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.

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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!

Overfishing (2 of 2): Threatened Fish of New England

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Today, we are going to take a deeper dive into a topic we discussed last week, overfishing! In today’s lesson, we will closely examine a local, threatened fish species of your choosing. After becoming marine biologists and researching some local fish, we will become artists and draw/paint the subject of your research!

Grade Level: 3-5

Theme: Natural resource, sustainability, tragedy of the commons

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions:

Materials Needed:

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.

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PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO SO WE CAN GET STARTED!

Now it’s Time for YOU to become A Marine Biologist!

Time to take a deep Dive and Find out all About a Local, Threatened Fish Species.

You are going to build a species profile of the fish that you choose! In order for you to to build this species profile, you will have to research and compile information about your fish. Time to start digging!

Step 1-Pick your Fish

Start by surfing the web and choose a threatened/overfished fish species that is local to you! Since I’m in Massachusetts, I picked a fish off the coast of New England. If your joining us from somewhere else, choose one in the waters near where you live!

Here is a good resource to get started!

Step 2-Build your Species PRofile!

Now that you have chosen your fish, its time to start learning all about it. For this activity, you will need a piece of paper and something to write with to record all your data. Here are all the components you will need to build your species profile. You will have to research these questions and write the answers down on your sheet.

1. Write the name of your fish on the top of paper and underline it

2. What type of ocean habitat does your fish live in? (coastal, estuary, deep sea, etc)

3. How big does your fish species grow? (weight & length)

4. What does your fish species feed on?

5. Choose 5 adjectives (describing words) to describe your fish

Want to dig deeper? Here are some more challenging questions to add to your profile!

1. What type of commercial fishing is impacting your fish? (long lining, seine net, bottom trawler, etc)

2. How much has your fish’s stocks declined? (%)

3. What is the market price of your fish? ($)

It is Now Time for you to become an Artist!

Now that your species profile is built, it is now your job to draw and color your fish!

Materials

• Paper, canvas or drawing pad

• Colored pencils, markers, crayons or paint

Step 1- Sketch the outline of your fish

This will be your fish step. Look at your fish, what is it’s body type like? Is it shaped like a football? a torpedo? Is it flat? This is a good question to ask yourself while starting your sketch.

Step 2- Add Details

Once you have the body shape outlined, the next step will be to add in the finer details. These include fins, eyes, gills and patterns on your fish’s body. In my drawing, the Tuna has big eyes in order to hunt effectively and streamlined fins that help it accelerate through the water like a torpedo!

Step 3-Choose your colors!

Once we have the sketch complete, it will be time to bring it to life with some color. Using whichever coloring medium you would like, start compiling all the different colors you will need. I like to use a ton of colors and even create new ones by blending them together!

Step 4-Start Shading!

Now it is time to give your drawing a splash of color! Start by shading in the darker areas of your fish, this will give it a nice shadow affect. Next, add some base color to fish, but keep it light so you can add more colors on top! This will give your fish a really unique look and bring it to life!

Step 5-Lets get Funky! start blending those colors!

To really make your work of art pop, you can start blending different colors to give it layers and to even create some cool new colors! For my tuna, I started with a base of yellow, then added two different hues of blue to give my fish a unique green color that mimics the bluefin’s camouflage!

Step 6- KEep on Coloring till its done!

Keep adding color layers, blending colors and shading to make your piece of art complete! Here is my finished Bluefin Tuna!

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!!

Waste Management

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Today we will be learning about sorting our trash (we call it waste), learning what bin certain items go into, and what alternatives we can make to our lives to produce LESS waste. Please enjoy today’s activity!

Grade Level:  3-5

Theme: Earth Systems

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions: 

• Why is reducing our waste important?

• What is the best “R” action we can take to reduce how much waste we create?

Materials Needed:

• One sheet of white paper OR the printed PDF of the worksheet

• Computer, iPad, or phone

Standards:

• 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.

Activity 1

step 1: reduce, reuse & recycle

In today’s first activity, we are going to be watching a video! In this video we are going to be learning about how we sort our waste. While watching this video, use the worksheet below to write down the items that are described during the video! Feel free to pause the video when you need to write down an item.

Once the video is done, your job will be to come up with alternatives to each of those items. What could you use instead of that item?

             Item #                                                                             Alternative?

