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When selecting resources, always consider the following criteria for quality environmental education.
Do the environmental education resources…
1. present fair and accurate information?
2. use constructive techniques to empower people to draw and act on their own conclusions?
3. contain concepts, language, and activities that are developmentally appropriate for the intended audience?
Criteria are based on Environmental Education Materials: Guidelines for Excellence published by the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE). 
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Each year there are special days set aside for Environmental Education. We all know Earth Day is in April, but when is America Recycles Day, Arbor Day, National Wildlife Week, and American Wetlands Month?
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This National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) website provides basic information about solar, wind, biomass, hydrogen, and geothermal power. It includes special sections for students and teachers.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research's Climate Discovery Teacher's Guide provides three free downloadable units. Each unit contains lessons appropriate for grades 5-9 on a variety of Earth system science topics about our planet's climate system.
"Watersheds: Connecting Weather to the Environment" is an online EE course developed to teach about watersheds and how the public can actions to protect watershed health.
Celebrate Earth Day 2007 by participating in the national performance of the environmentally themed play "Waldon, The Ballad of Thoreau." Play scripts plus a customized lesson plan are free of charge to the first 10,000 high schools or colleges in the USA and Canada.
Georgia Organics, a nonprofit organization that promotes organic, sustainable, and locally grown food and organic farms, has created the "Fundamentals of Organic Farming and Gardening: An Instructor's Guide" curriculum to help educate high school agricultural students and adults about organic gardening and farming.
Check out this collection of currently available solid waste education curricula, lesson plans, and other resources. Unless noted otherwise, they are downloadable and/or available for free.
Order one for your classroom or office. This free wall chart commemorates the next milestone in United States population growth and is accompanied by lesson plans and activities designed to broaden students' awareness.
Subscribe to the Nature Conservancy's free podcast for use in the classroom or home. Listen to exciting tales of how people connect with nature.
It’s hummingbird migration season! The Georgia Department of Natural Resources is giving away free hummingbird fact sheets and a packets of seeds.
Facing the Future provides free downloadable lesson plans about global issues for middle and high school teachers.
The PBS Marine Fisheries Series guide includes six engaging, peer-reviewed activities, correlated to national science and social studies education standards. The guide is designed for middle and high schools as well as non-traditional educational venues such as nature centers, aquaria, and zoos.
Discover, Investigate and Learn all about water on this interactive website for educators and kids. Download free lesson plans for K-12, teaching guides, and environmental activities to use in the classroom.
A picture can be worth a thousand words—especially when showing the effects of waste on our environment! The Environmental Protection Agency provides easily downloadable, environmentally-themed photos and clip art.
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is offering a free, instructional Waste-Free Lunch Posters and activity guides to educators and parents.
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National Geographic has launched "My Wonderful World", a new campaign to increase geographic learning in school, at home, and in the community. Learn more about the campaign, download your Action Kit (for educators, parents, and kids and teens), test your Global IQ, and more. Plus, see the just released results of a survey of geographic literacy.
Earth Day Network's Environmental Education Program provides educators monthly lesson plans, interactive games/quizzes, and a variety of informative ways to learn about the environment for all ages.
"Removing classroom walls and opening windows to our world!" An eFieldtrip provides a interactive web learning experience for students hosted by national points of interest around the United States. This awesome teaching resource is provided free to educators! To take part in the animated component students must have Flash Player 8 (Free Download) installed to computer. Don't pass on the chance to participate in these exciting eFieldtrips!
This 10-module, middle school curriculum gives teachers the opportunity to download social studies activities that are based upon archival materials, such as oral histories or photographs.
This kit includes a tutorial describing the categories of nonpoint source pollution, the various pollutants that originate from nonpoint sources, and research and monitoring efforts; links to online resources; and lesson plans designed for grades 9-12.
This pamphlet presents seven essential principles and fundamental concepts about the ocean and also aligns them with the National Science Education Standards (NSES). Educators can download the pamplet from the website.
The education module documents the Altamaha River Watershed and how it influences the land it drains, the coastal waters into which it empties, and the offshore waters with which it eventually mingles including the waters that bathe NOAA Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary. The module contains the documentary in DVD format, a CD of short radio reports and still images, a poster and an educator’s manual.
This popular bibliography helps teachers meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind legislation (NCLB). It contains more than 400 books. For easy teacher reference, the books are grouped according to topic area and age group.
High School EE Curriculum, Environmental Ethics: Examining Your Connection to the Environment and Your Community, is now available.
