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Resource | Type of resource | Link | Comment/Description/review |
|---|---|---|---|
A People's Curriculum for the Earth | Book collection | https://www.rethinkingschools.org/books/title/a-people-s-curriculum-for-the-earth | From the team at Rethinnking Schools- "a collection of articles, role plays, simulations, stories, poems, and graphics to help breathe life into teaching about the environmental crisis." |
Chimpanzees I Love: Saving Their World and Ours | Book | https://www.betterworldbooks.com/ | A beautiful book by Jane Goodall to inspire a love of animals, nature as well a belief that we can make change. |
Environmental Issues Books | Book collection | https://teachheart.org/environmental-issues-books-for-ages-2-to-10/ | Booklist for high quality environmentally-themed books for kids ages 2-10 |
Environmental Issues Books | Book collection | https://teachheart.org/environmental-issues-books-for-ages-10-to-18/ | Booklist for high quality environmentally-themed books for kids ages 10-18 |
Novel: The Carbon Diaries 2015 | Book | https://www.amazon.com/Carbon-Diaries-2015-Saci-Lloyd/dp/0823423018#customerReviews | A young-adult novel told through a 16 year old's diary entries that tells the tale of climate related stress and disaster. |
Novel: The Carbon Diaries 2017 | Book | https://www.amazon.com/Carbon-Diaries-2017-Saci-Lloyd/dp/0823423905/ref=pd_sbs_14_img_0/137-2074282-8908924?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0823423905&pd_rd_r=0be31450-9a43-45e3-9cb7-b1121931f213&pd_rd_w=Aerdv&pd_rd_wg=7O8a7&pf_rd_p=5cfcfe89-300f-47d2-b1ad-a4e27203a02a&pf_rd_r=W5T1320P6MFCJTT4Q46F&psc=1&refRID=W5T1320P6MFCJTT4Q46F | Sequel to Carbon Diaries 2015 |
Recource List from Biomimicry Institute | Resources list | https://asknature.org/?s=&p=0&hFR%5Bpost_type_label%5D%5B0%5D=Resources | A great resource based on the idea of solutions inspired by nature. |
Senna Helps the Sea Lions (And You Can Too!) | Book | https://www.betterworldbooks.com/ | If your kids need to see how a young person can take action and help solve a problem, check this one out. |
The Great Kapok Tree | Book | https://www.betterworldbooks.com/ | A classic story to inspire young readers to look at the natural world with new eyes. |
The Kingdom of Winter | Book | https://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Winter-Kingdoms-Seasons/dp/0692830839 | Is it possible to teach climate change through fantasy and an epic journey? |
Dear Children of Earth | Book | https://www.betterworldbooks.com/ | A heartfelt plea to the children of the Earth to love her and to take care of her. This one brings tears to my eyes every time and is very moving for children. |
Yale List of Climate Change books | Book list | https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/08/childrens-books-about-climate-change/ | A booklist put together by Yale Climate Connections. |
Feminist list of Climate change books | Book list | https://feministbooksforkids.com/books-about-climate-change/ | A simple, feminist-approved booklist on climate change. |
Books on Environmental Conservation | Book | https://www.conservationtales.com/ | "The Conservation Tales books are more than just stories about animals! Each story is based on the work of real scientists who study the animals in the wild. The illustrations and photos help children learn what scientists do. Each book also has conservation actions you can do at home, and inquiry learning activities for school, home or after-school settings." |
How to Talk to your Kids about Climate Change | Book | https://newsociety.com/books/h/how-to-talk-to-your-kids-about-climate-change | ClimateMama Harriet Shugarman guides parents -- and teachers through the emotional complexity of addressing the climate crisis with children. |
Citizens' Guide to Reducing Energy Waste | Activities & Lessons | https://environmentamerica.org/feature/ame/its-time-take-charge | Learn how to reduce your energy waste. |
Click Energy's 8 Tips for Saving Energy at Home for Kids | Activities & Lessons | https://www.clickenergy.com.au/news-blog/teaching-kids-to-save-energy-8-fun-tips-to-try | A blog to help kids reduce energy. |
NDRC's Energy Efficient Home Makeover | Activities | https://www.nrdc.org/stories/energy-efficient-home-makeover?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=twee&utm_campaign=EnergyEfficiency | Tips for reducing energy. |
Kid Wind: Wind and Solar Energy Challenges and Activities | Activities & Lessons | https://www.kidwind.org/challenge | Classroom materials for wind energy plus challenges for wind turbine design and national competitions |
Food Dollar Game | Activities & Lessons | https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-dollar-series/documentation.aspx | a game that features how each "dollar" is divided over all parts of the food supply chain |