Item #1 _________                                                                __________

Item #2 _________                                                                __________

Item #3 _________                                                                __________

Item #4 _________                                                                __________

Item #5 _________                                                                __________

Step 2: alternatives

Watch this video about alternatives and how Eric applied some changes to his life that helps him have a positive impact on the environment!

step 3: reflection

Question 1: Which is the most important of the three R’s? 

Question 2: Choose an item and then describe why its alternative will have a positive impact on the environment. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Question 3: What is one alternative that you want to apply to your life? Why do you want to apply that change?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

step 4: additional learning

Want to learn more? We have a few resources for you if you’re interested in further learning!

Interested in learning about the specific types of plastics talked about in today’s lesson and how to sort them? Check our our awesome Change is Simple Video on Plastics!!

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 a New Ecosystem

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: The topic we are going to be learning more about today is ecosystems! Ecosystems are communities of living and non-living things in the environment that are connected by their interactions. These communities can be small or large depending on the area you are observing. For example the ocean is considered an ecosystem but so are tide pools! Both are very different in size but are still considered ecosystems.

Grade Level:  3-5

Theme: Earth Systems

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions: 

• What is an ecosystem?

• Why is plant diversity important?

Materials Needed:

• Paper/activity PDF and a writing utensil

• Two sheets of white paper

• Assorted Paints

• Paintbrush

• Optional: bag/container for leaves

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.*

5-ESS3-1: Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

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Today we are highlighting an ecosystem you might not have heard about before: the chaparral region of Southern California! This region covers only 2 percent of land surface but holds 20 percent of the Earth’s plant diversity. How neat!

Click on the video below to have Ashley show you what the chaparral ecosystem looks like and see how it might be different than yours!

Activity 1

Now it’s time to go check out the ecosystem you live in! This can be done in your backyard, front yard, or on nature trials near your house (if it is safe and you have access to them). Today’s activity will involve exploring, painting, and observing your local ecosystem!

Taking the time to observe the environment around you will help you have a better understanding of why it’s so important to help protect our natural environment and ecosystems. Enjoy this fun activity to learn more about what makes up an ecosystem and analyze the one you live in.

Step 1: Go outside and explore!

With an adult at home, head outside with your paper/activity PDF and a writing tool to check out the ecosystem near your house!

Look around and count how many different types of plants and animals you can see.

Using your paper/activity PDF and writing tool, record as many different natural things as you can.

Remember: natural is anything that comes from nature, living or non-living, and is not man-made!

Next, gather a few leaves that are different shapes and sizes. Be sure to ask if you are allowed to bring the leaves you collected indoors for a later activity!

Step 2: Reflect on your observations.

Now that you have explored the area surrounding your house let's reflect on what you found! Every ecosystem, or network of living and nonliving things, is really complex and has many different parts that work together to create what we know as the natural environment.

Question 1: Count how many things you saw outside.

Try to reach at least 15!

All ecosystems, regardless of where they are in the world, are named based on the different living and non-living things found in that environment.

Question 2: Now let's categorize your recordings into living and non-living things!

Step 3: Create your ecosystem art!

First, ask an adult at home where the best place to do this would be and set up your activity station. You will need two sheets of white paper (or color of your choice), various paint colors, a paint brush and some leaves collected by your house.

One sheet of paper will for the paint (as pictured) and the other sheet will be your masterpiece!

Choose the leaf you want to use first and use the paintbrush to spread the colors of your choice on one side of the leaf.

You can lay the leaf on the paper with the colors on it while painting the one side so it’s easier!

Place the leaf carefully on the other sheet of paper, paint side down, and gently peel it off. This leaves a beautiful image of the leaf on the page!

Repeat the above process using different leaf shapes and colors until you are satisfied! Do this as many or as few times as you would like, there is no wrong way to make art! And after you have done all this, try to identify what types of plants/leaves you collected and learn about their role in the ecosystem. Are they native to your area?

Step 4: Wrap Up

After finishing this activity, hopefully you have seen a new ecosystem and know more about the one you live in! You now know that living and non-living things work together and form communities we call ecosystems. There are many types of ecosystems found in the world and each one is made up of different living and non-living things which makes it unique.

It is really important to protect our ecosystems and the plants and animals that live in them because they need those ecosystems to survive. This is why you wouldn’t find a polar bear in the dessert! If you would like to learn more about the ecosystem you live in, check below for an additional activity.

