Category: Lesson Series

My Carbon Footprint

Students follow the story of a wildfire that has caused Aunt Kitty to evacuate her home. This extreme weather event frames the inquiry into carbon footprint. Coco and her friends learn how lifestyle choices influence global warming and climate change.

Unit Overview

Through readings, activities and discussions, students follow the story of a wildfire that has caused Aunt Kitty to evacuate her home. This extreme weather event frames the inquiry into carbon footprint. Coco and her friends learn how lifestyle choices influence global warming and climate change. They also learn ways individuals and their families can decrease their carbon footprints. 

Grades

  • Kindergarten
  • Grade 1
  • Grade 2

Lesson Type

In-class or online lesson

Environmental Topics

Climate Change, Disasters and Conflicts, Environmental Justice, Green Guardianship, Sustainable Human Development

Environmental Literacy Core Principles

For a summary of the environmental literacy principles and concepts embedded in this lesson series, please visit Green Guardians Environmental Literacy Core Principles.

Standards

ELA: RL.K.1, RL.K.2, SL.K.1, SL.K.2, SL.K.3, SL.K.5, SL.K.6, W.K.2, W.K.7, RL.1.1, RL.1.2, SL.1.1, SL.1.2, SL.1.3, SL.1.5, SL.1.6, L.1.4, L.1.5, W.1.2, W.1.8, RL.2.1, RL.2.3, RL.2.7, W.2.2, W.2.8, SL.2.1, SL.2.2, SL.2.3, SL.2.5, SL.2.6
Math: 1.OA.A.1, 2.OA.A.1
Science: K-PS3-1, K-ESS2-1, K-ESS3-3

Guides

Teacher Guide

This project may easily be extended into optional family discussions and activities around a family’s carbon footprint and ways to reduce it. To facilitate this engagement, a family guide has been created which teachers may choose to forward to interested parents and guardians. 

Family Guide (English)

Lessons

Three lessons of 30-40 minutes each and an optional project.

Lesson 1: Disaster Strikes

Through a story and related activities, students discuss the impact of global warming on climate change and talk about wildfires as one example of an extreme weather event. They define global warming. They observe the human and environmental effects of wildfires and learn that the Earth’s climate is changing due to human activity.

Lesson Materials

Lesson 2: How Big Is My Carbon Footprint?

Through a story and related activities, students learn what a carbon footprint is and how human activity affects it. They discuss whether individuals can reduce their carbon footprint enough to make a difference in slowing global warming. They also answer questions to find out the size of their own carbon footprint and reflect on ways to make it smaller.

Lesson Materials

Lesson 3: Make a Smaller Carbon Footprint!

Through a story and related activities, students think of how they can reduce their carbon footprints, focusing on the way they use food, waste, electricity, and water at home. They find out how they can reduce their carbon footprint at home and take up Green Guardian challenges to make their carbon footprint smaller.

Lesson Materials

Water Justice

Students look at where water comes from and the ways we use it, with a focus on who controls access to water. They are introduced to issues of fairness and actions individuals can take to help rectify inequities regarding water use.

Unit Overview

Through readings, activities and discussions, students follow the story of Coco’s Aunt Carmen whose well has inexplicably dried up. Coco learns how her aunt and cousin have been affected by the water shortage. After participating in a protest march, she is inspired to take action. Students look at where water comes from and the ways we use it, with a focus on who controls access to water. They are introduced to issues of fairness and actions individuals can take to help rectify inequities regarding water use. At school, Coco shares her experience with her friends. They talk about what it means to be an activist and learn that even children as young as they can make a difference. They are inspired to become activists themselves—water protectors.

Grades

  • Kindergarten
  • Grade 1
  • Grade 2

Lesson Type

In-class or online lesson

Environmental Topics

Environmental Justice, Health, Pollution, Resource Conservation

Environmental Literacy Core Principles

For a summary of the environmental literacy principles and concepts embedded in this lesson series, please visit Green Guardians Environmental Literacy Core Principles.

Standards

ELA: RL.K.1, RL.K.2, RL.K.3, RL.K.4, RL.K.6, RL.K.7, RL.K.10, RL.1.1, RL.1.2, RL.1.3, RL.1.4, RL.1.7, RL.1.10, RL.2.1, RL.2.3, RL.2.4, RL.2.6, RL.2.7
HSS: HSS-K.3, HSS-K.6.3, HSS-1.2.4, HSS-1.5.1, HSS-2.4.3
Science: K-ESS3-3

Guides

Teacher Guide

This project may easily be extended into optional family discussions and activities around a family’s use of water. To facilitate this engagement, a family guide has been created which teachers may choose to forward to interested parents and guardians.

Family Guide (English)

Lessons

Three lessons of 30-40 minutes each. 

Lesson 1: All Dried Up

Through a story and related activities, students are introduced to the concept of inequity. Coco and her mother get word that Aunt Carmen’s well has dried up. She lives in the next county, not too far away. They drive over with cases of bottled water, passing well-watered fields and golf courses. Through interactions with her cousin Carlos, Coco comes to understand how much she takes water for granted. She learns about a serious problem: unequal access to water.

