5 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day in the Math Classroom
During my first year of teaching middle school math at a small Catholic school in Chicago, we participated in a recycling program sponsored by PepsiCo. The goal was to recycle as many bottles and cans as possible. Every day for weeks students, faculty, and staff would bring in bags of bottles and cans to be sorted. There were always many bags in the hallway waiting to be counted.
By the end of April, we learned that our school won the top prize of $100,000! Over 10 years later, it is still amazing to me when I think about how our small community came together for a great cause and made a difference. Although this exact competition is no longer you can still earn rewards for your school through Pepsi’s recycling program here.
I always think about this competition during April as we are reminded to take special care of the Earth as we celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd. I also think Earth Day can be a great way to sneak in real-world math activities.
Below are easy and engaging ways to celebrate Earth Day in your math classroom!
Looking for a print-and-go option? Grab my Math Behind Recycling resource here.
1. Create Earth Day Fact Posters: Have students spend some time creating a list of Earth day facts. These facts might include the history of Earth Day, facts about recycling or reducing waste. Websites such as Keep America Beautiful, Recycle Across America, or the Pepsi Recycling resources are helpful resources for facts.
2. Watch an Earth Day Video: A video such as How Recycling Works is a short and easy way to incorporate recycling. Make it math related by have students record as many facts as possible they learned from teh video.
3. Create Earth Day Word Problems: Have students work in pairs to create Earth Day themed word problems using facts from one of the above websites. Students should use a folded piece of paper with their word problem on the front and the answer key with shown work on the inside. Finally, have students switch word problems with one another.
4. Recycling Tower Competition: Have students work in groups to use recycled containers or bottles to make a tower. Give students a time limit and see which group can make the tallest tower.
5. Take Math Class Outside: If you don’t have time in your teaching to do any specific Earth Day activities simply taking your students outside to do their math work will help them appreciate the beauty of our world!
Another option is to grab my Math Behind Recycling worksheet set here. This set of worksheets includes practice in percents, fractions and more all while learning facts about recycling.
