This unit was created by Sierra Nevada Journeys in partnership with the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection (https://ndep.nv.gov/) and the Truckee River Fund (truckeeriverfund.org). During this unit students will learn about the importance of a watershed, which is tied directly to the water cycle. Using collaboration, critical thinking, and outdoor learning experiences, students will develop an understanding of the impact humans and environmental factors can have on the watershed system and what impact this has on humans. Students will gather evidence and research in order to answer/address questions with empirical evidence. In this lesson students will go to a field site to look for evidence of health of a river. Students will hunt for macro-invertebrates and use sensitivity levels as evidence to determine the health of the river.

This unit was created by Sierra Nevada Journeys in partnership with the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection (https://ndep.nv.gov/) and the Truckee River Fund (truckeeriverfund.org). During this unit students will learn about the importance of a watershed, which is tied directly to the water cycle. Using collaboration, critical thinking, and outdoor learning experiences, students will develop an understanding of the impact humans and environmental factors can have on the watershed system and what impact this has on humans. Students will gather evidence and research in order to answer/address questions with empirical evidence. In this capstone lesson students will use their experiences and knowledge from the first three lessons, along with additional research on an invasive species, to determine the health of the Truckee River.

In this lesson, the students will build a shelter in order to protect themselves from the rain. After the shelters are built, the class will perform durability and water proof testing on the shelters.

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.

This resource from SHAPE Washington offers a five-lesson unit plan for Hiking. The unit focuses on hiking activities that can be implemented into the Physical Education classroom that align with the state standards.Lesson adaptations are suggested that incorporate inclusionary activities and meet the needs of students with disabilities. 

This series of ten lessons has been developed to teach students about local and global water issues. They are based on NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission. The activities are done largely outdoors and include scientific data collection and analysis and integrate technology. Many of the lessons involve data collected based on protocols from the GLOBE Program. Each lesson is designed to take one hour; the lessons build on each other, but can also be used independently. Each lesson topic includes a lesson plan, PowerPoint presentation, student capture sheet and capture sheet answer guide.

Students learn how to take bearings using orienteering compasses. They also learn how to describe a bearing and find an object in the classroom using a bearing.