Teaching Resources
Teaching environmental issues in your classroom is a critical component of providing your students a Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience. Discover a wealth Chesapeake Bay related books, multimedia, curriculum guides, individual lesson plans and online data sources.
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If you know of a great teaching resource that is not included in the Bay Backpack please let us know by suggesting a resource.
Subject
All Subjects- Art
- Language Arts
- Mathematics
- Science
- Social Studies
- Technology
Level
- All Levels
- Early Learning
- Elementary School
- Middle School
- High School
Type
Alignment
Keywords
- All Keywords
- acid rain
- adaptation
- African American
- agriculture
- air pollution and fossil fuels
- aquatic grass SAV
- beaver
- biodiversity
- blue crab
- boats, canoes and kayaks
- climate change
- culture and watermen
- development
- dissolved oxygen
- Drinking Water
- economics
- ecosystem and biomes
- erosion
- experiments and investigations
- fish
- food web
- forest
- geocaching (GIS/GPS)
- Geography
- green development
- habitat and niche
- identification
- invasive species
- John Smith and colonial times
- land use
- litter, trash and recycling
- Native American
- nitrogen and carbon cycle
- non-point source
- orienteering
- Outdoor Activity
- oyster
- photosynthesis
- point source
- pollution
- population growth
- predator prey relationships
- renewable resource
- restoration
- salinity
- schoolyard habitat
- sediment, soil and rocks
- smart growth
- stormwater
- stream study
- student action
- Temperature
- transportation
- Underground Railroad
- water and energy conservation
- water cycle and movement
- water quality
- water testing
- watershed
- weather
- wetland
- wildlife
Virginia's Natural Resource Education Guide: Virginia's Public Policy & Environmental Management
Check out these great lesson plans! This information and activity packet discusses the environmental quality and pollution, and the management and public policies that seek to address them. Two lesson plans are also included. In the "Pollution Prevention Audit Activity," students predict types of waste produced and analyze ways to
decrease it. In the "Sum of the Parts: From the James River to the Chesapeake Bay" lesson plan, students will map and collate different land uses in a simulation “puzzle” exercise that shows the cumulative effects of each land use on water quality.
Subject(s):
Science, Social Studies
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
pollution, land use, watershed, air pollution and fossil fuels, litter, trash and recycling, renewable resource, water quality, economics
Virginia's Natural Resource Education Guide: Virginia's Forest Resources
This document provides students with information on forested lands in Virginia, and the benefits of forests. Forest ecology, the economic value of Virginia's forests, the role of streamside forests, and managing and conserving healthy forests are all covered. The literature also explains how trees grow and how students can tell the age of a tree.
Subject(s):
Science, Social Studies
Type(s):
Books and Publications
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
watershed, erosion, forest, economics
Virginia's Natural Resource Education Guide: Virginia's Wildlife Resources
Virginians are fortunate to share their home with a wide diversity of wildlife. This informational packet provides information on the importance of habitat to wildlife, and Virginia's wildlife management and conservation efforts. By completing the Counting Critters lesson plan that is included in this packet, students will be able to conduct a wildlife inventory of their community; describe cause and effect relationships that help and hinder wildlife in their community; and recommend changes in their community that could benefit wildlife.
Subject(s):
Science, Social Studies
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
wildlife
Virginia's Natural Resource Education Guide: Virginia's Water Resources
Information about river basins, Virginia's water budget, and water quality and protection is provided in this packet. By completing the included lesson plan, students will be able to predict where water will flow in watersheds, describe drainage patterns in watersheds, and identify sources of pollution.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
pollution, watershed, water quality
Virginia's Natural Resource Education Guide: Virginia's Waste Management & Pollution Prevention
Waste management, or "how we handle our trash," is the subject of this information packet. In the included lesson plan, students will measure by weight how much waste is generated by their families and use this information to make an estimate for their community.
Subject(s):
Mathematics, Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
litter, trash and recycling
Virginia's Natural Resource Education Guide: Virginia's Soil Resources
The information provided in this packet helps students learn about what soil is, what soil horizons are, and some of the problems associated with soil (erosion, water clarity, etc). A lesson plan on how soil can filter water and another on how non-point source pollution can be prevented are included.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
non-point source, land use, development, erosion, sediment, soil and rocks, water quality
Virginia's Natural Resource Education Guide: Virginia's Minerals & Energy Resources
This document contains seven pages of background information for your students, eight pages of charts, graphs, and tables, and an Energy in the Balance lesson plan. The cooperative activity included in this packet encourages students to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the major energy sources identified in the literature through a series of rating activities.
Subject(s):
Science, Social Studies
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities, Data
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
nitrogen and carbon cycle, air pollution and fossil fuels, water and energy conservation, renewable resource
Virginia's Natural Resource Education Guide: Virginia's Historic Resources
Subject(s):
Science, Social Studies
Type(s):
Books and Publications
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
John Smith and colonial times, Native American, renewable resource
Virginia's Natural Resource Education Guide: Open Space & Public Lands
In 1607, when the first European settlers landed on the coast of what would become the Commonwealth of Virginia, the natural resources they encountered appeared to be inexhaustible. In fact, it was almost 300 years before we realized that the natural treasures that made the New World so appealing were not limitless and had been carelessly used. This resource provides information related to the history, current status, and future of land conservation efforts in Virginia. A lesson plan on Invasive Species is also included.
