Hey, teachers! Earth Day is approaching fast. How will you celebrate with your class? 

Earth Day is an annual environmental celebration that takes place on April 22. It’s a day when people around the world take the time to demonstrate and promote environmental awareness, with a special emphasis on protecting our planet.  

There are many ways students can get involved. Discussing energy efficiency is a great teaching approach that can help your students understand their environmental impact and what they can do to make a positive change. 

Energy efficiency helps reduce emissions

At its core, energy efficiency means using less energy to do the same job and get the same (or better) result. Many of our everyday actions — like turning on our lights, heating and cooling our homes, and charging our phones— use up energy. When we look at them all together, they have a big impact on our overall energy use as individuals. 

It’s important that we all become more energy efficient so we can reduce our impact on our planet. Helping your students find easy ways to save energy is a good way to empower them to make positive changes. Turning off electronics when they aren’t being used, turning off lights when you leave a room, and only running full loads of dishes and laundry are all examples of easy ways to incorporate energy-saving habits into your routine (not just on Earth Day!).  

Looking for an easy way to bring these lessons into your classroom? Check out our “All About Energy” presentation! It includes information about energy efficiency, global warming, and net-zero emissions, as well as topics that can help your students think critically about their energy use and impact on the world. The presentation also includes a “20 Questions” activity that can spark dynamic classroom conversation. 

Classroom resources to take action year-round

Get your students involved on Earth Day and beyond with the Generation E resources below for a variety of grades: 

• Kindergarten to Grade 5 activity book: Take your students on a read-along adventure with our friends Jenny Jay and Energy Ed where they can learn about different ways to save energy through activities like crosswords, colouring pages, fill-in-the-blanks, and more! 
   
• Grade 6 E-Marketers activity: Get your students thinking about energy efficiency creatively! With this activity, students will create a marketing campaign about different household appliances to serve as a reminder to be more conscious about saving energy. Wrap up the activity with a fun class presentation.  

• Grade 9 Local Business Interview activity: Help your students understand how businesses use and save energy.  Once they’ve learned the basics, your students will interview a local business to learn about energy use in the real world.  Then, they’ll bring their findings back to the classroom to share what they’ve learned and discuss how different businesses are saving energy. 

Want to make Earth Day a special event in your classroom? Contact us today to schedule an in-class presentation!