This culturally-relevant text set offer different perspectives for students to see as well aswonderful conversation starters. Students learn of different careers within the IndigenousWorld. Some of those careers being: Traditional Seed Keepers, Gardeners, KnowledgeKeepers, Storytellers, and More!Dig your bare feet into the soil and feel those connections to your ancestors, the land, theplants, animals, and all things. We are all connected. Let’s work together and connect our pastto the present, for the future... of learning!

This activity uses the reading, A Cool Connection (as a short story or one act play), to increase student understanding of how electrical power gets to their home and to introduce the connections between environmental problems and personal consumption. The storyline revolves around a group of high school students seeking relief from a heatwave while planning activities for their Ecology Club.

Topics introduced and assessed:
• The steps needed to move electrical power from where it is produced to where it is consumed
• The environmental costs of energy production
• The social costs of not meeting electrical demand

What follows is a collection of lessons on soils that supported a larger inquiry-based project by 7th and 8th grade students on food security in the Waupaca area community. The project was designed to be implemented using the large community garden as a context for learning. This community garden is a showcase feature of the Chain Exploration Center, a 4K-8 school, and, through the efforts of students, teachers, families, and community volunteers, has grown, and donated, a staggering amount of fresh produce for local food pantries. Students of the Chain of Exploration Center were fortunate to work with the nutrient management specialist of the Land and Water Conservation Office of Waupaca County for soil sampling and analysis. This community member provided soil probes and the expertise in collection of samples. He also sent the samples on to the lab and assisted in the interpretation of the results. 

In this short unit of study, four-year-old kindergarten students learn to differentiate and identify common domesticated animals and local wild animals by sight and sound. This unit is a series of 3 video lessons and 2 field-based lessons. 

This template is to be used in the Connect, Explore, Engage professional learning series. Sign into WISELearn to create your own copy of this resource and update the template and this abstract.

What does a green AND healthy school look like? Take a good look at your school from these nine different perspectives. Where is your school excelling? Where could your school use some improvements?

These pages are written for a student audience with opportunities for them to connect, explore, and engage with the nine focus areas in Green & Healthy Schools Wisconsin: Body & Mind, Community Engagement, Energy, Environmental Literacy, Healthy Buildings, School Grounds, Transportation, Waste, and Water.

Context:The teachers facilitate an author study every year among our K-2 unit. This year, we wanted to focus on local authors who have written picture books that address both cultural and environmental literacy. The books included in this unit by Miranda and Baptiste Paul. These texts teach about the water cycle, the life cycle of plants, how our environment impacts our recreation, and how individuals can rally their communities to make improvements in their environment.  understanding.About the author: Ned Dorff has been teaching for 20 years. He has taught regular, gifted, special, and alternative education classes. Ned holds a master’s degree in Environmental Education from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

"How to Teach Nature Journaling" by John Muir Laws and Emilie Lygren (2020) is a free PDF curriculum guide to support educators as they model and teach science thinking by keeping a nature journal. The benefits of nature journaling are that it helps students to:
• slow down and pay attention
• wonder and ask questions
• supporting creativity and critical thinking skills
• by seeing themselves as scientists, engaging in authentic science inquiry
• nurturing a connection with nature
• building equity”
(p. 7 of How to Teach Nature Journaling by Law and Muir, 2020)

This inquiry is designed for supporting students' independent exploration of water outdoors as well as the use of computer interactives. 

This 10-lesson sequence designed for a sixth grade science course explores the following questions: How can humans lessen the harsh effects of extreme heat?How does surface cover affect surface temperature? / Why do different materials experience differences in surface temperature?How might human activities impact the temperatures in the different communities?How can humans mitigate the effects of heat islands?Using the framework from Dr. Gholdy Muhammad outlined in her book Cultivating Genius, each lesson pays special attention to looking at pursuits in identity, skills, intellect, criticality, and joy to support equity in the classroom. Please Remix this template for your purposes.

Through this interactive, hands-on lesson, students will read and gain an understanding of Aldo Leopold’s essay, “January Thaw”. This lesson is best taught in January and/or when animal tracks are present outside.

In this series of activities, students build their background knowledge about bats through a variety of media and texts (Activity 1), play games to learn more about how bats interact with their prey and how they use their bodies, and choose an action(s) to help make the world a better place for bats, and therefore, humans (Activity 2). My students decided to create educational posters convincing people to help bats, plant a bat garden, build a bat house, and adopt-a-bat. They also wrote persuasive letters to hang the bat house on our school, which they presented to the administration (and the project was approved - in addition to which the principal asked us to create additional educational materials to teach the school community - teachers, students, other staff - and families about the benefits of bats).

Students will use hands-on models, maps, and the natural landscape to describe landforms in our area and and develop and understanding of the effects of water and wind on these landforms. Prior to these lessons, students will have had experiences with the use of "I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of" protocols as well as field journaling. This is a unit for second grade landforms that culminates in a visit to Roche-A-Cri State Park.

This lesson uses the an inquiry-based approach to learning modified from the BEETLES Learning Cycle to explore wind and wind energy. 

Students in Grades 3 & 4 at Chain Exploration Center developed an understanding of the important role that pollinators play in human food systems as well as in native habitats. Students also learned about the stressors, many of them human-influenced, that are associated with the decline in pollinator populations. Students also learned about ways that humans can improve pollinator habitat. The culmination of student learning was an environmental stewardship project: the installation of a pollinator garden on the school grounds. What follows is an outline of the project process and a discussion of the resources that were used. 

Students in Grades 1 & 2 at Chain Exploration Center developed an understanding of the maple syrup production and its importance as an agribusiness. Students also learned about plant structures and their role in photosynthesis and the ecosystem services of sugar maple trees. The culmination of student learning was a project showcase in the form of a Maple Tree Museum to which parents and community members were invited. What follows is an outline of key place-based lessons and experiences that supported students’ learning.

Through the use of culturally-relevant texts in a 3rd and 4th social studiens unit on Menominee history, students took a deep dive into learning about the significance of the Lake Sturgeon. Traditional stories as well as nonfiction pieces from and about the Menominee people, students experienced the interconnectedness of the people and their environment.An summary of student learning experiences as well as a bibliography of texts are included as part of this OER.

This resource provides an overview of how the Northland College Educator Preparation Program will systematically integrate Environmental Sustainability across our program in order to prepare education students to more intentionally incorporate the Wisconsin Environmental Literacy and Sustainability (ELS) standards into their teaching practice.

Students are tasked with selecting an outdoor activity that they would like to engage in for at least 20 minutes  every week over the course of the semester and reflect upon their experiences before, during and after the activity.  For example, they might choose to go for a walk, seek out a hike in different parks each week, relax by the lake, or go for a swim.

This template uses the an inquiry-based approach to learning modified from the BEETLES Learning Cycle.