Teacher Resources

Environmental Literacy Council
Environmental Literacy Council is dedicated to helping teachers, students, policymakers, and the public find cross-disciplinary resources on the environment. The Council believes that our classrooms must become places where students achieve a deep understanding of complex environmental issues – and teachers are the key.

Green Teacher
Green Teacher is a magazine that strives to assist youth educators by enhancing global environmental education. Published four times a year, each magazine is equipped with ideas for rethinking global environmental challenges and ready-to-use activities for ages 6-18.

Environmental Protection Agency
EPA has put together a collection of websites and documents that are meant to offer basic and clear information to assist educators in teaching a diverse range of environmental topics.

Teacher Planet
Teacher Planet is sponsored by Graceland University’s Master’s of Education program. The site offers a wide range of educational tools, including lesson plans and units, worksheets, and other environmental resources for today’s eco-conscious educator.

Energy Quest
Energy Quest is an award-winning energy education website sponsored by the California Energy Commission. Teaching youth about the importance of an “energy ethic” is crucial in order to conserve our finite resources for generations to come. Today’s youth are tomorrow’s scientists and inventors, and Energy Quest is an excellent resource through which teachers can encourage youth toward innovations in energy conservation.

Eco-Pros
Eco-Pros has an extensive amount of information concerning the environment and related global issues. It also provides a comprehensive list of teacher resources geared toward educating youth in a variety of environmental areas.

Alliance to Save Energy
Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) is a non-profit organization comprised of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders who advocate energy-efficient policies. To achieve their goal, the ASE strives to implement energy-related education in the public by starting in the classroom. The ASE website is equipped with teacher’s tools, resources and lesson plans.

Conservation Education Program
Conservation Education program (CE) is designed to help students of all ages understand the necessity of sound natural resource management. With programs aimed at K-12, the CE hopes to garner youth with the capacity to make their own intelligent and informed decisions about natural resources.

Earthday Network
Earthday Network is a web resource for educators which provides hundreds of K-12 environmental lesson plans and activities. The Earthday Network’s goal is to ensure that our future leaders have the understanding necessary to meet upcoming global environmental challenges.

North American Association for Environmental Education
NAAEE provides teacher resources and education plans for PreK-12 levels from various environmentally conscious individual companies and organizations.

Environmental Concern, Inc
EC Inc. is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to spreading awareness about wetlands, by providing workshop and educator training, as well as indoor and outdoor setting lesson plans.

Environmental Defense Fund
The Teacher’s Guide to Environmental Defense Fund material is designed to help bring current environmental issue into the classroom. They focus on a range of concerns, including biodiversity, climate, health, and oceans.

Farm to School
The Farm to School organization is committed to improving the health of students nation-wide. They hope build in youth a greater understanding of the journey food takes from farm to fork, helping student learn about where their food comes from and the processes involved.

Federal Resource for Educational Excellent
The FREE website provides hundreds of educational tools for teachers. Their Earth Sciences section contains a vast array of resources.

Environmental Resource Center
Sponsored by the University of Wisconsin, the ERC can provide assistance to educators who wish to encourage understanding of watersheds, water resources, and water quality through community based projects.

Globe Program
The Globe Program brings together a worldwide community of scientists, citizens, teachers, and students. Their goal is to better understand and improve Earth’s environment at the local, regional, and global level. The Globe Program site comes with classroom tools, workshops, and teacher resources to promote environmental literacy and stewardship based on scientific discovery.

Reef ED
Reef ED is a program sponsored by the Australian government for the purpose of broaden world knowledge about the environmental concerns affecting the Great Barrier and reefs around the world. Teacher resources are provided for K-12 programs.

U.S. Geological Survey
The USGS website supplies educational resources for K-6, 7-12, and college and university levels. The USGS is a major source for impartial, multi-disciplinary science which focuses on biology, geography, geology, and water.

National Earth Science Teachers Association
The NESTA provides a wealth of quality educational resources in the form classroom tools, fun activities and games, and digital libraries with the goal of an enriched learning experience.

National Environmental Education Foundation
The NEEF is a non-profit organization that has created interesting educational programs to enhance environmental literacy and understanding throughout K-12 schools as well as in the workplace.

National Geographic
National Geographic has an online community of connected classrooms to facilitate project sharing and collaborative learning. Their website also has a research-based, curriculum-aligned e-mentoring resource for grades 3-5, as well as fun online learning activities for kids. National Geographic also has some excellent educational programs for parents and teachers to support their children’s environmental education.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
The NIEHS kid’s page has games, sing-alongs, colouring activities, and other tools as an informational and educational resource for all ages.

National Park Service
The National Park Service provides classroom material, curriculum based learning, field trip planning, and a variety of games and activities to assist teachers in furthering youth understanding about environmental concerns faced by national parks.

National Science Foundation
The NSF has a diverse collection of lessons and web resources for teachers to use in their classrooms and parents to use in the home, intended to meet the needs students and teachers at all levels: K-12, Higher Education and Lifelong Learning.

National Snow and Ice Data Center
Sponsored by the University of Colorado, the National Snow and Ice Data Center has a wealth of web resources with information on snow, ice, glaciers, sea ice, and other elements of the cryosphere.

National Wildlife Federation
The NWF has an abundance of information on endangered species and wildlife, their habitats, and how global warming is impacting survival. The NWF also has an award-winning children’s magazine.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
The NOAA has material that is designed for teachers to use in the classroom or for reference information, on issues including weather, climate change, and oceans.

Project Learning Tree
Project Learning Tree’s main goal is to increase students’ understanding of the environment by using forests as a focus to stimulate critical and creative thinking. Students will then be able to make informed decisions on environmental issues. They provide an extensive range of information with curriculum aimed at the PreK-8 levels.

Project Wet
Project Wet is a community program which endeavours to spread worldwide water education. The site includes workshops and publications on water topics, such as watersheds, water quality, and water conservation. The project is meant for teachers and community leaders alike.

Project Wild
Project Wild is designed to be of use to formal and non-formal teaching methods for all grade levels. The site includes resources such as K-12 curriculum and activity guides for land and ocean issues, and lesson planning worksheets for educators.

Sierra Club
Sierra Club is a grassroots environmental organization founded by John Muir. The site provides support and curriculum for classroom or outdoor studies, hands-on activities for youth, and links to government resources and other environmental organizations.

Smithsonian Education Tools
Provides a large number of educational materials, including lesson plans, fact sheets, family activities, children’s books, and media education initiatives.

Water Education Foundation
The Foundation offers a range of programs for educators in elementary, secondary, and college level programs.