TEACHERS CORNER: Pre-Program Lessons

The Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks
and Aquariums Educational Resources:
Free activities, games and fact sheets on marine mammals found around the world. You can access the different lessons by either entering your grade level or the species of marine mammals you want to learn about. http://www.biology.ucsc.edu/alliance/edufram.html

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Alliance to Save Energy:
Free downloadable and on-line lessons about energy sources and activities for both elementary and middle school students. http://www.ase.org/educators/download.htm

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Cathedral in the Sea:
PBS- Secrets of the Ocean Realm: classroom activities that go along with the PBS TV series . These science activities are developed for use with students in grades 5-7 (with extensions for lower and higher grades), and looks at identifying the different parts of the giant kelp as well as constructing a kelp forest with the common inhabitants for the classroom.
http://www.pbs.org/oceanrealm/intheschool/school1.html

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Cetacean Curriculum: A Teacher’s Guide to Introducing Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises in the Classroom from American Cetacean Society:
Outstanding 46 page curriculum that is free to download with a user name and password that is also free. http://www.acsonline.org/education/curriculum
/curriculum_signin.html

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Cetacean Fact Sheets from American Cetacean Society:
Informative fact sheets on 12 different species of cetaceans that can be printed for in-classroom use.
http://www.acsonline.org/factshts.htm

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City in the Sea: PBS- Secrets of the Ocean Realm:
Classroom activities that go along with the PBS TV series. These science activities are developed for students in grades 5-7 (with extensions for lower and higher grades). These free activities mainly look at the different threats facing the health of coral reefs. http://www.pbs.org/oceanrealm/intheschool/school7.html

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Closing The Loop : Exploring Integrated
Waste Management and Resource Conservation.
California Integrated Waste Management’s curriculum is a compilation of 50 activities to help students discover and nurture an environmental ethic and stewardship for natural resources. Each lesson encourages students to explore their natural environment, identify waste management issues, and engage in personal and community action projects. There are five sample lessons to try out as well as the information on how to order the full curriculum. http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/schools/Curriculum/
CTL/default.htm

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Coral Cam Lesson Plans:
Created by a teacher advisory group with support from the Bermuda Biological Station. A set of 14 different free lessons that are based on the Bermuda’s coral reefs but can be adapted for any coral reef region. http://coexploration.org/bbsr/coral/lessons/

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Coral Reef Adventure:
Imax film by MacGillivray Freeman provides a free curriculum guide as well as a fun interactive web site with coral reef natural history facts and fun games for grades 4 th-8th.
http://www.coralfilm.com/edu.html

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Coral Reefs: A Compilation of Activities
for Middle School Students by EPA:
A highly recommended resource guide for middle school students that includes a number of excellent classroom activities, background information, and listing of related resources. Available in both English and Spanish.
http://www.aquarium.usm.edu/coralreef/index.html

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The Coral Reef Teacher’s Guide by Reef Relief:
This complete teacher’s guide to coral reefs that offer different activities for grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. There are sample activities available to download or you can order the book $40 US. http://www.reefrelief.org/Coral%20Forest/tguide.html

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CREST- A Coral Reef Ecology Manual by International Marine Life Alliance: This is a free and printable curriculum program for teachers! The manual offers basic ecology of coral reef ecosystems with a particular focus on coral reef systems and management issues that occur throughout the Philippine archipelago. However, the context of the CREST Manual applies to coral reef systems that exist in all tropical coastal areas.
http://www.imamarinelife.org/content/crest/
crest_manual.html

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Discovery Channel Lesson Plans:
The discovery store has an extensive selection of free lesson plans that you can access by either clicking grade level or subject matter. Other lesson plans and packs are for sale with costs between $10 US and $100 US.
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/index.html

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Enchanted Learning: Coral Reefs:
While it may not have lesson plans, the Enchanted Learning website has great cutouts, coloring pages, and various other teaching tools about coral reefs and many common tropical species. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/coralreef/
coralreef.shtml

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Fish Trouble- A Teacher's Guide for Grades 5-12 by Rosenstiel School of Marine Affairs & Audubon’s Living Ocean Program:
This is a free and downloadable teachers guide to fisheries; Activities vary, discussing issues such as, where the fish that we eat comes from, fishing technologies and bycatch issues, and how students can make a difference through social action and personal choices.
http://csf.rsmas.miami.edu/projects.html

