Lesson Plan Topics
Click on the links below to navigate to a topic of interest:
States of Matter & the Water Cycle
Watershed & Groundwater Education
Litter, Recycling, & Environmental Stewardship
Life Cycles & Nature
Explores the plants, insects, and animals that share our environment. Lessons help students understand growth, adaptation, and the role of organisms in ecosystems.
- Caterpillars to Butterflies (Grade 1) – Students observe caterpillars transforming into butterflies, learning about metamorphosis and life cycles.
- Understanding Insects as Friends or Foes (Grade 2) – Helps students see the roles insects play in nature, distinguishing between helpful pollinators and harmful pests.
- It’s Your Niche (Grades 2–8) – Students explore habitats and niches, learning how organisms fit into ecosystems.
- The Great Swim (Grades 3–12) – A game where students act out the life cycle of Great Lakes fish and face survival challenges.
- Subject to Climate: Plant Adaptation Lesson- Drought and Trees (Grades 3–5) – Examines how trees adapt to drought conditions, helping students understand resilience in plants.
- Water and Plants Unit (Grades K–2) – Introduces how plants depend on water to grow, making connections between plant needs and the environment.
- Coffee Filter Butterflies – Create butterflies from coffee filters while learning about insect life cycles.
- Milk Jug Bird Feeder – Reuse a milk jug to make a feeder and learn how to support local birds.
- How Water Travels Through a Leaf – Demonstrates how plants move water from roots to leaves.
- Subject to Climate: Plant Lesson- Experiment (Grades K–2) – Simple plant-based investigations that introduce scientific thinking.
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States of Matter & the Water Cycle
Introduces students to the science of water and its transformations. Activities illustrate how water changes form, moves through the environment, and shapes the world around us.
- Cold Hard Facts (Grades 2–3) – Investigates how water changes between solid, liquid, and gas.
- Dancing Raisins (Grade 3) – A fun experiment showing how gases interact with liquids.
- Power of Ice (Grades 2–3) – Investigative experiment that demonstrates how water volume changes as it turns to ice.
- A Droplet’s Journey (Grades 1–5) – Students follow a water droplet through the water cycle to see how it moves and changes forms.
- Thirstin’s Water Cycle Activity Sheet (Grades K-3) – An activity showing evaporation, condensation, and precipitation in action.
- How People Get Their Water (Grades K–6) – Teaches about reservoirs as sources of drinking water fed by precipitation and surface water as part of the water cycle.
- Project WET: The Incredible Journey (Grades 3-7) – In this interactive lesson, students follow a water droplet through the stages of the water cycle.
- Subject to Climate: Science Lesson- Water All Around (Grades K–2) – Introduces young learners to the presence and importance of water in everyday life.
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Water Quantity & Conservation
Focuses on Earth’s limited supply of usable freshwater. Students learn how much water is available, how people use it, and why conservation is essential.
- How Much Usable Water Is on Earth? (Grades 2–5) – A visual activity comparing Earth’s total water to the small portion available for human use.
- Earth’s Water: A Drop in Your Cup (Grade 5) – Shows how water travels from its source to the faucet and why conservation matters.
- Water Conservation and Use (Grades 5–8) – Explores how humans use water daily and provides strategies for conserving it.
- How Much Water Matching Activity Sheet (Grades 4-8) – Helps students understand how much water is used for common human activities.
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Watershed & Groundwater Education
Connects students to the flow of water across land and underground. Lessons show how watersheds work, why groundwater matters, and how human actions affect water quality.
- Deep Subjects – Wells and Groundwater (Grades 3–6) – Teaches how wells work and why groundwater is an important water source.
- Is This the Way to the Drainpipe? (Grades K–6) – An activity and story that teaches how our drinking water is cleaned through septic systems or wastewater treatment.
- Groundwater Flow Model Demonstration (Grades 4–9) – A hands-on model showing how groundwater moves through a watershed and how pollution can contaminate water resources.
- Enviroscape Model Demonstration (Grades 1–6) – A model that shows how pollution travels through watersheds and how people can prevent it.
- Thirstin Builds an Aquifer: Aquifer in a Cup (Grades K–3) – A hands-on activity showing how aquifers store and filter groundwater.
- Thirstin’s Groundwater Movement Activity (Grades K–3) – Demonstrates how groundwater moves through soil and rock layers.
- MI Ag Classroom: Soil Texture and Water Percolation (Grades 3–5) – Students test soil types to see how water filters and moves underground.
- Rainwater Runoff: Geometry Lesson (Grades K–2) – Uses math and shapes to help students understand how rainwater runoff moves across surfaces and into drains.
- Water Pollution Activity for Kids – A hands-on activity demonstrating how pollutants spread through water systems.
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Litter, Recycling, & Environmental Stewardship
Encourages action to protect water resources through recycling, litter reduction, and hands-on stewardship projects.
- Green Schools Recycling Campaign (Grade 4) – Encourages schools to reduce waste by creating recycling programs.
- Schoolyard Rain Gardens Guidebook (Grades 2–6) – Students design and plant rain gardens to capture stormwater and improve habitats.
- Alliance for the Great Lakes: Adopt-a-Beach (Grades 4–8) – Students collect data and clean beaches to learn how litter impacts the Great Lakes.
- Alliance for the Great Lakes: Garbage Investigation (Grades 4–8) – Students study types of litter collected during beach cleanups to understand waste sources.
- Alliance for the Great Lakes: Litter Tag (Grades 3–6) – A game-based lesson showing the harmful effects litter has on Great Lakes organisms.
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Human Impacts on Ecosystems
Highlights how human choices affect natural systems, focusing on pollution, invasive species, and long-term changes. Lessons encourage students to take action through pollution prevention, habitat restoration, and protecting the Great Lakes.
- Great Lakes in My World (Grades K–8) – A curriculum connecting students to the Great Lakes through science, history, and stewardship.
- MSUE: 4-H Septic Curriculum (Youth–Adults) – Teaches how septic systems work and why proper care is vital to protect water.
- Five Lesson Plans for Aquatic Invasive Species (Grades 2–12) – Provides activities that show how invasive species harm ecosystems and what people can do to prevent their spread.
- Alliance for the Great Lakes: Beach Mysteries (Grades 4–8) – Encourages problem-solving as students learn about bacteria as an indicator of beach water quality.
- Alliance for the Great Lakes: Beaches Over Time (Grades K–4) – Teaches how beaches change naturally and through human activity.
- Alliance for the Great Lakes: Lake Connection (Grades K–8) – Students explore their connections to the Great Lakes by examining their feelings and creating abstract art.
- Alliance for the Great Lakes: Sound Picture (Grades 3–6) – Uses sounds and sensory activities to help students understand the relationship between people and the Great Lakes.
- Alliance for the Great Lakes: Taking Action (Grades 4–8) – Empowers students to create stewardship projects that protect their local waters.
- Subject to Climate: Plant Lesson- Salt Effects on Farming (Grades K–2) – A hands-on experiment showing how salt impacts crop growth and soil.
- Water Quality Bracelets – Use colored beads to represent different water quality issues and human impacts.
- Water Word Scramble – A puzzle activity that builds vocabulary around water and environmental issues.
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Virtual Learning Resources
Michigan Sea Grant’s H.O.M.E.S at Home
Other Resources
The Great Lakes Basin Map (poster) for watershed education in the classroom