Are you or someone you know looking for climate change resources for your kindergarten–2nd grade classroom? Not sure how to start a climate conversation with your elementary students?
Climate Generation is excited to announce the release of our new elementary education resource: Healthy Habitats: Climate Change Action for K–2. This resource, like all of the educational resources in our library, is completely free to download and is ready to use in your classroom!
Healthy Habitats is centered around your schoolyard habitat, and was written by and for elementary educators!
This lesson plan uses habitats as a starting place to discuss climate change; however, there are endless ways to approach climate change, and we encourage you to expand beyond this lesson into other topics. You can use aspects of the format, questions, and concepts presented in the curriculum as a springboard for climate conversations in any subject area.
About the Healthy Habitats Curriculum Resource
This resource project began in response to elementary educators telling Climate Generation staff that they want to teach about climate change, but feel they don’t have the knowledge or resources to do so effectively. After reviewing numerous resource hubs, we found that climate change resources for kindergarten through second grade (K-2) were minimal, and that fewer still addressed climate or environmental justice.
We wanted a resource that reflected elementary educators’ and students’ needs; and who better to connect with than those working in the classroom? We put out a call to find elementary educators with an interest in climate change education.This curriculum was a collaboration between Climate Generation staff and three elementary educators from Lynwood, CA; Louisville, KY; and Oakland, CA. Thank you to our educator partners!
In this three-lesson resource, your students will:
- Explore their local schoolyard habitat
- Reflect on how climate change may be impacting their habitat, and
- Work together to plan and implement an action that helps reduce local climate impacts and cultivate climate resiliency at their school.
The resource development team chose habitats as our main topic for this climate change resource for several reasons:
- A habitat theme supports the practice of nature journaling, which is a great entry point to climate change. Through regular nature journaling, students can watch their habitat change over time as they make observations about weather, climate, and seasons.
- The focus on both built and natural habitats also provides opportunities to introduce climate justice issues to students through observation and questioning. For example, many marginalized communities experience disproportionately high air temperatures due to the heat island effect. Asking students questions such as, “why is it so hot on the concrete and not on the grass?” Or, “why doesn’t our schoolyard have any trees like other schools?” can help them identify areas of unfairness and begin to consider solutions to the issues that impact them.
- A habitat theme can be a starting place to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and Traditional Ecological Knowledge, as it lends itself to emphasis on observation, incorporating lived experience and community-based concerns, recognizing humans as part of nature, and considering human relationships to other living beings.
See more of our strategies and thought processes for centering climate change lessons around habitats after you download the resource!
Why Introducing Climate Change in Elementary Grades is Important
Climate change education looks slightly different in younger grades, yet it is essential to fostering caring, engaged students who understand the importance of climate action. Early elementary educators can help students feel safe during times of fear and uncertainty; develop students’ foundational skills that will lead to future climate literacy; and take age-appropriate actions to be part of creating climate resilient communities.
Most likely, your students have already heard about climate change from their caregivers or friends, on the news, or on the internet; many have already experienced climate change impacts, such as severe weather or wildfires. But mis- and dis-information can be prevalent in these spaces, and without guidance, the information students have about climate change could be overwhelming and terrifying. Climate grief and anxiety affect young students too, and they need trusted adults to help them learn about climate change in a supportive and motivational environment so that they can process the emotions they experience and have reassurance that positive actions are being taken by adults to address climate issues.
Acknowledging your community’s lived experiences, such as a hurricane or air pollution, and asking simple questions such as “have you heard the words ‘climate change’ before? What have you heard about it?” can spark rich conversations and help you dispel incorrect information, understand your students’ emotions, fears, and concerns, and take action to address them together.
We’ve included a sneak peak of one of the lessons below.
Lesson 2: An Inside Look
In Lesson 2 of Healthy Habitats, students will extrapolate on their observations of their local habitat in Lesson 1 to think about how climate change might impact their local area. Students will first discuss as a class what they already know and want to know about climate change. Then, they will draw to begin imagining what a thriving habitat for all living beings might look like. After reading a book that explores how the elements of healthy habitats can be affected by human actions like deforestation, students will construct a diorama of their vision for a healthy habitat.
This vision will help students choose and plan a collective climate action in Lesson 3 to help improve their schoolyard habitat!
Healthy Habitats will be featured at Climate Generation’s 2023 Summer Institute for Climate Change Education alongside other workshops suited to elementary educators. Join Climate Generation and NOAA at this three-day climate change education conference designed to support formal and non-formal educators to become confident, competent, and empowered to teach climate change!
Marie grew up in Wisconsin on the ancestral and contemporary lands of the Menominee, Potowatomi, and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ and the contemporary lands of the Oneida. She spent every summer visiting a small lake in Northern Wisconsin that helped her develop a deep connection to nature. Marie expanded her understanding of humans’ interconnectedness with natural systems with a B.S. in Natural Resources Management/Environmental Education and Interpretation from UW-Stevens Point and an MS in Environmental Education from Antioch University New England. She has worked at various nature and environmental centers, a community garden project, an aquarium, and as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua. One of her favorite aspects of environmental education is curriculum and resource development, which is one of her main roles as Climate Change Instructional Resources Coordinator. When not editing curriculum, she enjoys hiking, cross country skiing, baking, reading, and playing with her dog, Merlin.