Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Earth Day is On Its Way: The Calm Before the Storm!

Bay Week Day 3:  The lull slips in between guest authors, nature specialists, and field trips....and gives a momentary respite before the guest musician, the environmental news writer, the angler, and the special Bay Week Concert arrive.  So what is a 3rd grade class to do here, the day before Earth Day?  Why, play EarthOpoly, of course!

If you don't know EarthOpoly....well, you should.  Think Monopoly with a very Green Twist.  Buy locales such as "Concrete Junction," "Carved-out Canyons," "Watery Wetlands," "Awesome Oceans," and the piece de resistance:  "Mother Earth."  Don't be sent to Jail without passing Go...but instead, go to the dreaded landfill (and instead of "Just Visiting" around the outside, you'll be "Just Recycling!")  Fun facts abound on the cards and more, and the pieces themselves are telling.  There's no dog, top hat, wheel barrow, race car, thimble, or even a cannon.  No...instead you've got the real deal--sustainablity-style:  a sliver of bambo, a stone, a lima bean, a crystal, a shell, and a wooden triangle.

For the seasoned player, once you start buying up the properties, you can start buying up carbon credits and then trade them in for Clean Air.  That's where the big money lies when opponents start landing on your spaces!

For the 3rd grade level, we might not be so cut throat.  But, all the while, we're working on money and reading skills, and learning some pretty ecologically-sound factoids along the way!!  Tonight, our money and property are set aside, and saved for the "to be continued" that we call tomorrow--Earth Day!! 

Time to go shopping?  Hit up the title above, or just do a google search of "Earthopoly." 

Picture à la my camera & my classroom.

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