Environmental Songbook

   To start up a discussion, or introduce a song, there's nothing better than a visual aid. I used large photographs or posters depicting garbage in alleyways, broken and abandoned cars, photos of dead trees, smog. I asked the children to talk about what they saw, as I gathered them around me on the rug. I asked questions like "Does this look like the kind of place you want to live? Why not?" Their answers sparked the beginning of the teaching of this song. 

   After I modeled it, I had the children join me in singing the chorus, and we repeated it several times.  I asked them if they thought flowers could grow in the pictures I had shown them. "What do you think the air smells like in this picture?," I would ask. We talked about ways they could make a change, both in the mindset of themselves, their friends, their family. (i.e. picking up garbage, recycling, only using water when they really need it, not wasting it.)

   For homework, or lesson extension, I had them each choose a grownup to talk to about saving the environment, and come up with 3 ways they could help with this problem. The older children could write a skit, and act it out. The younger children could make up a little dialogue as well, verbally, and pretend to tell each other how to take care of the water, or trees, or throw out garbage. The children could also draw 'before and after' pictures and write about them. (i.e.A tree dead and withered and then a tree in full bloom.) Another 'before' picture could be a backyard filled with junk, and 'after,' a house with a clean and grassy backyard. They could write a poem or song about it. They could express how this song makes them feel. The song would then be sung again, with lyrics always in view for reading reinforcement. A perfect song for Earth Day or ANY day.