Try some of these nonfiction/learning titles if you can find them:

Celebrating Earth Day, by Elaine Landau, Enslow Publishers, 2012 - This would be a great book for older elementary school children to help them understand why we need to "go green".

 

Earth Day, by Molly Aloian, Crabtree Publishing Company, 2009 – Part of the Celebrations in My World series, this is a great introduction to Earth Day as it has large text, simple explanations and photographs.


Now We Know About...Recycling, by Dr. Mike Goldsmith, Crabtree Publishing Company, 2009 – For a small book this one is really thorough.  It is bright and full of photographs and teaches all the basics about recycling.

Recycle: A Handbook for Kids, by Gail Gibbons, Little, Brown and Company, 1992 – this is a good book to explain the process of recycling with enough detail to teach and illustrated pictures.

Recycle​, by Kay Barnham, Crabtree Publishing Company, 2008 – this is a thorough and succinct review of recycling with photographs.  There are three other books in this Environment Action series that deal with other aspects of Earth Day all by the same author: Protect Nature, Save Energy, and Recycle.


Take Care of the Earth Every Day, by Tammy Gagne, Amicus high Interest, 2014 - Part of the Kids save the Earth series, we also read "Recycle Every Day."  Large text and easy to understand for little ones. 


What Does It Mean to Go Green?, by Molly Aloian, Crabtree Publishing Compnay, 2014 - Part of "the Green Scene" series of books this is a great basic overview for early readers.  We also read "Going Green at School,""Eating Green," "Green Gardening and Composting" and "Living Green at Home," and there is one more in the series as well: "Green Energy." 

What If We Do Nothing? – Earth’s Garbage Crisis, by Christiane Dorion, World Almanac Library, 2007 – This would be a better book for older kids as it has a lot of text and of course a lot of detail.
 
Where Does the Garbage Go?, by Lincoln James, Gareth Stevens Publishing, 2012 - This is a beginner reader book with large print that is part of the "Everyday Mysteries" series (also good for this theme day would be "Where Does the Recyling Go?").
 
Why Should I Recycle Garbage?, by MJ Knight, Smart Apple Media, 2009 – With photographs and illustrations  this book thoroughly answers the title question with more detail than some other titles but not an overwhelming amount of text.  There are other books in the “One Small Step” series that deal with other questions appropriate for Earth Day all by the same author: Shy Should I Care About Nature?, Why Shouldn’t I Drop Litter?, Why Should I Switch off the Lights?, Why Should I Turn off the Tap?, and Why Should I Walk More Often?

Copyright 2010. Family Theme Days. All rights reserved.

Try these picture books perfect for Earth Day:

Earth Day Birthday, by Maureen Wright and illustrated by Violet Kim, Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2012 - A monkey in a jungle tries to convince the other animals that it is his birthday when all they want to do is celebrate Earth Day.

 

Earth Day Birthday, by Pattie Schnetzler and illustrated by Chad Wallace, Dawn Publications, 2003 – Written in the form of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” (On the first Earth Day Birthday the wide world gave to me...”) this book reminds us that we share the earth with animals.

Earth Day – Hooray!, by Stuart J. Murphy and illustrated by Renée Andriani, Harper Collins Publishers, 2004 – A Mathstart Level 3 book  that teaches place value, this book is also the story of three kids trying to earn enough money to buy flowers for their local park for Earth Day.


It's Earth Day, by Mercer Mayer, Harper Festival, 2010 - My kids always loved the Little Critter books and in this one he tries to come up with many different ways to help the earth.

The Lorax, by Dr. Suess, Random house 1971 – This rhyming book provides an environmental message through the tale of the Once-ler who pollutes the area and cuts down every last Truffula Tree refusing to heed the warnings of the Lorax.

Recycle Every Day, written and illustrated by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace, Marshall Cavendish, 2003 – Not only is this a cute story about a bunny who wants to design a recycling poster for school that will be chosen for a calendar but the illustrations themselves are made of recycled materials as they are collages.

Stuff, by Steven Kroll and illustrated by Steve Cox, Marshall Cavendish Children, 2009 – Pinch the packrat is reluctant to contribute to the neighbourhood tag sale but he soon learns that recycling is a good thing.

For this Theme Day, find books about Earth Day, conservation or recycling to read.

WRITING AND READING

Earth Day

How to encourage your child to write:

Choose the level of your child:
Toddler/Preschool – discuss the answer(s) out loud first and have your child draw a picture of the answer

Preschool/Kindergarten – discuss the answer(s) out loud first and write the answer down for him/her leaving one word for him/her to write out himself/herself with your help. You could also encourage him/her to draw a picture as well.

Early Grade School – have your child either write out the answer himself/herself (encourage phonetic spelling) without your help, or offer to help with spelling each word out loud one word at a time.

Grade School – have your child write a sentence or two on his/her own and then read over and discuss the response.  (You decide whether to correct the spelling or not)

Older Child – have your child write a longer response (paragraph).

As A Challenge – instead of a question ask your older child to write a story or poem about Earth Day, recycling or helping the Earth!

Go to the library to find books about  how your family can help the Earth!

​​​JOURNALING Question Prompt:


Write out one or more of the following questions in your Family Theme Day Scrapbook or on a piece of paper to glue in your scrapbook: 

What are ways we can look after the earth?  What does your family do to look after the earth? Why do we need to look after the earth? What does it meant to recycle? What does it mean to conserve energy/ how can we do that? What will you do on Earth Day?