Lesson Plans & Activities
A Changing Climate: Understanding Drought in Colorado
This lesson is best taught at the beginning of a HEART Force unit, but it can also act as a stand-alone lesson to introduce students to drought in Colorado.
Students build an understanding of drought in Colorado using multiple data sources in a jigsaw activity.
HEART Force Flood Response Game
This lesson is best used after the Colorado Flood lessons in the HEART Force curricular unit, for students to apply their learning and respond to a hypothetical flood in their own community.
This interactive game has students work in three “zone response teams” to solve community challenges that arise during the course of an extreme flooding event by using available individual and community resources.
The Vocabulary of Hazards
We suggest teaching this lesson to introduce the unit as it will benefit students in their understanding of natural hazards throughout the entire HEART Force Unit.
This lesson uses a matching game to build students' understanding and familiarity with different terms used in the world of resiliency planning.
Envisioning a Resilient Future
We suggest teaching this lesson to introduce the HEART Force Unit.
In this lesson, students create a vision for the future of their community and identify what resources are most important to them as a starting point for resilience planning.
A Changing Climate: Understanding Floods in Colorado
This lesson is best taught at the beginning of a HEART Force unit, but it can also act as a stand-alone lesson to introduce students to floods in Colorado.
Students build an understanding of flooding in Colorado using multiple data sources in a jigsaw format.
A Changing Climate: Understanding Wildfire in Colorado
This lesson is best used as part of the HEART Force curricular unit, but it can also act as a stand-alone lesson to introduce students to wildfire in Colorado.
Students build an understanding of wildfire in Colorado using multiple data sources in a jigsaw format.
Hourglass Lake Fire Challenge - El reto del incendio del lago Hourglass
This lesson is best used after the wildfire hazard lesson in the HEART Force curricular unit, for students to apply their learning and respond to a hypothetical wildfire in their own community.
In this interactive game, students work in three “zone response teams” to solve community challenges that arise during the course of a wildfire event by using available individual and community resources.
HEART Force Drought Game
This lesson is best used after the Colorado Drought lessons in the HEART Force curricular unit, for students to apply their learning and respond to a hypothetical drought in their own community.
In this interactive game, students work in three "resilience teams" to solve community challenges that arise during the course of an extreme drought event by using available individual and community resources.
Flood Resilience in Colorado StoryMap
This is a lesson that can be used to get ideas and prepare for the Community Resilience Expo.
Students interact with a flood StoryMap to explore the Colorado Resiliency Framework.
Wildfire Resilience in Colorado StoryMap
This is a lesson that can be used to get ideas and prepare for the Community Resilience Expo.
Students interact with a wildfire StoryMap to explore the Colorado Resiliency Framework.
Exploring Local Hazard Mitigation Plans
This lesson is part of the Community Resilience Expo, a culminating event for the HEART Force curriculum unit, where students will share what they’ve learned during the hazard lesson and the role-playing game.
In this lesson, students will explore their county Hazard Mitigation Plan to gain understanding about the hazard in their area (flooding, wildfire, or drought), including historic hazards, probability of future occurrences of the hazard, and vulnerability of the area to the hazard.
Design a Resilient Future
This is a lesson that can be used to get ideas and prepare for the Community Resilience Expo.
In this lesson, students will work in small groups to develop an idea to increase community resilience, utilizing Design Thinking.
Filmmaking: Pre-Production
This is the first part of a 3-part unit on the filmmaking process for both formal and informal education settings.
This lesson has students explore science content, decide on the topic for their film, and do all the preparatory work before filming begins.
Filmmaking: Production
This is the second part of a 3-part unit on the filmmaking process for both formal and informal education settings.
In this lesson, students film interviews with content experts as well as additional B-roll footage, and film mentors help students find existing footage and media to supplement their films.
Filmmaking: Post-production
This is the third part of a 3-part unit on the filmmaking process for both formal and informal education settings.
This lesson teaches students about editing films and respecting licensed materials, while also ensuring they receive the support they need to ensure completion of their films.
