Great, free Educational Games from NOAA about oceans and air

NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has some great, free, educational games that teachers can use with their students.

There are over 25 different games and interactive activities that cover topics about water, air, the oceans, environmental issues and ocean life. Many of the games and activities are hosted on other sites, but gathered here for easy access

WaterLife: Where Rivers Meet the Sea is a game based on the ecosystem of a United States west coast estuary. It helps students learn about estuaries, food webs, and why estuaries are essential to ocean life and to humans.

This is a great way to have students learn about the oceans, air, and the environment while having fun playing a game.

Nature Works Everywhere - free resources for learning about nature's factory

Nature Works Everywhere is a great, free site from The Nature Conservancy and Discovery Education. The site has resources to help learn about how nature works and the fact that nature is a factory, making many of the things we need.

There is an interactive online game that helps students discover the connections between everyday items and nature's resources, interactive lesson plans about topics like pollinators, forestry, coastal erosion and more, videos about how nature works to benefit us and how we can preserve nature, and a section about scientists working to preserve nature and keep it productive. There are even some virtual field trips.

Check it out and share it with your colleagues: http://www.natureworkseverywhere.org/

Related:

Tons of Great Resources from Discovery Education

Great Resources from Discovery Education 

Turfmutt - environmental lessons and resources

Science of Everyday Life

Explore the Blue - lessons about water for all subjects

Google Earth Day - resources to celebrate Earth Day, Everyday

Earth Day was this past Sunday, April 22nd, but we shouldn't just do things to help our planet one day out of the year.

Google Earth Day is a great site that has some great resources to help anyone celebrate Earth Day, Everyday.

The site has information on starting your own garden, finding discount seeds, connecting with other gardeners, gardening tips, recipes, helping find a community garden, and much more.

http://www.google.com/campaigns/plantforearthday/



Related:

Earth Day Resources for Educators

Google Resources for Education - tips, resources, links, help, how-to's, apps, lesson ideas, and more.

Earth Day is April 22 - here are some great resources for educators

Earth Day, April 22nd, is a great time to talk to your students about the environment. Many schools, including most in Connecticut, will be on break during that time, but you can always talk about it after break.


Earth Day was started in 1962 as a way to bring attention to environmental issues. As polution increases, and the environment is continually affected by humans, it is a great time to get our students thinking about environmental issues. 




Here are some resources you can use with your students:





National Environmental Education Week - This week (April 10-16) is Environmental Education Week. This site has an entire section with resources for educators that includes curricula, quizzes, professional development and more. 







Earth Day Network - this is another great resource for teaching about the environment and Earth Day. The educator resource page has lesson plans, Green your School guide, grant programs and more to help educators. 

Science Museum Climate Science Info Zone - information and resources on climate change, carbon footprint, and more. 

Think Green from Discovery Education - Think Green is another great free resource from Discovery Education that contains lesson plans, videos, and activities for teachers to use in their classroom. The resources are sorted by grade level and are interactive and educational. 


You can also go to the Think Green Resource Page to search for more resources by grade, topic, or resource. 




Discovery Education, Siemens STEM Academy also has some great resources. 


Every classroom can, and should, talk about Earth Day and the environment. We all need to help make sure that the Earth will be a healthy, viable, place for generations to come. It's also a great way to incorporate STEM topics into any classroom and relate STEM topics to the environment. 


English classes could write about the environment, including persuasive essays and letters on different topics. 


History classes could look at the history of Earth Day and the Environmentalist movement, along with the history of different environment events. 


Science classes can delve into the science of the environment, energy resources, energy production and more. 




What do you do for Earth Day in your classroom?




Some More Environmental Resources


Discovery Education Dawn Junior Wildlife Champions-free lesson plans about oil spills and wildlife

The Road Ahead - resources on electricity generation from Discovery Education

Discovery Education Turfmutt - environmental science lessons

25 Free Resources from Discovery Education

Discovery News - science news

Disney Planet Challenge - project based environmental contest with resources

STEM and our Planet - Environmental issues in STEM Education

National Environmental Education Week is next week, April 15-21, 2012, right before Earth Day. The site for it has some great resources for teachers, including lesson ideas and resources.

One resource that I like is an infographic entitled "STEM and Our Planet" that has information, data, and resources for relating STEM Topics to the Environment.

The infographic and the site are great ways to incorporate Environmental issues and science into STEM topics.

Related:

STEM Resources for Educators and Students

Great Earth Day Resources for Educators
Glogster Earth Day Contest - great education project with prizes

National Wildlife Federation resources for Educators

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has some great resources for educators on their web site. There is a news section, wildlife animal information and resources, environment and global climate change resources, and much more.




