Teaching Geography: Hug the Earth poem review

 

Read the poem and share your thoughts on where and how you can use it in your future ss classroom.

Teaching Geography: Engage

HUG THE EARTH

Walking along feeling free 

Feeling the Earth here with me 
And I love her. She loves me 
I hug the Earth, the Earth hugs me. 
She's our friend, 
We'd like to be together forever. 
The Earth is our garden 
It's a beautiful place 
For all living creatures 
For all the human race, 
Helping Mother Earth 
We can peacefully roam, 
We all deserve a place 
We can call our home. 
Food is a treasure from soil and the sea. 
Clean fresh air from the plants and the trees 
The warmth of the sun giving life each day 
Turns water into rain, it’s nature's way. 
And I would like to thank you, Mother Earth, 
I like to see you dressed in green and blue  
I want to be by you.

Lorraine Bayes

How I would use this poem in my future Social Studies classroom 

 After reading this poem, it took me a long time to determine how I would use it or when I would use it in my classroom. The day I would use this poem in my classroom would most likely be earth day. In most elementary schools, earth day is where teachers and students celebrate the earth. It is where teachers teach students why the earth is essential. Teachers explain what humans are doing to the planet and how some human activities are harming the environment. It is also where teachers explain to students how they can help protect the earth. Earth day in elementary school is often centered around activities where teachers plant a tree in the playground and arts and crafts such as coloring in pictures of the earth and naming countries and oceans that the earth has. During this time, teachers would often explain that the earth is our friend and that we should do whatever we can to protect it. As I have said before, this would be a great poem that I could use to start earth day in my classroom. I would use this poem to explain that the earth is our friend and that since we live on the planet, we should protect it because there is a chance that humans will no longer be able to live on the earth a very long time from now. I would explain that humans might not live on the planet because we are doing things that hurt the earth. I would then explain that because my students are young, they can do things that help the earth instead of harm it. That they can recycle and ride bikes instead of using cars to get places. I would explain that the earth provides us with various resources we need to survive, such as trees but unfortunately losing them. The final thing I would mention to my future social studies class is that the earth is our home, and we want to make sure that it stays our home for all future generations which come after us.