How Can We Decrease Our Impact on the Earth’s Climate at our School?
This is the first lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which was designed to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.
In this design challenge lesson students explore the Denver Public School District’s solid waste plan and discuss how their school can save or decrease emissions by reducing solid waste at our school.
How Does Our School Food System Create Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
This is the second lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which is meant to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.
In this design challenge lesson, students examine their school food system and develop an investigation about food waste in order to know what should change.
How Can We Understand Waste and Emissions in Our School's Food System?
This is the third lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which is meant to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.
This lesson outlines for students how to design and carry out an investigation to audit their school’s food waste system.
How Can We Reduce Emissions Associated with Food Waste in Our School?
This is the fourth lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which is meant to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.
In this activity students utilize the data that is collected and propose solutions to mitigate food waste in their school.
How Can We Present Solutions for Food Waste and Emissions at School?
This is the fifth lesson in the Climate Resiliency Education Design Challenge Unit which is meant to follow the middle or high school Climate Resiliency Education units.
This lesson provides guidance for students to create and practice a presentation about their design challenge results that they developed in the previous lessons and how to present it to the school administration.
Wildfire Virtual Expo
This lesson provides a virtual alternative to the HEART Force Expo curriculum.
This is a streamlined lesson for students to prepare for a Community Resilience Expo, focusing on wildfire.
Flood Virtual Expo
This lesson provides a virtual alternative to the HEART Force Expo curriculum.
This is a streamlined lesson for students to prepare for a Community Resilience Expo, focusing on flood.
Drought Virtual Expo
This lesson provides a virtual alternative to the HEART Force Expo curriculum.
This is a streamlined lesson for students to prepare for a Community Resilience Expo, focusing on drought.
Communicate Existing Plans
This is a guide that can be used for a pathway for the Community Resilience Expo.
In this sub-unit, students will learn more about their community’s resilience plans, choose a specific topic to focus on, and develop a product to communicate the plan to their peers and/or their community.
HEART Force Curriculum Overview
This unit consists of several lessons and can take anywhere from 1 to 6 weeks to teach, depending on which lesson teacher choose to incorporate.
The HEART Force curriculum builds understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Middle School Wildfire Unit
This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the Middle School Wildfire curriculum.
The HEART Force curriculum builds an understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Middle School Flood Unit
This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the Middle School Flood curriculum.
The HEART Force curriculum builds an understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
Middle School Drought Unit
This HEART Force curricular unit includes all lessons for the Middle School Drought curriculum.
The HEART Force curriculum builds an understanding of wildfire, flood, or drought in the context of place-based community resilience.
HEART Force Wildfire Resilience Game
This lesson is best used after the wildfire hazard lesson in the HEART Force curricular unit, for students to apply their learning and recover from a hypothetical wildfire in their own community.
In this scenario-based role-play game, students play the role of community members planning for wildfire resilience in their community. After a wildfire occurs, they see how resilience and recovery efforts pan out in their hometown based on their planning efforts.
Shifting Winds
In this short unit, students investigate the question "Are wind patterns at the foot of the Rocky Mountains changing?" Students explore what causes wind and look at recent wind data. Students create a public-facing infographic to explain to the public if and how wind patterns are changing.
ReVisioning Hazards
This is the first lesson in the Lake County Cascading Hazards unit, but can be used for any introduction to natural hazards curriculum.
In the first lesson of the Lake County Cascading Hazards Unit, students read a poem written by a local fire survivor, and utilize a visualization practice to build personal resilience.
Cascading Hazards
This is the second of four lessons in the Lake County Cascading Hazards unit.
In the second lesson of the Lake County Cascading Hazards unit, students dig into local stories and datasets, and learn about the connections between natural hazards.
Take Action
Actions that will help families prepare for the next disaster can take a few minutes, and make a big difference when the time comes. Students will create a social media post or a short video to share what they are doing to prepare and encourage their friends to be prepared too.
In the last lesson of the Lake County unit, students develop ideas to increase resilience to hazards in their community.
Lake County Cascading Hazards Unit
The unit has four lessons in total.
