Keep Calm and Save the Bats!

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).

Material Type: Unit of Study

Author: Kristin Halverson

Life Cycle of a Butterfly

This lesson focuses on the life cycle of a butterfly. Students will explore each stage and complete a scavenger hunt activity.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Insects Galore

Students will explore the features of an insect and was as the various roles different insects play within the environment. Students will also learn about the stages of metamorphosis.

Material Type: Lecture, Lesson

Urban Green Spaces and Personal Well Being - Connect, Explore, Engage

This unit helps students explore the role green spaces play in personal well being through observation, writing, community engagement, and shared mapping technology.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Authors: Sandy Benton, Alicia Steiner

Backyard Science...The Five Senses

This lesson uses centers to reinforce the five senses incorporating backyard science in the wonderful world of nature.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Author: Dawn Marie Penning

5 Major Body Systems with BrainPOP Lesson Plan

This resource is a teacher guide on the 5 major body systems: heart, lungs, muscles, bones, and the digestive system. There are a variety of printable booklets, interactive games, videos to watch, writing prompts, etc that guide this lesson.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Angela Watson

The Air We Breathe

Students learn what causes air pollution and how to investigate the different pollutants that exist, such as toxic gases and particulate matter. They investigate the technologies developed by engineers to reduce air pollution.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Authors: Integrated Teaching and Learning Program,, Janet Yowell, Malinda Schaefer Zarske, Melissa Straten

Energy Kids: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

This website for elementary age students provides information about energy including what it is, where it comes from, conservation, and history. It also provides games, activities, and teacher lesson plans.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Game, Reading

Author: U.S. Energy Information Administration

Design a Net-Zero Energy Classroom

Students create a concept design of their very own net-zero energy classroom by pasting renewable energy and energy-efficiency items into and around a pretend classroom on a sheet of paper. They learn how these items (such as solar panels, efficient lights, computers, energy meters, etc.) interact to create a learning environment that produces as much energy as it uses.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Integrated Teaching and Learning Program,, Janet Yowell, Malinda Schaefer Zarske, William Surles

Clean Energy Careers Video Series

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.

Material Type: Other

Author: Lynn Aprill

Power Outage Activity CATE Lesson Plan

This lesson plan is for a cross-curricular project that helps students investigate their electricity use and devise a plan for how they could maintain their normal activities for two days without using power (such as during a power outage). The idea came from the need many companies have for a back-up plan when they lose power during a storm but still need to maintain their operations.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: Sierra Erdmann

Energy Usage Spreadsheet CATE Lesson Plan

Students will be using real-life energy use data to learn how to use spreadsheets and create graphs to better organize and view data. Discussions can then follow to analyze the data and explain the usage. Real rates are then provided, and students can use the electricity consumed data to create a utility bill for the consumer and compare the standard Residential Service charges to if the member were instead billed by the “Time of Use” rate.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Data Set, Lesson Plan, Primary Source

Author: Sierra Erdmann

fourth grade lesson 3 Cultivating Genius Framework science: How does transferring energy affect our health?

This is lesson three for fourth grade on energy and  the community effects of coal power plants in Chicago and the community action that ensued.Pursuits addressed Criticality: The capacity and ability to read, write, think, and speak in ways to understand power and equity in order to understand and promote anti-oppression. joy: This is important because as you are struggling with ending and easing oppression, there is joy in coming together and creating change as a community.

Material Type: Lesson

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin

Take Action: Stopping Energy Vampires

The Take Action column provides resources that help teachers engage students in activities that connect their science learning to their lives. In this article, students are introduced to household appliances and devices, called energy vampires, that continue to draw electrical current even when turned off. The article offers a few simple activities that students can take to reduce the impact of energy vampires. The Take Action column regularly appears in the free, online magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle, which focuses on the essential principles of climate literacy.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Authors: Jessica Fries-Gaither, National Science Foundation

Elementary Science: Wasting Energy at Home

People use energy in all aspects of their lives—for cooking, lighting and entertainment. Much of this energy use takes place in buildings, such as our homes. To save money and reduce the impact on our environment, many people are reducing their energy use. One way is to hire engineers to perform home energy audits to understand the ways we use energy and identify ways we can conserve energy. In this activity, students act as energy conservation engineers and identify the ways energy is conserved or wasted. They also learn many ways to personally conserve energy everyday.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Katie Feuerhelm

Why do seeds have so many different shapes?

This lesson explores seeds travel and disperse. The different make ups in the seeds help them to travel in different ways as well as the movement through wind or by animals to help aid in being dispersed. In this activity, students get to play the role of the animals carrying the seed called a Flufffadoo and the counter to complete this experiment.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Why do plants grow flowers?

In this lesson, students will learn how and why flowers are pollinated. In this activity, students will create paper flowers and pipe cleaner bees. Next students will fly their bees from flower to flower and observe what happens to the flower's pollen when it goes through the pollinating process.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Kindergarten science lessons with Cultivating Genius Framework "What are the needs and wants of this classroom community?"

This lesson incorporates the pursuits from Cultivating Genius (framework by Gholdy Muhammad) to a science lesson that can be taught during the science lesson for kindergarteners on 'wants and needs'. Or what living things need to survive. K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to surviveThe Pursuits addressedIdentity is addressed in this lesson as students are thinking about what they need to learn and how it is similar and different from that of their peers. They are thinking about their individual role in helping the community reach the goal of everyone learning and why everyone learning is important to them. Intelligence is addressed as students are assessing their own skills and knowledge and putting it to an action of making their classroom community a better place. Joy is a pursuit addressed in this lesson as students will feel a strength in their own ability to change the community in a positive way for everyone, respecting the different needs of each student in the classroom and working towards a shared goal.

Material Type: Learning Task, Lesson

Author: The genius group from Madison Wisconsin

Habitats and the Ecosystem

Students will learn about the elements of various habitats and how they affect an ecosystem.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Can I Learn Too - Equitable Learning Opportunities Through the Outdoors.mp4

Introduction speech by Nkaujnou Vang-Vue, Principal at Lake View Elementary School in the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Material Type: Lecture

Author: Nkaujnou Vang-Vue