Earth Day is around the corner! I love Earth Day, because our planet is so precious. It’s a great opportunity to teach students about how we can take care of our home while also targeting speech and language skills! I decided to round up some Earth Day books to help you with lesson planning!
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I Am Earth by Rebecca and James McDonald
I love this book, because it’s written in speech bubbles! It’s also great for year around usage! On each page, the Earth provides a little fun fact within a speech bubble. I love incorporating non-fiction books into speech-language therapy and this is a great one! This book is great to target:
– Comprehension – I recommend creating a KWL chart for this book! Activate students’ prior knowledge by first discussing what they already know about the earth and what they want to know. When you’re finished reading, students can discuss what they learned about the Earth!
– Describing – Students can work on describing the Earth!
– Problem Solving – Students can brainstorm ways to keep the Earth healthy.
Biscuit’s Earth Day Celebration by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
This book is perfect for your younger students. Biscuit’s owner teaches him all about Earth Day and ways that we can take care of our planet. You can use this book to target:
– Sequencing – This book goes through the steps of planting a seed!
– Problem Solving – I think that all Earth Day books are great for working on problem solving! Students can work together to think of little things they can do each day to help the Earth! For instance, Biscuit gets a plastic bottle out of a pond!
– WH Questions
Earth Day, Hooray! by Stuart J. Murphy
This is actually a math themed book that focuses on place value, but I think that it can be in therapy too (or push-in with the math teacher!). It’s about a group of students that work together to collect aluminum cans so that they can earn money to plant flowers! This is a great book to address:
– Quantitative Concepts – You can talk about which bags have “more” or “less” cans.
– Social Skills – The students approach a variety of people around the school for help! For instance, they ask the custodian to set up a barrel in the hallway to collect cans. Asking for help is such a critical social skill! You can discuss ways to approach other people and how to ask for help.
– Vocabulary – This a great book to reinforce math vocabulary! It’s also a great introduction to Earth Day vocabulary (recycling, etc).
Compost Stew by Mary McKenna Siddals
This is an alphabet book that teaches about composting! I adore this book, because I plan on creating a compost pile in my backyard! It’s going to be my spring/summer project! It goes through all the items that can be composted (laundry lint, hair snippings, teabags, and other things that I had no idea could be composted)! Use this book to work on:
Categories – you can sort items that can be composted vs. items that cannot be composted.
Sequencing – Have students create their own recipe for compost stew!
Articulation – This is a great book to use to work on /k/! Have your /k/ students create a recipe for compost stew that features all /k/ words (ex. coffee, kitchen scraps, kiwi peel, etc). Actually, you can use this book for any sound! For instance, have your /r/ students create compost stew with /r/ ingredients (ex. rye bread crumbs, rinds, carrot peels, etc).
I Can Save the Earth! by Alison Inches
This story is about Max (a little monster) that isn’t very environmentally friendly! He overflows the sink and hoards all his unused toys! Then one day a black out occurs and he can’t watch TV (oh, the horror! haha). He’s forced to go outside and he begins to appreciate the beauty of nature! Max changes his tune and begins to do everything he can to make the world a better place. It’s such a relatable story and I think students will love this little monster! You can use this book to work on:
Problem/Solution – Max has a problem and he finds a solution!
Cause/Effect – What happened when Max couldn’t watch TV? What happens if we don’t take care of the Earth? This is a fabulous book to work on cause/effect!
Adjectives – This book is full of describing words (beautiful, ugly, fresh, etc).
Do you have a favorite Earth Day book? Comment below and let me know!
Need more ideas for Earth Day? Check out:
Earth Day Speech Therapy Craft
Earth Day Articulation
The Great Kapok Tree Literature Lap Book
Thank you for visiting my blog! Have a wonderful day!

By far, my favorite Earth Day book is the Lorax. I actually have to kind of choke back emotions while reading it to the kids towards the end. And there are lots of great activities/art projects you can do with it.
I love The Lorax too!