Exploring the Biosphere (2 of 3)

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Today, we are going to be exploring the biosphere! The biosphere is all of the regions of earth, from the surfaces, the water, and the atmosphere! The previous lesson was focused all around the water on earth; something we scientists call the hydrosphere. Today we are going to learn about a different aspect of our biosphere: the atmosphere!

Grade Level: 2-4

Theme: Earth Systems

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions: 

• What are 4 different types of clouds?

• Why do we consider the atmosphere a protective layer?

• What are some ways that humans emit greenhouse gases into our atmosphere?

• What happens when we have an excess of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere?

Materials Needed:

• Cotton balls

• Sheet of paper

• Tape or glue

• Writing utensil

Standards:

Vocabulary:

• Atmosphere

• Troposphere

• Stratosphere

• Greenhouse gas

• Greenhouse effect

• Air pollution

Activity 1:

As we learned in the video, our earth’s atmosphere is made up of five different layers! Can you remember what the first layer in our atmosphere is called? The troposphere! This is where all of our weather occurs, and where our clouds form.

Let’s make some model clouds and practice studying them!

Materials needed:

• Cotton balls

• Sheet of paper

• Tape or glue

• Writing utensil

Step 1: Create your clouds!

Cumulonimbus: (mid level) dark, grey, cover entire sky and block the sun (signals rain or snow)

Cumulus: (low level) fluffy, cotton-ball appearance

Stratus: (low level) thin, papery, cover entire sky

Cirrus: (high levels) light, curly, hair-like appearance

Step 2: Label your clouds.

Step 3: Take your clouds outside and see if any of the clouds in the sky resemble the clouds you just created with your cotton balls!

Activity 2 (Alternative)

If you do not have the materials for activity two, simply head outside with a sheet of paper and pencil. Look up at the clouds and try to draw the shapes of the clouds you can see in the sky. Next, try to identify which types of clouds you see!

Additional Activities and Resources

This fun, common science activity has been done by students across the world for many years! Parents may remember doing this one as a child themselves! This activity is best suited for grades 4+.

Did you enjoy today’s activity? Stay tuned for more, and in the meantime…

Send us a photo of yourself doing today's activity and if you would like, please share your name(s) and where you are from with cisonline@changeissimple.org

Reducing Waste (3 of 3)

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Today is a review of this unit’s information that was covered in the previous two lessons. Access to those two lessons is at the bottom of this page. Today’s activity is a set of questions through a form that is based on the topics from the 2 previous lessons.

Grade Level: K-6

Theme: Waste Reduction

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions: 

Materials Needed:

Standards:

Today’s Activity:

This week we covered a few ways that we could reduce our waste production. We’d love for you to complete this reflection through Google Forms as today’s activity.

If you can’t access the page above, click on the link below to take you to the Google Form directly!

Not here on Monday or Wednesday? Here’s a refresher!

Check out these videos to get a sense of what we talked about.

Monday

Wednesday

Did you enjoy today’s activity? Stay tuned for more, and in the meantime…

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Reducing Waste (1 of 3)

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Today we are going to learn all about reducing waste in our lives. We will see how much waste we truly create and what are some easy ways we can help lower that amount. We will be learning how to sew up a ripped shirt ourselves!

Grade Level: K-6

Theme: Waste Reduction

Supervision needed? Yes

Essential Questions: 

• What are natural resources?

• Why should we care about how much waste we produce?

• What is beneficial about reusing or repairing old stuff?

Materials Needed:

• Ripped t-shirt or clothing

• Needle

• Thread

• Scissors

Standards:

Introduction video

activity one - sewing

Supplies Needed:

• Ripped t-shirt or clothing

• Needle

• Thread

• Scissors

Step One:

• Cut off plenty of thread in comparison to the length of the rip

  • Choose a thread color that matches the fabric

I CHOSE A DARK COLOR FOR A BETTER VISUAL

• String the thread onto the needle (I used that silver guy to help me)

• Pull the thread even in length on both sides

Step Two:

• Tie a knot at the end of the two pieces of thread on the opposite side of the needle

• Pull the knot tight

Step Three:

• Turn your article of clothing inside out

Step Four:

• Pinch the two sides of the rip flat against each other

Step Five:

• Push the needle through the two sides of the fabric

• **Make sure to start a bit to the side of the opening to make sure you don’t miss any spots (I started to the left of my rip)

• Gently pull it through until the knot reaches the first side of the fabric

• **DO NOT PULL IT THROUGH**

Step Six:

• Bring the needle back to the first side and push it through again right next to the first spot

• Pull it through gently and pull mostly tight, but making sure not to pull the first knot through the fabric

• Continue doing this until you have sewn past the other edge of the rip

• **Make sure to continue to line up the two pieces of fabric making sure they are flat against one another.