Here’s a reminder of some things you can start doing today to help protect our ecosystems:

• Leave areas better than you found it! Pick up trash when you see it, even if it’s not yours

• Turn of the lights or unplug devices when not in use

• Play outside and appreciate the ecosystem you call home!

• Carpool with others going to the same place as you to lower your carbon emissions

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!

Optional Activity: Research your ecosystem!

It’s super exciting to learn about new ecosystems, but what about the one you live in? Let’s learn more about your ecosystem and what it is called!

To do this, use a computer or a smart phone and search these questions:

Question 1: What Type of ecosystem is _________?

In the blank, fill in your state or region! Ex: What type of ecosystem is California?

Question 2: What kind of things can you find in the _________ Ecosystem?

In the blank, fill in the answer you got from the first question. Ex: Chaparral

Do any of them sound familiar? See how well the results match with the list you made in Step 2!

Overfishing (1 of 2): The Tragedy of the Commons

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: In this lesson, students will learn about what the ‘tragedy of the commons’ is and how overfishing marine life harms the ocean environment. In this lesson, we will discuss what overfishing is, what is currently happening to fish across our oceans, and we will even become fishermen! Our hands-on activity will simulate a fishing community and we will get to witness first-hand what happens when we over-exploit our natural resources (and we will get to eat some tasty snacks!) Afterward, we are going to discuss how overfishing is an example of a concept known as the tragedy of the commons, and some ways we can protect our natural resources!

Grade Level: 4+

Theme: Natural Resources, consumption, sustainability

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions:

What is the tragedy of the commons and why is it an important part of natural resource conservation?

Materials Needed:

• Large bag of M&Ms, Skittles, or goldfish 

• Straws- preferably metal!!! (1 for each student) 

• A big plate to serve as our ocean  

• Small dishes or plates (1 for each student) 

• Paper (1 sheet for each student) 

• Markers (1 for each group)

Standards:

1-LS1-1. Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs

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Today, we are going to learn all about overfishing! In this lesson, we will discuss what overfishing is, what is currently happening to fish across our oceans, and we will even become fishermen! Our hands-on activity will simulate a fishing community and we will get to witness first-hand what happens when we over-exploit our natural resources (and we will get to eat some tasty snacks!) Afterward, we are going to discuss how overfishing is an example of a concept known as the tragedy of the commons, and some ways we can protect our natural resources!

Please watch this Video so we can get started!

Hands-On Activity

Background

It is now time for us to become fishermen! This activity simulates overfishing to help participants understand what happens when resources are overexploited (overuse) without regulation. Normally this game would be played as a group, but today we can play it with anywhere from 2-4 people. Lets get the whole family involved!

 Materials

• Large bag of M&Ms, Skittles, or goldfish 

• Straws- preferably metal!!! (1 for each student) 

• A big plate to serve as our ocean  

• Small dishes or plates (1 for each student) 

• Paper (1 sheet for each student) 

• Markers (1 for each group)

Location

A table to fit four participants.

Directions

NOTE: Check for allergies and don't get candy with nuts.

• Explain to participants that they are going to do an activity about resource exploitation. Have students sit around a table with a plate in the middle, this will serve as our ocean. Put 4 fish on the plate for each person participating . Provide each person with a straw and small dish. (If less people are playing the game, add more fish per person)

• Explain that they are a fishing village, and each person is the head of his or her family. To provide for them for a year, they must collect at least two fish. However, they can collect as many as they want during the time allotted. To collect fish they must use the straws to suck the candy or goldfish up (emphasize that it is not sucked into the straw, but held by suction at the end) and move it into the dish. Allow the participants 45 seconds to 1 minute for each season, and remind the participants that they cannot talk during the fishing season.

•  After you have called the time on a season walk around and put one fish on the big plate (ocean) for every candy left. This will exemplify the fish reproducing. Have students keep track of the fish they catch on their paper or fishing log.Then have the participants fish for another “season.” Repeat this two or three more times. Ideally, participants will begin to run out of fish because they “overfished.” 

Reflection

The Tragedy of the Commons

What we just experienced was a concept known as the tragedy of the commons. This is when individuals take too much of a shared resource for personal gain, which makes other people do the same, leading  to a situation where the demand outweighs the supply. This causes that resource to be diminished. 

