Thank You, Earth: A Love Letter To Our Planet by April Pulley Sayre

Summary

Think of a time when your whole being fully appreciated nature. What did you see? What did you hear? In Thank You, Earth: A Love Letter To Our Planet, we see incredible images of our beautiful home. Gorgeous photos of plants, animals and landscapes support the story told in poetic form. The message of appreciating Earth will inspire readers. Resources and ideas to make a difference are included at the end of the book.

Response to Literature

AASL Standards Framework for Learners: Explore/Think V.A.3 Engaging in inquiry-based processes for personal growth.

• Read the story and simply appreciate the pictures and the poetic storyline.
• Ask learners to share what gifts of nature they are thankful for.
• Explain that they will write and publish a love letter to Earth. They will use the Book Creator app (an AASL Best Website for Teaching and Learning) to craft their pages.
• Model how to use the tools in Book Creator to write an electronic book. Learners can go outside and draw pictures or take photos of nature with the app. They can use the text feature to write about what they see or the audio feature to talk about their sightings. Compile their pages to make one book.
• Share the book with one of the organizations mentioned at the end of the book.

If you like these lesson ideas, please check out our book, Lessons Inspired by Picture Books for Primary Grades. This resource includes detailed lesson plans, essential questions, worksheets, rubrics and assessments.