Earth Day, by Linda Lowery
Tells the story of Earth Day 1970 and 1990 in the United States and the special activities planned to call global attention to the problems of pollution, environmental destruction, and waste of natural resources.
The effort continues with Grades of Green, a grassroots organization that teaches kids about environmental stewardship that got its start at Grand View Elementary School in 2009. 
Video ABC7 Eyewitness News Manhattan Beach Students are Pros at Saving the Planet 
Wangari's Trees of Peace, by Jeanette Winter
The story of Wangari Maathai, a Nobel Prize-winning environmentalist who, shocked to see entire forests being cut down in her native country of Kenya, decided to take action beginning with the planting of nine seedlings in her own backyard.
Pedal Power, by Allan Drummond
The story of the people in Amsterdam in the 1970s who led protests against crowded, unsafe streets and took over a vehicles-only tunnel on their bikes, showing what a little pedal power could do.
The World's Poorest President Speaks Out, by Jose Mujica, President of Uruguay (2010-2015)
In 2012, the United Nations brought governments, international institutions, and major groups together to agree on a range of measures that would bring about sustainable and fair use of resources. When it came time for the president of Uruguay to speak, Jose Mujica presented the problem of sustainability and climate change differently from previous speakers. Mujica posited that the real problem is not climate change but "how we have come to live our lives" in a vicious cycle "where we sell things to make money, which we use to buy whatever we want, and then buy some more." He challenged listeners to consider whether "we were born to pursue economic growth and progress [or rather] to live in such a way as to find happiness on this planet." 
Video The World's Poorest President (aired on Kenyan Citizen TV, 2013) 
Coloring sheets
Composting... Life in the Slow Lane! 
Clean Storm Drains = Healthy Oceans!

Book! Book! Book! by Deborah Bruss
The animals on the farm go to the library to find something to do, but the librarian doesn't understand what they are trying to say. Kindergarten students will explore the other half of the library this week.
Crafty Connection for TK Step-by-step instructions to make cheerful paper frogs (add a paper book)
Crafty Connection for Kindergarten Frog and duck coloring sheet
Celebrating Author Beverly Cleary
April 12, 1916, McMinnville, Oregon - March 25, 2021, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
From Henry Huggins (1950) to Ramona's World (1999) Beverly Cleary wrote books for children, about children much like themselves. Children of today may find themselves amazed at the freedom to roam that was enjoyed by the children in Beverly's books, not unusual at the time.
National D.E.A.R. Day April 12 Drop Everything And Read
In 2006, to mark Beverly's 90th birthday, the American Library Association, and others set aside her birthday, April 12, as a day to remind and encourage families to make reading together on a daily basis a family priority. When Beverly’s own children were young, they participated in sustained silent reading time at school, known as D.E.A.R. Their enthusiasm for this activity inspired Beverly to give the same experience to Ramona, who gets to enjoy DEAR time with her class in Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (1981), introduced in Chapter 2.

Celebrating Author Beverly Cleary
April 12, 1916, McMinnville, Oregon - March 25, 2021, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
From Henry Huggins (1950) to Ramona's World (1999) Beverly Cleary wrote books for children, about children much like themselves. Children of today may find themselves amazed at the freedom to roam that was enjoyed by the children in Beverly's books, not unusual at the time.
Audio Excerpt Listen to actor Neil Patrick Harris read Chapter 1 of Henry Huggins.

"Quite often somebody will say, What year do your books take place? and the only answer I can give is, in childhood."

Learning to read did not come easily for young Beverly, and once she did learn, she found the stories contained in early readers to be boring, simple, and unsurprising. Then, in the third grade, on a rainy afternoon at home, she found herself enjoying reading The Dutch Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins about the adventures of ordinary children. The book awoke in her the joys of reading for pleasure and she began spending extra time in the public library.

"Children should learn that reading is a pleasure, not just something that teachers make you do in school."

By the time Beverly was in sixth grade, a teacher suggested she should become a children's author, based on essays she had written for class assignments. Beverly first worked as a children's librarian and in a bookstore before becoming a full-time writer for children. In her work as a librarian, she struggled to find books to recommend to children, books that they would have fun reading, so she decided to write children's books herself, books about characters that young readers could relate to.

"I enjoy writing for third and fourth graders most of all."

During an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2011 at the age of 95 she stated, "I've had an exceptionally happy career." Beverly Cleary died in a retirement home a few weeks shy of her 105th birthday. No cause of death was given.

National DEAR Day April 12 Drop Everything And Read
In 2006, to mark Beverly's 90th birthday, the American Library Association, and others set aside her birthday, April 12, as a day to remind and encourage families to make reading together on a daily basis a family priority. When Beverly’s own children were young, they participated in sustained silent reading time at school, known as DEAR. Their enthusiasm for this activity inspired Beverly to give the same experience to Ramona, who gets to enjoy DEAR time with her class in Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (1981), introduced in Chapter 2.
Audio Excerpt Listen to Chapter 2 of Ramona Quimby, Age 8, presented by MrsMorrisReads

School resumes Tuesday, April 12

The Boy Who Loved Math by Deborah Heiligman. At the age of four Paul Erdos (1913-1996) could ask you when you were born and then calculate the number of seconds you had been alive in his head. But he didn't learn to butter his own bread until he turned twenty! Observation: of the numerous mathematicians depicted at the end, only a few are women and none are people of color.
Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13, by Helaine Becker
From an early age Katherine (1918-2020) loved numbers. She was ready for high school at age 10, but her West Virginia hometown was segregated and there was no high school for Black children. Her family moved to another town and Katherine graduated from a Black high school there by age 14. She began a career as a human computer in the early 1950s for the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (which later became NASA) earning the trust of the astronauts with her competency and creativity.

Paul Erdos Continued...
Video N Is a Number: a Portrait of Paul Erdos (trailer)
Having an Erdos Number Paul Erdos published papers with 507 coauthors. In the mathematics community those 507 people have the coveted distinction of having an Erdos number of 1, meaning that they wrote a paper with Erdos himself. Someone who published a paper with one of his coauthors is said to have an Erdos number of 2, and an Erdos number of 3 means that someone wrote a paper with someone who wrote a paper with someone who worked with Erdos. Albert Einstein’s Erdos number was 2. The highest known Erdos number is 15; this excludes non mathematicians, who all have an Erdos number of infinity.
Website Magical Answer to an 80-Year-Old Puzzle. Terence Tao, now a math professor at UCLA, was a youngster when he met Erdos, earning his Erdos number of 1.
Crafty Connection Tessellation art with worksheet and video demonstration.
Extension Paul Erdos International Math Challenge