They have wildlife cameras that you can view, such as the Eagle Cam, an incredible Wildlife Library with information about different animals and species, and Wild Places where you can virtually visit and explore some great wild parts of America.

There are outdoor activity guides and things to do outside, Wildlife news reports, and Global Climate Change resources.



The Kids Page is well done also, explaining topics with children in mind, animations, videos, explanations, and even mobile apps.


The NWF also offers free webinars on a variety of topics.


This is a great resource for teachers and students to use when studying wildlife, nature, and the environment.

Water Planet Challenge - classroom resources for teaching about water and the environment

Yesterday was World Water Day and I posted about that and some resources for teaching about water in the classroom/

Water Planet Challenge is another great resource for teaching about water and water conservation and how to improve the health of the environment. The site has information and resources to help teachers inspire and encourage students to care about our water planet. The materials are geared towards middle and high school students.

The site teaches about water conservation and the environment and has action steps that students can do to not only learn about these topics, but actually start to help conserve water and clean up the environment. 

There are great teacher resources and lesson and activity ideas and guides and there are also grants available to help teachers implement the lessons. Lesson resources include videos and links to other resources. 

Sponsors of the site include Toyota USA Foundation, the NEA Foundation, and Discovery Education. 

Related:

25 Free Resources from Discovery Education

Jonathan Bird's Blue World - award winning educational program on oceans updated

Explore the Blue - lessons about water for all subjects - from Discovery Education (free resource).

USGS Education Resources - free resources for teachers - including resources about water

Great Earth Day Resources for Educators

NASA Eyes on the Earth - vital signs of the planet

NASA Eyes on the Earth - vital signs of the planet

NASA has another great resource for educators: NASA Eyes on the Earth. This site allows you to visualize actual satellite imagery and data in relation to the climate of the Earth. You can view data for air temperature, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide levels, sea levels, ozone, ice and water. You can explore and follow NASA satellites and see how they collect data about the Earth's atmosphere, land and sea. There are also some great images to view.

It launches in a separate window and can be viewed full screen. The 3D graphics are amazing and it follows the satellites in real time.

This is a resource that would be great for any science class, especially environmental science and Earth science.

Endangered Species FactSheets

Kid's Planet has a great resource on endangered species of the world, E-Species Fact Files. The site has fact sheets on over 50 endangered species, organized by area of the world.

The site links to the Defenders of Wildlife site. Each fact sheet has photos, information on the habitat and dangers to the animal.

This is a great resource to use with any class to show students how important protecting these species is.

Wind Power interactive - great resource from NatGeo

National Geographic has some great resources for education, including the Nat Geo Education site, Nat Geo Animal Facts site, Ancient Sea Monsters, and the Traveler's Guide to the Planets. They also have a great interactive site on Wind Power.

The Wind Power Interactive site goes through how a wind turbine works, how the energy is converted to electricity and more. It's a great site to use with Environmental classes, Physics classes, or pre-engineering classes.

It's one of many interactive sites Nat Geo has.

Energy Kids - free educational resources about energy

Energy Kids is a free resource site from the US Energy Information Administration that contains resources on energy, energy sources, saving energy, history of energy, energy calculator, games and more.

There is a teachers' guide with lesson plans, resources, games and more.

This is a great resource for any teacher who teaches about energy. The materials are very well done and useful and teachers can even upload their own lesson plans to share with others.


Source: Tech&Learning magazine

Great Earth Day Resources for Educators

Earth Day, April 22nd, is a great time to talk to your students about the environment. Many schools, including most in Connecticut, will be on break during that time, but you can always talk about it after break.


Earth Day was started in 1962 as a way to bring attention to environmental issues. As polution increases, and the environment is continually affected by humans, it is a great time to get our students thinking about environmental issues. 




Here are some resources you can use with your students:





National Environmental Education Week - This week (April 10-16) is Environmental Education Week. This site has an entire section with resources for educators that includes curricula, quizzes, professional development and more. 





Earth Day Network - this is another great resource for teaching about the environment and Earth Day. The educator resource page has lesson plans, Green your School guide, grant programs and more to help educators. 

Science Museum Climate Science Info Zone - information and resources on climate change, carbon footprint, and more. 

  
Think Green from Discovery Education - Think Green is another great free resource from Discovery Education that contains lesson plans, videos, and activities for teachers to use in their classroom. The resources are sorted by grade level and are interactive and educational. 


