Grade 5

The Children and Nature Network maintains a collection of free toolkits, reports, infographics and advocacy tools is designed to help connect children, families and communities to nature. 

Learning Inside Out is a seven-week course of activities curated from the LSF's Resources4Rethinking database, with themes from the Step Outside Nature Guides and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which cover everything from climate change to equity. Different activities are listed for different age groups from K-12.

Children’s Author, Amelia Lionheart, in her fictional JEACs book series (JEACs: Junior Environmentalists and Conservationists), endeavours to educate and create awareness through the means of fun adventure stories, about the vital importance of conservation and environmental issues. Join the JEACs as they embark on adventures around the world to advocate for animal conservation, environmental issues and solve mysteries. The youngsters deal with a variety of issues; they also believe in using their talents, doing fundraising and volunteer work and having lots of fun! The JEACs firmly believe some of the key factors in saving our planet are: PACE - Participation, Awareness, Co-operation and Education. The books are educational on many levels, and the facts about the animals are accurate; the rest is fictional. Real groups of JEACs in Calgary, formed by children who read the books, raised funds for several conservation and environmental organizations, including WWF, The Cochrane Ecological Institute and the Calgary Zoo. Visit the website at: www.jeacs.com, and check out the books,
read excerpts, etc. (Advanced readers of 7 years and older, [including adults], are also reading the books. The language level is high, but there is a Glossary at the end of each book.)

The books can be purchased directly through Amelia Lionheart, who may be contacted at: amelia.lionheart@shaw.ca for details. Amelia is in Calgary and will be happy to: sell the books at a discounted rate, donate a percentage of the sale to ACEE, sign the books if requested, and add a bookmark. She lives in Calgary, but is happy to ship books within Canada (the cost of shipping will be added to the total sale of books).

The books can also be purchased at the following Indigo/Chapters Stores in Calgary (you would have to pay full price there and the books will not be signed):

• Indigo - Dalhousie and Signal Hill;
• Chapters - Crowfoot, Spectrum and Shawnessy.

Learn about the importance of learning with the land, led by Indigenous Peoples. Included are links to other great resources as well. 

Activity Book: Our Actions Are Our Future was created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to accompany World Food Day 2021.

Learn about the fascinating world behind food and agriculture. Follow the journey of food from the farm to your table and the great efforts food heroes make to get it there, no matter the circumstances. And find out how your choices and actions can make a difference. No matter your age, you can be a food hero!

The Alberta Capital Airshed (ACA) provides unit plans for Grade 5 and Grade 9 containing ready-to-go classroom PowerPoint presentations, teacher's guides, and classroom activities. 

This article describes easy-to-use tools and methods for finding and identifying different types of rocks and minerals in your backyard!

Ever Active Schools uses the Comprehensive School Health framework to support schools, providing professional development opportunities, lesson plans and other resources, and an EAS in residence program to help schools develop a custom plan for improving school health.

The Into Nature guide from Back to Nature Network contains helpful tips on how to start an outdoor education program in your teaching. The second half features dozens of activities (beginning on page 24). More detailed lesson plans begin on page 51.

This guide to nature journaling from Project Learning Tree introduces ways you can integrate journaling to your teaching in a variety of subject areas.