Resources for PreK-8 Activity 54 – I’d Like to Visit a Place Where…

Explore jobs in the environment, natural resource, outdoor recreation, and renewable energy sectors with these Career Profile Cards, developed by the Pacific Education Institute.  The cards highlight voices of individuals in those careers. Learn about the day-to-day, career pathway, and tips and tools of the trade from an Assistant Forester, Salmon Habitat Restoration Manager, Water Quality Biologist, and even the owner and founder of a Kayak company.

Project Learning Tree has launched an interactive quiz that allows youth to answer a few simple questions online and receive recommendations for a rewarding green career path that suits their personality. It’s fast, easy, and fun to do! — perfect for youth ages 12-25 looking to learn about what it takes to perform jobs in sustainability, forestry, and conservation. Try the quiz yourself at www.plt.org/greenjobsquiz.

Plan a virtual mini-lesson using Yellowstone National Park’s Kids and Youth section for students to learn more about America’s first national park. Through educational and enriching information, illustrations, and even sound snippets, students can explore a specific theme of the park—Geology, Hydrothermal, Wildlife, History, and Preservation. You can also guide them towards the Ask a Ranger page for common questions and answers that complement each Exploration Theme.

(Resource for PLT’s K-8 Activity 35—Loving It Too Much, Activity 54—I’d Like to Visit a Place Where…, and Activity 34—Who Works in this Forest)

Learn what makes a city park great, such as local wildlife, spaces for public enjoyment, and community activities, with this Detroit Parks Coloring Book. Use these coloring pages (available for download, print, and color) for students to explore the parks around the city of Detroit, Michigan. Then, discuss with students ways your community might conserve and enhance its public spaces with the help of PLT activities and have them investigate organizations, like the non-profit Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, that work to support community public spaces.

Take your students on an upcoming Virtual Field Trip. Hosted by Discover Education, virtual field trips allow your students to immerse themselves in unique learning experiences. Explore the National Archives, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, or learn more about conservation with a “Futureland” demonstration.

Denali National Park and Preserve in Alaska is a great place to learn about many different types of landscapes and climates, but it may not be accessible by every classroom. Try bringing Denali to you with a virtual tour! Explore some of the research happening in Denali, paired with some striking images of plants and landscapes in the park.

AllTrails is a free app that helps users discover the outdoors. Use it to find a hiking path suitable for children, to search for local places to bike or fish, or to plan a national park visit.

More Than Just Parks have released their eighth national parks short film—Grand Teton. Explore Jackson Hole Valley and the foothills of the Teton Mountain Range, a land dominated by towering peaks, apex predators, and majestic beauty. To see more National Park films, visit More Than Just Parks.

Learn about wilderness history, the values and benefits of wilderness, and threats to wilderness at this website.  This interagency repository of information about the more than 750 Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and National Park Service wilderness areas contains K-12 classroom resources.  At the website, you will find webquests, quizzes, and links to wilderness programs, along with blogs, legislation, agency policies, scientific literature, and research. 

Held each fall, this day celebrates service and recreation on public lands. NPLD engages adult and youth volunteers to get outdoors and improve their lands, whether at the grandest national park or at an urban park in their neighborhood. The event also encourages volunteers to explore and enjoy America’s natural wonders through outdoor recreation. After working hard, volunteers can take a hike, a swim, a bicycle ride and get healthy in America’s backyard. Find more information or register for NPLD at www.publiclandsday.org.

This Smithsonian Institution website provides students (and teachers!) access to views of conditions and events on earth that are nearly impossible to document from the Earth’s surface. The site proves interactive; explaining how satellite imagery is gathered and used to better understand the world around us.

Orion magazine has reinstated its popular column called “The Place Where You Live.” This is a space where students and educators can share thoughts and experiences related to their communities or personal places.  First-hand feelings are shared, such as what connects individuals to their special place, the history it holds, their hopes and fears for it, as well as resources necessary to protect it, prepare it for the future, and/or improve it.

This 90-minute documentary explains John Muir’s influence then and now, delving into Muir’s life with reenactments filmed in high definition throughout the majestic landscapes he visited: Wisconsin, Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Alhambra Valley of California, and the glaciers of Alaska. Placing our nation’s most important natural assets in a cultural and social context, John Muir in the New World is a timely reminder of America’s unique and, ultimately, threatened ecosystems.  Visit the PBS website to watch a preview or watch the full documentary online.

Take an electronic field trip inside Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park.  During this live, one-hour podcast, students will learn about the importance of the park, hunt for signs of land and aquatic dinosaurs, explore “hoodoos” (unique limestone formations), and see animals that live in this extreme environment.

EPA’s new EnviroAtlas tool is designed to help communities and researchers make informed planning and policy decisions related to the environment and ecosystems. EnviroAtlas provides datasets and interactive tools to allow users to explore the many benefits people receive from nature, often referred to as ecosystem services. EnviroAtlas includes over 300 data layers, letting users analyze how decisions affect ecosystems and their ability to provide goods and services. Key components include:

• A multi-scaled Interactive Map with broad scale data for the lower 48 states and fine scale data six beta communities
• The Eco-Health Relationship Browser, which shows the linkages between ecosystems, the services they provide, and human health
• Ecosystem services information, GIS and analysis tools, and written resources

Think virtual field trip! Brothers Will and Jim Pattiz are media professionals who have a passion for our national parks. Over the past year, they put their passion to work by producing short films for several of the parks. Their long-range plan is to create a short film for each of the 59 U.S. National Parks to help build a greater awareness of our national parks system, and encourage families to plan trips of their own. Check out their website at morethanjustparks.com and view this 5-minute video on Joshua Tree National Park to sample their work!

Do you teach 4th grade students? Every Kid Outdoors was created so fourth graders and their families could get a chance to experience our federal parks, lands, and waters and discover our wildlife, resources, and history for free. Educators can visit https://everykidoutdoors.gov/educators.htm to get passes, download activities, or plan a life-changing field trip for your fourth-grade students. The Every Kid Outdoors website is full of additional resources to help you plan the perfect trip for your students. Plus, check out Project Learning Tree’s suggestions for family activities.