Curated OER
The Environment and the Community
Students observe their environment and come up with ways to protect it. In this environment lesson plan, students discuss pollution and ways to prevent it. Then they create a poster with drawings that show a goal to reduce pollution and...
Curated OER
Not In My Backyard: Siting A Resource Recovery Facility
Students role play a town meeting in which a new resource facility could be built. They have time to question each other after all sides have presented.
Curated OER
Trash...it really piles up!
Students investigate a contemporary "midden" by analyzing trash collected from various sources and determining life-style choices people make. They see that reducing the amount of waste we generate is helpful to the the environment.
Curated OER
Wise Use of Paper
Students explore the paper recycling process. They experiment with ways to conserve and recycle paper products.
Curated OER
Solid Waste
Students examine how to use their vocabulary, writing skills, and creative thinking to address environmental concerns in this unit. They write messages to using creative writing to address the issues of solid waste and recycling.
Curated OER
Sensational Soil
Fourth and fifth graders explore soil by taking a simulated field trip under the earth. They go to an Internet site that runs a simulation which charges them with finding a source of pollution that could destroy all of Earth's soil, and...
Curated OER
Native American Culture
Students read a variety of Native American Literature and discuss the main idea by answering critical thinking questions about the poem. Students use context clues to understand the feeling of the Native American culture about the Earth....
Curated OER
Litter From Lunchtime
Students explore environmental care by participating in a litter identification activity. In this food trash lesson plan, students discuss the destruction litter causes in our environment and ways we can avoid littering ourselves....
Montana State University
Climb into Action!
Climate change affects even the largest and intimidating of landforms—even Mount Everest! A resource helps teach learners the connection between global climate change and its effects on Earth. Activities include videos, class discussion,...
PBS
Cloud Clues
It's cloudy with a good chance of learning! An inquiry-based lesson begins with an exploration of transparent, translucent, and opaque materials. Young scientists then connect their learning to the different cloud types as they take the...
PBS
Star Power
Let there be light—or maybe not. Pupils learn about light pollution with an investigation of constellations. They create constellation boxes and experiment with different levels of light. Observations are then made about the lighting in...
PBS
Twirling in the Breeze
Blow classes away with a hands-on lesson investigating wind speed. Learners use common materials to design and construct anemometers. They then test their anemometers and collect data on the wind speed created by a fan.
Curated OER
Composting With Worms
Third graders predict what happen in two (control and experiment) containers -- one with soil and trash, the other with soil, trash, and worms.
Curated OER
School Yard Waste
Fourth graders examine the types of garbage that they collect on the playground. They collect the information in a spreadsheet and create a graph that displays the number of types of trash found. They design and monitor a playground...
Curated OER
Potato Ways
Learners analyze the packaging process. In this consumer awareness lesson, students analyze the process of packaging a potato and identify positive and negative ways of packaging. Learners study statistics on an overhead transparency to...
Curated OER
Needs and Wants
Students demonstrate responsible consumer choices. In this social studies lesson, students read The Lorax and discuss wants and needs. Students discuss how to save natural resources by making informed consumer choices.
Curated OER
Our Natural Resources
Students investigate natural resources and man-made items. In this earth science lesson, students classify items from trash into man-made items or natural resources. Students construct a flow chart to investigate the life cycle of a...
Curated OER
Look At A Landfill
Students explore how landfills function. In this landfill instructional activity, students explore the use of landfills and the decomposition process by creating a model landfill. Students discuss pros and cons to landfills and how...
Curated OER
Needs and Wants
Students examine the difference between needs and wants. In this consumption lesson, students illustrate their needs and wants and discuss their own reasons for buying things. They also discuss the connection between their choices and...
Curated OER
There Is No Away
Students identify how trash is disposed of. In this environmental instructional activity, students read and discuss the poem "Sarah Sylvia Stout" by Shel Silverstein and discuss the ways people treated the items in the poem. Students...
Curated OER
Earth Day Rap
In this Earth Day Rap, students read a rap/song about helping conserve resources and take care of the earth. On the second page, the song is missing 6 of it's phrases and students fill in the blanks.
Curated OER
A Symphony of Decomposers
Students discover decomposition. In this environmental lesson, students explore different types of decomposers and their role within the ecosystem. Students also discover how waste interferes with the decomposition process.
Curated OER
Protecting Our Planet
Students examine the impact of pollution. In this pollution lesson, students watch Protecting Our Planet, then participate in a simulation of the effect of pollution on a variety of organisms.
Curated OER
A Tree is a Friend
Fifth graders discover the value of trees in our society. In this ecosystem instructional activity, 5th graders read the book, A Tree is Nice, and discuss with classmates how trees are essential to our existence due to creating oxygen...