Drought Lesson Plans

Students research folklore and scientific information about rain and water cycles. Then they communicate their understanding of water cycles by creating mobiles showing each stage. Students also write their own folk tales, explaining the water cycle and its relationship to weather and climatic patterns using rhyme, rhythm, and repetition.

Students discuss their community's water sources and assess the factors affecting the water availability and quality. They research water disputes around the world and explain common factors among them.

My curriculum unit also intends to give American young scholars a present-day sense of what it is like to be an immigrant and/or refugee. The second purpose of this unit is to provide lessons about Muslim immigrants and refugees who make the United States their new home. Students study the immigration of the early 1900s and other historical periods.

Students share their knowledge of pumpkins, then read a news article about how hot weather and rain are affecting the pumpkin crop. In this agriculture and current events lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a discussion and vocabulary activity, then students read the news report and analyze supply and demand. Lesson includes interdisciplinary follow-up activities.

Sixth graders  explore agriculture as it relates  crops  throughout a series of historical events. In this agriculture activity, 6th graders read and create a timeline of the 50 year increments that depict important cause and effect events.  Students then use resources to further learn about the history behind agriculture. Students then acquire new terminology related to this topic.

Examine the phenomenon of El Niño and its impact on the environment. Using social studies, language arts, and science, learners will develop a news story on past occurrences of El Nino, its global effect on weather patterns, predictions for the current El Niño, and precautions to take at the national and local level. This is an interactive problem solving activity that incorporates multiple subjects with technology. Links, handouts, and resources are included.

Young scholars, after evaluating different allocation methods for water, determine the costs and benefits of each method.

Students investigate the process of desertification in the Sahel region of Africa. They discuss photos from a National Geographic magazine, analyze the physical/political map of the Sahara, identify the causes and effects of desertification on a handout, and write a conversation between two people.

Here is another in the interesting series of lessons that use the special State Quarters as a learning tool. This one uses the North Dakota State Quarter. During this lesson, your class learns about the different patterns of erosion, and types of vegetation and landforms, found in the Badlands of North Dakota. They also perform an experiment in class. There are many excellent worksheets embedded in this 13-page lesson plan.

Students are members of the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission. They make recommendations to the "governor" and a panel of his advisors regarding the greenhouse effect and global warming.