Step Seven: Version #1

It’s time to make a finishing knot!

**sorry I switched yarn color :)

• Put the needle through the two layers of fabric

• Make a knot using the needle side of the thread on the back side of the shirt.

• Continue to pull the needle through

• Pull the needle, making the knot tight

• Repeat 2-3 times

Step Seven: Version #2

As a secondary measure, you can tie a separate knot with the thread.

• After the needle is through the fabric, tie a knot with the needle

• Pull it tightly to the surface of the fabric on the back side

Step Eight:

• Cut the excess thread

• Turn the shirt right side out

• Horray!! You’ve fixed your clothing!

activity two - alternative

What you will need:

• Adult Supervision / Assistance

• Item to fix

• Creativity!

What can you fix in your house that is broken or needs repairing? Repairing things so we don’t have to throw them away is a huge way we can have a positive impact on the environment and save our precious natural resources!

Choose an item in your home that you would have thrown away and find a way to repair it.

Examples:

• Jeans with a hole in them - patch them up!

• Backpack with a rip or broken zipper - ask your parents for help sewing it up and fixing it

• Turn cardboard boxes into a play space!

• Repairing an old bookshelf or piece of furniture!

step 3: reflection

Question 1: Why is it important to sew up ripped clothing or repair items instead of throwing them away?

Question 2: What is all of our STUFF made from? (Hint: They occur naturally on earth)

Did you enjoy today’s activity? Stay tuned for more, and in the meantime…

Send us a photo of yourself doing today's activity and if you would like, please share your name(s) and where you are from with cisonline@changeissimple.org

Renewable Energy Sources (2 of 3)

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Next on the list of renewable energy sources is hydropower! Following solar power, hydropower is the second most popular renewable energy source in the US. In today’s lesson you will learn more about how water can generate electricity, how we use hydropower, and even create your own turbine! Check out the video below to get started.

Grade Level: 4-6

**For younger students, ask a friend at home for assistance!

Theme: Energy Conservation

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions: 

• What does renewable energy mean?

• How does hydropower work?

Materials Needed:

• Bottle Cap

• Pencil/Pen

• Ruler

• Paper Plate

• Tape

• Scissors

• Stick

Standards:

Vocabulary:

• Electromagnetic generator: converts motive force or mechanical energy (in this case it is the water pushing the turbine) into electrical power

• Potential energy: mechanical energy, stored energy, or energy caused by its position (like when a ball is placed at the top of a hill)

• Transformer: a device that takes power from the generator and converts it to higher-voltage current which we can then use

• Gravitational pull: force which tries to pull two objects toward each other

Activity one

Today we will be creating our own hydropower turbines!!

You will need:

• Bottle Cap

• Pencil/Pen

• Ruler

• Paper Plate

• Tape

• Scissors

• Stick

Step One: Take the cap to a bottle and draw a circle around the center of the paper plate.

Step 2: Cut the edge of the paper plate off.

Step 3: Take the ruler and draw 4 lines across the plate. Top to bottom, side to side, and the middle sections - all through the center of the plate.

Step 4: Take the scissors and cut on the lines from the outside edge of the plate to the edge of the circle drawn in the center.

Step 5: Then fold the blades into position. Leaving a small lip at the edge of each blade that stays flat.

Step 6: If you want to make your blades more water proof, you can put tape over the blade edges.

Step 7: Take a stick or pole and stick it through the center of the plate. 

Step 8: Now test out your amazing homemade hydropower turbine!

**Tip! If it is too tight around the stick, it might not spin well. So make it a bit looser.

**Also, you can add a rubber band behind the blade on the stick if it slides off too easily.

reflection

Question 1: Try increasing the flow of water over your turbine. Does the turbine spin faster?

Question 2: Do you think more energy generated when the turbine spins faster? Explain your answer.

Refer back to the video if you need a refresher, or do independent research!

Did you enjoy today’s activity? Stay tuned for more, and in the meantime…

Send us a photo of yourself doing today's activity and if you would like, please share your name(s) and where you are from with cisonline@changeissimple.org

The Lifecycle of a Salmon

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Today, we are going to finish our series of lessons related to the importance of fish to our natural environment! This lesson will focus on one of the most important keystone species on the entire planet, the Pacific Salmon! We are going to explore the transformations these amazing animals undergo throughout their complex life-cycle, learn about their incredible migrations and even get crafty!

Grade Level: K-6

Theme: Natural Systems

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions: 

• What are the different life-cycle stages of a salmon?

