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BC Curriculum Connection:

Big Idea:

Living Things are diverse, can be grouped, and interact in their ecosystem.
Curriculum Competencies:
Question predict, plan, process, analyze, evaluate, apply, innovate, and communicate in a variety of ways:

ideas about living and non living things in the local environment.

stewardship in your local environment.

how we are shaped by the place we live including: our relationship to personal experiences/memories, history, connections to culture identity, first people's perspective, connections.

Content Topic: Biodiversity

The variety of different types of living things in an ecosystem.

Characteristics of local plants, animals, and fungi

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Science 3 | Building Student Success - BC's New Curriculum

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Curriculum Updates Detailed Information Curriculum Overview Explore/Search Curriculum Instructional Samples Educator Updates Tools

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Key Question: How can you be a steward in your local environment?
Description: Resources4thinking offers over 700 free authentic explorations, strategies and diverse sensory activities that connect students to their outdoor environment and deepen stewardship, inquiry and experiment processes.

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The activities in Five Minute Field Trips are grouped into three sections: Awareness, Understanding and Action. The Awareness section consists of outdoor activities that are sensory and experiential giving kids a chance to reconnect with the...

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Living and Non-living things in our Local Environment.

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Living and Non-living things in our Local Environment.

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Key Question: What do you know about living and non living things in your local environment?
Description: This book is one of many resources offered by NAAEE to share environmental education

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This children's book introduces elementary schoolers to the salmon life cycle and concepts such as ecosystems, keystone species, salmon culture, and stewardship. The book concludes with six case studies about kids who are making a difference on salmon-related issues.

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Key Question: How does understanding place help you analyze information and recognize connections and relationships in your local environment?
Description: Through EcoLeague™ students are engaged in linking what they have learned to action projects that provide a real context for understanding sustainability issues in their community.

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The Yellow Fish Road resource connects young people from all across the country who care about clean water preservation. The program helps youth to educate fellow community members about their water supply, the impact of water pollution on the...

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Key Question: How do living things impact their environment?
Description: The Federation of BC Naturalists (now BC Nature) was concerned that kids were becoming increasingly disconnected from nature; thus NatureKidsBC was formed. This resource is a pollinator citizen science project where youth will learn about wild pollinators, species identification and data collection methods, they collect data on the abundance and diversity of bees, wasps, and butterflies in green spaces in their local area and are encouraged to get involved in stewardship activities that increase pollinator habitat

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Pollinators are animals (birds and bats) or insects (beetles, wasps, moths, butterflies and bees) that distribute pollen from one flower to another as they forage, and a a result allow for the fertilization of the plants. They are a key component of global biodiversity because they play a vital role in maintaining both wild ecosystems and plants that produce food (ie fruits, nuts and seeds) that wildlife and humans rely on to survive. At least two-thirds of the world's crops depend on pollination by insects or animals. Read more about the importance of pollinators here.

World-wide, pollinator populations are declining with parallel declines in the plants that rely on them for pollination. Both wild and domesticated pollinators are suffering from a range of threats including diseases, pesticide exposure, malnutrition, habitat loss and climate change. In the US, beekeepers have lost 30% of their colonies each year since 2006.

Get involved with pollinator citizen science

This year we are inviting families, clubs and schools to learn about and get involved with pollinator citizen science through surveys and stewardship action. Citizen science is a great hands-on learning tool to get children and youth involved in real science and helps them learn new things about the world around them. The stewardship component engages youth in stemming the decline of pollinators by planting with plants that produce food for pollinators - pollen and nectar.

Through our pollinator citizen science project, youth will learn about wild pollinators, species identification and data collection methods, they will collect data on the abundance and diversity of bees, wasps, and butterflies in green spaces in their local area through data collection events and be encouraged to get involved in stewardship activities that increase pollinator habitat. Data is analyzed by our project biologist and final reports are presented to our partners, who can use the findings to make informed choices about habitat management and how to support pollinator diversity.

Creating Pollinator Habitat

Visit our Planting for Pollinators page to learn more about how you can attract pollinators to your garden or patio.

Download resources to get started

To make it easy for you to get involved with this project and to run your own surveys, we have created a some tools and resources:
1) Pollinator ID card
2) 3)Instruction sheet (schools)
4) Survey form or use the Insight Citizen Science App (choose NatureKids BC in the options link)
5)Pollinator themed activities and games
6)Webinar - pollinator identification and Explorer Day set-up (by Erin Udal)

NatureKids BC will be running Pollinator Explorer Days through our family clubs across BC (check upcoming events), but you are also welcome to create your own event with your friends, family or class.

We welcome questions and suggestions for improving this program. Please contact us at coordinator@naturekidsbc.ca. We'd also love to hear about your experience with this pollinator citizen science program on social media - please tag us! Click here to follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

We are very grateful to our supporters:

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Pollinators are animals (birds and bats) or insects (beetles, wasps, moths, butterflies and bees) that distribute pollen from one flower to another as they forage, and a a result allow for the fertilization of the plants. They are a key component of global biodiversity because they play a vital role in maintaining both wild ecosystems and ...

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Key Question:  How does what you know about place affect your observations, questions, and predictions?
Description: This Step Outside, Nature Guides resource presented by "Resources for Rethinking" engages students In making connections to their local environment through being immersed in activities that share the impact of seasonal change on living and non-living things, which provoke inquires connections, observations, predictions, and questions about the local environment.

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Nature Guides | Sustainability Classroom Resources at Resources for Rethinking

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Exemplary classroom resources reviewed by teachers for teachers

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Key Question: How does our connection to our environment shape our identity, memories, and culture.?
Description: This PDF shares how teachers can use pedagogy to engage students with the land, nature and their environment using indigenous perspectives in the classroom.

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Key Question: What is Biodiversity and key characteristics of local plants, animals and fungi in your local community?
Description: This HCTF lesson plan was found by using TeachBC's excellent BC curriculum connected search engine. Students investigate, ecosystems, identify plants, and discover biodiversity in their backyard. https://teachbcdb.bctf.ca

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Key Question: What are some environment Implications for yours and others' actions?
Description: Green Learning is an online web-inquiry guided resource offered by Conoco Phillips that engages students in hands-on outdoor, indoor, and literacy activities where they discover how water influences farmers and the food they grow. This resource helps students understand the ways in which climate change impacts water and farming and what this all means for their community.

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Get your hands into soil, clay and a range of learning activities to make the vital topic of water and climate change come alive in your classroom.

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Key Question: How does place connect with stewardship?Description: This is a link to videos by schools across BC that share a variety of stewardships projects in diverse grades, to connect students with authentic stewardship opportunities in their local areas.

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Columbia Basin Environmental Education Network

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Key Question: How does place affect our culture?
Description: This lesson is from the HCTF Education website which is packed with lessons connecting students to the relationship between humans and their environment and developing ideas about biodiversity.