Finding Earth Day activities to use in your middle school classroom can be tricky sometimes. I often could only find these types of resources for lower grades, and I needed something more rigorous.

This Earth Day activity is a great one that hits both ELA standards and Social Studies standards! You can use this activity near Earth Day in April, or you can use it when it fits into your standards any time during the year. It’s also a great activity to use in the last weeks of school to bring some structure to the end-of-year chaos!

Overview of Earth Day Activity: Would You Save the Rainforest?

I titled this resource, “Would You Save the Rainforest?” because I’m hoping to expand students’ thinking past just, “yes, let’s save the rainforest!”.

There will be two perspectives given to the students: (1) Advocates to preserve the forest and (2) farmers who are using methods that can be destructive.

Students will read the 2 texts, answer some guiding questions that are aligned to ELA standards and 6th and 7th grade Georgia Social Studies standards (SS6G2b and SS7G2b).

Then, students will write an opinion writing piece for one side or the other.

Earth Day Reading for Would You Save the Rainforest?

Students will receive two nonfiction passages, each with a different perspective on the destruction of the rainforest. These passages will be appropriate for 5th through 7th grade.

Passage 1 will promote the preservation of the rainforest in Brazil and forests in Africa, while Passge 2 will explain the desperation of the farmers who are using this land for survival.

Earth Day Opinion Writing for Would You Save the Rainforest?

Students will complete an opinion writing on either the side of the forest activists or the farmers. You can either assign them a side at random (half the room, have them pick a color, which side of the M&M is facing up, etc.), or you can let them choose a side. I liked to assign the sides to my higher-level students to extend their thinking. I liked to let my lower-level students choose their side, depending on the group. You know your students, so that call is yours!

There are resources in this activity that will support your students through this opinion writing process!

Plus, I have a rubric you can use that aligns to ELA and SS standards for easy grading!