Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

This Australian site offers a collection of weather lessons for elementary students choose from HTML or PDF. The maps and weather images are of Australia, of course, which may or may not be an issue in your classroom. If you're looking for weather lessons, these are worth examining.

tag(s): weather (161)

The state of Wisconsin developed this environmental education site for students there. While some of the content is a bit "Wisconsin-centric" there is a nice collection of interesting elementary content in an easy to navigate structure.

tag(s): environment (252), habitats (92)

The National Parks Conservation Associaiton offers this site about the of coastal habitats of Olympic park. Read a mystery about the Lady of the Lake and the risks to the park from low flying air tours.

tag(s): conservation (102), coral (11), environment (252), forests (30), national parks (29), reefs (6), wetlands (7)

Here's a unit from NASA about the melting polar ice caps that was written late in 2002. Turn on the glossary feature for extended references and definitions of the scientific terms used. Try this one for a study of ecosystems, the poles, and global warming.

tag(s): antarctica (30), arctic (40), polar (10)

This NASA site is the home base for a collection of Earth imaging resources and subsections dealing with earth science topics ranging from natural disasters to ozone measurement. Several of these sections change regularly, so there's always likely to be something new here. Well worth a visit for science, earth science, or space topics.

tag(s): earth (183)

This USGS site explains how earthquakes occur and how scientists try to predict their occurrence and severity. This page could serve as a brief introduction, but following its many links will lead to a thorough description of earthquakes and their detection. Pick and choose depending on the presentation level you need.

tag(s): earth (183), earthquakes (47)

Here's a beachcomber's delight and a great resource for identifying those shells students collect on vacation trips. The site is nicely indexed and includes detailed photos of hundreds of different shell types. This site would also work as an adjunct to a study of ocean habitats and marine species. Students will navigate this one easily.

tag(s): oceans (149)

This Canadian site is just what the bear buffs need - an introduction to the habitat and lifestyle of North America's most famous bears. There's a large "bear basics" section, along with details on staying safe when sharing space with grizzly bears. But alas, there are very few photos.

tag(s): canada (24)

The US Geological Survey offers this page full of information about earthquakes, earthquake monitoring, and earthquake safety. The site includes several features that offer real-time reporting data. While there's lots of information here for any student, we suspect this page will be of particular interest to students living in earthquake-prone areas.

tag(s): earth (183), earthquakes (47)

Giving geology or earth science students the "big picture" can be difficult. This site from the US Geologic Survey uses colors and topographic maps to explain geologic time periods and phenomena. Along the way, there are lots of links to specific time periods and features showing where interesting things were happening millions of years ago. This one is worth some exploration; there's lots to see.

tag(s): geologic time (12), geology (62), logic (161), time (91)

The site from the University of Illinois Extension offers tips and guidelines for controlling or eliminating the effects of pesticides in common household and garden situations. While not intended specifically for students, teachers could use these guidelines as part of a unit on managing the environment, environmental policy, or ecology.

tag(s): ecology (103)

While this day of recognition (April 21) may be better known in California, Muir's legacy of concern for conservation had a national impact, as is evident from this Sierra Club site. In addition to documents relating to creating the California holiday, teachers will find a John Muir Day study guide in Adobe Acrobat format that outlines Muir's life and the conservation issues for which he fought.

tag(s): conservation (102), earth (183), earth day (61), ecology (103)

This web site from a consortium of several thousand environmental organizations offers a great collection of resources to build awareness of ecological issues and inspire both individual and collective action. These include several games that let students discover how well they and their families conserve resources. Find out how much you know about Earth. Try the Quizzes!

tag(s): earth (183), earth day (61), ecology (103), environment (252)

This one's an oddity. It combines very good, very brief introductory pages on the essentials of geology with very detailed information on geochemistry, exploration, and testing methods. While the basics will work well for high school, or even middle school students, we suspect teachers will find the other content less helpful. Try this one as a reference source for hardness, geologic time periods, and the like.

tag(s): fossils (41), geology (62), minerals (13), rocks (35)

You'll find more than just the bear facts (sorry...) at this site. There are sections about brown, black, polar, and grizzly bears, offering decent writeups on each, along with some very nice photographs. A kids' section offers several well-captioned slide shows about bears and their habits. This is a good example of a site that has effective text and visuals without lots of overboard effects. If bears are in your habitat, this one's a great resource.

tag(s): animals (293)

Presented by a sanctuary in Tennessee, this site describes the sanctuary's efforts to keep aging Asian elephants healthy, and includes information about these animals and their native habitats. There's also a fair amount of fund-raising information, but students will find the factual content interesting.

tag(s): animals (293)

Developed at Cornell University, this site offers a framework to help high school students conduct environmental science research and participate in communities of fellow student scientists. There are research protocols and discussion groups for a number of topics, as well as links to newly published text materials. The web content, however, seems to stand independently of the print materials. Secondary science, biology, and earth science teachers will find this one interesting.

tag(s): ecology (103), environment (252), habitats (92)

While not all sled dogs are malamutes, the American Kennel Club's page about this breed explains why they are so well suited to life in the Arctic. The information includes both physical descriptions and show standards.

tag(s): alaska (22), animals (293)

The home page for the annual Iditarod sled dog race offers all manner of information on the race, the dogs, and the mushers. There's also information on the Junior Iditarod, and extensive information for teachers and students. This site is useful even during "non-race" seasons.

tag(s): alaska (22), iditarod (4)

Want the weather for Wellington? Will it be balmy in Bombay? This UN weather site has weather information for cities all over the world. As such, it's a ready store of climate data for any unit on weather observations, or even to use as an illustration of variances around the globe. It's nothing fancy, but there's lots of information.

tag(s): weather (161)