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From Shore to Sea by the JASON Project:
Free downloadable information and lesson plan on the giant kelp forest; just click research article.
http://www.jasonproject.org/jason14/stories/kelp

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Garden Detectives by theCommunity Environmental Council:
This 125-page book helps students use their powers of observation to solve the mystery of creating a healthy garden. The language is geared for kids 10 years and older, but the concepts are applicable for younger children and adults. The guide is $14.95.
http://www.communityenvironmentalcouncil.org/
enviroed/eeresources.html

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The Great Whales: PBS- Secrets of the Ocean Realm:
Classroom activities that go along with the PBS TV series. These science activities are developed for use with students in grades 5-7 (with extensions for lower and higher grades) and cover information about the whale's layer of insulating fat as well as a simple experiment to test the effectiveness of fat as an insulator. http://www.pbs.org/oceanrealm/intheschool/school5.html

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Green Schools Energy Project Manual by YES:
Youth for Environmental Sanity. A free guide to help students perform energy "audits" at their schools and as well as guidance on how to successfully lobby for implementation of positive changes. http://www.yesworld.org/resources.html

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Gulf of Maine Aquarium: Marine Mammals:
Ready to use helpful information on the natural history of marine mammals and in-classroom activities. http://octopus.gma.org/marinemammals/index.html

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Environmental Literacy Council:
An independent, non-profit organization that gives teachers the tools to help students develop environmental literacy. The site has subjects in: water, air, energy and ecosystems with a compressive list of references with downloadable activities for the classroom.
http://www.enviroliteracy.org/category.php/14.html

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Mountains to the Sea Watershed Curriculum
by the Santa Barbara County:
The curriculum is designed for Grades 4-8, but can also be adapted for other grade levels. There are 12 different lessons that cover five main themes:

I. All About Water
II. Watershed Descriptions and Wonders
III. The Problems with Pollution
IV. Pollution Solutions
V. The Watershed / Ocean Connection: Impacts on the Ocean

They can be downloaded for free.
http://www.sbwater.org/WSCurriculum.htm

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Neptune’s Web by Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command:
Ideas on oceanographic information and activities that can be used in the classroom for all ages. There are a variety of activities to choose from the different disciplines of science, math, creative arts, language arts, physical education and social studies.
http://pao.cnmoc.navy.mil/educate/neptune/
lesson/lesson.htm

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Ocean Link:
Here is a free activity for kids about marine biodiversity, as well as ,resource guides for teachers from the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre.
http://oceanlink.island.net/

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Ocean Sciences Teacher Resource Center: Bridge
Outstanding resource site with free lesson plans for all ages in a variety of ocean science subjects.
http://www.vims.edu/bridge/

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Planet Protectors Club by EPA:
Great activities and fun games for both students and teachers that can be downloaded directly from the site.
http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/kids/index.htm

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ReefEd:
The Reef ED Teacher Resource Centre houses a wealth of curriculum ideas in a variety of disciplines: science, society and environment, technology, math, the arts, and English.
http://www.reefed.edu.au/activities/index.html

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Save Our Seas by California Coastal Commission:
A set of K-12 curriculum materials that addresses why we should care about the marine environment, the ocean pollution problem, and how individuals can be part of the solution. The curriculum is free and the phone number is provided to place orders.
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/pendx.html

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Sea Otter Unit Teacher’s Manual: Defenders of Wildlife:
Free downloadable manual for teachers with lesson plans that are geared toward middle school students but can be modified for both younger and older students.
http://www.kidsplanet.org/tt/seaotter/home.html

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Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things:
Is a free curriculum for teachers that demonstrates the complicated and environmental wasteful way many of our everyday things are made. Once you follow a day in the life of an average North American and see the secret lives of your food, your clothes, and your toys your world will never look the same. Scroll down to the free pdf curriculum guide:
http://www.northwestwatch.org/pubs/pubs_index.html

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The Sustainability Education Center:
The Center explores the relationships between economic systems, ecological systems, and justice in context of sustainability. They offer a variety of curriculum packets, mainly for middle and high school students that emphasize our search for sustainability.
http://www.sustainabilityed.org/

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Turning the Tide on Trash: Marine Debris:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s free curriculum guide on the important topic of Marine Debris. http://www.epa.gov/owow/OCPD/Marine/contents.html

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Water quality, Waste, Recycling and Conservation
by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:
The site offers curricula and lesson plans on a variety of environmental topics related to water quality, waste and conservation.
http://www.epa.gov/teachers/curriculum_resources.htm

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