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Do you want to start a gardening club or class in your junior high? Then this is the resource for you! The guide goes through several lesson ideas and activities for junior high students, co-developed with a CTF horticulture class at St. John Henry Newman School.

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A four-lesson unit designed for Grades 4-6 (Ages 9-12), Grades 7-8 (Ages 12-14), and Grades 9-12 (Ages 14-18), complete with a culminating Action Projects Guide featuring 3 project options; also available as three stand alone lessons.

The Life Cycle Of A T-Shirt invites students to delve into the life cycle of a t-shirt, from raw materials and manufacturing to end of life and beyond. Learners will explore the implications of the global clothing supply chain, the environmental and societal impacts of clothing consumption, and examine sustainable ways to manage unwanted clothing. Students will identify and research the unique characteristics and impacts of specific textiles used in clothing production, and examine an invisible aspect of the global plastic pollution crisis that stems from clothing; microfibres. Guided by the inquiry question—What is a supply chain, and how does the journey of a t-shirt through the global clothing supply chain affect people and the environment?—learners will use their understanding to positively reframe the challenges posed, and use their insights and creativity to brainstorm, design, and create innovative, impactful, and hopeful solutions through the 3 culminating project options. As an alternative, the unit has been modified and is offered as three stand alone lessons that each focus on a particular area of content—the supply chain, the environmental impact of textiles, and understanding microfibres. 

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The Wilder Institute Calgary Zoo's programs serve students in-person from Calgary and surrounding areas. Our programs are curriculum connected based on the current Learn Alberta Program of Studies for Kindergarten - Grade 12. We also offer custom programming by request. Virtual programs are available seasonally, December - February, and are great for students from anywhere across the country.

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Algonquin College's Play, Learn, and Teaching Outdoors in the Early Years certificate program immerses early learning professionals in outdoor pedagogical practice through the Outdoor ECE National Framework of the Canadian Centre for Outdoor Play. In this program, you explore concepts of active engagement, nurturing holistic development, and building meaningful connections in outdoor pedagogical practice.

Learners explore the benefits of risky outdoor play, strengthen a justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion lens, and build cultural competency guided by evidence from the Canadian Pediatric Society. They gain advocacy, communication, and practical skills through place-based learning and a culminating action-research project applied to their own professional setting.

Upon completion, graduates are prepared to champion inclusive, culturally responsive outdoor play in diverse contexts, including early learning programs, kindergartens, child and family centres, community health agencies, and governmental or non-governmental organizations serving children and families.

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THE RIVERWATCH MISSION: The RiverWatch Institute of Alberta delivers science education and environmental awareness experiences along Alberta’s rivers and watershed systems. Through our professional river guides, school science float trips, stewardship activities, and water monitoring equipment, participants learn about the science and health of our waterways. By becoming watershed knowledgeable, Albertans of all walks of life will better understand, enjoy and care for our environment.

YOUR RIVERWATCH SCHOOL SCIENCE FLOAT EXPERIENCE

We believe the best way to study a river is by taking your science classes on a float trip aboard our professionally guided large rafts, fully equipped as floating laboratories! Our science education programs align DIRECTLY with the Alberta provincial curriculum and have been a go-to resource for Alberta secondary science classes since 1995. Our hands-on and experiential science float programming is offered in the fall from early September to the end of October and again in the spring (late April to mid-June) once the ice is off the river.

With a laser focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), students explore their local river ecosystem aboard rafts equipped as mobile water quality laboratories. A day of guided rafting takes the student classroom into the real natural world to experience an interesting mix of ecology, wildlife, history, geology, engineering, technology, industry, water quality monitoring and data collection. Our programs showcase science in ways students have never seen before, creating an experience they’ll never forget, INCLUDING A TOUR OF LOCAL WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANTS! Over the years, close to 200,000 students have adventured out with us to become young scientists for the day.

YOUR RIVERWATCH GUIDES

All RiverWatch guides are highly trained and possess a minimum Class 1 PROAOA certification to meet Transport Canada Commercial Rafting Standards. All our river guides complete an intense week of training involving rafting, emergency response, health and safety, bus driving, equipment maintenance, water quality monitoring, and local/natural history interpretation. To work for RiverWatch Guides must possess Standard First Aid certification and/or may also have Wilderness First Aid, National Lifeguard Society, Swift Water Rescue or Emergency Medical Responder training. The result is an experienced group of certified and professional river guides ready to provide a safe, engaging and fully immersive rafting experience. Your RiverWatch raft guide will help students gain new insights and appreciation for our rivers’ history, culture, bio-diversity and stewardship. Everyone will finish the day more connected to nature and the river!

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Worms Love Leftovers gives children a peek into the amazing world of worms and how they help recycle organic waste, turning it into healthy living soil. This is an inquiry-based opportunity that fully engages participants in hands-on learning and incorporates several cross-curricular competencies.

Available for schools in Calgary. Subsidies are available so cost is not a barrier to participation.

