Are you ready for EARTH DAY?

 

Click here for free downloadable version: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/EARTH-DAY-FREEBIE-Possible-Interactive-Notebook-Activity-2466543

PLANET EARTH:

FUN FACTS

by

Gail Skroback Hennessey

Did You Know?

1. Scientists say that it takes about 500 years for plastic to decompose.

2. The Ring of Fire located in the Pacific Ocean is the largest zone of active volcanoes. 75% of the world’s volcanoes are here!

3. There is enough salt in the oceans that if you could collect all of it and spread it, it would cover all the continents in 5 ft. (1.5m) of salt.

4. Scientists say the earth travels at 66,700 mph through space or 18.5 miles per second!

5. The name "Earth" is the only planet named for an Angle Saxon word("erda") and not from Greek or Roman mythology.

6. In 1961, the first man in space, Russian Yuri Gagarin, was the first to call Earth, “the Blue Planet”.

7. Scientists say that the average person makes about four pounds(1.8kg) of garbage every day!

8. Did you know you are heavier in certain places on Earth? There is less gravity near the coast of India and more gravity in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean.

9. The earth isn’t round. It is an oblate spheroid, or “pear shaped”.

10. It is estimated that the earth weighs about 6, 588,000,000,000 million tons.

11. 25,000,000 plastic bottles are thrown away every hour in the United States. You read correctly!

12. Don’t throw away the tinfoil of a Hershey’s Kiss. About 133 sq. miles of tinfoil are used to wrap 20,000,000 of the sweet treats every day!

13. Yellowstone National Park, was the world’s first national park. It was established in 1872.

14. The Peace Bell, rung at the United Nations every Earth Day, was made from coins collected by kids in Japan to promote peace on Earth.

15. Scientists say that the jellyfish is older than the dinosaur and dates back at least 650 million years.

16. One recycled aluminum can saves enough energy for a television to run for three hours.

17. Scientists say there are more living organisms in just ONE tablespoon of soil than all the people living on the earth(and that’s over 7.4 billion people)

18. One inch of topsoil, the very most fertile layer of soil, takes over 500 years to create.

19. Seen from outer space, the Great Barrier Reef(off the coast of Queensland, Australia), is called the “single largest animal being of the world”.

20. Mt. Trashmore, in Virginia Beach,VA, is a hill 60 ft(18 m high) 800 ft, long( 240m) made from trash.(That’s why it’s called Mt. Trashmore!)

TEACHER PAGE:

Extension Activities:

1. Illustrate one of the Did You Know? facts.

2. Have kids select a photograph of the earth from space and write a paragraph as to what they see. 

http://www.wired.com/2014/12/nasa-best-earth-from-space-2014/#slide-6

3. Discuss Haiku(3 line poem with 5-7-5 syllable pattern). Write a Haiku about Earth day or something about the earth(trees, ocean, river, trash, etc.)

Links for teachers: 

http://www.fun-interesting-facts.com/interesting_facts_about_earth.html 

http://www.softschools.com/facts/holidays/earth_day_facts/156/

http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ very cool! See the world population continue to grow every second!

Check out these resources:

1. NOT JUST FOR EARTH DAY.Learn about the history of Earth Day and, our planet, EARTH, with this informative web quest. There are 15 web questions as well as comprehension questions and a Did You Know? fun fact section. The teacher page includes extension activities, the key, and additional links. Great for a Friday activity! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Earth-DayWebquest-on-the-Blue-Planet-1790891

2. Learn about Mt. Everest, Nepal and the Yeti with this fun web quest! Activities,interesting facts and comprehension review,too.Skills include:reading for information and using research/computer skills. 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Mt-Everest-Trekking-up-Mt-Everest-WebquestExtension-Activities-649400

3. Learn lots of fun facts with this Exploring the Ocean Blue: A Web quest.There are 9 informative web questions. Fun Facts, comprehension questions,extension activities,links.Use as part of a unit on oceans,a Friday activity for a Friday or before a vacation.Skills include:reading for information and using research/computer skills. 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Oceans-Exploring-the-Ocean-Blue-A-WebquestExtension-Activities-705943