• Where do salmon travel and at what stages of their lives?

Materials Needed:

• colored writing utensils

• blank piece of paper

Standards:

PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO SO WE CAN GET STARTED!

Now it’s Time for YOU to design your own displays of a Salmons Lifecycle!

Lets get crafty and create a visualization of the incredible changes these fish undergo throughout thier lives

To really see how these fish change, we are going to use pictures to represent each stage of the salmon’s life! If you have a printer, feel free to print and cut out the pictures I created for your chart. If you don’t, even better! you get to create your own! You can use my pictures as a guide. Feel free to add as much or as little detail as you like, just make sure the size and color are accurate!

STEP 1-Add your first Location!

Salmon begin their lifecycles high up in the mountains in fresh water streams and creeks. This habitat provides the safest place for salmon to lay their eggs!

Step 2: Add the first stage of life, Eggs!

Salmon lay anywhere from 2,000 to 6,000 eggs! However, only about 15% of the eggs survive. Eggs are laid amongst the gravel in the stream beds, protecting them from predators, freezing and srong currents. Fertilized eggs develop in the gravel for 3 months!

Step 3: Add the second stage of life, Alevins!

Alevin emerge from their eggs four to six weeks after hatching. They remain in the gravel where the yolk sack under their neck provides them with all the nutrients they need to grow!

Step 4: Add the Second Stage of Life, Fry!

After their egg sacs have been absorbed, young salmon become Fry. Fry swim in search of food. They remain near their place of birth and forage for insects, larvae and other fish eggs to sustain them.

Step 4: Add the next stage of life, Parr!

Parr are juvenile salmon ready to begin their journey from their place of birth. They head downstream guided by gravity and stream flow, destined for estuaries near the ocean!

Step 5: Add your next location, The Estuary

The young salmon’s next home is the estuary! This is where salt water and freshwater mix, usually at the mouths of rivers where they meet the sea. This habitat provides the salmon a safe haven, sheltered from the open sea where they begin their transformation into a salt water fish!

Step 6: Add the next stage of life, Smolt!

Once in the estuary, the salmon becomes a smolt. It undergoes a process known as “smoltification”, where it’s body begins to adapt to salt water. It undergoes changes in body shape, color and physiology (inside it’s body!). In the estuary it feasts on zooplankton, insects, sand-fleas and shrimp! It usually stays in the estuaries 1-3 months.

Step 7: Add the Next Location, the open ocean!

Once the salmon leaves the estuaries, it ventures into the vastness of the open sea! Adult salmon venture deep into the ocean, often traveling up to 2,500 miles from where it hatched!

Step 8: Add the Next Stage of life, Adult

Once the salmon enters the ocean, it is considered an adult. An adult salmon is perfectly adapted to life in the open ocean. They feast on zooplankton, larval crustaceans an small fish! Depending on the species, adult salmon spend anywhere between 4 months to 5 years at sea!

Step 9: Add the Last stage of life, Spawning Adult Salmon

When they are ready to breed, spawning adult salmon head back to the same riverbed where they were born. They stop eating and use all of their strength to get back to their spawning grounds. During this phase, they undergo radical changes yet again, changing body shape and turning a bright red and green color! Once the salmon returns to its stream to spawn, its lifecycle will end.

Step 10: The completed Salmon Lifecycle!

Time to Reflect!

Lets think about this

• Why do salmon spawn in freshwater then venture out into the open ocean?

• How many different phases does the salmon go through during it’s lifecycle?

• Why is the salmon a keystone species both for the ocean AND the forest?

• How far can a salmon travel from where it was hatched?

• What are some ways that humans impact salmon? and how can we help?

Did you enjoy today’s activity? Stay tuned for more, and in the meantime…

Send us a photo of yourself doing today's activity and if you would like, please share your name(s) and where you are from with cisonline@changeissimple.org!

Let’s See those fish pictures!!

Biomimicry

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Today we are going to take a look at a topic that you may not have ever learned about in school, yet it is something that impacts your life every single day. Today we are going to examine the exciting field of biomimicry! Biomimicry is the design and production of items or services that reflect processes that occur in nature. When we create and build things, like airplanes for example, we can mimic the biology of birds that depend on their wings to take flight.

Grade Level: 3-5

**For older students, dive deeper into this activity with our additional activity found down below in this blog post!

Theme: Earth Systems

Supervision needed? Yes

Essential Questions: 

• What is biomimicry?

• How do humans use biomimicry to our advantage?

Materials Needed:

• Activity One:

  • Multiple different surfaces

    • A plastic cutting board, piece of paper, sheet, get creative!

    • Multiple liquid materials

      • water, soap, honey, coconut oil, olive oil, etc.