Visit the National Library of Medicine's Tox Town Web site to learn more about many environmental health concerns.
The following organizations offer educational resources to help students understand how hurricanes form.
Got milkweed? Report it! Did you know there are 22 species of milkweed native to Georgia. Milkweed is the only host plant of the Monarch butterfly. You can help document what species of milkweed are currently growing in the state and where they are located.
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It is that time of year again - time to place your orders for Monarch Watch Tagging Kits for the upcoming fall season! Monarch Watch begins shipping kits on August 1. Plus check out the brand new searchable Tag Recovery Database!
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Trying to get recycling started at your school? Look no further than the comprehensive Guide to Recycling in Georgia Schools entitled "Catch the Cycle."
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In Georgia, smog season runs from May 1 through September 30. As part of their commitment to education, The Clean Air Campaign has five exciting air quality curriculum units for grades 4 to 8 online.
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Over 200 poems about science and nature from well-known poets...
A report has been released from the Green School Initiative called, The Little Green Schoolhouse: Thinking Big About Ecological Sustainability, Children's Environmental Health and K-12 Education in the USA.
The National Gardening Association’s archive of Classroom Projects features a collection of more than two-dozen plant-based learning projects with scads of related curriculum connections and resources.
Tsunami lesson plans, resources, and service learning projects.
Provides tips and sources about teen volunteerism and community improvement. See what one Georgia teen is doing in her community...
Get your recycling bins all dressed up with these free downloadable signs from Social Change Media.
Wetlands 101 is an online course covering wetland ecology, types and management. It is the perfect first step for anyone wanting to learn more about wetlands.
Explore the National Gardening Association's School Garden Registry and Thematic Explorations Library.
Facing the Future: People and the Planet is a non-profit organization providing teachers, students, and the public with dynamic and successful global issues education and action opportunities to shape our future.
The Seafood Watch program has launched a new pocket guide for the Southeast region. The guide can help you choose seafood that is caught or farmed in ways that support a healthy environment. Teaching Resources too!
Over 100 EE Info-Sheets organized into 8 major categories: History of EE; Resources for Teaching; Academic Resources; Public Understanding of EE; Capacity Building; Assessment and Evaluation; Decision-making; and Environmental Topics.
Great resources relating to exploring alternative energy sources.
National Wildlife Federation and the Junior Master Gardener® program have joined forces to create "Wildlife Gardener."
The National Environmental Education Foundation, in partnership with The Weather Channel, has launched Classroom Earth, a program designed to enhance and strengthen environmental education in high school classrooms nationwide.
"The New Georgia Encyclopedia" (NGE) provides an accessible, authoritative source of information about people, places, events, historical themes, institutions, and many other topics (including natural resources) relating to the state.
Top 5 resources for creating outdoor classrooms / schoolyard wildlife habitats.
The Green Schools Program helps schools use energy efficiently.
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Check out all the schools in the National Gardening Association registry of school gardens. Is your school listed?
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A birdhouse monitoring project for students and other citizen-scientists.
This curriculum/resource kit designed for upper elementary school students uses the aluminum beverage can as a case study in environmental education.
A free e-mail newsletter and wealth of resources for gardening with kids (from the National Gardening Association.)
This book is written especially for helping naturalists and environmental educators design developmentally appropriate EE programs and activities for young children.
Several different videos and video series are available for elementary, middle, and high school students. Written materials, including teacher's guides and other learning aids are included.
EPA recently launched a new "Healthy School Environments" website with links to many programs to improve schools' indoor air quality, energy efficiency, water conservation and safety, and more.
10 posters showing various stages in the life of a forest, 10 matching teaching guides, and a 16 page educational booklet.
An excellent set of tools for assessment and long-range planning!
The purpose of this 133 page guide is to provide the basic steps needed to restore or create wildlife habitat. It is designed so that students complete several tasks that will lead to establishing a forest, meadow or wetland on school grounds.
"Teaching Conservation" is a quarterly publication available to environmental educators from The Georgia Conservancy.
Green Teacher is a non-profit magazine created by and for educators to enhance environmental and global education across the curriculum at all grade levels. Published quarterly, with fifty pages full of ideas and activities, it is popular and practical EE resource. Subscriptions are available for $28 a year or $48 for two years.
Developed for programs supported by Georgia's Solid Waste Trust Fund, these guidelines focus on achieving two goals: 1) Reducing solid waste and 2) Making Georgia litter free.
Past Teaching Resources postings...
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