This unit builds an understanding of five natural hazards and their connections in the context of place-based community resilience.
Social Vulnerability to Natural Hazards
This is the third of four lessons in the Lake County Cascading Hazards unit. This lesson can also be used in the HEART Force Curriculum.
In the third lesson of the Lake County Cascading Hazards unit, students learn about social factors that might make one group more vulnerable to a hazard than another.
Data Puzzle: Windstorms on the Front Range
Although strong windstorms are a common weather event at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, a record-breaking windy spring soon after the Marshall Fire disaster had the public feeling on-edge. In this Data Puzzle, students analyze data on the number of windstorms and the number of red flag warnings to investigate the question, “Is it getting windier on the Front Range as the climate warms?”
Be a Water Detective Take & Make Kit
This Take & Make Kit will help you become a water detective so that you can tell the story of water in your community!
Student's use tools to make observations about how water shapes the surface of our planet and how water supports and is impacted by the life that calls Earth home. Through these observations, water detectives are able tell meaningful stories about water.
Sé un detective del agua | Be a Water Detective Take & Make Kit
This Take & Make Kit will help you become a water detective so that you can tell the story of water in your community!
Ser un detective del agua significa ser un buen observador. Los y las detectives del agua se fijan no solo en cómo el agua cambia la superficie de nuestro planeta, pero también en cómo el agua soporta la vida terrestre y es en turno afectada a su por los seres vivos que llaman a la Tierra su hogar.
Be a Water Ecosystem Hero Take & Make Kit
This Take & Make Kit will help you become a water ecosystem hero that can battle water pollution, protect our rivers, and recognize pollinators in your local environment!
Student's work together to protect a river from water pollution in a collaborative board game, search for evidence of pollinators in their backyard, and learn about the connections between water, pollution and pollinators.
Sé un héroe del ecosistema del agua | Be a Water Ecosystem Hero Take & Make Kit
This Take & Make Kit will help you become a water ecosystem hero that can battle water pollution, protect our rivers, and recognize pollinators in your local environment!
Combate la contaminación del agua jugando en equipo y sal de casa para buscar un polinizador.
Be a Water Historian Take & Make Kit
This Take & Make Kit will help you become a water historian so you can share recorded stories with people in your community and elsewhere in the Four Corners region through the We are Water project!
Everyone has a story to tell. Recording stories from your family, friends, and people in your community is an important part of understanding history in your town. In this activity, students learn how to be a good interviewer so that they can help preserve amazing stories from their community!
Sé un/a Historiador/a del Agua | Be a Water Historian Take & Make Kit
This Take & Make Kit will help you become a water historian so you can share recorded stories with people in your community and elsewhere in the Four Corners region through the We are Water project!
Toda persona tiene una historia que contar. Registrar las historias de tus familiares y amigos y las personas de tu comunidad es fundamental para conocer la historia de tu pueblo. Esta actividad le enseña a ser un/a buen/a entrevistador/a.
Tó daniidlį' nilį' | Be a Water Historian Take & Make Kit
This Take & Make Kit will help you become a water historian so you can share recorded stories with people in your community and elsewhere in the Four Corners region through the We are Water project!
Everyone has a story to tell. Recording stories from your family, friends, and people in your community is an important part of understanding history in your town. In this activity, students learn how to be a good interviewer so that they can help preserve amazing stories from their community!
Waffle Garden Take & Make Kit
This Take & Make Kit will help you understand ancient Indigenous agricultural techniques, including science and math skills that are still effective in modern times!
Indigenous peoples of the American Southwest, including the Diné (Navajo), A:shiwi (Zuni), Zia Pueblo, and Laguna Pueblo, have been using a time-tested agricultural method known as a waffle garden to successfully grow crops in the semi-arid environment for generations. In this activity student's will reflect upon and learn about Indigenous relationships with water and the land to help them understand diverse methods of using water in dry climates.
Un jardín de forma de wafle | Waffle Garden Take & Make Kit
This Take & Make Kit will help you understand ancient Indigenous agricultural techniques, including science and math skills that are still effective in modern times!
