  CELEBRATE
THE EARTH
Celebrate the earth with me,
the oceans, meadows, mountains, trees.
I’ll celebrate the earth with you,
the flowers, people, creatures, too.
Let’s celebrate the earth together,
new green grass, exciting weather.
Celebrate the earth with me.
Let’s share delight in all we see.
Introducing the Poem
• Use a blue marker to draw a large circle on a sheet of chart paper to represent the planet Earth. Use a green marker to write the poem inside the circle. If you wish, shade in a few land masses along the edges of the Earth so that they don’t interfere with the text.
• Show students a picture of Earth photographed from space. What do they think the blue parts are? What about the green and tan parts? (If there are clouds visible in the photo, ask students to guess what these areas are as well.)
• Have children repeat each line of the poem after you read it aloud. You may want to stand in a circle holding hands to symbolize the theme of togetherness.
Talking About the Poem
• Begin a discussion about the beautiful and delightful planet we live on. Ask students to share with you some things about our wonderful world that they would like to celebrate.
• Reread the poem and have children raise their hands every time they hear the word celebrate. Point out the [s] sound the letter с makes at the beginning of the word. Ask students what other sound the letter с makes. What other letter makes the [s] sound?
• Invite a volunteer to underline all of the m words in the poem. What other m words do students know?
Working With Words
Geography Word Match-Up:
Cut pictures from magazines that represent the geography-related words in the poem such as oceans, meadows, mountains, and earth. Find pictures for other terms as well, such as valley, lake, river, and hill. Paste these pictures to blank index cards. Write the corresponding word for each of the pictures on a separate card. Mix up the cards and challenge students to match the picture cards with the word cards.
Shared Writing
Write a Thank-You Note:
What things about our planet are students thankful for? Why are they thankful for these things? Have students share their ideas as you model how to write a thank-you note to the Earth.
Dear Earth,
Thank you for the wild flowers.
They are beautiful and cheer me up.
Love,
Sasha
Extending the Poem
Paper Plate Planets
In this activity, children make paper-plate planets and write thank-you notes to Earth, for sharing its gifts.
Materials
• old newspapers
• paper plates
• tempera paints (blue, green, and white)
• paintbrushes
• 12- by 18-inch sheets of white construction paper
• glue
• markers
1. Spread out newspapers and provide each child with a paper plate.
2. Have students paint their plate blue, green, and white. Students don’t have to paint continents and oceans. They can simply swirl the paints together to create an impression of what the Earth looks like from space. Allow time for the paint to dry.
3. Have children glue their plate to a sheet of white paper. (The plate should be positioned on the paper so that there is space left below for writing, as shown.)
4. Help students write notes thanking the Earth for their favourite gifts in nature. Have students use the thank-you note you wrote in the Shared Writing activity as a model. Students can print their notes beneath the paper plates.
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