Happy Earth Day! In honor of celebrating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day this week, we’re sharing our favorite highlights from WGBH’s “Bringing the Universe to America” Collection, created in collaboration with NASA. No matter your learning situation at the moment, check out these incredible resources with your kids to help them bloom like flowers, shine like stars, and grow like trees in celebration of Earth Week.
Click here to view the full collection.
Grades K-2
Mapping Land Forms and Water Bodies | Lesson Plan: Introduce your little learners to Earth’s major land and water systems with this lesson plan. Learn about different landforms and water bodies and the various characteristics that make them distinct from one another. They’ll be a child prodigy geographer in no time!
Sun, Moon, and Star Patterns in the Sky | Lesson Plan: Observe how the Sun, Moon, and stars are visible in the sky at different times of the day and identify predictable patterns in the apparent motion of these objects with this WGBH lesson plan.
Grades 3-5
Precipitation on Earth | Video: Have your child predict the weather by becoming a mighty meteorologist after watching this NASA animation, “Precipitation on Earth.” Observe how precipitation develops, evolves, and moves across the globe.
Distribution and Uses of Water | Media Gallery: Water – One of Earth’s most important resources! Learn about the distribution of water on Earth and how available and accessible freshwater is used and replenished by precipitation with this NASA video and graphic.
Grades 6-8
Earth’s Ever-Changing Surface | Lesson Plan: Dive into some of Earth’s history by observing geoscience processes—such as weathering, erosion, and deposition—that have shaped and continue to shape Earth’s surface at varying spatial and time scales.
Earthquakes and Volcanoes | Interactive: This interactive enables students to see the patterns and relationships among the locations of tectonic plate boundaries, mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes on the planet.
Grades 9-12
Earth’s Energy Budget | Interactive: Learn about the balance of Earth’s incoming and outgoing energy with this slideshow adapted from NASA.
Solar System Formation | Media Gallery: Learn how our Sun, planets, and other solar system bodies came to be with this video and infographic from NASA.