Earth Week 2022
We’ll be promoting activities all week, feel free to use these themes or make up your own. Show what you’re doing on these days of the week on Twitter @AustinISDGreen, #AISDGreen and Instagram #aisdgreen #austinisdgreen.
Food & Nature Activities
Activities to consider
- Are you composting all your food scraps at home?The City of Austin provides curbside composting guidance for all Austinites. The sorting rules are the same for residences, commercial businesses, and AISD campuses.
- Consider planning two plant-based meals a week to help reduce your carbon-footprint. Remember to make these meals BIG so you have plenty of leftovers to enjoy throughout the rest of the week!
- Save time and money by planning your meals and snacks before you go grocery shopping. You will also prevent food waste by only purchasing items that you have a plan for.
- Before your next trip to the grocery store, have a family or neighborly cook-off with any leftover ingredients. What can you make with 3 carrots, leftover rice, and last night’s chicken?
- Peel, chop, process, and freeze any leftover vegetables or fruit that you can’t consume before they start to decompose. Chopped and frozen bananas, berries, and apples make for delicious smoothies. Use frozen onions and peppers as a base for stir-frys, chilies, and soups.
- Before you leave town for a trip, share your bits of extra food with neighbors or friends so they don’t go to waste while you're gone.
See the world through the eyes of Luna the Goat!
In celebration of Earth Week at Austin ISD, we bring you Step Into the Herd - A Day in the Life of a Goat. Welcome to the world of goat; a land of the horned companion who is responsible for healing the Prairie ecosystem of Texas. Join us on a journey to understand these bewildered buddies as we shepherd our family through the 165 acres of Jester King, located in Austin, Texas.
Looking for a fun, active outdoor activity?
Looking for a fun, active outdoor activity? Check out Odd Tree Society to explore all of the fascinating ways trees grow in unique ways.
i-Tree
Download your school’s tree map from the AISD Urban Forest Web page, take a campus tree walk, learn the environmental benefits of your trees Using iTree..
Partners for Education, Agriculture, & Sustainability
Stay actively engaged in outdoor and edible education with great resources from Partners for Education, Agriculture, & Sustainability (PEAS). You’ll find activity calendars that will help you and your family explore nature, to garden, and to cook fun recipes with kids. Materials available in English and Spanish.
Schoolyard Habitats Webinar
Join the May 11th Schoolyard Habitats Webinar: Expanding and Maintaining Your Outdoor Classroom for Learning: Design Ideas & Tools, Community Partnerships, & Funding.Register now for the May 11th National Wildlife Federation Schoolyard Habitats Webinar Series and hear from a panel of experienced teachers who regularly use their schoolyard habitats and communities as outdoor classrooms. These innovative educators will share stories, tools, and best practices from their outdoor classrooms. Live Q+A at the end. Leave with ideas and inspiration that will support your outdoor education goals! May 11th, 2022 @ 5:30 pm CST. You can also view past webinars here.
Coloring Activity Book
Explore nature as an artist with these print-ready coloring activity books in English and Spanish. Take an outdoor adventure and learn about seeds, leaves, and the creatures that rely on them. Brought to you by the City of Austin’s Community Tree Preservation Division.
Partners for Education, Agriculture, & Sustainability
Protect our migrating birds by turning off all non-essential lights at night from March 1 - June 15, especially during the peak migration period of April 22 - May 12. Be on the lookout for hundreds of millions of birds migrating through our state on their way north from their southern wintering grounds. Learn more about Lights Out Texas and follow our birds on the live migration maps.
Watershed Protection
Perform a bug pollution test, conduct a scavenger hunt of a nearby park, take a virtual cave tour, and more with The City of Austin Watershed Protection’s Youth Education activities. Some lessons are available in Spanish.
Families in Nature
Families in Nature activities are aimed at teaching children and their parents about ecology and conservation through hands-on experiences in nature, while they spend quality family time together. Use these guides in Spanish and English to explore the fossils, rocks, and water all around you!
Green Schoolyards America and the International School Grounds Alliance
Green Schoolyards America and the International School Grounds Alliance publish free downloadable books that include 250 hands-on activities and curriculum ideas. Activities were designed to help schools make the most of their school grounds—and the majority of the ideas can be modified for use in backyards and neighborhoods.
Texas Forest Service Nature Challenge
Take the Texas Forest Service Nature Challenge, an interactive platform that connects communities with opportunities to learn, explore, and engage with the natural world. Pick a challenge from the Anywhere, Virtual Challenges, or Home & School tabs, download the necessary resources, and get to learning! Earn badges or post your challenge progress to social media with #TexasNatureChallenge.
Forest Benefits Wheel
Explore the benefits of our Texas forest by making your Forest Benefits Wheel. Working forests demonstrate a continuous cycle that provides public benefits.
Dichotomous Key
Make a dichotomous key to identify trees! Take it to the next level by creating dichotomous keys for the trees you spot in your community.
Preserving Harvest by Planting More Food Plants
Consider planting more food plants in your garden and preserving your harvest, which will be extremely helpful in the coming weeks and season. Invite neighbors who may be in need to harvest from your garden while observing physical distancing and current city orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
TreeFolks
Get the whole family active with these tree-centric activities from TreeFolks, an Austin-based nonprofit that empowers Central Texans to build stronger communities through planting and caring for trees.Learn to make a paper tree! Follow along with TreeFolks and Creative Action to repurpose cardboard and paper to make your own work of art. The TreeFolks YouTube Channel features many other videos to help you get involved with the trees in your neighborhood.
