https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2nd%20Grade%20Fall%20Monarch%20Tagging_0.pdf

* A description of the project, how it works, and how kids would be involved

As a large group or class, students brainstorm questions they have about tagging monarchs. In small groups and partners, they search for, capture, tag, and release migrating monarchs in the prairie with the help of parent chaperons and Prairie Wetlands Learning Center staff. As a small group, they record their observations on a data sheet and share their results with the larger group. Lastly, they discuss the results of their investigation.

* A way that you could bring it into the classroom

If actually getting children to a migration site for monarchs isn’t possible, then you could show a video of others doing it to properly highlight the experience. Otherwise, this is something that the kids could be more directly involved in as some sort of field trip.

In the classroom, you can take a trip outside and look for ladybugs. Give them a certain area that they're allowed to look in and say why (that we need to search one area at a time in order to provide proper data). Encourage students to give details about where, when, or how they found the ladybug. Then, the teacher can take a photo and label what student found the ladybug, print the photos and the students' names, and leave space for kids to write about what they found at the bottom. I'm not sure if these scientists get back to people who submit photos, but if you reach out and ask these scientists to update your students on the ladybugs they find, that would be super cool!

Globe at Night is important because "Light pollution threatens not only our 'right to starlight', but can affect energy consumption, wildlife and health." (globeatnight.org)

The lesson will begin teaching about stars and how they appear in the night sky. Next children will learn about light pollution, and how it impacts our ability to see the stars at night. Children can observe at night in their homes and record their observations. What would be interesting and engaging is if there could be a camping field trip somewhere with less light pollution (for example outside a big city) and children can observe the stars and possibly record any differences from what they observed at their homes. Talk about the importance of reducing light pollution and how we can all do our part?

They will test their rain barrel, seek areas of improvement and begin to investigate how to filter the runoff they have collected to improve water quality. They will share out their creation and discuss benefits of collecting some of our runoff. They could use plastic barrels, garden hoses, mesh, spigot, teflon tape. 

We could bring this in the classroom by doing a lesson about rain gardens, and what rain barrels provide for our community. We could have a model to reference for inspiration and have students have allotted time to complete their own rain barrel, and offer support as needed. Afterwards, having them share out and talk about what they learned with their rain barrel and how they can implement this into the community! 

https://www.purpleplow.org/puzzlers/rain-barrels

By being a free downloadable app, students can have this game either on their own tablets or computers. Specifically during an ocean unit, students can play this game during the unit either during free time or use it as an ongoing investigation into life in the ocean. Students can see first hand the concepts, animals, life they are learning about. Additionally, understand what researchers and scientists are finding in our oceans today and how climate change may be affecting the ocean. Especially without students ever having to visit an ocean.

I am not sure when invasive species are taught but, during that unit, you could tie in the harmful algal blooms. You could take a look at how it is harmful to species, what it does to them, and how we can prevent or stop it from occurring. Also, you could always take a field trip to a body of water near you to have students look for this type of algae and use their scientific reasoning skills to argue why or why not this could be harmful algae.

How It Works

• Setup: Classrooms are equipped with 55-gallon aquariums, complete with water chillers and filters to simulate a trout's natural habitat.​

• Eggs and Feeding: In the fall, students receive fertilized trout eggs and appropriate food from local hatcheries.​

• Monitoring: Throughout the school year, students monitor various water quality parameters, including temperature, clarity, dissolved oxygen, ammonia levels, and pH, to ensure the health and survival of the trout.​

• Lifecycle Observation: Students observe the trout's development from eggs to alevins, then to fry, and finally to fingerlings, gaining insights into the species' lifecycle.​

• Release: In the spring, students participate in a field trip to release the fingerlings into local streams, connecting classroom learning with real-world environmental stewardship. ​

Bringing It Into the Classroom

To integrate the TIC program into your classroom:

1. Register: Sign up for the program through the DEP's Trout in the Classroom page.​

2. Prepare: Ensure your classroom is equipped with the necessary aquarium setup. The DEP provides a TIC Startup Guide to assist with this process.​

3. Curriculum Integration: Utilize the provided curriculum modules, which cover topics such as trout anatomy, environmental stewardship, and the trout food chain. These resources are available for various educational levels. ​

4. Engage Students: Incorporate daily monitoring and data collection into your lessons, allowing students to actively participate in the care and observation of the trout.​

5. Field Trip: Plan a spring field trip to release the trout into a local stream, providing students with a tangible connection to their learning.​

-Task: "Count squirrels anytime, anywhere, report findings online."

