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.

The Test Tube: With David Suzuki
The Test Tube: With David Suzuki is an interactive game that discusses the effects of exponential growth on humanity through an analysis of social media. This interactive game was designed to help facilitate class discussion and inspire students to participate in educational activities related to their experience.

Green Learning Canada
Green Learning Canada works to create innovative teaching resources and other rich educational experiences that empower Canadians to create positive environmental and social change in their own lives, schools, and communities.

COOL 2.0
COOL 2.0 is a Green Learning Canada initiative that offers the best in climate change education. COOL 2.0 offers resources for science, social studies, economics, language arts, technology and more, as well as an interactive forum for teachers and students.

EcoKids
EcoKids is a Canadian based website provides environmentally educative games, stories, images, contests, facts about Earth's environment, and a calendar of events. EcoKids provides tools for both teachers and students.

Facing the Future
Facing the Future provides solution-based programming that is designed for and by teachers, aimed at bringing critical thinking about global issues to students in every walk of life. Facing the Future provides curriculum resources, teacher workshops and service learning opportunities used by teachers in over 120 countries.

The Centre for Energy
The Centre for Energy’s Energy Education provides k-12 resources concerning energy production, consumption and distribution. Lesson plans, maps, facts, stats, poster kits and literacy series are among the many features that The Centre for Energy offers.

Climate Change North
Climate Change North is an educational website created for northerners by northerners. It’s about understanding how climate change affects us, and what we can do about it materials cover all subject areas for learners k-12.

Earth Rangers
Earth Rangers is a non-profit organization that believes in the power of kids to take action to help protect wildlife. EarthRangers.com shares information about the biodiversity crisis and threatened animals, as well as solutions that youth can get involved in.

Inside Education
Inside Education develops and delivers interactive, curriculum-connected and engaging environmental and natural resources education programs for K-12.

Learning for a Sustainable Future
Learning for a Sustainable Future creates engaging education experiences to bring sustainability into the classroom. LSF's Resources for Rethinking Database provides educators with access to lesson plans, worksheets, and other teaching resources that integrate environmental, social, and economic spheres through learning that is action-oriented.

No Impact Project
The No Impact Project’s education curriculum helps middle and high school students explore the effects their everyday behavior has on the environment, their health, and their well-being. It will also challenge students to analyze the influence of their lifestyle choices. Finally, it will guide students to take action both individually and with others to bring about positive change.

Evergreen
Evergreen is a registered charity that works to create and sustain dynamic outdoor spaces. Evergreen offers a wide range of free online resources to help you get the most out of the outdoor classroom by sharing lesson plans from educators across the country who are already integrating greening projects with their curriculum.

Waste Free Lunch Challenge
The Waste-Free Lunch Challenge is an elementary school program developed by the Recycling Council of Ontario in partnership with Metro Ontario Inc and Tetra Pak Canada.The goal of the program is to help schools decrease the amount of garbage they produce and to educate students, staff and parents about waste reduction.

The Miniature Earth Project
The Miniature Earth Project is an online presentation that helps people to understand the difference and realities that people face in the world. Through reducing the world’s population to 100, Miniature Earth can be used as a tool to examine access to resource, social dynamics and issues of justice.

The Little Earth Charter
The purpose of the Little Earth Charter is to help teachers convey eight universal principles that seek to define a just, sustainable and peaceful society for the 21st century to children an early age, with a view to becoming responsible earth stewards for a sustainable future.

The following resources were suggested to us by Mrs. Miller's class from La Vida Charter school in Willits, CA:

Just for Kids
Just for Kids is an Environmental Education resource created by The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The Just for Kids website provides an interactive map that offers information about water, land, air, energy, and recycling.

The Water Page
The Water Page is an independent initiative dedicated to the promotion of sustainable water resource management and use. The Water Page offers 20 practical ways for kids to help save water, as well as an abundance of resources for more water-related education.

Recycle Works
Recycle Works offers curriculum and project ideas for kids, information about setting up recycling programs at school, gardening and composting projects, tips for school facilities and maintenance staff and the latest news about legislation, good policy examples and award programs.

Environmental Library: Endangered Animals
The African American Environmental Association has created the Endangered Animals Library in an effort to educate students about threatened, endangered and extinct animals. This resource also suggests methods of taking action to address threats to our ecosystem.