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In this 75-minute session, students learn about bioaccumulation in aquatic ecosystems by analyzing real (sanitized) freshwater litter. Children then go on a walking field trip to see how much garbage they can divert from their local creek.  The school is gifted a class set of garbage pickers, reflective vests, buckets, and weigh scale to continue this activity.

“We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from teachers and students alike. Personally, I’ve never seen my students so enthusiastic about garbage and neighborhood clean-ups—they were so engaged!” - Nataliia Kudryk, Grade 4/5 teacher

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Farm to School BC brings healthy, local, and sustainable food into schools across British Columbia and provides students with hands-on learning opportunities that develop food literacy, all while strengthening the local food system and enhancing school and community connectedness. The F2SBC team includes Regional Coordinators to provide localized support across all 60 school districts in BC, including independent and First Nations schools, divided into 5 geographic areas. Specific program activities include:

•Annual Farm to School BC grants program that opens each October

•Webinars covering a variety of food literacy topics throughout the school year

•Educator resources, lesson plans, toolkits, and activity ideas for in and outside the classroom in any season

•School Garden Mentorship resource library with recorded webinars and resource lists taking you through building or enhancing a school garden program month-by-month

•Pro-D and Regional Gathering events and opportunities

•Connections to local food producers, organizations, districts, and businesses to assist with individual educator and school inquiries

Farm to School BC is a program of the Public Health Association of BC and is supported by the Province of British Columbia.

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EcoCooks Elementary consists of two modules and EcoCooks Secondary consists of four modules. Classes can take any number of modules, in any order.

Each EcoCooks module has four sessions and each session is about 60-70 min long. These four sessions are typically taken over the space of 1 to 4 weeks. The first three sessions tackle the environmental component with fun hands-on activities designed for a classroom space, while the last session is a cooking class where students learn how to apply their new knowledge while preparing food. This cooking session can be done in a traditional classroom space or in a specialized foods room.

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Our aim is to help teachers get students outside, make scientific observations in the natural world, and submit these observations to projects that assist the work of professional scientists! Help your students connect with nature and protect it using technology.

"Birds," "Pollinators," and "Urban Wildlife” are the three Edu-Kits currently offered.

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Flexible outdoor education programming available for kindergarten through grade 12 taking place in Weaselhead Park in SW Calgary. All students will learn about the Weaselhead Special Protected Area in Calgary while making Alberta curricular connections in science and social studies. All classes are guided through the park by our trained Naturalists with activities ranging from identifying tracks and signs to invertebrate pond dips, plant identification, removing invasive plants and conducting water quality and human impact studies. Each grade level has targeted learning outcomes and suggested activities but there is flexibility to focus on topics of interest to specific classes in the park. Kindergarten through grade 2 classes are typically scheduled for a half day (2 1/2 hours) from 9:30am-12pm while grade 3-12 can be either a half day or a full day (5 hours). Programs run from September-November and April-June.

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Outdoor Learning Quickdraw is physical card deck resource for $25 + GST + Shipping. It is designed to provide activity and cross-curricular lesson ideas for classes of any age to try outside. There are activities connected to Physical Education, Wellness, Science, Outdoor Education and more, making up four suits with 13 cards each:

Physical Literacy cards suggest activities that develop agility, balance, coordination and strength skills related to locomotor and non-locomotor movements in the outdoors. There is no right way to move! These cards show and suggest many inclusive ways to encourage all students to participate, and we know that teachers and program leaders are experts in modifications and inclusive practices.

Teamwork cards feature challenges for small groups and full class activities that develop collaboration, communication and critical thinking.

Outdoor Skills cards feature key competencies for students to practice at school to prepare for single or multi-day trips into front and backcountry destinations.

Environmental Action cards suggest activities and learning topics that can be tried nearby your schoolyard and as far away as hiking trails and provincial parks.

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Students follow each step of the scientific method to conduct a water quality investigation. During this 1.5 hour workshop students observe and become curious about the Fraser River, do background research, construct hypotheses, test their hypotheses by doing experiments, analyze their data, draw a conclusion, and report their results.

Grades: 6-9                          Length: 1.5 hours                   Maximum group size: 30 students

Program Components:

Take a sample of the Fraser River and make observations.

Conduct background research, using the exhibits as sources, and share with the other groups.

Construct a hypothesis about salmon survivability in the Fraser based on turbidity and pH levels.

Follow scientific protocol and test the turbidity and the pH level of the Fraser River sample.

Compare results to the hypothesis.

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The Alberta Tomorrow Foundation has a mission to deliver a platform that empowers youth to design and sustain a future for our shared ecosystem, with a vision of an informed society actively fostering sustainable futures. Use the simulation tool to:

Time travel into the PAST and FUTURE to see the impact of our actions on the ENVIRONMENT and ECONOMY,

Study Alberta's WATERSHEDS, including a virtual video tour of the Bow River,

Show possible ECOREGION SHIFTS as a result of CLIMATE CHANGE,

See the impact of Beneficial MANAGEMENT Practices,

Explore Alberta's Natural Regions with our 360 VIRTUAL TOURS,

Use the CITIZEN SCIENCE TOOL to store and share water quality data,

Explore MAP OVERLAYS of Treaty Areas and Traditional Territories, Traditional Languages, Metis Regions and Residential School locations,

Land Use Plan using INDIGENOUS INDICATORS vs Western Science Indicators

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Grade 2 - Exploring Liquids

Grade 4 - Waste and Our World

Grade 5 - Wetland Ecosystems

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A three-lesson unit designed for Grades 9-12 (Ages 14-18), complete with a culminating 7Rs Action Project Guide featuring 20 project options.

