Lesson Plans
Rules & Responsibilities
In this lesson geared towards kindergartners, students analyze primary sources to reinforce the definitions of rules and responsibilities and consider why rules matter and ways to be responsible at home and in the classroom as well as a ways to act as a responsible citizen of their local community and of the world.
Civic Actions to Impact the Future
Students make connections between the past, present, and future of the environment through their own imaginings, analysis of a primary source image, and the poem "Letter to Someone Living Fifty Years from Now" by Matthew Olzmann. After, students might assess waste or pollution in their school or local community, then consider actions they could take today to help positively impact the future by promoting environmentally friendly policies and/or programs.
Map: Poetry & Environmental Justice
Students analyze NASA images depicting climate change and maps denoting Indian land cessions*, then read the poem "Map" by Linda Hogan. After, students discuss how the poem, images, and maps provide context to the theme of environmental justice. Students follow up and take action by researching local instances of environmental justice / injustice and write to one or more community leaders, expressing their opinion on an issue.
* compiled primarily from reports contained in Library of Congress collections
Natural Disasters: Nature’s Fury
Students analyze a variety of primary sources to examine Americans' life changing experiences with nature during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, then research the Library of Congress online collections to broaden their understanding of how communities have dealt with disaster. Next, students connect their investigations to a literary work of historical fiction based on a natural disaster and conduct additional historical inquiry research. After presenting their findings students may examine a recent natural disaster, locating and analyzing primary source documents related to it, and noting similarities and differences in causes, effects and community responses to those of earlier times.
Explorations in American Environmental History: The Photographer, the Artist, and Yellowstone
Students analyze primary sources to understand the impact photographer William Henry Jackson and artist Thomas Moran had on the creation of Yellowstone National Park and how their artistic talents contributed to the creation of the American West. After, students may research a local environmental issue and create a work of art (photograph, painting, poster, etc.) to draw community attention to it.
Environmental Resource Management: Local and Historical Perspectives
Students analyze primary sources to understand the contexts of America's concern for the environment. After, students produce a paper or presentation on a contemporary topic of local concern that incorporates historical perspectives with current issues.
Shrinking Glaciers
Students analyze historical and contemporary maps to calculate glacier loss on Mount Rainier over time, then explore ideas for slowing glacier loss.
Carbon Footprints, Climate, and Civic Causes
Students make connections between environmental science and civics as a means to impact the environment and the quality of life using sources from the Library of Congress and science concepts to consider the role as civic environmentalists. Students identify how humans have influenced climate change since the Industrial Revolution and a variety of methods that will give students the power to affect the climate of tomorrow. Students then calculate their own carbon footprint and use the EPA material to create an action plan to impact change.