    • Small object (M&M, penny, eraser)

• Activity Two:

  • A flower or plant from outside (or from Fridays lesson) Try to choose a wildflower or a plant that is in abundance in your backyard!

  • Toothpicks, tweezers

  • Paper and pencil

  • Optional: Magnifying glass

Standards:

Tune in to the video below to learn more about this incredible topic!

Vocabulary terms

• Biomimicry: the design and production of materials, structures, and systems that are modeled on biological entities and processes.

• Engineer (noun): a person who designs, builds, or maintains engines, machines, or public works.

• Evolution:  the process of growth and development or the theory that organisms have grown and developed from past organisms.

Explore engineering!

There are many different ways engineers can apply the principles of biomimicry to designing something and problem solving. Check out these three activities to explore the ways biomimicry can be used! Choose which activity sounds the most exciting to YOU, and go for it!

Activity 1: Exploring the Features of Slippery Surfaces

This activity is best suited for 5+, unless parental supervision and support is present.

Sometimes, simple biomimicry principles allow us to create an easy solution to an everyday problem. One example of this is how engineers haven taken a cue from a plant, called the pitcher plant. The pitcher plant is a carnivorous plant, meaning it eats insects. When insects land on the pitcher plant, they slip down a tube and get stuck inside the plant. This plant is extremely slippery due to a coating of liquid on the surface of the plant!

For this activity, you will need:

• Multiple different surfaces

  • A plastic cutting board, piece of paper, sheet, get creative!

  • Multiple liquid materials

    • water, soap, honey, coconut oil, olive oil, etc.

  • Small object (M&M, penny, eraser)

Experiment: Explore which combination of materials and liquids create the most slippery surface possible! Record your findings and observe what elements of your design made the most slippery surface, and why!

Activity 2 Part 1: Deconstruction of a Flower

This activity can be done with all ages.

This activity is going to require a form of reverse engineering. We already learned that engineering is the process of creating a product or solution, and reverse engineering is similar. However, when you reverse engineer, you will be deconstructing something, observing it and recording information about your observations, and then use those observations to create something new!

For this activity, you will need:

• A flower or plant from outside (or from Fridays lesson) Try to choose a wildflower or a plant that is in abundance in your backyard!

• Toothpicks, tweezers

• Paper and pencil

• Optional: Magnifying glass

Step 1: Separate the parts of the plant/flower (look back to Fridays lesson for a review on the part of the flower!)

Step 2: Observe the colors and textures of the plant/flower. Why do you think there are certain colors on different parts of the flower? Why do you think there are different textures on different parts?

Step 3: Observe the shape of the plant/flower. Why do you think the flower is structured the way it is? Hint: Think about which way the plant/flower grows, which parts of the plant/flower on on the top vs. the bottom and why?

Step 4: Pour water over your plant. Observe what happens. Does the water roll off the plant quickly? Does it get captured/stuck in parts of the plant? Does the water get absorbed into any part of the plant?

Step 5: Answer these questions in your observation: Is the stem of your plant strong/weak/flexible? Can your plant capture lots of sunlight? How? Does your plant have any features to repel predators?

Alternative Activity: If you loved the first part of this activity and are eager to explore more features of nature, before you move on to part 2, get outside! Observe other plants and animals features, such as the way tree branches grow and sway with the breeze, the structure of a spider web, or anything that was mentioned in the video above!

Activity 2 Part 2: Observation/Imitation

Image Source

Use your observations from part 1 and/or the additional activity to envision a new product that mimics some of the properties of nature that you just observed. Check out these examples to get yourself started!

Observation: The sunflower has very large leaves and petals. This feature may exist to allow the plant to capture lots of sunlight to help the plant grow.

Imitation: I could design a solar panel to mimic the shape and structure of sunflower leaves to capture sunlight for energy production.

Observation: The stem of the sunflower is extremely fuzzy. The fuzz helps keep the plant from losing heat and moisture.

Imitation: I can design a sweater to be fuzzy like the stem of a sunflower to help keep me warm.

Observation: Water rolls off the petals of the flower really quickly.

Imitation: How can I create a material that resembles the structure of a flower petal so that is is water proof/water repellent?

Activity 2 Part 3: Product Creation!

It’s time to get creative! Choose one of the imitations you came up with based off of your observations. Find stuff around your home to make a model of your new biomimicry creation! Send us your photos to cisonline@changeissimple.org

Pollination

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Today’s topic is pollination! We will be learning about the structure of flowers and how important flowers are for bees! We will be going outside to find flowers in our own area so we can draw them at home. Then we will be labeling the flower parts learned in the video.

