Resources for Kids and Teachers

Web Resources

General

• Adopt-a-Watershed Curriculum Units and Equipment Kits- descriptions of Teacher's Guides, Classroom Kits, and Field Study Kits available for purchase which support curriculum covering watershed and environmental topics for K-12.
• Drought for Kids- several pages describe drought, and its impact, includes Drought Resources for Teachers, provided by the National Drought Mitigation Center.
• A Field Guide to the Prairie - includes pictures and information about plants, birds, insects, mammals, and snakes.

Plants

• Basic Leaf Forms, Plant Identification Guide - illustrates the vocabulary for different leaf shapes and leaf edges.
• Tree Clues - line drawings and brief descriptions of identifying features of trees, including tree shape, branching pattern, bark and leaf arrangement and shape. Provided by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which also offers Illinois Trees, which is a well-organized page with photos of leaves and nuts of several hardwood trees.
• The Great Plant Escape - Detective Le Plant and his friends, Bud and Sprout are solving mysteries. Through interactive exercises, games, and quizzes a great deal of information about plants and soil is presented.
• Plant Identification - publication includes glossary with many illustrations of plant parts and plant types. University of Florida Extension, Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS). Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• A Year in the Life of a Pine Tree - by Harold C. Fritts, Professor Emeritus of Dendrochonology, University of Arizona. This is in pdf format, richly illustrated with photos, graphs, and charts.
• The World of Trees - a complex site with a great deal of information, experiments, games, and graphics.

Soil

• Educational Sites for Kids and Teachers - compiled for Soils of Arid Region of the U.S. and Israel.

Water

• Kid's Stuff - experiments, lessons, and games for elementary students from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water.
• Properties of Water - explanations, illustrations, graphs by Environment Canada.
• Riparian Areas: Healthy or Unhealthy - article and activities reprinted from September 1996 issue of Science and Children.
• Safe Water for Kids - hands-on activities designed as tools for teachers, educators and water company operators by Purdue University Extension.
• Water: A Never-Ending Story - curriculum model intended for grades 4-5 on the water cycle.
• Water Curriculum Resources - a variety of activities and educational aids by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
• The Water Cycle - an "educator's guide" by the National Wildlife Federations for National Wildlife Week, includes a lesson plan activity.
• Water Science for Schools - the U.S. Geological Survey provides a great deal of information, photos, maps, data; it is all clearly presented for sharing with students.
• What is a Watershed - a brief video on the web illustrates what a watershed is. If you can't access it, you may need to download a plug-in like Apple Quicktime to view it. Other videos: Everyone Impacts a Watershed and Potential Sources of Pollution.
• Wind Cave National Park Environmental Education: Watershed - several interesting activities/games, part of a broader site on hydrology.

Wildlife and Habitat

• Backyard Conservation - how to conserve and improve natural resources on the land around your home, by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service.
• Biology - includes links to comprehensive sites which provide information and educational activities for teachers and students, from The Educator's Reference Desk.
• The Call of the Wild - Wildlife Biology Member's Manual, Book 1, University of Minnesota. Coverage of habitat, birds, and mammals is broad enough to be useful beyond the Great Lakes region. Creative exercises provided.
• Hole Homes - activities and background for teaching habitat concepts for 1-6 grades, emphasis on grasslands.
• Investigating Your Environment, Riparian Areas - complete teacher's manual with worksheets for student data collection. No illustrations. Additional topics covered. Provided by USDA, Forest Service, St. Paul Field Office. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Trees for Many Reasons - reading fables such as The Lorax, Dr Seuss or The Man Who Planted Trees, Jean Giono, help students examine the importance of conserving natural resources.
• Understanding Ecosystem Management - articles and activities reprinted from Science and Children.
• Wildlife Terms - provided by Extension Forestry, North Carolina State University. Near the bottom of the page are many links to pages of information on specific types of wildlife.
• Wildlife Fact Sheets - by Texas Parks and Wildlife.
• Wildlife Rehabilitation Information Directory - explains what to do when you find an injured or "orphaned" animal, includes advice on how to manage nuisance wildlife.