For example; Lets say I'm a fisherman and I want to make more money, so I start catching more fish. Then Bob, who is also a fisherman sees me catching more fish and making more money, so he starts doing it too. Then Karen does it, then Tom does it, and so on. Pretty soon the whole fishing community is taking too much fish because they are competing for the same resource! This leads to too many fish to be taken before they can reproduce! 

Now Lets think about this!

• Was every fisherman able to feed their families through the course of the game?

• How did the fish population differ from the beginning to the end?

• Connect this game to the Tragedy of the Commons- can the students think of any other resource this could apply for?

• What could be done to help keep the fish population stable, while still being able to catch fish?

• Come up with some rules for the fishery that would allow for a healthy population and a sustainable fishing industry!
  
  

What can you do to help?

There are ways we can solve this! By implementing limits to how many fish can be taken, we can make sure that we leave enough fish behind to allow them to reproduce and replenish. If we do this right, there will be plenty of fish in our oceans for all the animals who rely on them and the humans who depend on them for their way of life! 

Some ways you can help are limiting your purchase of fish species that are overfished, such as cod and bluefin tuna, and instead buy fish from more sustainable fisheries, such as tilapia, wild salmon and barramundi (one of my favorites). Here is a great resource for determining how sustainable the fish you purchase is!

Shellfish are super sustainable too. If we manage our fish stocks correctly we will have enough fish for everyone! Even for my dog bear who loves his sustainably sourced fish skin dog treats! 

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!

Almost Compost Kitchen Garden

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Today we are going to begin an exploration of food! Most people in the world create large amounts of food waste. Today, we are going to take some of that food waste and create a kitchen garden!

Grade Level:  2-4

Theme: Earth Systems, Sustainable Food Systems

Supervision needed? Yes

Essential Questions: 

• What is compost?

• What can we do with old food scraps to help our environment?

Materials Needed:

• Jars with water

• Toothpicks

• Food scraps (see below for ideas!)

• An observation sheet (see below)

Standards:

1-PS4-3. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.

2-LS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.

3-LS3-2. Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment.

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Introduction

If you are anything like us, you sometimes find yourself wondering about all the food that ends up in the trash at your house. You may ask yourself, “Is there something better we can do with all this food? Is there a way we can create LESS food waste?” Well, there is! Today we are going to be taking your old food scraps, and instead of throwing them into the compost or trash bin, we are going to plant them! I am going to be planting pineapple, avocado, onions and celery scraps, but you can plant so much more! Early spring is a great time to start planting fruits and vegetables, because many will be ready to plant outdoors in just a few weeks!

Almost compost garden instructions

One of our lead educators will walk you through how to use a variety of food scraps to grow new produce at your home. If you don’t have the items in the video, feel free to check out this video and this link to see what other food scraps you can use instead.

Be sure to click the button above to access the observation sheet (downloadable PDF), so you can keep track of changes as your plants grow over the next few weeks!

Here’s Skye, one of our Lead Educators, to lead you through today’s activity. Follow along and have fun!

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Don’t have celery, avocados, pineapple, or onion? Don’t Worry! watch this video or click this link to see MANY other vegetables we can plant from food scraps!

Ginger Green Onion Garlic Potatoes

Carrots Lettuce Leeks Basil

Oregano Thyme Mint Rosemary

Great job planting your new garden! Be sure to fill out your observation sheet with a photo of your vegetables today, and check out our second activity for the day! These plants may take a few days to a week before you notice any changes. In the meantime……

Reflection Activity

Instructions: Talk to whoever helped you with this activity about these questions (Or, write down the answers on the back of your observation sheet!)

1. What do you think your plants will look like after one week? Do you think you will see:

A. Root growth

B. Leaf Growth

C. Nothing Different

2. What’s your favorite vegetable and how do you like to eat it (cooked, in soup, with hummus, etc)

3. Why do YOU think it is important to reduce how much food we throw away?

For our older students/viewers, dive deeper into this subject by checking out the film, “Tossed Out”

OR try out these problems!

1. If the entire world were to reduce their food waste by 2% every year for 5 years, what percentage of our food would we waste? (Hint: we currently waste 21% of our food!)

2. If the entire world were to INCREASE their food waste by 1% every year for the next 7 years, what percentage of food would we waste?