Lesson Materials

Lesson 2: A Fight For Our Rights 

Through a story and related activities, students are introduced to water insecurity and how our actions contribute to it. Carlos’s friend Moki arrives to pick up Carlos for the water rally. But Carlos is sick due to the bad water he drank right before the well dried up, so Coco attends the march instead. The experience makes Coco aware of the inequities of water use in her area and spurs her to take action. When water is not shared equally, certain groups of people are disproportionately affected. Water is a basic necessity, and everyone has a right to it.

Lesson Materials

Lesson 3: Water Protectors  

Through a story and related activities, students learn about activism. Back home, Coco’s classmates want to hear all about the march. Coco shares a poem she heard at the rally, recited by a young activist named Una. The children discuss it, define “activism”, and realize that young people can become activists, too. They vow to save water and to call on others to join them as Water Protectors.

Lesson Materials

My Green School

Students follow the story of Coco and her friends and their quest to turn their school green. They look into how energy and resources are being used in different spaces and discover that their cafeteria is the least environmentally friendly.

Unit Overview

Through readings, activities and discussions, students follow the story of Coco and her friends and their quest to turn their school green. They look into how energy and resources are being used in different spaces and discover that their cafeteria is the least environmentally friendly. In their investigative process, Coco and her friends learn about the causes of food waste and the impact it has on our planet. They explore ways to cut food waste and plan for a healthier, greener environment at school.

Grades

  • Kindergarten
  • Grade 1
  • Grade 2

Lesson Type

In-class or online lesson

Environmental Literacy Domains

Green Guardianship, Health, Resource Conservation, Sustainable Human Development, Waste Management

Environmental Literacy Core Principles

For a summary of the environmental literacy principles and concepts embedded in this lesson series, please visit Green Guardians Environmental Literacy Core Principles.

Standards

ELA: RL.K.1, RL.K.2, SL.K.1, SL.K.2, SL.K.3, SL.K.4, SL.K.5, SL.K.6, W.K.2, W.K.8, RL.1.1, RL.1.2, SL.1.1, SL.1.2, SL.1.3, SL 1.4, SL.1.5, SL.1.6, L.1.4, L.1.5, W.1.2, W.1.8, RL.2.1, RL.2.3, RL.2.6, RL.2.7, SL.2.1, SL.2.2, SL.2.3, SL.2.4, SL.2.6, W.2.2, W.2.8
Science: K-ESS3-3, K-2-ETS1-1

Guides

Teacher Guide

This project may easily be extended into optional family discussions and activities around a family’s use of energy and resources and how to make the home a greener place. To facilitate this engagement, a family guide has been created. Teachers may choose to forward to interested parents and guardians.

Family Guide (English)

Lessons

Four lessons of 30-40 minutes each. 

Lesson 1: Time for a Walk

Through a story and related activities, students discuss what it means to be green. They look at the ways we use energy and other resources and determine if certain actions impact the environment positively or negatively. They review what it means to go zero waste, to practice the 3Rs, and to minimize our carbon footprint.

Lesson Materials

Lesson 2: Problems in the Cafeteria 

Through a story and related activities, students learn what food waste is and how human perception and actions contribute to the problem. They discuss underlying problems that result in certain wasteful practices specific to the cafeteria. They also explore ways that individuals or the school can reduce food and other waste that goes to the landfill.

Lesson Materials

Lesson 3: Show and Tell Time  

Through a story and related activities, students think of how they can reduce food waste that goes to the landfill––focusing on reducing the amount of food that goes uneaten and reusing and recycling food waste. They come up with a few solutions and take up the challenge to design a greener school lunch to make the cafeteria a greener space.  

Lesson Materials

Lesson 4: Green School Presentations (Civic Extension)

Through a video, students learn about different ways to turn their school green. Next, they work in groups to examine their schools and find places that could be greener. They give Show and Tell presentations to illustrate the problems they found and to propose solutions. 

Lesson Materials

My Journey to Zero Waste

Students compare and contrast two birthday parties (one that generated a lot of waste and one planned around “zero waste”), consider the environmental impact of one’s personal waste, gain an understanding of the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and learn to practice zero waste in their own lives.

Lesson Series Summary

Unit Overview

Through readings, activities, and discussions, students compare and contrast two birthday parties (one that generated a lot of waste and one planned around “zero waste”), consider the environmental impact of one’s personal waste, gain an understanding of the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) and learn to practice zero waste in their own lives.

Grades

  • Kindergarten
  • Grade 1
  • Grade 2

Project Type

In-class or online lesson

Environmental Topics

Environmental Justice, Green Guardianship, Pollution, Resource Conservation, Waste Management

Environmental Literacy Core Principles

For a summary of the environmental literacy principles and concepts embedded in this lesson series, please visit Green Guardians Environmental Literacy Core Principles.

