US Environmental Protection Agency
Teach English, Teach About the Environment
Spread the message of recycling while teaching your English language learners new vocabulary and practicing verb tenses. Included here are four lesson plans for each level (beginning, intermediate, and advanced) as well as accompanying...
Curated OER
Saving Sturgeon
Marine biology apprentices interpret data of sturgeon interaction with gill nets. They use the data to calculate the percentage of fish entangled in each twine size to discover if there is any correlation. This is a valuable exercise in...
Curated OER
Hazards: First Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
Examine the environmental hazards associated with volcanoes with a three-part science lesson. In the pre-lab, first graders learn that gas, landslides, ash, and lava are all hazards that come from volcanoes. They then explore hazardous...
Beyond Benign
Solvent Snapshot
Discover the properties and purpose of chemical solvents. Continuing with the theme of shampoo ingredients, the 10th lesson of this 24-part series investigates the choice of solvents in shampoos. Through their exploration, they learn how...
Curated OER
Recycled Vegetable Oil Powers Vans, Cars
Students share their knowledge about fuel sources, then read a news article about vegetable oil as a cleaner alternative to gasoline. In this current events and environmental science instructional activity, the teacher introduces the...
Curated OER
Grocery Store Bans Plastic Bags
Students participate in the paper vs. plastic bag debate, then read a news article about one grocery store that is banning plastic bags. In this current events lesson, the teacher introduces the news article with a debate and a...
Curated OER
Planting Trees to Help the Planet
Students react to a series of statements about trees, then read a news article about the planned planning of millions of trees to celebrate Arbor Day. In this planting trees lesson, the teacher introduces the article with a discussion...
Disney
Earth Day Guide to Being Green
Have fun completing Earth Day related activities while learning about simple ways to preserve the Earth. Implement some of the ideas for going green as a class, like cleaning up a local park or planting a tree at school.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Migration, Adaptation, and Changing Climates
It is easy for humans to adapt to changing environments, but how do animals and plants do it? Classes discuss how plants and animals deal with environmental changes in the second of seven lessons. Through questions and discussions,...
Teach Engineering
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of several garbage patches around the world where garbage accumulates naturally. As part of a GIS unit that combines oceanography, environmental science, and life science, class members investigate...
Salt River Project
How Do We Clean Polluted Water?
How do we clean up oil spills and other pollutants in the water? Explore water treatment strategies with a set of environmental science experiments. Groups remove oil from water, work with wastewater treatment, and perform a water...
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Byzantine Architecture
View Byzantine architecture from the comfort of your classroom. A PowerPoint presentation introduces important vocabulary terms and examples of Byzantine architecture in the ninth instructional activity of the 11-part series. A Jeopardy...
Reed Novel Studies
Scat: Novel Study
If the most terrifying teacher in the school was lost, would you try to find her? Well, when the toughest teacher in the school is lost on a field trip, Nick and Marta, characters in Scat, decide to go looking for her. Readers discover...
National Park Service
What Can We Do?
Motivate young conservationists to stand up and make a change. After learning about the efforts in Cascade Nation Park to reduce carbon emissions in order to preserve the wilderness, students work in groups creating action plans for...
Curated OER
Cross-Cultural Dialogue Lesson
Use the Peace Corps to explore a different place and different perspectives. Your class reads the personal narrative "Cross-Cultural Dialogue" by Roz Wollmering, completing an attached story frame sheet in preparation for a class...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension 4 Level 12
Designed for English language learners, this reading passage and its accompanying questions focus on autism spectrum disorders. Find a way to interest your readers before handing them this somewhat heavy reading, as even many...
Curated OER
Reading Comprehension 1: Level 8
Do you have an e-reader? Engage your class with this question before assigning them to read the passage. As they read, encourage them to mark the text. Without referring back to the text, can they complete the 11 reading comprehension...
Curated OER
Do They Grow Up or Down?
Students keep a garden journal after planting a garden and discuss environmental stresses put upon the garden for growth. In this garden lesson plan, students plant the plants differently from one another and observe the outcomes.
Curated OER
Talking Trash
Define vocabulary related to global waste. Creative thinkers review and illustrate terms for the Global Garbage Picture Dictionary. They play a vocabulary game in which co-operative skills among players in encouraged. A great way to...
Curated OER
Let the River Run
Students explore the environment by reading a story in class. In this water formation instructional activity, students define environmental terms such as rivers, streams, gulf, oceans and lakes. Students read the story A River Ran Wild...
National Wildlife Federation
Green Green Revolution
School budgets don't have a lot of extra money, so when students propose saving the district money, everyone jumps on board. The first lesson in the series of 21 introduces the concept of an energy audit. Scholars form an eco-action team...
North Carolina State University
Exploring Genetics Across the Middle School Science and Math Curricula
Where is a geneticist's favorite place to swim? A gene pool. Young geneticists complete hands-on activities, experiments, and real-world problem solving throughout the unit. With extra focus on dominant and recessive genes, Punnett...
Curated OER
ESL: Environmental Problems
In this ESL environmental problem worksheet, students work with a partner to explain a set of terms, then divide a set of words that have to do with the environment into syllables.
Curated OER
Hoot: List-Group-Label
Word association is a great way to explore vocabulary and new ideas. In a unit about Carl Hiassen's Hoot, kids think about the word environmentalist and come up with additional words that they associate with environmentalism on sticky...