Pre K-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide

A popular resource for educators of elementary and middle school students, PLT’s PreK-8 Environmental Education Activity Guide includes 96 hands-on, multidisciplinary activities that bring the environment into the classroom, and students into the environment. This guide is filled with practical, hands-on activities for teachers, nonformal educators, and youth group leaders to connect children to nature and increase young people’s awareness and knowledge about their environment.

Charting Diversity. Birds and Worms. Pollution Search. These are some of the fun, hands-on activities with emphasis on science, reading, writing, mathematics, and social studies that use the environment to engage students in learning – both outside and indoors. Topics include trees and forests, wildlife, water, air, energy, waste, climate change, invasive species, community planning, and more. Each activity is tailored to specific grade levels and learning objectives.

Background science content is provided for teachers. The lesson plans are flexible and can be incorporated into existing curriculum and non-formal education programs. The activities are correlated to state and national academic standards, including Common Core, and have an emphasis on STEM.

What’s included:

• 96 hands-on, multidisciplinary activities integrate core subjects like science, reading, writing, mathematics, and social studies.
• The activities are interactive and fun for both educators and students. They engage students in learning and connect children to nature and the outdoors.
• Activities can be applied in urban, suburban, or rural settings. Lesson planning worksheets help you plan how to facilitate activities with your students in your own setting.
• Each activity includes background information and science content for teachers to effectively teach each activity's topic. Topics include forests, wildlife, water, air, energy, waste, climate change, invasive species, community planning, and more.
• Lesson plans are flexible and can be easily incorporated into your existing curriculum. Activities are practical and adaptable. They are easy to do, require minimal preparation; no special supplies are needed.
• Activities can be used as individual, stand-alone lessons, or several activities can be linked together into a unit of instruction using a storyline technique. Storylines suggested in the guide support learning progressions that hold areas of knowledge and skills together.
• How to think, not what to think. Activities are designed to develop students’ critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Independent evaluators determined activities increase students’ knowledge, reasoning, and academic skills.
• Each activity includes correlations to state academic standards, Common Core State Standards, and supports the Next Generation Science Standards' three-dimensional approach.
• Activities are also correlated to scouts merit badges, 4-H and other nonformal programs for positive youth development through in-school and after-school programs, school and community clubs, and summer camps.
• Supporting features include literature connections; technology extensions; cooperative learning; differentiated instruction; enrichment suggestions; and tools to assess student learning.
• Cross-reference indices for activities include Subject; Grade Level; Time Consideration & Setting; Technology Connections; Topic; and Skills.
• Also included are a variety of appendices, for example, tips for teaching out-of-doors; tips for bringing nature indoors; and the role of the teacher for teaching about environmental issues in the classroom and effective environmental education that does not advocate any particular viewpoint on environmental issues.

Benefits of Environmental Education

Environmental education is the study of the relationships and interactions between dynamic natural and human systems.

Environmental education:

• Includes learning in the field as well as the classroom.
• Incorporates the teaching methods of outdoor education, experiential education, and place‐based education.
• Promotes school/community partnerships.
• Is inherently interdisciplinary. Outdoor activities increase student engagement and interest in science and in all core subjects.
• Boosts student achievement in science, math, reading, writing and social studies.
• Is hands‐on, student‐centered, inquiry driven, engages higher level thinking skills, and is relevant to students' everyday lives.
• Is especially good for incorporating STEM, civic skills, and green career pathways.
• Develops awareness, increases knowledge, builds skills, and creates the capacity for stewardship and good citizenship regarding the environment upon which we depend for life support.
• Helps improve the health of children. Getting kids outdoors to experience their natural world is an important tool in the battle to prevent obesity, alleviate attention deficit disorder, and address other related health problems.
• Helps young people make informed choices in their own lives, prepares students for real-world challenges and equips them with the skills needed for a 21^st century workforce. Business leaders increasingly believe that an environmentally literate workforce is critical to their long-term success.

Project Learning Tree® (PLT) is an established, reputable, award-winning environmental education program designed to help young people learn how to think not what to think about complex and pressing environmental and sustainability issues. Through interactive and engaging activities, suitable for all ages and settings, PLT builds understanding and appreciation of the natural world, advances environmental literacy, and grows stewardship using trees and forests as windows onto the world