4 Engaging ESL Newcomer Science Lesson Plans and Activities Ideas for Earth Day: Games, Vocabulary Worksheet, and Writing Craft!

Are you looking for an exciting and fun mini unit plan on Earth Day?  
Thematic reading and writing activities offer a powerful approach that integrates language skills and fosters meaningful engagement.These lessons and activities are designed to help your students celebrate our planet and  boost their language acquisition, reading comprehension and writing skills. 

1. I Have, Who Has Earth Games

Begin with building vocabulary!

Earth Feelings Game: This game helps students identify and express emotions such as happy, sad, and worried. It enhances  feelings vocabulary using Earth face emotions. 

As an extension ask students  why the Earth might be feeling happy or sad, and why. Provide sentence stems for your newcomers. The Earth might be feeling sad because of  . . .

Earth Colors Game:  Students learn Earth-themed colors like green, blue, and brown through this interactive game. It reinforces color recognition and pronunciation. This game is perfect for kinder and newcomer ESL students. GET THIS FREE GAME IN MY TPT store by clicking on the image!

2. Earth Day ESL Newcomer Printable Booklets and a Read Aloud teacher version

Read together and build background  knowledge and more vocabulary!

These printable nonfiction booklets include some basic information about Earth Day and things we can do to help. Each booklet is proceeded by vocabulary matching game and  vocabulary story mats to support comprehension and vocabulary retention. Perfect for building reading skills and background knowledge about Earth Day! Display your large teacher version on your whiteboard!

3. Color by Earth Vocabulary Newcomer Worksheets and I Spy Earth Vocabulary Game

See what they remember!
These after reading worksheets combine coloring activities with vocabulary reinforcement. Students color Earth-themed images while confirming key vocabulary words related to Earth Day. These activities can be used as Vocabulary Post-Assessments.

4. ESL Earth Day Newcomer Writing Craft: "My Promise to the Earth"

This is a culminating activity of the week. Now that our ESL students read about Earth Day, played some vocabulary games and had some conversations about it, they are ready to write about it. Reading and Writing should always go together for ELLS. 

According to research, thematic reading and writing activities promote cognitive engagement and critical thinking. When ELLs write about Earth Day after reading related texts, they analyze information, make connections, and express their thoughts in English (Fillmore. Krashen, Cummins and August).

Encourage students to express their commitments to the planet through writing and crafting. Provide visual word banks with different paper choices and sentence starters to scaffold writing for your  newcomers. 

This activity fosters language development and creativity while nurturing a sense of responsibility towards the environment.

Reward Your ESL Newcomer Students with Earth Day Certificates!

Celebrate your students' achievements with Earth Day-themed certificates! Recognizing their efforts in language acquisition and environmental awareness boosts confidence and motivates further learning.

Let's celebrate Earth Day while nurturing language skills and fostering a love for our planet among ESL newcomers!

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