Details: This lesson can be added to the Amplify first grade science unit: Animal and Plant Defenses: Spikes, Shells, and Camouflage. It can also be used with any unit on animal defenses and structures.Amplify Chapter 3 Driving Question: How can Spruce the Sea Turtle’s offspring survive where there are sharks?  Pursuit addressed:Toward the pursuit of Skills: Students participate in a class reading of an informational text. Students use the information outlined in the text to develop their knowledge of plastic pollution and its negative impact on sea turtles and the environment. They then use this knowledge to inform others or take other steps to help with reducing plastic pollution.Toward the pursuit of Intellect: In this lesson students learn about a topic that affects the environment and specifically how plastic waste affects sea turtles which they have been studying.  They can better understand an environmental problem and turn their understanding into action.

These handouts accompany the 5th Grade Rain Garden Design Challenge Lesson Plan. The handouts give criteria for identifying areas of erosion and non-point source pollution entering waterways on school property, slope and soil suitability criteria for situating the rain garden, and data collection procedures for phosphate testing. The handouts also include guidelines and criteria for the final poster presentation design and Claim-Evidence-Reasoning, as well as rubrics for scoring and guidelines for peer feedback.

This lesson engages 5th grade students in identifying areas of erosion and non-point source pollution entering waterways on school property, making a claim on the most suitable site to locate a rain garden by conducting field tests on slope and soil type, and testing
for the presence of phosphates in waterways on school forest property. Students then compete in a rain garden design challenge using their data to create a poster presentation, including a map and claim evidence reasoning, for the best rain garden design plan, scored using a rubric.

Through a series of three learning experiences, taking place across multiple weeks, students will participate in inquiry-based learning about the county in which they live and learn. Students will write informative pieces to teach others about the natural and cultural communities of Adams County.

Recommended resources that Lucille Barr has used in her classroom. Lucille has graciously shared them with the Advancing Environmental Literacy through Culturally-Relevant Text Sets group.

This is a resource to classify different animal species.  See pictures and facts about animals around the world.  Search specific landscapes and animal types.

In this short unit of study, kindergarten students will learn about adaptations and behaviors that both domesticated and wild animals implement to protect themselves and their young.  This unit is a series of 3 video lessons and 2 field-based lessons.

This series of 5 high-quality, standards-aligned, inquiry-based activities have been field-tested by first grade students and families of Wequiock Children's Center for Environmental Science during Safer At Home orders. These activities encourage students to use natural areas around their homes and in their neigbhorhoods as they improve their science observation skils. The materials used are ones generally available at home and the activites require little preparation on the part of caregivers.Created as a part of a WISELearn OER Innovation project, Connect, Explore, and Engage: Using the Environment as the Context for Science Learning was a collaboration of the Wequiock Children's Center for Environmental Science and the Wisconsin Green Schools Network. One of the goals of the project was to create standards-aligned lessons that utilize the outdoor spaces of the school (as well as those of the students' homes).  Each section of this resource is an individual activity. While each activity builds on the previous ones, it is possible to use them individually.The observation protocol "I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of, I Think Maybe" has been adapted from that of the BEETLES Project.The title image was used with permission and is courtesy of Joe Riederer.

The "I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of" observation protocol helps students develop a mindset of curiosity, and provides language tools to actively and directly engage with the natural world. These are important skills students can carry away and apply in any natural setting. Using this routine makes any field experience more student- and nature-centered.

Modified 5E lesson plan to match the CEE inquiry model of the ELS of WI.

The resources and project outline are the collaborative efforts of the Chain Exploration Center Grades 5 & 6 teachers and a FIELD Edventures educator. The goals of the project were for students to take civic action on environmental issues of local importance. Additionally, the teachers wanted students to become familiar with the four habitat areas, and observable species present in each area.  It was decided that conducting a bioblitz across 4 days–one in each area–would provide students with data that would be the basis for individual and small group investigative questions, issue definition and investigation, and a proposal for conservation, protection, and/or restoration of natural resources, habitats, or species of Wisconsin. Students then presented their proposals to their state senator in a visit to the Wisconsin State Capitol.

2-week unit with activities for Biodiversity Unit within Introduction to Environmental Studies college class.

Through spatial and graphical analysis of bird populations on a fictional island, students learn the meaning of biodiversity, species richness, endemism, and abundance. With the teacher acting as a facilitator, students use an interactive PDF map to explore various ways to represent and compare biodiversity across ecoregions. Students manipulate information layers to identify, describe, compare and graph bird distribution patterns in the island's different ecoregions. Rather than being given a list of vocabulary words, students grapple with the material to discover the meaning of these words and concepts. Through this experiential process, they combine the newly acquired terminology with complementary skills to evaluate and communicate their findings on bird biodiversity. This lesson prepares students for the more complex use of spatial and graphical analysis in our GIS-based Amazon unit.

The Boston School Forest is a field trip destination for 6,000 students each year providing high quality outdoor environmental education programs that expand and authenticate classroom learning. Science education in our district is transitioning to provide greater opportunity for inquiry, and teachers are now searching for resources that can be used in either face-to-face or e-learning formats. The Backyard Habitat Series focuses on connecting kids to an outdoor place through use of sensory observation, exploring the natural features and animals, and engaging in the improvement of habitat for neighborhood wildlife species. Classroom teachers, preservice teachers, and families will discover straightforward instructions, few materials or background knowledge required, and a format that is easily adaptable to the e-learning environment.

Wild edible, medicinal and poisonous plants are an ideal way to connect students to the natural world just outside their door. In this unit, students will be able to identify edible, medicinal and poisonous plants using guide books and plotting them on the Siftr app. Using the collected edibles, students will then follow a procedural text to create food from their wild edibles. Students will then create recipes on their own based on a wild edible of their choice to create community cookbooks.

Lesson plans and ideas for recognizing people that work in the forestry and environmental fields .

When the United States Government’s land grabs put his people in harm’s way, this Menominee leader pushed back and proposed a new plan to protect their homeland and way of life.

Resources available for exploring this story include:
- A short animated video with captions and transcripts in English and Spanish
- A short biography book accessible as a slide deck, with per-page audio for listening along, and maps of key locations in the story
- Questions that can be used for conversation, reflection, and connection with the story
- A historical image gallery full of primary and secondary sources to explore
- A guide for activating the media with learners that includes story stats, extension activity ideas, and standards supported

This story is part of Wisconsin Biographies, a collection of educational media resources for grades 3-6. Explore the full collection at pbswisconsineducation.org/biographies.

Interested in solar, wind, electric power distribution, or energy efficiency? Students don’t need to go far: local Wisconsin vocational schools—along with traditional colleges and universities—all offer degrees and programs to help meet this workforce demand.Slipstream partnered with Wisconsin’s K-12 Energy Education Program (KEEP) to obtain interviews from several stakeholders that are on the front lines of a clean energy future. Join us for a behind the scenes look into some of these careers and the people that are making an impact every day here in Wisconsin.