3. What are OTHER things you can do to reduce your food waste?

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

Sustainable Science Experiments

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Today we are going to take a look at some fun science experiments that you can do at home! Time to look around your home and turn some everyday items into science tools. These experiments will demonstrate some basic things that are going on in our environment today.

Everything you will need today should be found in your home and if not I will give some alternative materials and tools you could use instead!

Grade Level:  2-4

Theme: Scientific Activities

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions: 

• What is air pollution and how can we detect it?

Materials Needed:

• Vaseline

• Sheet of clear Plastic*

• Tape

• * The plastic can be anything that is see-through

• Cup

• Thermometer

• Plastic bottle

  • 2L soda bottle, seltzer bottle, gatorade, ect.

Standards:

Air Pollution Experiment

This experiment takes a look at what is in our air. We always hear about air pollution, but has any one actually seen it before? In some areas there is smog, which is visible pollution; in other places the air looks completely clear. This experiment helps us collect the pollution that we can’t see with our naked eye and it only takes 3 steps and time! Check out the video below so see how to conduct this experiment!

Materials:

• Vaseline

• Sheet of clear Plastic*

• Tape

  * The plastic can be anything that is see-through

**** You might not see a big difference between my before and after picture. Mine did not turn out the way I thought it would, but that’s ok! When doing an experiment, you never know what your end results might be; that is why it’s called an experiment.***

Some questions to answer before the experiment:

What is air pollution?

How does pollution get into our air?

Make a hypothesis (guess). How will the sheet of plastic look after a few hours?

What else is in our air other than physical particles?

There are other pollutants in our air aside from what we found in our last experiment. Air pollution can come in solid, liquid and gas forms. In our last experiment we saw the physical pollution stuck to our piece of plastic. In this next experiment we are going to see what pollution in the form of gas does to our environment.

Materials:

• Cup

• Thermometer

• Plastic bottle

  • 2L soda bottle, seltzer bottle, gatorade, ect.

Experiment 2:

Step one: Get all of your materials together; glass cup, thermometer, plastic bottle

Step Two: Find a sunny spot to place your cup and thermometer

Leave your cup in front of a sunny window for one hour, then record the temperature.

Step Three: Cut the bottom of the plastic bottle off.

Next we are going to do the same thing just with the plastic bottle over the top of the cup and thermometer. Make sure the cap is on the bottle!!

Record the new temperature.

What did we find?

1. What was the difference between the two temperatures?

2. What group of gases does the plastic bottle represent? (hint: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ gas effect)

3. After watching the Youtube video below, try to draw our Earth and the greenhouse effect

Check out this video below for the answers:

Reflection:

After conducting these two experiments, we saw two different types of air pollution; particulate matter and gases. Both are harmful for our atmosphere and our health. What are actions you can take in your everyday life at home to reduce pollution?

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

Compost Critters

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: Today’s topic is compost critters, where we will explore outside and learn the amazing creatures that help keep our soil healthy.

Grade Level:  2-4

Theme: Natural Resources

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions: 

• What is a compost critter?

• How do they play a role in composting our food?

Materials Needed:

• One sheet white paper

• Assorted markers

• Computer

Standards:

3-LS1-1. Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

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

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Today’s lesson is all about exploring. We will be learning about Compost Critters / Decomposers that live in our own back yards.

We’ll be going outside to find some cool critters. But you do not need a yard for this; you will be able to find these critters in small gardens or mulched areas even around the dirt/grass edges of parking lots, or in the woods.

Be sure you are very gentle with all of the critters; they are all very important to the environment and ecosystem. And they will not hurt you!

Be sure to ask the adults in your life if it is acceptable to bring those critters back inside or if you should keep them outside.

Here’s Patrick, our Co-Founder, to lead you through today’s activity. Follow along!

Now that you have collected some leaf litter:

Look at it closely, find some critters, take photos of them and look them up on the internet. See if you can identify them. Choose one of your favorite critters and answer the following questions:

1. What is the name/species of the critter?

2. What does it eat?

3. What is another name for its poop?

4. Does it fly?

5. How does your critter help the environment?

We encourage you to continue this activity over the next several weeks. You’ll see the critters getting bigger over time, you’ll discover new critters, and you’ll find more and more as Spring goes on. Take notes and pictures so you can track the differences!

NEXT, learn more about composting at home and school by watching this super fun video made by our team at Change is Simple!

