Hello, Teaching Friends!

Hope that you're enjoying a wonderful weekend! I was poking around in my garden today and found a few earthworms wiggling around. Spring!!!

Earth Day is on the horizon, so I decided to bundle together my three products for natural resources.
You'll now find these two...

... plus this Scoot/Read the Room set...

...bundled together.  Bundled resources are an easy way to stretch your budget! Click on the cover to see it.

  

And now for your spring freebie! Here's a 120 chart game for spring, with lots of practice counting up and back by tens and by ones. Click here or on the picture to get your copy!  Enjoy!

Thanks for reading and for stopping by today. Have a lovely week!

Happy Teaching!

Freebie! Multistep Word Problems for Earth Day

Hi, Teaching Friends!

Here comes Earth Day again!  I love developing cross-curricular materials to support your content area teaching and save you teaching time. Here's a set of Common Core Math activities you might enjoy using for Earth Day. Click on either image to see it at my TPT store. There's a free game for you when you download the preview!

Most of the activities in the set above are for first and second grade standards. If you're looking for something at a bit higher level, here's a set of multi-step story problems that are designed for second through fourth grade.  There are five problems in the set and they come in two formats: 

* All of the problems on single page, which can be cut apart to use in interactive notebooks

* Five task cards to use in a math center. You might want to punch holes in them and put them on a ring, to remind your students that the problems need to be solved in order.

Click here or on the picture to get your copy. Enjoy this freebie! 



Time for Earth Day, and An Earth Day Freebie!

April is zipping right along, and we're quickly headed toward Earth Day. I'm a big proponent of
cross-curricular teaching. How else can all of those core standards be addressed in a five hour day... or for that matter, in an eight hour day, right?

First up is a math set. It includes telling time, word problems, dominoes for matching representations for multiples of ten (e.g. 30 matches 3 tens or 3 dimes or 50-20 or 10+20, etc.), and practice with adding and subtracting ones and tens - all with an Earth Day theme!

Here are the literacy resources: sorting and graphing words by their syllables, reading phrases for fluency, identifying elements within words, and alphabetizing.

Want to get more and save? Here's the combo bundle, which includes both the math and literacy resources!



This freebie is from the math set. I love it because it combines math skills with strategizing! Click on the picture to get yours! Enjoy!

Happy Teaching!

Celebrate Earth Day with the World's Best Composters - Earthworms!

Hi, Friends!

While digging in my garden today, I came across the World's Best Composters - earthworms, and LOTS of them!

'Though they might not be your favorite, there's sooo much learning to be had for your students from a hands-on experience with earthworms. WAIT- don't stop reading! Trust me on this one!

An earthworm has awesome connections to Earth Day - they live by reusing and recycling, all the while aerating the soil and providing us with awesome compost. If you're a gardener, you already know where the worms are. If you're not into digging, just check out the sidewalk on a rainy morning. And if you don't want your neighbors to think you're crazy for being out there in the rain picking up worms, just pay a neighborhood kid a few dollars to collect a bunch for you. Of course, he'll probably tell the other neighbors anyway, so there you go! Of course, you could also go to a bait shop, but that's not as much fun and your little guys won't be nearly as impressed as if you're a dig-it-yourselfer.

BTW, if you're thinking about germs, I haven't been able find any info at all that connects them to anything harmful. The Maoris even eat some kinds! (There I draw the line... and I don't tell the kids about that until we've released the worms into the garden!)  Do you seriously think your kids have never had their hands in the dirt? I guess if it really bothers you, then wear rubber gloves. Again, not as much fun.

I've usually transported the worms to school in a shallow disposable (ya think???) plastic container with plenty of slightly damp soil in it and a few small air holes poked in the lid. You'll need a spray bottle of water to keep the worms and soil moist during the day.

This is a perfect lesson for a KWL chart... here's  a little KWL to use on your doc camera, or for individual copies for your students.

You might also want to read a few books that day or even the day before to build up some schema.  Here are a few that you and your students will like.

Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm  has become the turn-to classic, of course, and there's also  Wiggling Worms at Work, by Wendy Pfeffer (who visited our school a number of years ago!). Another you'll like is Wonderful Worms, by Linda Glasser. (Just an aside: I will never forget the little sweetie who announced to the class, "I wuv dat book - Diarrhea Worm! I got it at my house!" In stunned and stupid confusion, I asked for a repeat. Yep. That's what she said. First grade is a place unto itself.)

Holding a worm is a first-time-experience for many children. There're always a few little guys who need to do a whole lot of watching before they're ready, and, hey, that's okay! Eventually, all but a very few do hold them, and as you'd imagine, there's a whole lot of squealin' goin' on, confidence being built, and memories being made!

Try some simple experiments with flashlights and spray bottles to see how the  worms react. Rulers, magnifying glasses, plastic forks or spoons as "holders" for those who don't want to touch, and lots of paper towels are helpful, too. At the end of the day we all troop out outside and put the worms in some loosened soil, timing them to see how long it takes them to completely burrow in, which is not long at all !  Poor creatures have had a pretty rough day. :)

We usually write about what we learned (don't we always? :)  In addition to that, I like to send home something to keep the conversation going at home. Here's one that I've used that you can click to download.

National Environmental Education Week begins on April 15th, culminating on the 22nd with Earth Day. Having an Earthworm Day in your classroom is a great way to make sure that Earth Day is more than a pencil-and-paper occasion for your class!


Here are a few cross-curricular Earth Day resources - bring math and literacy into your science learning to help your students make connections as well as master and retain vocabulary! Click on any cover to see these resources at my TPT store.

Happy Teaching!