Teaching Resources
Teaching environmental issues in your classroom is a critical component of providing your students a Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience. Discover a wealth Chesapeake Bay related books, multimedia, curriculum guides, individual lesson plans and online data sources.
Begin by choosing the criteria for your search. It is only necessary to include the criteria you wish to use to limit your search. The more specific your search the more focused and narrow the results.
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Subject
Level
- All Levels
Early Learning- Elementary School
- Middle School
- High School
Type
Alignment
Keywords
- All Keywords
- acid rain
- adaptation
- African American
- agriculture
- air pollution and fossil fuels
- aquatic grass SAV
- beaver
- biodiversity
- blue crab
- boats, canoes and kayaks
- climate change
- culture and watermen
- development
- dissolved oxygen
- Drinking Water
- economics
- ecosystem and biomes
- erosion
- experiments and investigations
- fish
- food web
- forest
- geocaching (GIS/GPS)
- Geography
- green development
- habitat and niche
- identification
- invasive species
- John Smith and colonial times
- land use
- litter, trash and recycling
- Native American
- nitrogen and carbon cycle
- non-point source
- orienteering
- Outdoor Activity
- oyster
- photosynthesis
- point source
- pollution
- population growth
- predator prey relationships
- renewable resource
- restoration
- salinity
- schoolyard habitat
- sediment, soil and rocks
- smart growth
- stormwater
- stream study
- student action
- Temperature
- transportation
- Underground Railroad
- water and energy conservation
- water cycle and movement
- water quality
- water testing
- watershed
- weather
- wetland
- wildlife
> Early Learning The Water Sourcebook: Grade Level K-2
This environmental education program from the US EPA explains the water management cycle using a balanced approach showing how it affects all aspects of the environment.All activities contain hands-on investigations, fact sheets, reference materials, and a glossary of terms. Activities are organized by objectives, materials needed, background information, advance preparation, procedures, and resources. This resource is divided into five chapters: Introduction to Water, Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment, Surface Water Resources, Ground Water Resources, and Wetlands and Coastal Waters.
Subject(s):
Mathematics, Science, Social Studies
Type(s):
Curriculum Guide, Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School
Keywords:
water cycle and movement, watershed, stormwater, water and energy conservation, water quality, salinity, Drinking Water
Groundwater Sourcebook
This source book contains 10 activities covering ground water issues.
Subject(s):
Art, Language Arts, Science
Type(s):
Curriculum Guide
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Keywords:
water cycle and movement, water quality
Schoolyard Habitat Project Guide, Second Edition
This “how-to” guide provides the basic steps needed to restore or create wildlife habitat on school grounds. It will take you and your students through each step of the process: planning, installing and sustaining a project. This is not a book about why schoolyard projects are important; this is a guide about how to make the best one for your site. It is also designed to engage students the completion of several tasks that will lead to establishing a schoolyard woodland, meadow or wetland.
Subject(s):
Science, Technology
Type(s):
Curriculum Guide
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Keywords:
biodiversity, habitat and niche, restoration, schoolyard habitat, water quality, wildlife, student action
A Teachers Guide to Delaware State Parks: Field Trips and Outreach Opportunities
Delaware State Parks are great places for students and teachers to explore nature and history. With 16 parks, five historic sites and many natural areas, Delaware State Parks offer you a comprehensive view of our state’s natural and historical heritage. This resource contains an overview of Delaware State Park field trip and outreach programs, as a printable PDF.
Subject(s):
Science, Social Studies
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Delaware
Keywords:
land use, watershed, wildlife, Outdoor Activity
Virginia's Natural Resource Education Guide: Virginia's Public Policy & Environmental Management
Check out these great lesson plans! This information and activity packet discusses the environmental quality and pollution, and the management and public policies that seek to address them. Two lesson plans are also included. In the "Pollution Prevention Audit Activity," students predict types of waste produced and analyze ways to
decrease it. In the "Sum of the Parts: From the James River to the Chesapeake Bay" lesson plan, students will map and collate different land uses in a simulation “puzzle” exercise that shows the cumulative effects of each land use on water quality.
