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Science: Oregon's First Geologists

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In this lesson students will learn how Native American tribes living in what is now Oregon incorporated geologic knowledge into their lifeways and cultures. It will describe tribes’ use of stone tools, designation of prominent landforms as significant and meaningful places, and oral traditions they maintained regarding geologic events to help them understand and organize the world they lived in. This lesson assumes students have some familiarity with or prior instruction in earth science concepts such as Oregon landforms, the rock cycle, plate tectonics, and earthquakes and tsunamis.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Aujalee Moore, April Campbell, Oregon Open Learning

Science: Salmon and the River

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Native American tribes in Oregon have relied on salmon for thousands of years. Salmon is considered a first food—a food resource that Indigenous people have depended on since time immemorial. This lesson includes four activities to support student learning about this traditional resource. In the first activity students will learn why salmon are essential to the traditional lifeways of Native Americans in Oregon. In the second activity students will evaluate the life cycle of salmon, specifically the importance of salmon returning to their home stream to spawn. In the third activity students will examine the impact of dams on the life cycle of salmon. Finally, students will work in small groups to identify strategies being used to restore the salmon population in Oregon.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Renée House, April Campbell, Oregon Open Learning

Oh, Salmon!

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Through this lesson, students in 3rd-5th grade will understand how the human history of a local creek (Whatcom Creek in this example) affects the health of salmon populations. This lesson is an active way to engage students in graphing through the use of models and uses critical thinking to understand implications of human actions in the past and in the future.

Material Type: Game, Interactive, Lesson, Lesson Plan, Reading

Authors: Barbara Soots, Hannah Newell

PEI SOLS 5th grade: Regenerative Agriculture (Eastern Washington)

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Soil quality is an important aspect of growing food. In this storyline, students will discover what soil is made of and how carbon is an important part of soil quality as well as how carbon moves between plants, soil, and air. Students will learn how Indigenous people used practices such as composting. Finally, students will explore what regenerative agriculture practices are and how they can be a solution to how the climate is changing over time.  

Material Type: Unit of Study

Author: Pacific Education Institute

What Makes a Weed a Weed? (for 3-5 Educators)

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This professional development course consists of a series of workshops focused on NGSS-aligned & local phenomenon-centered curriculum, developed by IslandWood with funding from the OSPI ClimeTime Grant. It is currently structured to be delivered online and for Upper Elementary (3-5) educators. A slide deck and accompanying handouts are available to complement the course outline. 

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Assessment, Full Course, Lesson Plan, Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Brad Street

PEI SOLS 5th grade Food Waste (Spanish)

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Mientras que el desperdicio de comida no es típicamente visto como un contribuyente de emisiones de gas de efecto invernadero, es un contribuyente mayor. Reducir el desperdicio de comida es la 3era solución más beneficiosa para la reducción de dichos gases. La comida desperdiciada y los recursos para producirla, son responsables del aproximadamente 8% de las emisiones globales de gases de efecto invernadero. Cuando los individuos y grupos reducen el desperdicio de comida, esto tiene un gran impacto en la reducción de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. La conciencia del desperdicio de comida es aplicable a cada persona y comunidad. En este caso, los estudiantes van a conducir una “auditoría de desperdicio de comida”. Cada clase de estudiantes participantes recolecta, clasifica y mide su desperdicio de comida por un día durante el almuerzo. Los estudiantes discuten las causas locales y globales y los efectos del desperdicio de comida en el ambiente. Los estudiantes también aprenden las conexiones culturales alrededor del desperdicio de comida de los expertos o gente mayor de las tribus locales, e indagan cómo las diferentes agencias en la comunidad lidian con el desperdicio de comida (e.g. tiendas de abarrotes, bancos de comida, la ciudad). Los estudiantes presentan sus resultados y crean un plan de acción.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Author: Pacific Education Institute

PEISOLS 5th grade Urban Forestry: Urban Heat Islands

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Students will learn how trees grow and cycle matter, and trees’ roles in a changing climate. The urban heat island effect is examined and students learn about the many benefits trees offer cities. The storyline culminates with students examining the trees and canopy cover in their or a nearby city and proposing actions to increase the urban forest through a letter to city officials.

Material Type: Unit of Study

Author: Pacific Education Institute

Fourth Grade Elementary Science and Integrated Subjects-What Happened at Dry Falls?

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The Fourth Grade Elementary Framework for Science and Integrated Subjects, What Happened at Dry Falls?, uses the phenomena of a local Washington landform to explore erosion from the Ice Age Floods.  It is part of Elementary Framework for Science and Integrated Subjects project, a statewide Clime Time collaboration among ESD 123, ESD 105, North Central ESD, and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Development of the resources is in response to a need for research- based science lessons for elementary teachers that are integrated with English language arts, mathematics and other subjects such as social studies. The template for Elementary Science and Integrated Subjects  can serve as an organized, coherent and research-based roadmap for teachers in the development of their own NGSS aligned science lessons.  Lessons can also be useful for classrooms that have no adopted curriculum as well as to serve as enhancements for  current science curriculum. The EFSIS project brings together grade level teams of teachers to develop lessons or suites of lessons that are 1) pnenomena based, focused on grade level Performance Expectations, and 2) leverage ELA and Mathematics Washington State Learning Standards.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan, Module, Reading