VOCAB WORDS:

• Castings

• Decomposers

• Microorganisms

• O Horizon / Leaf Litter

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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

Energy Grid

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Online Learning Platform!

Overview: In this activity, students will draw their own community on a sheet of paper to help identify how electricity travels from a power plant through power lines to all the buildings in a community. Students will list as many things as they can that require electricity. 

Grade Level:  2-4

Theme: Energy Conservation

Supervision needed? No

Essential Questions: 

• What is an energy grid? 

• How can we produce electricity without pollution? 

• What do fossil fuels produce when burned? 

• What are three fossil fuels?

Materials Needed:

• One sheet white paper

• Assorted markers

• Computer

Standards:

• 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.

• 4-PS3-2  Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

• 4-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.

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

• 13.4 Identify individual and community responsibility in ecological health.

Welcome to Change is Simple’s Family Fun Activities! Today’s topic is energy grids. Today we will get to learn about how important electricity is and how it gets to the different buildings in our towns! Enjoy the this fun activity to learn about how electricity travels to us and how it is created.

energy grid activity instructions

Student-Led Experiment    

Activity Duration: 20 Minutes

Materials Needed:

1. One sheet white paper

2. Assorted Markers

3. Computer

step 1: set up your town grid

1) Take a sheet of paper and draw the outline of your town.

2) Draw squares in BLUE for where the houses and apartments are in your town.

Draw squares in ORANGE for restaurants, schools, and other town buildings.

3) Draw at least one large GREEN park or field in your town.

4) Draw a power plant on your map as a BLACK filled in square.

5) Let’s make a grid! Draw dotted lines in BLACK that connect each building to the power plant.

step 2: what uses electricity?

An energy grid like you drew is how we get electricity to all of the buildings in our town! We need electricity for so many things! The majority of our power comes from a power plant. 

Question 1: List 10 things in your house that use electricity?

We typically use what are called fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas in our power plants. When we use these to make our electricity, it produces air pollution. This is not good for us to breathe in. Let’s brainstorm some alternatives. Hint: let’s think of some ways to make electricity that do not pollute.

Question 2: What other ways can we make electricity that does not produce pollution?

step 3: let’s make it shine!

Now we want to make our electricity grid a little more “green.” So let’s add some Renewable energy such as solar panels, wind turbines, and hydroelectric power. These renewable energy sources can produce electricity for us and also not produce pollution! Yay! So let’s add some to our town today. 

1) Draw solar panels as YELLOW filled in boxes on houses.

Draw wind turbines in YELLOW in any open fields.

2) Draw YELLOW dotted lines connecting the wind turbines & solar panels to the grid!

You’re adding clean renewable energy to the grid! This source does NOT produce air pollution!

step 4: let’s reflect

Question 1: The more electricity we use, the more _____________ we produce. Fill in the blank. (Hint: look at step 2 for help)

Question 2: Research where the closest power plant is to your town. Where is it and what fuel does it burn? (coal, natural gas, oil, etc.)

Question 3: Why do we want to add renewable energy to our energy grid?

Question 4: What are some ways we can use less electricity?

step 5: Let’s wrap up

Now that you have completed this activity, you hopefully understand that when we use a lot of electricity, we produce a lot of air pollution. We use fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas to create electricity in a power plant. When we burn fossil fuels, it produces air pollution. This is not healthy for local communities' air quality and it also contributes to climate change. Let’s brainstorm some ways that we can help lower our electricity use! Hopefully you have brainstormed some ways in your reflection. 

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

• Play outside. 

• Play cards, board games, and read books

• Set timers for how long we use our electronic devices 

• Shut off the lights when we are not using them

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

Keep learning, keep exploring and keep smiling

Change is Simple’s online learning starts Wednesday 3/18 @ 11am EST.

This is certainly a challenging time but we will all be stronger when this passes. At Change is Simple we believe in silver linings and currently we see that silver lining as a slower pace, a break from the day to day grind that wears at all of us, and more time with those closest to us. We are all doing the same by staying home, but we have been meeting (virtually) daily to ensure Change is Simple can do our part to provide some learning. We are committed to education and we will be creating content 3 days a week with activities for families and kids to do. Our team will be letting you into our homes and sharing videos and resources that will help guide you and your children through learning and activities. Please enjoy, share and comment below. FYI this is free for students nationwide.