Subject(s):
Science, Social Studies
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
pollution, land use, watershed, air pollution and fossil fuels, litter, trash and recycling, renewable resource, water quality, economics
Project Learning Tree Curriculum Guide
The Project Learning Tree Curriculum Guide is a collection of 96 hands-on interdisciplinary activities that bring the environment into your classroom. The guide is designed so you can use a single activity or many over the course of a quarter or school year. Each activity includes an overview, background content and a teachers' step-by-step guide. The guide's five main themes are diversity, interrelationships, systems, structure and scale, and patterns of change.
Subject(s):
Art, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Technology
Type(s):
Curriculum Guide
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Maryland,
Virginia,
New York,
West Virginia,
District of Columbia,
Delaware,
National Science Education,
Pennsylvania
Keywords:
pollution, land use, watershed, air pollution and fossil fuels, biodiversity, forest
Maryland Project WET Training and Curriculum Guide
After completion of a six hour training, educators are given a free Project WET curriculum and activity guide packed with 91 hands-on activities that cross many disciplines in the study of water and water resources - chemistry and physics, life science, earth systems, natural resource management, history and culture. During the workshop educators learn how to incorporate local issues into the lessons.
Perfect for 4-H Youth Development, Scouts, and other youth organizations as well, the goal of Project WET is to facilitate and promote the awareness, appreciation, knowledge, and stewardship of water resources through the development and dissemination of classroom ready teaching aids.
Subject(s):
Art, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Technology
Type(s):
Curriculum Guide
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Maryland
Keywords:
pollution, watershed, biodiversity, culture and watermen, ecosystem and biomes, water quality, wildlife
GLOBE Program Teacher's Guide
Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) is a hands-on international environmental science and education program. GLOBE links students, teachers, and the scientific research community in an effort to learn more about our environment through student data collection and observation. This guide explains how your students will be carrying out a series of investigations that scientists have designed to gather data about the Earth and how it functions as a global system. Chapters cover the atmosphere, hydrology, soil, land cover, GPS and Earth as a system.
Subject(s):
Mathematics, Science
Type(s):
Curriculum Guide
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Keywords:
land use, geocaching (GIS/GPS)
Feathered Feeders Lesson
This "bird brained" lesson requires students to think like hungry birds, who must find food at the park. Students will investigate variation in bird beaks and the interrelationships of form and function.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
adaptation, wildlife
EPA Speakers Bureau
The EPA Speakers Bureau recruits regional employees to speak to academic institutions and professional organizations. The Environmental Education Office assists employees with their presentations by providing the necessary background, ideas, training and materials for their presentations. An effort to accommodate all requests is made. Therefore, please give the Bureau a 4 week lead time to arrange for a speaker. (contact 215-814-5541)
Subject(s):
Science, Technology
Type(s):
Multimedia
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Keywords:
pollution, climate change, water and energy conservation, restoration, water quality
Ecosystem Matters: Activity and Resource Guide
This Kindergarten through 12th grade, user-friendly, hands-on and interdisciplinary curriculum guide provides the knowledge base and creates an understanding which enables students to participate in the ecosystem management process.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Curriculum Guide, Books and Publications
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Keywords:
ecosystem and biomes
Build-A-Fish Lesson
Students learn about fish anatomy and morphology and discover how the shapes of a fish's parts are related to how the fish functions. Younger students can also assemble a paper fish from prepared parts.
Subject(s):
Art, Mathematics, Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School
Keywords:
identification, fish
Beaver Tales Lesson
Students will investigate changes in beaver habitat and the interrelationships between beavers and the environment. The lesson explores the ecological role of beavers through observing beavers' life history, modeling beaver-predator relationships and learning the protective importance of hearing and smelling.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
beaver, habitat and niche, predator prey relationships, wildlife
Amazing Oysters - Build an Oyster Reef Activity
In this activity, students will construct a paper oyster reef habitat and learn about the critters that call the reef home. Background information is provided, and the lesson plan is designed to teach students about adaptations, tides, food chains, habitats, and predator-prey relationships.