Author: Georgia Boatman

(Not So) Slow Burn: Teaching Climate Change Through Wildfires

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SYNOPSIS: In this lesson, students make personal connections to fire, understand how climate change is making wildfires worse in Oregon and across the globe, and create a wildfire solution presentation to promote a prevention or preparation strategy. SCIENTIST NOTES: This lesson allows students to learn about the causes of wildfire and how they are induced by climate change. It also highlights locations at risk to wildfires in Oregon and ways students can develop tactics to promote effective management of wildfire events. The archival data on wildfires will enable them to interpret wildfire hotspots for contingency planning. This lesson is very engaging and is recommended for classroom use. POSITIVES: -This lesson can be taught in a language arts class or a science class. -Students make a personal connection to fire before learning about climate change’s impact on wildfires. -Students promote a prevention or preparation strategy to share with their class, school, or community. ADDITIONAL PREREQUISITES: -It would be helpful for students to have some background knowledge of what makes fire burn. The resources Heat and Fuel and Oxygen can provide more context for students. -The data in the sortable table titled, Oregon Biggest Fires, comes from this article. You can access the data by clicking, “Download the data.” DIFFERENTIATION: -If teachers want to provide more context on active fires in Oregon, this map provides up-to-date information. -This video can provide additional information and also serve as inspiration for students to create their own presentations.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Author: Lisa Colombo

Water Is Life: Know Your Local Watershed

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In this lesson, students learn about watersheds, how human activities impact watersheds, and what communities can do to keep the watershed healthy. Step 1 - Inquire: Students think about how they use water in their everyday life and the important role that their local watershed plays in their community. Step 2 - Investigate: Students complete two hands-on activities to understand how watersheds work and the impact that human activities have on watersheds. Step 3 - Inspire: Students write a poem, short story, or letter about the importance of watershed health and share it with their local watershed council.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Nicole Butler-Hooton, Tana Shepard

Going 3D with GRC - 3rd Grade

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Welcome to our Going 3-D with GRC website. This site is a collection of vetted, three-dimensional lessons aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards and state standards developed from the Framework for K-12 Science Education. The lessons were developed by teachers across districts and states utilizing local phenomena. The teachers who developed these lessons participate in professional development with Brett D. Moulding and Kenneth L. Huff over the past five years. Brett was on the committee that wrote the Framework for K-12 Science Education and a lead writer of the NGSS. Kenneth was also on the NGSS writing team and has spent the last 5 years applying these lessons in his classroom. If you have questions or suggestions about these lessons please contact Brett at BrettDMoudling@gmail.com.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Authors: Brett Moulding, Jamie Rumage

Going 3D with GRC - 4th Grade

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Welcome to our Going 3-D with GRC website. This site is a collection of vetted, three-dimensional lessons aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards and state standards developed from the Framework for K-12 Science Education. The lessons were developed by teachers across districts and states utilizing local phenomena. The teachers who developed these lessons participate in professional development with Brett D. Moulding and Kenneth L. Huff over the past five years. Brett was on the committee that wrote the Framework for K-12 Science Education and a lead writer of the NGSS. Kenneth was also on the NGSS writing team and has spent the last 5 years applying these lessons in his classroom. If you have questions or suggestions about these lessons please contact Brett at BrettDMoudling@gmail.com.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Authors: Brett Moulding, Jamie Rumage

Going 3D with GRC - 5th Grade

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Welcome to our Going 3-D with GRC website. This site is a collection of vetted, three-dimensional lessons aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards and state standards developed from the Framework for K-12 Science Education. The lessons were developed by teachers across districts and states utilizing local phenomena. The teachers who developed these lessons participate in professional development with Brett D. Moulding and Kenneth L. Huff over the past five years. Brett was on the committee that wrote the Framework for K-12 Science Education and a lead writer of the NGSS. Kenneth was also on the NGSS writing team and has spent the last 5 years applying these lessons in his classroom. If you have questions or suggestions about these lessons please contact Brett at BrettDMoudling@gmail.com.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Authors: Brett Moulding, Jamie Rumage

Are seatbelts important for safe driving? (3rd grade Physical Science Unit)

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In this Unit, students embark on a mission to create a campaign which promotes seat belt use for a teenage audience. In the context of this project, students explore NGSS PE’s 3-PS2-2, 3-PS2-1, 3-5-ETS1-1, 3-PS2-3, and 3-PS2-4 while investigating the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces acting on an object. Through a series of collect evidence to write a claim based on evidence for why seatbelts are important. Download: ForcesAndInteractions.3rdgrade_krEFi7M.pdfDelete Google Drive with Teacher Resources Portions of this storyline can be successfully implemented without access to FOSS instructional or lab materials. Specifically, the unit entry event, driving question, supplemental lessons and online resources, etc., can still be used to engage students in learning the addressed NGSS bundle. For most recent version of this unit, please visit www.stemmaterials.org

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Author: Pranjali Upadhyay

Awesome Animal Actions (3-5)

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This sequence of instruction was developed in the Growing Elementary Science Prjoject to help elementary teachers who were working remotely.  We developed a short storyline that ties together a few sessions to help explore a specific concept.  We tried to include some activities that honored and included the student’s family and experience, and some that included the potential for ELA learning goals.
In this Unit of Instruction, students observe animal behaviors - both in video format and in their own neighborhoods - then create a model to explain how these behaviors help the animals meet their needs.
It is part of ClimeTime - a collaboration among all nine Educational Service Districts (ESDs) in Washington and many Community Partners to provide programs for science teacher training around Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and climate science, thanks to grant money made available to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) by Governor Inslee.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan, Reading

Authors: Clancy Wolf, Jeff Ryan

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