This article includes unit plans for Grades K-2 and 3-5 using resources from The Sun and Earth’s Climate issue of Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle.
Unit Plans That Teach Foundational Climate Concepts
This article includes unit plans on weather, water as a solid, liquid, and gas, and the water cycle. Unit plans are provided for the K-2 and 3-5 grade bands.
Unit Plans About Organisms, Their Adaptations, and Their Environments
This article shares a unit plan that develops an understanding of how local plant species are adapted to their environment. It also highlights a set of similar plans focused on polar mammals.
Unit Plans: Earth’s Climate Changes
This unit is designed to provide elementary students with the opportunity to investigate how the annual rings in trees help scientists learn about past climates. It uses hands-on experiences and nonfiction text to answer the question: How do trees help scientists learn about the past?
Unit Plans: We Study Earth’s Climate
This unit is designed to provide elementary students with the opportunity to investigate how scientists study the Earth’s climate. It uses hands-on experiences and nonfiction text to answer the question, How do we learn about Earth’s climate?
Unit Plan: We Change Earth’s Climate
In this unit, elementary students learn about the greenhouse effect through hands-on experiences, and informational text. Students use nonfiction text features to locate information to extend their knowledge, and create diagrams (infographics) depicting the greenhouse effect.
Unit Plan: Earth’s Climate in the Future
This article presents unit plans for grades K-2 and 3-5 focused on the availability of freshwater around the world and the importance of conserving water. Unit plans follow the learning cycle format and are aligned to the National Science Education Standards and the NCTE/IRA Standards for the English Language Arts.