4. Studying the ocean? Looking for a resource for Earth Day or World Ocean Day? Introduce your students to Jacques Cousteau with this informative Reader's Theater Script. Oceanographer, photographer, scientist, inventor, writer and filmmaker, Cousteau spent his life studying the oceans and the marine life that lived in the oceans. Part of Ms. Bie Ografee Talk Show Series(extensions/comprehension questions, Did You Know?, key) 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Jacques-Cousteau-A-Readers-Theater-Script-2458467

5. Antarctica! Geographical web quest which introduces kids to the continent of Antarctica. There are 10 web quests(with lots of information in the questions), 14 Did You Know? facts, comprehension questions(including several "thought question"), a teacher page with a number of extension activities, additional links and key. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Antarctica-A-Webquest-2389374

6. Geographical web quest which introduces kids to the region of the Earth known as the Arctic. There are 14 web quests(with lots of information in the questions), Did You Know? facts, comprehension questions(including several "thought question"), a teacher page with a number of extension activities, additional links and key. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Arctic-Learn-about-the-ArcticWebquest-Distance-Learning-2889672

7. Learn about Rachel Carson with this Reader's Theater Script: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Rachel-Carson-A-Readers-Theater-Script-3071478?st=09d45b1cfc736fdc8714f0a5b8573474

TULIP Time is Coming! Share with Kids that Everything has a history, including Tulips!

 

Click here for a user friendly download of this resource: 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/TULIPS-A-Sign-of-SpringFREEBIE-4458064

With spring, comes the sprouting of tulips.  Personally, I love purple tulips. Although I try year after year to grow them in my gardens, the chipmunks seem to find them and haul the bulbs away! 

Tulips have a very interesting history. Sharing information about the history of the tulip is a great way to show kids that EVERYTHING has a history.

In 1634, tulips caused people to go a bit crazy, in the country of Netherlands. The bulb, looking like a onion was as prized as diamonds. It got so nobody was planting the pretty posies, they were just buying and selling the bulbs. People used tulips to purchased homes, food, clothing and even horses. Government officials kept a record of tulip purchases. Tulipmania is what this time was called. One tulip could be worth over $35,000!(Yes, you read that correctly)

Fun Facts about Tulips:

1. To have a tulip in your home was a way to impress others!

2. Interestingly, the tulips with the most value, really were infected with a virus and were feathered and not solid colored tulips.

3. It is believed the tulip came from Asia and the area of Turkey,1000AD. Its name, is thought to come from the word dulban or tuliban(meaning turban), because the flower looks like an upside down turban. In Turkey, tulips were very much prized and in fact, for a time, it was forbidden to buy or sell the bulbs outside of the capital city. Such crimes could mean exile!

4. The tulip capital of the United States is Holland, Michigan.

5. During World War 2, people ate tulips and made tulip bread. Neither were very tasty but when you are hungry, taste isn't that important.

Your Turn:

1. Do you know which two flowers are more popular than the tulip?If, not, take a guess!________________ and ______________

2. What is your favorite flower?  Why do you favor this flower over other flowers?

3. What do you know about the country of Turkey? Write ONE fact:__________________

4. What do you know about the country of Netherlands? Write ONE fact:________________

5. Write a haiku about tulips. A haiku has 3 lines and each line has the following syllable pattern. 5-7-5. Not sure how many syllables are in a word? Place your hand under your chin. Count how many times your chin drops as you say the world. For example: ELEPHANT. It has 3 syllables. Don't worry about sentence form, think descriptive words. The Haiku comes from the people of Japan. Write TWO facts you know about the country of Japan. 

Extension Activities:

1. Read a fairytale about tulips:https://ririro.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The-Fairy-Tulips_compressed.pdf Have students write a summary of the story. Have students write their own story about a tulip.

2. http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/plants/tulips.html More Tulip facts. Illustrate one of the facts about tulips.

3. Short video on the history of Tulips: https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=yfp-t&p=fairytale+about+tulips#id=2&vid=f5f10c13674b8fb72347051acc26faa0&action=click

Sharing information about the history of the tulip is a great way to show kids that EVERYTHING has a history. The resource includes a reading passage, Did You Know? fun facts, comprehension questions, Map-skill activity, Teacher page with extension activities and key. Click here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spring-A-Reading-Passage-History-of-TULIPS-2426247. $3.85