Subject(s):
Science, Social Studies
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
invasive species, population growth, land use, restoration
Virginia's Natural Resource Education Guide: Virginia's Bay & Coastal Resources
In the lesson plans that accompany the literature included in this packet, students will observe that muddy water blocks sunlight. They will consider ways that soil might get into water and make inferences about its effects on underwater grasses, crabs, and other animals. They will also dramatize connections between the sun, the earth, and eelgrass; and between people on land and blue crabs in an eelgrass environment.
Subject(s):
Art, Language Arts, Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Elementary School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
water cycle and movement, watershed, water quality, water testing
Virginia's Natural Resource Education Guide: Virginia's Air Resources
This resource package provides information related to air quality and air pollution in Virginia, and provides two lesson plans to accompany the literature that is provided. Students will understand air pollutants, including invisible and non-odorous sources of indoor air pollution, and will understand the link between breathing polluted indoor air and health. Students will also develop solutions to this pollution in a “real-life” setting.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
acid rain, air pollution and fossil fuels
Virginia's Natural Resource Education Guide: Virginia's Agricultural Resources
Students will learn the difference between colonial and modern farming practices in Virginia. They will look at data on farming income, harvesting dates and crop types.
Subject(s):
Language Arts, Science, Social Studies
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Elementary School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
land use, agriculture, erosion, sediment, soil and rocks
Virginia Oyster Gardening Guide
This guide shows you how to start and maintain an oyster garden.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Books and Publications
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
oyster, restoration
Sand-shakes & Mud-pies Lesson
Students collect sediment samples from different wet habitats, measure and compare sediment composition from these sites in order to find relationships between sediment size and various environmental factors. Elementary students separate and observe layers; older students make calculations based on their data.
Subject(s):
Mathematics, Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
habitat and niche, sediment, soil and rocks
Project Learning Tree Curriculum Guide
The Project Learning Tree Curriculum Guide is a collection of 96 hands-on interdisciplinary activities that bring the environment into your classroom. The guide is designed so you can use a single activity or many over the course of a quarter or school year. Each activity includes an overview, background content and a teachers' step-by-step guide. The guide's five main themes are diversity, interrelationships, systems, structure and scale, and patterns of change.
Subject(s):
Art, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Technology
Type(s):
Curriculum Guide
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Maryland,
Virginia,
New York,
West Virginia,
District of Columbia,
Delaware,
National Science Education,
Pennsylvania
Keywords:
pollution, land use, watershed, air pollution and fossil fuels, biodiversity, forest
Outdoor Scavenger Hunt and Journaling Activity
Provides a list of items students can find in their schoolyard as well as a reflection activity.
Subject(s):
Language Arts, Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Elementary School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
schoolyard habitat
Kids CAVE Website
This website provides access to Virginia Department of Environmental Quality's resources for students.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
water quality
Going, Going Lesson
Students will investigate equilibrium in erosion and deposition by predicting, modeling and inferring the effects of moving water on soil.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
erosion, sediment, soil and rocks
Feathered Feeders Lesson
This "bird brained" lesson requires students to think like hungry birds, who must find food at the park. Students will investigate variation in bird beaks and the interrelationships of form and function.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
adaptation, wildlife
Counting Critters Lesson
Students inventory wildlife and investigate their neighborhoods for cause and effect relationships affecting wildlife; develop and use Wildlife Observation Record sheets and recommend actions to improve and/or maintain the quality of wildlife habitat in their community. Keywords: critters, habitat, wildlife
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
food web, habitat and niche, predator prey relationships, wildlife
Chesapeake Bay Population Studies Lesson
Students will use a quarter meter quadrant to observe species population dynamics, such as population density, frequency and diversity.
Subject(s):
Mathematics, Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
biodiversity, wildlife
Chesapeake Bay Fossils/Geology Lesson
Students will research the geological history of the Chesapeake Bay, review geological time line and identify fossils of the Chesapeake Bay.
Subject(s):
Science, Social Studies
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
sediment, soil and rocks
C. B. Atlas Animations Temperature Experiments Lesson
Students will investigate cooling rates of shallow and deep water by analyzing Chesapeake Bay water temperature. Students will then interpret the effects of water temperature variations on living organisms.
Subject(s):
Mathematics, Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities, Data
Level(s):
Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
habitat and niche, water quality, water testing, Temperature
Build-A-Bed Activity
Students will build a seagrass bed in a small wading pools and populate it with some of the species that inhabit the seagrass bed. Engaging children in this activity helps teach them how seagrass is critical habitat to other marine species.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
aquatic grass SAV, habitat and niche, restoration
Beaver Tales Lesson
Students will investigate changes in beaver habitat and the interrelationships between beavers and the environment. The lesson explores the ecological role of beavers through observing beavers' life history, modeling beaver-predator relationships and learning the protective importance of hearing and smelling.
Subject(s):
Science
Type(s):
Lessons and Activities
Level(s):
Early Learning, Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Aligned with the following standard(s):
Virginia
Keywords:
beaver, habitat and niche, predator prey relationships, wildlife