Rethinking The Fashion System invites students to deepen their understanding of the fashion industry and its broader impacts on the environment and society. Learners will explore ideas of global citizenship, personal responsibility, leadership, collective action, and futures-thinking, consider the difference between the linear and circular economies, and become familiar with real-world examples of sustainability in action. Through the lens of The 7Rs – strategies to reduce waste and rethink fashion consumption – a wide range of culminating Action Projects support students to envision and create their own hope inspiring actions that promote responsible citizenship and a more sustainable future.

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Our Resources for Rethinking (R4R) search engine makes it easy to find great sustainability resources for every grade and subject!

Search by:

Language (English/French)

Jurisdiction (Province/Territory)

Grade, subject and curriculum unit

Sustainability theme (14 themes and 96 issues)

Resource type (lesson plan, children’s literature, video, outdoor activity, games/apps)

The UN Sustainable Development Goals

Indigenous Knowledge Theme

Easy access to the resources you're looking for

Over 2,000 of the best resources available from hundreds of publishers including commercial publishers, non-profit organizations, government, school boards, teachers’ federations. Most resources are available free for download from the publisher’s website.

Quality Professional reviews

Resources are reviewed by the people best equipped to judge the value of an educational resource: teachers! The rigorous review process was developed in collaboration with teachers from across Canada. To be included in the database resources must meet stringent sustainability and pedagogical criteria recommended in the research on teaching and learning.

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Among the Canadian Centre for Outdoor Play’s major projects is the development of Educators Teaching Educators: Canada’s Outdoor Early Childhood Education Continuous Professional Learning Framework (“Outdoor ECE Framework”). This evidence-informed, nationally agreed-upon framework brings together outdoor ECE leaders from across Canada to identify key pedagogical practices, build consensus, and promote consistency in training. Designed for educators teaching educators, the framework supports practitioners in their professional learning and strengthens outdoor early childhood education nationwide.

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With this online collection of articles and toolkits, kids can learn facts about BC flora and fauna, along with practical ways to support their local environments and wildlife. These articles cover topics ranging from how to support salmon to the details of soil science, and include downloadable activities, flash cards, games, identification guides, resources for further reading, and more. 

Our articles encourage kids to explore how they might start their own citizen science projects through the provided resources and guides. With this collection, we aim to support educators in incorporating place-based learning into their work by bringing classrooms into nature.

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WILDNorth offers free, curriculum-specific presentations for Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6 in Edmonton thanks to Capital City Cleanup. There is a cost of $80 to book this presentation for schools outside of Edmonton.

Grade 3 – “Food Chains, Wildlife, & My Community”

This 45-minute presentation is designed to introduce Grade 3 students to the intricate relationships between animals, plants, and their environment. Students will learn about food chains, how energy moves through the environment, and explore a food web using examples of local wildlife and vegetation. Linked directly to the Living Systems unit, this program offers a fun and tangible way for students to learn how plants and animals interact with one another while developing an awareness and appreciation for backyard nature.

Grade 4 – “Litter, Wildlife, & My Community”

Since a clean community is a shared responsibility, WILDNorth and Capital City Clean Up have joined forces to deliver the “Litter, Wildlife & My Community” classroom program. Educational and entertaining, this 60-minute presentation directly links to the Waste and Our World unit. It illustrates how litter harms wildlife and helps students identify actions they can take to minimize litter’s impact on wildlife.

Grade 5 – “Body Systems, Wildlife, & My Community”

This 60-minute presentation is designed to introduce Grade 5 students to the fascinating world of animal anatomy, diving into the body systems that support survival in the wild. Students will explore how the digestive, respiratory, circulatory, and musculoskeletal systems function in different animals, including birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. This program offers an engaging way for students to understand the vital processes that allow animals to thrive in their environments while fostering a sense of responsibility for protecting local wildlife.

Grade 6 – “Ecosystems, Wildlife, & My Community”

This 60-minute presentation is designed to deepen Grade 6 students’ understanding of ecosystems, the complex interactions that sustain them, and the vital role wildlife plays within them. Students will investigate the characteristics and components of ecosystems, focusing on the intricate relationships between animals, plants, and their environment. This program offers an engaging exploration of local ecosystems, including forests, wetlands, and grasslands, while highlighting how Alberta’s wildlife are specially adapted to their habitats. The presentation also emphasizes the importance of protecting these ecosystems from threats like litter and pollution to ensure the survival and wellbeing of local wildlife.