From my personal experiences, April 22nd was always a day that I looked forward to within my elementary classrooms. Earth Day was one of the few days out of the school year that we would focus on being environmentally-responsible citizens. In 1st grade through 5th grade we would work in the school garden and plant flowers in front of the school building. I make a conscious effort to conserve water at every moment possible. I try to take "quick" showers and I always turn off the water as I brush my teeth. When I am in the classroom, I stress to my students to conserve water too. When I am out running errands I always plan ahead so that I will not be making trips time after time. I like to drive the most direct routes and I always try to "kill two birds with one stone."
Additionally, my school has been an effort to recycle as part of a new school initiative. Each classroom is equipped with a blue recycling bin (for paper-waste). My mentor teacher and I always tell the students to throw away their paper scraps into the blue bin. A few times we have found bottles and candy wrappers in the recycling bin and we remind students of the purpose of the recycling bin. As a class I would enjoy creating a classroom pledge that will remind students of the purpose of recycling and their responsibility within the classroom. For example: I pledge to be a conscious and responsible student of room 26 by recycling the proper materials into the proper waste bins. That way, each student is learning accountability for their own actions and they are being reminded of the proper disposal of waste products.
Since Earth Day can involve plants, it is very easy to integrate many subjects with this topic. If the class planted flowers or plants in the school garden, they could continue to study the plants by measuring their growth and collecting data. They would then record information and make charts and graphs, which integrates math into science. They can also write in science journals and do research with read alouds and non-fiction books about plants and flowers. Most subjects can be brought into and Earth Day unit.