La gente indígena del suroeste de los Estados Unidos, incluyendo los Diné (Navajo), A:shiwi (Zuni), Zia Pueblo y Laguna Pueblo, han utilizado durante generaciones un método agrícola de probada eficacia conocido como Un jardín de forma de wafle para cultivar con éxito en el entorno semiárido. En esta actividad, los estudiantes reflexionarán y aprenderán sobre las relaciones indígenas con el agua y la tierra para ayudarlos a comprender diversos métodos de uso del agua en climas secos.
Watershed Stewardship Patch Activity
Earn a We Are Water Patch by becoming familiar with your local watershed!
We can be good watershed stewards by taking positive actions that will help to ensure the watershed’s healthy functions. In this activity, students learn how to be good watershed stewards and become familiar with their local watershed through observation, positive action, and community engagement.
Actividad del parche sé protector de la cuenca | Watershed Stewardship Patch Activity
Earn a We Are Water Patch by becoming familiar with your local watershed!
We can be good watershed stewards by taking positive actions that will help to ensure the watershed’s healthy functions. In this activity, students learn how to be good watershed stewards and become familiar with their local watershed through observation, positive action, and community engagement.
Conversation Guide: Our Relationship with Water
This structured conversation guide is a great way to begin a dialogue about shared experiences with water in your community!
In this conversation, participants will explore their shared watershed and local ecosystems, and connect with neighbors through their common and unique experiences with water in the region. We hope individuals, families, and communities will share their memories and stories about water and come together to imagine a future they want for their communities.
Guía de Conversación: Nuestra Relación con el Agua | Conversation Guide: Our Relationship with Water
This structured conversation guide is a great way to begin a dialogue about shared experiences with water in your community!
En esta conversación, los participantes van a discutir su cuenca compartida y conectar a través de sus experiencias únicas y compartidas sobre el agua en la región. Esperamos que los participantes compartan sus recuerdos e historias sobre el agua y que se junten para imaginar el futuro que quieren para sus comunidades.
Stop Motion Animation Workshop
Learn how to create a short (<1 minute) stop-motion animation of a story!
This workshop is designed to be completed in two days or two sessions. Each portion is about 1.5 – 2 hours long. You may want to leave time between sessions for students to make their pieces. Depending on how intricate their story is, they may need more time for cutting out shapes, making “characters,” etc.
We are Water Kahoot Trivia - Beginner Level
Answer some fun trivia questions about the science of water and the geography of the Four Corners Region! Pick a level where you want to start and see how far you can go!
Challenge your students with beginner level trivia from We are Water about the science of water and the geography of the Four Corners Region.
We are Water Kahoot Trivia - Intermediate Level
Answer some fun trivia questions about the science of water and the geography of the Four Corners Region! Pick a level where you want to start and see how far you can go!
Challenge your students with intermediate level trivia from We are Water about the science of water and the geography of the Four Corners Region.
We are Water Kahoot Trivia - Advanced Level
Answer some fun trivia questions about the science of water and the geography of the Four Corners Region! Pick a level where you want to start and see how far you can go!
Challenge your students with advanced level trivia from We are Water about the science of water and the geography of the Four Corners Region.
We are Water Kahoot Trivia - Expert Level
Answer some fun trivia questions about the science of water and the geography of the Four Corners Region! Pick a level where you want to start and see how far you can go!
Challenge your students with expert level trivia from We are Water about the science of water and the geography of the Four Corners Region.
Letters to the Arctic
Letters to the Arctic is one of four activities in the The Drifting North Polar Planetarium Experience that invites students to explore what it was like to participate in the MOSAiC expedition to the North Pole.
In this activity, students put themselves in the shoes of a scientist who works in a fragile and changing environment. Learning will be guided with the driving question: How do scientists feel about the places they study?
Voices of Resilience: Collecting Stories of Survivors
This lesson is best used as part of the HEART Force curricular unit, but it can also be used as part of a unit on natural hazards.
Students collect stories from community members about their experiences with hazards.