Grade Level:  K-6 **For grade 4+ do the bonus activity in Activity Two!

Theme: Earth Systems, Sustainable Food Systems

Supervision needed? Yes

Essential Questions: 

• What does pollination mean?

• How do flowers play a role in bees’ lives?

Materials Needed:

• Sheet of Paper

• Colored Pencils

• Camera

Standards:

step 1: Introduction video

step 2: find & draw

Now it is time to get outside and take a picture of a flower around where you live! If you do not have any flowers where you live, choose an image online of your favorite flower.

1. Take a picture of it and then head back inside to draw out the flower! Flowers are an incredibly important part of our pollination process. 

*** Make sure to document like a scientist: Location of the flower, date, and time the photo was taken!

April 16th - 3:10PM - Down the street in a garden.

2. Now grab your colored pencils and a piece of paper and draw out the flower you found! Get creative! 

3. Now it is time to label the parts of our flower! 

Parts to label: stigma, anther, petals, stem, and leaves 

Bonus! (Grade 4+)

Want more of a challenge?

• Now write an explanation of why each part of the flower is important. 

• What is nectar?

• Where would pollen be found?

***Once you have finished answering the questions above, click below to see an example!

step 3: reflection

Question 1: Why are bees so important? 

Question 2: What gets transferred from flower to flower? What does that transfer help do?

Question 3: What did you like most about today’s activity?

Question 4: Now take a picture of your flower drawing and your reflection questions. Then email them to us at Change is Simple! (amy@changeissimple.org)

step 4: additional resources

Want to learn more? Check out our extra information to fuel your learning!

Did you enjoy today’s activity? Stay tuned for more, and in the meantime…

Send us a photo of yourself doing today's activity and if you would like, please share your name(s) and where you are from with cisonline@changeissimple.org

Water Conservation

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: In this lesson, students will learn about water as an extremely limited natural resource. Water is used in many aspects of life every day, but there is only a small amount of clean, available freshwater for human use- and this is reduced every day! In this activity you will learn where our supply of global water is, and how we can conserve water as a resource for human use. 

Grade Level: 1-4. For 5+, click here. For adults, click here and here

Theme: Water availability, natural resource use

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions:

• Is water a limited or unlimited resource?

  Where is our water stored globally?

Materials Needed:

• One Sheet of Paper

• Measuring Cup

• Computer

Standards:

• 13.1 Describe types of natural resources and their connection with health.

• Ecological Health 13.2 Describe how business, industry, and individuals can work cooperatively to solve ecological health problems, such as conserving natural resources and decreasing pollution

• Ecological Health 13.4 Identify individual and community responsibility in ecological health.

• Ecological Health 14.2 Identify ways the physical environment is related to individual and community health

• 14.3 List practices and products that make living safer.

---

Let’s start by watching this introduction video!

Student-led Experiment    

Activity Duration: 15 Minutes

Materials Needed:

1. sheet of paper

2. measuring cup & two water glasses

3. computer

step 1: water availability

Please watch this video below and then move onto Step 2!

step 2: water usage activity

From this video we are able to see that water is an incredibly limited resource! Is water really that important? In today’s activity we are going to look at some ways we use water and how much water we can save if we change our habits!

Question 1: Let’s brainstorm 10 things we NEED water for! 

1. ____________________

2. ____________________

3. ____________________

4. ____________________

5. ____________________

6. ____________________

7. ____________________

8. ____________________

9. ____________________

10. ____________________

Now let’s see how much water we typically use, and how much we could save if we change some simple habits and fixtures. For this activity you will need: 

1. sheet of paper

2. two equal sized water glasses

3. a measuring cup

Brushing our Teeth: 

We all should be brushing our teeth twice a day for 2 minutes at a time. Fill the cup on the left with 2 cups of water (fill the cup as full as possible - if it doesn't hold 2 cups, that is okay). Then fill the cup on the right with ¼ cup of water.

These cups represent that you can use 88% less water if you shut the faucet off when brushing your teeth. You only need to turn it on when you are rinsing! Later we will calculate how many gallons you would save!

Showering:

If one person showers once a day for 10 minutes, you can use up to 40 gallons of water! Fill the cup on the left with 2 cups of water (fill the cup as full as possible - if it doesn't hold 2 cups, that is okay). Then fill the cup on the right with 1 cup of water.

These two cups represent how you can use 50% less water if you take a 5 minute shower instead of a 10 minute shower! 

If you change your shower head to a low flow shower head, you can use 50% less than above by cutting your flow in half! Take the cup on the right and remove ½ cup of water. Later we will calculate how many gallons you would save!