One Child, One Planet: Inspiration for the Young Conservationist | Book | https://www.betterworldbooks.com/ | A Loving tribute to mother earth, this book explains how everyone’s actions make a difference. |
Green Ninja | Activities, Lessons, Videos, Lesson Plans | https://web.greenninja.org/ | Comprehensive middle school science program equips students with everything they need to create a cleaner and healthier world, also resources in Spanish. |
Argument Driven Inquiry | Lesson plans, Activities, Teaching guides, Workshops | https://argumentdriveninquiry.com/ | Instructional materials can be used to help students in grades 3 - 12 learn how to use the disciplinary core ideas and practices from science, mathematics, and engineering to better understand the world or to develop solutions to problems. These materials can be found in our books. Each of our books includes 10 - 30 investigations that are designed to be used in a specific grade band. |
Killer Snails: STEM Games | App, Games, STEM-based play | https://www.killersnails.com/ | Use our games to find new ways to enrich children's lives with entertaining-engaging-educational STEM content where players roleplay as scientists and learn critical thinking and analytical skills necessary to become thought leaders and change makers to one day find cures and vaccines that may help save lives. |
What is the Greenhouse Effect? | Activity | https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_activity?share_token=KaXWPqw6SYCHcGEa1ELe2Q&prompt_id=prompt.f141bd15-4942-4a75-8ab1-8edd1d530e0a | Using Seesaw, this explanation of the greenhouse effect has proved helpful in allowing students to understand a bit of some climate change basics. |
NASA: Global Climate Change for Educators | Activities, Videos, Lesson Plans | https://climate.nasa.gov/resources/education/ | NASA's resources for educators, including Climate Kids, Climate Change Lessons, and National Climate Assessment Teaching Resources, also Resources in Spanish |
Clear Choices Clean Water Indiana | Actions, Pledges, Community Pledge Map, Activities | http://indiana.clearchoicescleanwater.org/ | Water Protection Actions and Pledges |
IDEM Watershed Assessment | Activies, Citizen Science | https://www.in.gov/idem/cleanwater/2338.htm | Testing water as citizen science |
National Education Association: Clean Energy Education, Energy Efficiency | Lesson plans, Activities, Lessons, Videos, Curriculum guides, Resource List | http://www.nea.org/tools/clean-energy-education.html | Curriculum and lessons for teaching energy and energy efficiency |
ACE: Our Climate Our Future | Videos | https://ourclimateourfuture.org/ | Great video series that really help kids understand the basics of the climate crisis |
American Climate | Videos & Stories | https://insideclimatenews.org/american-climate/about | Videos and stories of people affected by climate change |
Animal Agriculture and Climate Change | Article & Infographs | https://climatenexus.org/climate-issues/food/animal-agricultures-impact-on-climate-change/ | An overview of what food choice has to do with climate change. |
Bioneer Ecoliteracy Podcast | A podcast about revoluntionizing education to support our planets survival | https://bioneers.org/a-sense-of-wonder-ecological-literacy-and-the-facts-of-life-fritjog-capra-zenobia/?mc_cid=9e01642c2a&mc_eid=4bffe82eb8 | a podcast to invite you to look at education in a new way |
Bioneers: Revolution from the Heart of Nature | Articles, Videos, & Resources for people concerned about the planet | https://bioneers.org/ | A podcast from Bioneers, who has been connecting the dots of the climate crisis and climate justice for over 25 years. |
Center for Ecoliteracy | Videos, Lessons, Books on sustainability | https://www.ecoliteracy.org/ecological-education | Lessons, articles, and principles to further ecological teaching and learning; California-focused but useful for all |
CLEAN and Managing Controversy when teaching climate change | Article | https://cleanet.org/clean/literacy/tools/controversy.html | If the controversy of teaching climate change gives you pause, read this article. |
CLEAN (Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network | Lessons & Activites with toolkits and units available | https://cleanet.org/clean/literacy/tools/index.html | Another toolkit from the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network |
Climate Change and Human Health Data | Reports, Data, Charts, & Indicators | https://www.globalchange.gov/browse | If you want to show your students reports and data about climate change you can pull it directly from here |