Standards

ELA: RL.K.1, RL.K.2, RL.1.1, RL.1.2, RL.2.1, RL.2.2, RL.2.3, W.K.2, W.K.8, W.1.2, W.1.8, W.2.2, W.2.8, SL.K.1, SL.K.5, SL.K.6, SL.1.5, SL.1.1, SL.2.1, SL.2.2, SL.2.3
Math: K.OA.A.1, K.MD.B.3, 1.NBT.A.1, 1.MD.C.4, 2.OA.A.1, 2.MD.D.10
Science: K-ESS2-2, K-ESS3-1, K-ESS3-3, K-2-ETS1-1

Guides

Teacher Guide

This project may easily be extended into optional family discussions and activities around environmental literacy. To facilitate this engagement, a family guide (in English and Spanish) has been created which teachers may choose to forward to interested parents and guardians.

Family Guide (English)

Family Guide (Spanish)

Lessons

Five lessons of 30-40 minutes each.

Lesson 1: After the Party

Through a story and related activities, students discuss the cleanup
experience after a character’s wasteful birthday party and define
waste. They begin to question how and why we waste things and
what steps we can take to reduce waste.

Lesson Materials

Lesson 2: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Through a story and related activities, students revisit the cleanup
after the wasteful party and discuss how the waste the characters
made could have been reduced, reused, and/or recycled.

Lesson Materials

Lesson 3: A Zero Waste Party

Through a story and related activities, students learn about zero
waste and discuss how the characters plan and participate in a zero
waste birthday party.

Lesson Materials

Lesson 4: What Do I Throw Away?

Through counting and graphing activities, students calculate and
discuss the types of waste a character creates in his daily life and how he can reduce, reuse, and recycle it. Then they fill in a picture graph on
what they themselves throw away.

Lesson Materials

Lesson 5: My Zero Waste Poster

Through a collaborative graphing and drawing activity, students work
with partners to fill in a picture graph and calculate the kinds of
waste they throw away in a day. They create a poster detailing
actions they can take to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Lesson Materials

My Animal Friends

Students follow the story of Timor, a “bug enthusiast”, who rescues a monarch caterpillar from his backyard and takes it to school to try to save it.

Unit Overview

Through readings, activities and discussions, students follow the story of Timor, a “bug enthusiast”, who rescues a monarch caterpillar from his backyard and takes it to school to try to save it. Students will consider the environmental impact of pesticides and habitat loss on pollinators and learn what they can do to help protect and increase the population of monarch butterflies.

Grades

  • Kindergarten
  • Grade 1
  • Grade 2

Lesson Type

In-class or online lesson, PBL activity

Environmental Topics

Biodiversity, Ecosystems, Environmental Justice, Green Guardianship, Sustainable Human Development

Environmental Literacy Core Principles

For a summary of the environmental literacy principles and concepts embedded in this lesson series, please visit Green Guardians Environmental Literacy Core Principles.

Standards

ELA: RL.K.1, RL.K.2, SL.K.1, SL.K.2, SL.K.3, SL.K.5, SL.K.6, W.K.2, W.K.7, RL.1.1, RL.1.2, SL.1.1, SL.1.2, SL.1.3, SL.1.5, SL.1.6, L.1.4, L.1.5, W.1.2, W.1.8, RL.2.1, RL.2.3, RL.2.7, W.2.2, W.2.8, SL.2.1, SL.2.2, SL.2.3, SL.2.5, SL.2.6
Math: K.CC.A.1, K.CC.A.3, K.CC.B.4, K.CC.B.5, K.OA.A.2, 1.OA.C.5, 1.OA.C.6, 2.OA.A.1, 2.OA.B.2
Science: K-LS1-1, 1-LS1-2, 2-LS2-2, K-ESS3-1, K-ESS3-3

Guides

Teacher Guide

This project may easily be extended into optional family discussions and activities around monarch butterflies and other pollinating insects (like bees) and the challenges facing them. To facilitate this engagement, a family guide (in English and Spanish) has been created which teachers may choose to forward to interested parents and guardians.

Family Guide (English)

Family Guide (Spanish)

Lessons

Three lessons of 30-40 minutes each and an optional project.

Lesson 1: Timor and the Caterpillar

Through a story and related activities, students discuss the characteristics of monarch butterflies and define life cycle. They observe the metamorphosis of caterpillar to butterfly and learn what monarch butterflies need to live.

Lesson Materials

Lesson 2: Butterfly Research

Through a story and related activities, students learn about pollination and the interdependency of living things. They learn of the dangers facing monarchs today, especially weedkiller and bug spray. They begin to think of ways they can help save monarch butterflies.

Lesson Materials

Lesson 3: Help My Animal Friend

Through a story and related activities, students pose questions along with the characters about monarch butterfly waystations and discuss how they can put one on their school grounds.

Lesson Materials

Project: Our Butterfly Waystation

In this project, students will design and plant a monarch butterfly waystation and make a plan to manage it.

Lesson Materials