Hand-Washing Dishes: 

If we hand wash our dishes for 10 minutes while leaving the faucet running, we could use up to 40 gallons of water! Fill the cup on the left with 2 cups of water (fill the cup as full as possible - if it doesn't hold 2 cups, that is okay). Then fill the cup on the right with ¼ cup of water.

These two cups represent how you can use 88% less water if you shut the faucet off when washing the dishes. You would only need to turn it on when you are rinsing or filling the sink with soapy water. Next we will calculate how many gallons you would save!

Step 3: Water Worksheet

Based on the three things we just learned, let’s find out how much water we could save by applying the above changes to our lives! Calculate the difference between the Traditional Usage and the Conservative Usage using the table below.

Want more of a challenge and to learn more? Click below to calculate your home water usage!

Step 4: Let’s Reflect

Question 1: What percent of the water on Earth is available for humans to use? (Hint: think back to the first video on water availability)

Question 2: What are 5 ways that you can save water in your house? 

1. ____________________

2. ____________________

3. ____________________

4. ____________________

5. ____________________

Question 3: Why is it important to save water? 

Step 5: Additional Resources

Parents! Check These Out!

Did you enjoy today’s activity? Stay tuned for more, and in the meantime…

Send us a photo of yourself doing today's activity and if you would like, please share your name(s) and where you are from with cisonline@changeissimple.org

What is your Carbon Footprint?

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Today we are going to start this week off by talking about something that relates to every part of our life. Today’s topic is focused on carbon footprints which are impacted by the activities we do, the food we eat, the products we buy, and even how we get around. We are going to talk all about what a carbon footprint is, how it affects our planet and you are even going to calculate your own! Most importantly, we are going to learn some ways we can all lower our carbon footprints!

Grade Level:  4-6

Theme: Energy Conservation

Supervision needed? Yes

Essential Questions: 

• What is a carbon footprint? 

• How can I influence my carbon footprint? 

Materials Needed:

• Computer

Standards:

• 13.1 Describe types of natural resources and their connection with health.

• Ecological Health 13.2 Describe how business, industry, and individuals can work cooperatively to solve ecological health problems, such as conserving natural resources and decreasing pollution

• Ecological Health 13.4 Identify individual and community responsibility in ecological health.

• Ecological Health 14.2 Identify ways the physical environment is related to individual and community health

• 14.3 List practices and products that make living safer.

---

Today we are going to start this week off by talking about something that relates to every part of our life. From the activities we do, to the food we eat and the products we buy, even how we get around. Today’s topic is focused on carbon footprints. We are going to talk all about what a carbon footprint is, how it affects our planet and you are even going to calculate your own! Most importantly, we are going to learn some ways we can all lower our carbon footprints!

Check out the video below to start todays lesson!

Lets take a look at your Carbon Footprint:

Now we are going to find out what your carbon footprint is! Pick a calculator below that best fits your grade. The calculator is going to ask you a bunch of question about what you do in your every day life. Remember almost every thing that we do releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

• When we use electricity in our homes that power needs to be created somewhere! We burn fossil fuels at a power plants to create electricity. This releases massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the air.

• Our food is not all grown in our back yard, it is usually grown in another state or country and that food needs to get to you! The distance your food has to travel adds to your carbon footprint.

• We don’t walk everywhere; we use cars, trains, planes, and trucks to get around. All of these modes of transportation use gas and oil. Again, when these are burned carbon dioxide is released into our atmosphere.

• Every product that you use; toys, clothes, care products and anything else you might use in your home. It all came from somewhere, whether its oil that is used to make plastic or the processes to create things like cotton, manufacturing creates a ton of carbon dioxide pollution which adds to your carbon footprint!

Once you have found your carbon footprint, record it below and answer the questions to figure out what adds the most to your footprint and how you can lower it.

There is also a math extension attached related to your carbon footprint to help keep your math skills sharp.

Make sure to check out the youtube video “Carbon Footprint explained” below for additional information

Carbon Footprint Calculators:

• http://www.parkcitygreen.org/Calculators/Kids-Calculator.aspx (k-3rd)

• https://www.conservation.org/carbon-footprint-calculator#/  (4th-6th)

• https://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/ (5th and up)

What’s your carbon footprint? (this depends on which Footprint calculator you use)

Score: _________

OR

Tons/ Pounds of C02: _________

1. Can you define carbon footprint?

2. What added the most to your carbon footprint? Why? ( Food, electricity, transportation, waste)

3. List 4 ways you think you can personally do better?

Reflection:

1. Do you want to have a large or small carbon footprint?

2. What are some ways carbon is released into our atmosphere?

3. What does carbon pollution in the air do to our planet?

4.  Submit some actions that you are doing to lower your carbon footprint!

Did you enjoy today’s activity? Stay tuned for more, and in the meantime…

Send us a photo of yourself doing today's activity and if you would like, please share your name(s) and where you are from with cisonline@changeissimple.org

Exploring Food Chain

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Today we are going to explore the ways in which plants and animals are connected through learning about food chains and food webs! Your student will have the opportunity to create a food web and learn about the impact different keystone species have on an entire ecosystem.