Climate Change and Human Health | Lessons & Activites with Toolkits and Units available | https://www.globalchange.gov/browse/educators | In depth resources and materials to help students understand the complex impact of climate change |
COP Educator Toolkit | Activities | https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JZCMAwqivi3XGPAu-O1Y-3F9kFcaOrTCxohVCva7guI/edit?ts=5d40565d | This short toolkit contains some basic info on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Conference of the Parties (COP), as well as links to videos made at COPs to give students the ability to really get a sense of what they are. |
DC Environmental Literacy Framework | Academic Standards for Environmental Concepts | https://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/osse/page_content/attachments/Environmental%20Literacy%20Framework.pdf | Simple framework for environmental literacy aligned with NGSS standards |
Ecological Footprint Calculator | Tool | https://www.footprintcalculator.org/ | Simple way to invite students to determine how many Earths we would need if everyone lived the way they do as well as their personal Earth Overshoot Day. Great way to start a deeper study on carbon footprint and climate change in general. |
Educators for Climate Crisis Action | Resource list | https://educators-for-climate-action.org/ | Clearing house of support and resources for teachers who want to teach climate change |
EPA Generate Game | Lessons & Activites | https://www.epa.gov/students/lesson-plans-teacher-guides-and-online-environmental-resources-educators | EPA curated list of individual activities. |
Food and Climate Change Article | Article | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2019/04/04/meat-and-agriculture-are-worse-for-the-climate-than-dirty-energy-steven-chu-says/#15b47c311f9d | An article about the portion of carbon emissions related to food/animal agriculture. |
Global Climate Strike Educator Toolkit | Tool | https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NGPRQ4Z-tOTkODcTiXwYsa7207oCDV0xzR1J8TShalY/edit | Tools for teaching kids about the global climate strikes |
Global Oneness Project | Video & Lessons | https://www.globalonenessproject.org/library/collections/climate-change | video and lesson plans on how climate change is affecting people around the world |
The Consequences of Our Changing Planet Nearpod | Online activity (nearpod) | https://nearpod.com/t/science/3rd-grade/our-changing-climate-causes-and-consequences-L41076811 | 1:1 activity to help students understand climate change |
HEART's Environmental Book List | Booklist | https://teachheart.org/environmental-issues-books-for-ages-2-to-10/ | Book list assembled by educators on a wide array of environmental themes |
The Consequences of Our Changing Planet Lesson Plan | https://teachheart.org/library/ | An overview of climate change for 3rd-5th graders | |
HEART | Tool, Lesson Plans, & Activities | https://teachheart.org/library/ | Rich library of resources to help children learn about the planet, animals, and social justice |
Indiana Recylcing Coalition- Learn the basics about recycling | Activities & Information | https://indianarecycling.org/educational-resources/ | Resources on recycling and waste |
In the Loop: Circular Economy Board Games | Game | https://intheloopgame.com/ | A game on the circular economy for purchase |
Institute for Humane education resources | Lesson plans & Books | https://humaneeducation.org/resource-center/ | Inspiring and cross-curricular/multi-topic database of lessons, activities, books, and other resources on the topics of environment, animals, and social justice |
Insititute for Humane Education- center for solutionary change | Unit | https://humaneeducation.org/center-for-solutionary-change/ | A new way of thinking about education to give students the knoweledge, skill, and confidence to tackle their generation's greatest challenges |
In time for tomorrow? The Carbon Conversations Handbook | Books | http://www.carbonconversations.co.uk/p/materials.html | A free PDF download of a handbook that Naomi Klein says, 'this lovely handbook covers it all." |
Nat Geo- Act on Climate Resources for Teachers | Lessons, Unit, & Activities | https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/act-on-climate/ | Loads of high quality resources made specifically for teachers, divided by age range. |
NASA Climate Kids | Tools, Videos, Interactive website | https://climatekids.nasa.gov | Starting point for learning about the basics of Climate Change with games, videos, activities |
NASA Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet | Graphs, Charts, Science Lessons, Articles, & Expert sources, etc. | https://climate.nasa.gov/ | This is a great source of facts, data, solutions, and explanations, all on a beautiful easy-to-navigate site. |
