Curriculum Filter Results

Big Floods, Big Lake (flooding)

What causes Lake Superior flooding? By taking a look at evidence from the flood of 2016 in the Twin Ports area and learning about the characteristics of floods, the mystery will be solved. Curriculum download is a PowerPoint slideshow teaching guide with links to all you need to do the lesson with your class.

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Great Lakes Literacy Principles:
3. The Great Lakes influence local and regional weather and climate.
6. The Great Lakes and humans in their watersheds are inextricably interconnected.
8. The Great Lakes are socially, economically, and environmentally significant to the region, the nation and the planet.

Can a fish pay for your college education?

This lesson will guide students through learning about Lake Whitefish, a valuable fish for commercial fishermen, and how climate and profit impacts fishermen’s livelihood. Students will learn facts about whitefish, learn about local fishing businesses, and apply what they’ve learned using economics to decide whether their business can continue to stay open with different scenarios. Curriculum download is a PDF lesson to run this with your class. Supporting file download is a PDF document with fact cards and question cards all about whitefish and fishing in the region.

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Great Lakes Literacy Principles:
3. The Great Lakes influence local and regional weather and climate.
4. Water makes Earth habitable; fresh water sustains life on land. :
5. The Great Lakes support a broad diversity of life and ecosystems.
6. The Great Lakes and humans in their watersheds are inextricably interconnected.
8. The Great Lakes are socially, economically, and environmentally significant to the region, the nation and the planet.

Comparing Different Cultures: Are we really that different?

The objective is for students to understand that human cultures all have common threads. The Curriculum download is a PDF version of the lesson plan to run this with your class.

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Great Lakes Literacy Principles:
6. The Great Lakes and humans in their watersheds are inextricably interconnected.
8. The Great Lakes are socially, economically, and environmentally significant to the region, the nation and the planet.

Formation of Lake Superior

Students will put on a play to go through the steps of how Lake Superior formed by rifting of the Minnesota shore from the Wisconsin shore, erosion of mountains that were created from the rifting, and filling of the rift zone. Optional: discuss how the formations of Lake Superior also resulted in the formation of the different types of igneous (volcanic, from rifting and volcanic activity) and sedimentary (from sedimentation, or build up, of sediments from eroded mountains and other rocks) rocks we find in Lake Superior. Curriculum download is a PDF version of the lesson plan. The Supporting File download is a visual aid showing the different types of rocks.

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Great Lakes Literacy Principles:
1. The Great Lakes, bodies of fresh water with many features, are connected to each other and to the world ocean.
2. Natural forces formed the Great Lakes; the lakes continue to shape the features of their watershed.
7. Much remains to be learned about the Great Lakes.

Great Lakes Aquarium – Research Prompts

The attachments below are a "student copy" and a "teacher copy" of a guide to each exhibit at the Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth, MN. One purpose of this resource is as a school research project kick-off for students and their teacher. Another is developing a teaching unit, using student inquiry as your guide. This resource may also be used for digging in deeper to the exhibits through teacher-guided discussion, partner-group discussion, or individual reflection. The curriculum download is a PDF of the 'teacher copy'. The supporting file is a PDF of the 'student copy'.

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Subject Areas: , ,
Grade Levels: , ,
Topics: , , , , , , ,

Great Lakes Literacy Principles:
1. The Great Lakes, bodies of fresh water with many features, are connected to each other and to the world ocean.
2. Natural forces formed the Great Lakes; the lakes continue to shape the features of their watershed.
3. The Great Lakes influence local and regional weather and climate.
4. Water makes Earth habitable; fresh water sustains life on land. :
5. The Great Lakes support a broad diversity of life and ecosystems.
6. The Great Lakes and humans in their watersheds are inextricably interconnected.
7. Much remains to be learned about the Great Lakes.
8. The Great Lakes are socially, economically, and environmentally significant to the region, the nation and the planet.

How Did They Get Here?

Students will investigate a variety of resources to formulate a hypothesis regarding how Rusty Crayfish arrived in the St. Louis River. The curriculum download is a ZIP file containing all the PDF documents needed to run this lesson with a learners of a variety of ages.

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Subject Areas: , ,
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Great Lakes Literacy Principles:
1. The Great Lakes, bodies of fresh water with many features, are connected to each other and to the world ocean.
4. Water makes Earth habitable; fresh water sustains life on land. :
5. The Great Lakes support a broad diversity of life and ecosystems.
7. Much remains to be learned about the Great Lakes.

Keep the Water Clean!

Students will learn about different types of pollution that can be present in water, ways those types of pollution can be handled, what Areas of Concerns are, and what can be done to clean up (and keep clean) Areas of Concerns in the St. Louis River Estuary. The curriculum download is a PDF lesson plan for this activity. The supporting file is a PowerPoint slideshow to support the lesson.

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Subject Areas: ,
Grade Levels: , ,
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Great Lakes Literacy Principles:
1. The Great Lakes, bodies of fresh water with many features, are connected to each other and to the world ocean.
2. Natural forces formed the Great Lakes; the lakes continue to shape the features of their watershed.
4. Water makes Earth habitable; fresh water sustains life on land. :
6. The Great Lakes and humans in their watersheds are inextricably interconnected.

Lake Superior Geology Informational Text: Read and Understand!

The emphasis on reading and understanding informational texts in classrooms mirrors our efforts in science at the Lake Superior NERR. These readings are based on real scientific efforts in the Lake Superior Watershed, and include questions to check for understanding. This text on geology includes a timeline of the formation of Lake Superior. The curriculum download is a PDF of this informational reader.

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Great Lakes Literacy Principles:
2. Natural forces formed the Great Lakes; the lakes continue to shape the features of their watershed.

Mapping Your Place

Students will construct a large map of a place of their choosing. This place will be divided into smaller sections using a string/flag grid system. Each student will take their time to create a map of one portion of the grid to be put together into a larger whole. The curriculum download is the plan for this lesson.

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Subject Areas: , ,
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Topics: , , , , ,

Great Lakes Literacy Principles:
2. Natural forces formed the Great Lakes; the lakes continue to shape the features of their watershed.
4. Water makes Earth habitable; fresh water sustains life on land. :
5. The Great Lakes support a broad diversity of life and ecosystems.
6. The Great Lakes and humans in their watersheds are inextricably interconnected.

Online Resources for Data, Kits, Information and More!

The curriculum attached is actually a list of websites you can find useful for you and your students. Some of the websites will give you access to data that you can give to your students, other websites (like the WI DNR EEK!! website) provides information that your students can use (and is age appropriate for elementary/middle school). Other websites provide great kits or other resources.

Downloads:

Details

Subject Areas: , , , , ,
Grade Levels: , ,
Topics: , , , , , , , , ,

Great Lakes Literacy Principles:
1. The Great Lakes, bodies of fresh water with many features, are connected to each other and to the world ocean.
2. Natural forces formed the Great Lakes; the lakes continue to shape the features of their watershed.
3. The Great Lakes influence local and regional weather and climate.
4. Water makes Earth habitable; fresh water sustains life on land. :
5. The Great Lakes support a broad diversity of life and ecosystems.
6. The Great Lakes and humans in their watersheds are inextricably interconnected.
7. Much remains to be learned about the Great Lakes.
8. The Great Lakes are socially, economically, and environmentally significant to the region, the nation and the planet.