Grade Level:  3-5. For older grades, check out Activity 2.

Theme: Earth Systems

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions: 

Materials Needed:

• Paper

• Colored pencils, markers, or crayons

• Tape

• Cardboard

• String

Standards:

• Ecological Health 13.2 Describe how business, industry, and individuals can work cooperatively to solve ecological health problems, such as conserving natural resources and decreasing pollution

• Ecological Health 13.4 Identify individual and community responsibility in ecological health.

• Ecological Health 14.2 Identify ways the physical environment is related to individual and community health

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Check out the video below to get started!

Vocabulary

• Photosynthesis: The process by which green plants and some other organisms use sunlight to synthesize foods from carbon dioxide and water.

• Primary Producer: an autotroph organism producing complex organic matter, using photosynthesis.

• Primary Consumer: an organism that feeds on primary producers.

• Secondary Consumer: an organism that feeds on primary consumers.

• Tertiary Consumer: an organism that feeds on primary and secondary consumers.

• Apex Predator: a predator that exists at the very top of the food chain.

• Keystone Species: a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically.

Activity 1: Create your food chain.

Now that you have an understanding of the producers and consumers that make up a food chain, let’s try our hand at making an entire food web!

Materials

• Paper

• Colored pencils, markers, or crayons

• Tape

• Cardboard

• String

Step 1: Choose your favorite ecosystem.

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (ex: plants and animals) and nonliving components (ex: water, and soil) In my video, I showed you a rainforest food chain. However, there are many others: Desert, ocean, tundra, grasslands are just a few! For this activity, I’m going to focus on Yellowstone National Park, which is a boreal forest!

Step 2: Draw the primary source of energy in your ecosystem. (Hint, it’s the same one that was in my video!)

Step 3: Draw 1-3 plants you may find in your ecosystem.

Can you recall from the video what we call plants in a food web?

Step 4: Draw 3 animals that eat the plants you have chosen.

Can you remember what we call organisms that eat our plants/primary producers?

Step 5: Draw 2 animals that eat the animals you just drew!

Can you remember what we call animals that eat our primary consumers?

Step 6: Draw the animal(s) that eat the animals you just drew!

Can you remember what we call the animals that eat our secondary consumers?

Step 7: Cut out all of your plants and animals. place the cut outs On your board.

Step 8: Create your food web! use markers or string to draw connections between the animals. Most animals eat more than one other species, so be sure to represent that!

Be sure to label your plants and animals by the primary producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, tertiary consumer, and apex predator.

Additional Activity

For older students or for those interested in learning about the impacts of reintroducing a keystone species into the wild, check out this video on the grey wolf in Yellowstone National Park!

Read and Respond Activity

Read the following summary of an article written about the impact reintroducing grey wolves in yellowstone had on the ecosystem.

The Reintroduction of the Grey Wolf

“Wolves are causing a trophic cascade of ecological change, including helping to increase beaver populations and bring back aspen, and vegetation.” (Farquhar 2019).

In the 1930’s the grey wolf was poached to extinction in Yellowstone National Park. The absence of the wolf meant elk had fewer predators, and as a result elk population skyrocketed. This caused a chain reaction. The elk pushed the ecosystem to its carrying capacity by staying sedentary and heavily consuming willows, cottonwood, and aspen. Willow, being a crucial food source for the beaver along the rivers, declined in population. The decline in willow population led to a decline in beaver population. As beavers manage the riverbanks of Yellowstone, the rivers began to signs of deterioration, which affected birds, fish, and hunting grounds for bears.

Now that wolves have been reintroduced in Yellowstone, elk populations are stable, yet the elk are forced to move much more frequently so the pressure on willows has diminished, allowing beaver population to increase and the rivers to change once again. This story is an incredible example that highlights the power of a keystone species- and the damaging ways humans can impact an entire ecosystem.

Respond to the following questions.

1. Why do you think wolves were hunted to extinction in the 1930’s?

2. What do you think the long term impacts of wolf reintroduction will be?

3. Can you think of any animals that may be a keystone species? Are they endangered? If so, what can YOU do to help protect that species?

