Happy Friday, readers! It’s Lauren Felsenstein here, celebrating Earth Day 2011. Today, millions of people across the country will be honoring their commitment to a cleaner, greener future by participating in celebrations such as clean-ups and community festivals. (The Scholastic Book Talk blog has a nice post about how this day came to be — check it out!) The Earth Day Network has even launched their Billion Acts of Green initiative, providing easy and fun suggestions to help even the busiest person participate in Earth Day. People are pledging to save water, conserve energy, lower their carbon footprint by biking to work, help the sustainability movement by planting their own vegetables, and saving electricity by using more solar energy. Me? I just took this really awesome quiz, developed by Practically Green, and discovered that I am “solidly green.” While I can do some things to be more environmentally friendly, I’m on the right track! My personal goals are to make sure I turn off the lights when I leave a room, unplug appliances I’m not using, and to try to walk as much as possible or use public transportation.

How about you? If you’re looking for fun ways to educate kids about the environment or are interested in finding entertaining ways to join the celebration, Scholastic has books and activities for kids in every age group.

For ways to incorporate solar power and conserve energy, check out The Magic School Bus Science Kit: Solar Energy to the Rescue. Let Ms. Frizzle take young scientists on a wild ride as they collect real carbon dioxide, recreate global warming in a bottle and much, much, more. Kids can also learn more about the impact of global warming in The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge, where Ms. Frizzle explains to why the world is getting warmer in a way kids can easily understand. Klutz rides the wave of the future with The Solar Power Car Book (ages 8+), a complete kit for making a cool, easy-to-assemble, solar race car. To learn more about solar energy and global warming, kids can follow-up their activities by reading The Down to Earth Guide to Global Warming, by Laurie David and Cambria Gordon (ages 9+).

To learn about weather systems, kids can check out Mother Nature Goes Nuts! (Klutz, ages 8+). From incredible photography, to true-life survival stories, to facts that will amaze your friends, Mother Nature Goes Nuts! combines funny yet educational reading with some incredible hands on experiences–like the twister in tube! To learn more, kids can also check out The Weather Channel: Forces of Nature, which can tell you everything you’ve wanted to know about thunderstorms, earthquakes, hurricanes, and much, much more.

If your children are too young for some of the activity kits mentioned above, there are also some earth-friendly picture books for younger readers, like Planet Earth: Baby Penguins (ages 0 +), Big Earth, Little Me (ages 4 +), and Living Sunlight: How Plants Bring the Earth to Life (ages 4-8), by three-time Caldecott Honor artist Molly Bang and MIT ecology professor Penny Chisholm. Living Sunlight is a poetic exploration of the universal energy force within us all.

In addition to great books, there are other ways to get kids engaged in Earth Day activities and conversations. The Scholastic News Kids Press Corps put together a Special Report that’s all about Earth Day — written by kids, for kids. Over on our kids’ blog, The Stacks, there are great posts for kids, including this Earth Day-themed writing prompt. There are lesson plans for teachers, and even a free digital green guide from Parent & Child magazine.

Earth Day has been a significant marker for the current generation of elementary-aged kids. Tell us, what does Earth Day mean to your? Your students?