Subject(s):
Art, Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
food web, adaptation, oyster, ecosystem and biomes, habitat and niche, predator prey relationships
Adopt A Tree Lesson
Students will discover the importance of trees by adopting a tree and observing the tree over several visits throughout the year. Students will observe the tree's seasonal changes, discover the life history of a tree, and witness a wide variety of birds, insects and mammals that live in trees.
Subject(s):
Language Arts, Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
forest, habitat and niche, schoolyard habitat
Raising Horseshoe Crabs in the Classroom
The Raising Horseshoe Crabs in the Classroom program was developed and is implemented by MD DNR's Environmental Stewardship Division and Fisheries Service to educate students about horseshoe crabs and the management of this important species. This project provides equipment, Teachers' Guide and horseshoe crab eggs to schools for students to learn the ecological, medical and historical importance of the vanishing species.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Curriculum Guide, Lessons and Activities, Supplies
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Maryland
Keywords:
watershed, experiments and investigations, predator prey relationships, restoration, wildlife
Chesapeake Bay Field Guide
One of the most comprehensive informational resources on the plants and critters that call the Chesapeake home. Just click on a critter for details about the organism you're interested in.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Multimedia, Books and Publications
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Keywords:
invasive species, oyster, blue crab, beaver, biodiversity, habitat and niche, predator prey relationships, wildlife
Diving Octopus - Floating & Sinking Lesson Plan
Students make and manipulate a simple bottle diver to investigate its floating and sinking properties. They can experiment with variables and make observations to. They apply the same principle to make and keep a toy octopus which dives or floats in a soft-drink bottle.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School
Keywords:
water testing
Will It Float?
Will it float is a surprisingly contagious, fascinating and fun game you can play everyday. Test whether mystery items sink or float daily over a week, fortnight or month in an aquarium or clear plastic tub. Use it as part of a unit on floating and sinking, or simply as a fun motivational activity. Each student can attempt to stump the class with a bizarre or mundane mystery item brought in from home. The class has a few moments to predict whether each item will float or sink and you can keep a tally of their successes. You could award prizes to students with the highest success rate at the end of the “Will it Float?” Season.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School
Keywords:
boats, canoes and kayaks, experiments and investigations
Building-A-Bird's Nest Activity
Students will identify local birds and their habitats by making a diorama and writing a three- to four-sentence description.
Subject(s):
Art, Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Pennsylvania
Keywords:
habitat and niche, wildlife
Build-A-Pizza Box Solar Oven Activity
Check out this staight forward lesson, that can be adapted for all grade levels, on how to build a solar oven.
Subject(s):
Science, Technology
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Keywords:
water and energy conservation, green development
Being a Forest Steward Lesson
In this lesson children will learn that a forest is made up of many different working parts, will discover that forest stewardship is the responsible use and planning of forestland management, and will realize that they can be a forest "friend" or steward.
Subject(s):
Science, Social Studies
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Pennsylvania
Keywords:
water and energy conservation, forest, habitat and niche, identification, renewable resource
Build-A-Horseshoe Crab Lesson
Following completion of this lesson, students will be able to: 1)identify and describe three main parts of a horseshoe crab 2)begin to know the history and habits of the horseshoe crab 3)state several reasons why horseshoe crabs are important 4)understand how to properly handle real horseshoe crabs.
Subject(s):
Art, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School
Keywords:
habitat and niche, identification, wildlife
All the Way to the Ocean Book
All the Way to the Ocean is a children's book about two friend's discovery of the harmful effects of ocean pollution. This story deals specifically with storm drain run-off that travels directly into our natural bodies of water. The story will educate readers and inspire them to fight pollution. The book is available for purchase, with companion resources available on this website.
Subject(s):
Language Arts, Science
Type(s):
Books and Publications
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School
Keywords:
pollution, non-point source, water cycle and movement, stormwater, restoration
Air Quality Index Toolkit for Teachers
This Toolkit provides teachers with easy-to-use and engaging lesson plans, additional activities, and other resources to teach students about the connections between air quality, health, weather, and other related science topics, as well as actions students can take to protect their health and reduce air pollution.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Curriculum Guide, Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
National Science Education
Keywords:
weather, air pollution and fossil fuels, water and energy conservation
