Combining STEM + literacy is an ideal way to engage students. Below you will find links to my educator guides as well as activities I’ve performed during conference presentations that Teach the Hope and highlight our connections to nature.
A standards-aligned activity guide fully integrated with multiple content areas
Aligned to CCSS and NGSS.
A standards-aligned activity guide that includes plotting manta sightings, a plankton discovery, a bycatch simulation, and more! Features activities designed by current classroom teachers.
Aligned to CCSS, NGSS, the Ocean Literacy standards, and the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Lessons include what is a watershed and how does it work?; how does a river form?; calling the salmon back; what makes a story?; identifying problems and solutions; who lives in our local river habitat?, and more.
Lessons include our world ocean, ocean acidification, leadership skills, decoding photos, sustainability, storytelling, and more.
Lessons include using sound to convey emotions without using words, endangered species, conservation, sound, environmental responsibility, acoustic research.
Lessons topics cover current events, endangered species, conservation, climate change, environmental responsibility.
PLUS:
Palm oil Audit is an eye-opening activity that incorporates technology, data collection, graphing, and science communication skills. It might just change your habits, too! PALM OIL AUDIT
Happy Rhinos connects students to endangered species’ welfare using design thinking and language arts. HAPPY RHINOS
Lessons include a pre-reading guide and a summarizing activity. Look for more Sea Otter Heroes activities on my STEM + Literacy Activities page.
PLUS:
Endangered species projects are popular in schools across the country. Use this lesson with Sea Otter Heroes and some of my other endangered species titles to ratchet your unit to the next level. ENDANGERED SPECIES PROJECT
Try a waste audit, STEM + language arts connections, environmental responsibility.
PLUS:
I love design challenges. Whenever I present them at conferences, I see so many creative ideas! My Ocean Clean-up Design Challenge has a host of activities about marine debris that activate students’ prior knowledge and expand their thinking.OCEAN CLEAN-UP DESIGN CHALLENGE
The Aging Plastic Experiment allows students to test how long it takes specific items to decompose. This lesson from Turning the Tide on Trash: A Learning Guide on Marine Debris originally published by the EPA. Use the button below to download the guide, and then turn to page 23 “A Degrading Experience” to begin.
And from Oregon Sea Grant MITIGATING MICROPLASTICS
Lessons include close-reading, building comprehension, examining cause and effect text structures, and media literacy
PLUS:
From the American Society for Microbiology OUTBREAK! INVESTIGATING EPIDEMICS
Lessons include links to reading, social studies, science, math, art, and physical education ♦ Plus a Smithsonian National Museum of American History Activity Guide.
Lessons include response to reading, art and sorting activities, letter writing, alphabetizing, and math.