You can also go to the Think Green Resource Page to search for more resources by grade, topic, or resource. 

Discovery Education, Siemens STEM Academy (another great resource from Discovery) is hosting a webinar entitled Earth Day: The Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill One Year Later with Jeff Corwin on Tuesday, April 19, 2011, 1pm ET. Teachers can register for free and share it with their students. 

You and your students are invited to join biologist, environmentalist, author and Emmy winner Jeff Corwin to take an in-depth look at the impact of the 2010 Gulf Oil Spill as we approach the one-year anniversary.  Jeff, who hosts Animal Planet’s The Jeff Corwin Experience, will examine the intricate and wide-spread ecological effects of the spill on life in the surrounding ecosystem and beyond.  As a defining moment in environmental history, the oil spill will forever change societal awareness of the relationship between humans and the environment. You and your students will walk away with a better understanding of the role we play in protecting the aquatic habitat of the gulf and the positive impact we can make on the environment every day

Every classroom can, and should, talk about Earth Day and the environment. We all need to help make sure that the Earth will be a healthy, viable, place for generations to come.


English classes could write about the environment, including persuasive essays and letters on different topics. 


History classes could look at the history of Earth Day and the Environmentalist movement, along with the history of different environment events. 


Science classes can delve into the science of the environment, energy resources, energy production and more. 




What do you do for Earth Day in your classroom?




Some More Environmental Resources

Discovery Education Dawn Junior Wildlife Champions-free lesson plans about oil spills and wildlife

The Road Ahead - resources on electricity generation from Discovery Education

Discovery Education Turfmutt - environmental science lessons

Top 10 Resources from Discovery Education - all free

Discovery News - science news

Disney Planet Challenge - project based environmental contest with resources

Discovery Education Dawn Junior Wildlife Champions-free lesson plans about oil spills and wildlife

Dawn Junior Wildlife Champions is another great resource for Discovery Education, in partnership with Dawn.

The site has three lessons, recommended for grades 3-5, available for download. The lessons contain investigative research, hands-on experiments, and even at-home activities. There are also teacher resources and tools. The lessons are about the issues relating to oil spills and the environment and wildlife.

These lessons can be adapted for use with other grade levels also.

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The Road Ahead - resources on electricity generation from Discovery Education

The Road Ahead is a resource from Discovery Education and General Motors Education that explores how electricity is generated and how it will change how we live.

There is a digital magazine that interactively teaches about electricity, energy sources and new ways to power vehicles. There are also a teacher's guide, worksheets, and a classroom poster you can print.

Materials and resources are divided up into two groups: Grades 3-5 and 6-8. There is a link to GM's education site with lessons for grades 9-12.

There is also a link for getting ideas and resources for teaching about the environment.

This is a great resource for science teachers and any teacher that is teaching about electricity, the environment, and more.

The General Motors Education site has a lot of other resources for teachers for all grade levels in a variety of subjects and topics. Check it out too.

Discovery Education Turfmutt - environmental science lessons

Discovery Education's Turfmutt is another great, free resource for teachers from Discovery Education.

Turfmutt has lesson plans, videos, puzzles, activities, resources and more for educators and students to learn about the environment and how to protect it. There is even a contest for classes to enter.

Most of it is geared towards grades 3-5, but I found plenty of material and activities that are good for middle school and high school.

If you teach environmental science or about the environment, this is a resource you need to check out.

Disney Planet Challenge

Disney has a great, free, contest for students in grades 4-6 in the United States. Disney's Planet Challenge is a project based environmental competition that helps students learn about science, conservation and teamwork.

The friendly competition has ready made curriculum and lesson resources and the site is very easy to use and navigate. Everything you need to know is on the site. Curriculum and contest resources are also available for download in PDF form.

The curriculum and resources were designed by scientists and educators. You can tell that teachers had a hand in the development because of the way things are written and set up. It is very easy to implement.

There are some really great prizes (grants!! $$$) and the grand prize is grant money, NSTA membership and conference attendance, prize packs for the students, and an all expense paid trip to the Disneyland Resort for the teacher, principal, students, and chaperone's. Not bad for a free contest.

Eligibility is 4th, 5th, or 6th graders, or a combination, in a class or club in the USA. 40 students maximum in the class or club.'

While the contest is only open to grades 4-6, teachers of other grades could use the materials as a guide for their own projects.

Deadline to enroll is Friday, December 18th 2009 at 1200am PST. (I'd make sure I have the enrollment done a few days before that).

All project portfolio's are due by February 26th, 2010. Winners will be announced in April 2010.

Check it out and Good Luck!!