   Reflection Questions

   1. Give an example of a primary consumer and an example of a secondary consumer.

   2. What is one thing you learned from this activity?

   3. Why is it important to protect animals from becoming endangered or extinct?

   4. What can YOU do to protect animals from becoming endangered or extinct?

   Did you enjoy today’s activity? Stay tuned for more, and in the meantime…

   Send us a photo of yourself doing today's activity and if you would like, please share your name(s) and where you are from with cisonline@changeissimple.org!

Watersheds

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: In this activity, students will create a watershed using a piece of paper and coloring materials. Students will follow along to an instructors direction to learn what is a watershed, and what you may find in one. After creating the watershed, students will conduct an experiment to understand where water travels through a watershed after a rainstorm. This lesson will highlight how water brings pollution from roads, construction zones, farms and residential areas into our lakes, streams, and oceans. 

Theme: Water pollution, natural resources

Grade Level: 2-5

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions:

• What is a watershed?

• How does pollution travel though and enter a watershed?

• How does pollution impact a watershed?

Materials Needed:

• Paper

• Coloring utensils

• Spray bottle with water

Standards

• 3-LS4-4. Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.

• 2-ESS2-1. Compare multiple solutions designed to slow or prevent wind or water from changing the shape of the land.*

• K-2-ETS1-2. Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.

Background:

What is a watershed?

A watershed is an area or ridge of land that separates the flow of water to different rivers, streams, and lakes. All of the water that falls over a watershed will flow to the same basins (lakes and ponds). When rain falls, or snow melts, that water travels downhill over dirt, roads, and farms carrying whatever it comes in contact with. That means that the water collects and carries pollution to nearby lakes and oceans!

What is pollution?

Pollution is any substance or item that is harmful to the environment it is in. Water pollution takes many different shapes. If rainfall or snowmelt travels over a farm, it can collect fertilizers from the soil and carry them to lakes and oceans. This fertilizer can harm aquatic life. Similarly, oil from cars on the road can harm aquatic life if it gets carried to oceans, lakes. etc.

student led experiment

Activity Duration: 15 Minutes

Materials Needed:

1. One sheet white paper

2. Assorted Markers

3. Spray bottle with water

Step 1: Set up experiment.

Crumple up a sheet of white paper with both hands, and then lay out and semi-flatten.

Color the ridges of your watershed in purple.

To create the towns in your watershed, draw three small towns (red) at three places in the valleys of your watershed. (A valley is a low point of land between mountains).

Next, draw a large city (orange) close to one of the towns. The towns and city are locations in our watershed where we often find large amounts of oil on roads from cars, and pollution from people.

Next, draw four farms (green) in different flat places throughout the watershed. Most farmers use fertilizers to help their crops (fruits and vegetables) grow! These fertilizers are helpful for the farms, but harmful if they end up in our waterways, causing a dangerous process called eutrophication. To learn more about eutrophication, click here!

Finally, draw a coal mine (black) near one of the cities. Coal is a major fossil fuel. The process of mining coal from the earth usually contaminates nearby waters with highly acidic water and metals. To learn more about the process of coal mining , click here!

Step 2: Create your hypothesis.

Soon, you are going to take your spray bottle or pipet and create rainfall over your watershed. Before you do this, you must make a hypothesis as to what will happen when you conduct this experiment!

Question 1: Where will the precipitation end up after the storm ends?

Question 2: What will happen to the pollution that comes from the coal mine, farms, and cities/roads?

Step 4: Create a rainstorm over your watershed!

Take your spray bottle and start to spray water on all areas of your watershed. Carefully observe the changes that occur. Be creative! You can make certain areas heavy rainfall areas and others lighter areas to observe the differences. Record your observations on a sheet of paper (pictures or words!)

Step 5: Reflection

1. Was your hypothesis (guess) from step 3 accurate?

2. What happened to the bodies of water after a serious rainstorm occurred over the cities and farms?

3. How could this runoff impact our watershed?

Now that you have completed this experiment, you hopefully understand that when it rains, pollution travels from our major towns and cities, farms, and industrial areas into our rivers, lakes, streams, and oceans. This can harm animals that live in the water and prevent humans from having clean drinking water. Let’s brainstorm some ways that we can help protect our watersheds from pollution!

The Change is Simple team has come up with three ways to help you get started:

Ride your bike or walk instead of riding in a car! The less we drive, the less oil ends up on our roads.

Pick up trash, even if it’s not yours! The best place for trash is in your trash bin, NOT outside where it can blow into our waterways!

Support local farmers that use little or no fertilizers! The less fertilizers used, the less that ends up in our oceans.

Stay tuned for more activities! In the meantime, send us a photo of yourself doing today's activity and if you would like to share your name(s), and where you are from to cisonline@changeissimple.org