 For Your Information All you need is a book to celebrate National Drop Everything and Read Day, held every year on April 12. Hold a special DEAR event at your school, such as a book drive or read-aloud workshop for parents, to encourage families to make reading together every day a priority. For free DEAR Day reproducibles, activity ideas, and tips for teachers, visit http://dropeverythingandread.com.  
Earth Day (April 22, 2012) is on the way! In the National Audubon Society's Pennies for the Planet program, K–12 students collect pennies to help save habitats and wildlife. Everyone gets a prize, but the group raising the most money wins T-shirts, materials for a BioBash party, and more. Send in your class's contributions by May 5, 2012, to qualify for the grand prize and by August 31, 2012, to qualify for other prizes. Visit www.togethergreen.org/p4p/educators.aspx for details.  Increase your K–12 students' environmental literacy by taking part in National Environmental Education Week, April 15–21, 2012. This year's theme is Greening STEM: The Environment as Inspiration for 21st Century Learning. Register online and get free planning toolkits, certificates of participation, a monthly e-newsletter, access to webinars, and more—all with environmental themes. Check it out at www.eeweek.org. The US Earth Day Contest invites teachers to enter classroom projects that approach environmental issues in a novel way. One winner will be chosen from each grade category: K–5, 6–8, and 9–12. Winners receive a National Geographic Interactive Intelliglobe and recognition in press releases and on the Project Earth website. The submission deadline is April 15, 2012. Register and upload your project at www.ProjectEarth.net.  
Dollar General awards Youth Literacy Grants of up to $4,000 to schools and other nonprofit organizations to help students in grades K–12 who are below grade level or having problems reading. Grants are given for starting or expanding literacy programs; technology and equipment; or books, materials, or software. The deadline is May 16, 2012, and schools must be located within 20 miles of a Dollar General store. Apply online at www2.dollargeneral.com/dgliteracy/Pages/youth_grants.aspx.  Have your students in grades 5–8 completed a community service project? If so, enter them in a poetry contest in which they write about their good deeds! One first-prize winner gets $250 and his or her poem printed on Cabot butter boxes, one second-prize winner gets $100, and three finalists each get $50. The deadline is April 30, 2012. Visit potatohill.com for more information. The Afterschool Alliance promotes affordable, quality afterschool programs. Students in these programs can support the cause by entering the Lights On Afterschool poster contest. The winner's artwork will be printed on 70,000 posters. The submission deadline is May 1, 2012. For guidelines and a gallery of past submissions, visit www.afterschoolalliance.org.   Since 1919, teachers have celebrated books and reading during Children's Book Week, to be held this year May 7–13. At www.bookweekonline.com, you'll find free promotional materials; downloads; and lots of ideas for K–12 classroom activities, including how to host a party, how to make a bookmark, and story starters to create your own books. Teachers can also download a ballot so students can vote in the annual Children's Choice Book Awards. Check it out! Endangered Species Day, celebrated on May 18, 2012, helps people of all ages learn about protecting our disappearing wildlife, plants, and open spaces. Schools can hold field trips, park tours, community cleanups, classroom presentations, and other activities. Log on to www.stopextinction.org/esd.html for an online event-planning toolkit, lesson plans, handouts, fact sheets, and details about the annual Endangered Species Day Youth Art Contest.  
For World Oceans Day, held every year on June 8, aquariums across the country are holding special Dr. Seuss-themed events for young children, featuring characters from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Download an event manual, Dr. Seuss graphics, and more at worldoceansday.org, where you�ll also find a list of in-school World Oceans Day activities for all ages as well as a state-by-state list of special events. 
Healthy Living Grants from Cabot Creamery provide matching funds of up to $200 for K–12 school programs that improve kids' health through exercise, better nutrition, and increased knowledge. Some programs have included wellness fairs, salsa gardens, walk-a-thons, cooking clubs, and nutrition speakers. The grants are ongoing. Apply online at www.cabotcheese.coop/pages/community and click on "Healthy Living Grants."  Special Olympics offers free online games for K–8 general education classrooms to teach students about respect and acceptance. Games include a scavenger hunt to build visual discrimination skills, a maze that reminds students not to use offensive terms, and much more. Play all five games and then download a free Get Into It curriculum with activities and worksheets at www.themailbox.com/getinthegame.   Every Day Fit! is the theme for this year's Random Acts of Fitness for Kids program from Subway. Teachers in grades K–8 register online to download free classroom kits with a teacher's guide; teacher and parent letters; a poster; and a calendar/planner with ideas for weekly activities, field days, pedometer-related activities, and puzzles and quizzes. Visit RandomActsofFitness.com for more information. The National Lab Network is a free network that connects grades K–12 classrooms with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professionals in the community. Teachers post discovery-based science projects on the website, and the network connects them to those who can help bring their projects to fruition. Post your project, get ideas and resources, browse the community, and see existing projects at www.nationallabnetwork.org.  
Teach your class about the wonderful world of bugs with free resources from Terminix. Download the free curriculum "My Bug World"; lesson plans for grades K–8; and "Harry's Big Adventure," which includes games and a "Bugopedia." Teachers in grades K–6 can also request a free classroom visit from a pest control professional. Log on to www.harrysbigadventure.com. 
The free Champion Creatively Alive Children series from Crayola helps you implement arts-infused education in your school. The program includes an introductory guide; five videos and accompanying guides; and PowerPoint presentations, flyers, handouts, and evaluation forms to use in workshops at your school. Start downloading now; visit www.crayola.com/educators/naesp/ to access this new resource! Critical Thinking Training Module Creativity Training Module Communication Training Module Collaboration Training Module Arts-Infused Advocacy Training Module Please click on the links below to view the products in each category.
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