NOAA Discover Your Changing World | Activities | https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/discoverclimate/ | 10 simple activities to introduce your class to the science behind climate change. |
NOAA Ocean Acidification Activities | Activities & Lessons | http://www.cisanctuary.org/ocean-acidification/hands_on_activities.php | Hands-on activities on the subject of ocean acidification |
NSTA (National Science Teaching Association) | Resources, Lessons, Science units | https://ngss.nsta.org/Classroom-Resources.aspx | NGSS aligned lessons. Just search "climate change" to pull up lessons that are ready and alligned. |
Project Drawdown | Book & Tool | https://www.drawdown.org/solutions | Outstanding resource for students needing focus on solutions (and hope) |
Story of Solutions | Video | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpkRvc-sOKk | Incredible video that can introduce |
Story of Change | Video | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIQdYXCKUv0 | Great video to help kids understand how change can be made. |
The Story of Stuff | Video | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM | Kids love this video and it helps them understand a lot about consumption and its role in environmental damage. This could kick off an entire unit. |
Climate Change Solutions Simulator | Tool & Simulator | https://www.climateinteractive.org/tools/en-roads/ | Interactive tool to explore various climate change solutions to better understand the big picture |
Imagine the Solutionary Generation | Video | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjlKJscI7xA&feature=youtu.be&utm_source=IHE+eNewsletter+Subscribers&utm_campaign=33f837cb0c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_12_20_10_17_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c3bc05d64e-33f837cb0c-209507635 | Introduce other teachers and parents to solutionary thinking |
Weather and Climate Lab | Activities & Lessons | http://msucommunitydevelopment.org/4Hweatherandclimate.html | A Hands-On Learning Experience for Elementary School Students |
Purdue University Climate Toolkit | Activities & Lessons | https://ag.purdue.edu/climate/education/for-k-12-teachers/. | Lessons and activities on fossil fuels, greenhouse gasses, extreme weather, ecological impacts, and more. Special focus on the " five critical topics that students should learn and that every adult should understand." |
Weather and Climate- Purdue | Activities & Lessons | https://www.eaps.purdue.edu/outreach/Lockbox?_ga=2.22660731.1343618708.1584726588-732325092.1562098424 | basic activities on climate and weather |
Map My Environment- Pollution Visual Tool | interactive website | https://www.mapmyenvironment.com/ | Interactive website to look at pollution in several geographic areas. |
Environmental Science Videos divided by subject | Videos | http://www.bozemanscience.com/ap-environmental-science | High quality videos that teach a wide array of environmental science content, taught by a Teacher of the Year from Montana. AP science alligned. |
NPR Article: How to Teach Climate Change | Article | https://www.npr.org/2019/04/25/716359470/eight-ways-to-teach-climate-change-in-almost-any-classroom | A great starting point for teachers as they begin teaching about climate change |
Renewable Energy- Virtual Field Trip | Virtual field trip & Video | https://www.natureworkseverywhere.org/resources/powering-the-planet/ | All the tools and resources to take your students on a field frip to learn about renewable energy. |
Virtual Field Trips- Various environmental topics | Videos & Virtual field trips | https://www.natureworkseverywhere.org/resources/ | Exceptional quality; Wide slection of content, videos, lesson plans for learning about the rainforest, stormwater, pollinators, and almost all of the specific environmental content you need! |
Young Voices for the Planet | Videos & Virtual field trips | https://www.youngvoicesfortheplanet.com/youth-climate-videos/ | Videos to help kids see other kids taking action as well as useful teacher resources |
PBS Learning Media | Videos, Lessons, Interactive website | https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/search/?q=climate%20change | Huge library of high quality resources; searchable by grade level, standards, and subject. |
The YEARS collection | Videos | https://theyearsproject.com/ | Outstanding collection of videos on a wide range of climate topics. |
Welcome to Teach Climate
A Climate Literacy Toolkit for K-12 Teachers brought to you by:
Most teachers want to teach climate change but sometimes don’t know where to start. We have curated a list of high-quality, user-friendly lessons, units, activities, videos, and more to help.
Just click the grade you teach and the amount of time you have to pull up your resource list.
Resource Center
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