-Bring it into the classroom: Talk about the three different types of squirrels and how to identify them. Students who are excited about it could observe at recess! Aside from contributing to the larger data set, students could make a report on the kinds of squirrels near the playground.

-Outside the classroom: can be done in rural, suburban, or urban areas (squirrels are everywhere!)

-This could be part of this standard: "2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats."

Each February, for four days, the world comes together for the love of birds. Over these four days we invite people to spend time in their favorite places watching and counting as many birds as they can find and reporting them to us. These observations help scientists better understand global bird populations before one of their annual migrations.

Activity for Students :

Students can engage in this activity by bird-watching and counting the number of birds they see. The count can then be entered into a database to contribute the birds seen in the area for science.

variety of life, in a specific place. In a BioBlitz event, students, scientists,

naturalists, and other community members join together to find and

identify as many plants, animals, and other organisms as possible in a

short period of time.

Afterschool programs are ideal for giving youth opportunities to look for

and observe different species around them in a living outdoor science lab.

This science lab can be an area large or small with trees, shrubs, weeds, or

even a rotting log, and it can be rural, urban, or suburban. BioBlitzes are

held in local, state, and national parks, and also schoolyards, community

center grounds, or backyards. They can be aquatic, focusing on life in

water, terrestrial, focusing on life on land, or both.

helps students get hands on activity, learn about nature, manage nature and embrace it

-eligible for pretty much everyone (NYS schools)

-application on mail or paper

"The seedlings are 2 to 3 years old, about 4"-12" tall, and bare-root. They are light enough for young children to carry and plant. Shipment is by FedEx on May 5, May 6, May 7, May 12, May 13, or May 14 only. Select a shipping date at least 3 days prior to the planting date."

What is it?

-25 jack pine (Pinus banksiana) seedlings

-25 red oak (Quercus rubra) seedlings

-25 river birch (Betula nigra) seedlings

-25 speckled alder (Alnus incana) seedlings

Project For Students:

Students can choose an expoplanet and give facts about the planet, draw pictures of the planet.

Background Information

Introduction to exoplanets and how astronomers study them:

Why join Exoplanet Watch?

As exciting as astronomy is, especially exoplanets, many might feel like it's out of their reach without years of study or advanced degrees. Exoplanet Watch is here to bridge that gap between your desire to explore other worlds and you contributing authentic, meaningful exoplanet science to the world.

It's possible to do it in literally just a few minutes right NOW, no matter where or when you're reading this message, and Watchers here at NASA, as well as around the world, are here to guide you every step of the way. Exoplanet Watching does have a learning curve because, remember, we're doing authentic science here! However, Watchers, people just like you, study hundreds of exoplanets, contributing thousands of valuable results to our NASA database each year. So whether you're a student still in school, interested (or not) in astronomy, a professional in this (or a totally unrelated) field, or even a retiree seeking a fulfilling avocation, we think there are few things better than exploring the unlimited possibilities of exoplanets!

For a deep dive, see our "Research Roundup" meeting recordings to hear talks from researchers around the world about why and how Exoplanet Watchers just like yourself contribute to measurable advancements in understanding the universe.

Where are we in space?

We live on Earth. Earth is a planet that orbits the Sun. The Sun is the only star in our solar system. When we look up at the night sky, we can see countless stars. There are billions of stars in our Milky Way Galaxy, but we can only see a few of them. There are billions of galaxies in the universe.

What are exoplanets?

We used to wonder whether the planets in our solar system were the only ones in the universe. We have learned so much since then! In the past few decades, astronomers learned that many of the stars we see at night are the centers of their own planetary systems, with one or more planets orbiting around them. We call the planets outside of our solar system extrasolar planets, or exoplanets.

In the mid-1990’s, scientists started finding ways to detect exoplanets orbiting distant stars. Since then, over 5,000 exoplanets have been discovered, and the list of exoplanet discoveries grows longer all the time.

The air quality in of Buffalo, NY, has long been a concern. The area also has a high rate of asthma in the Westside of Buffalo, affecting Latinos. This raises an interesting question: is there a relationship between air quality and asthma in this region, and find the cause of the air pollution? What are some solutions for this issue? https://www.cacwny.org/campaigns/non-active-campaigns/asthma/

The "Humboldt Parkway issue" in Buffalo, NY, centers around the proposed NY-33 Kensington Expressway tunnel project and the desire to restore Humboldt Parkway, a historic greenway, and reconnect it with MLK Park and Delaware Park. Opponents argue that the tunnel project will not fully restore the parkway and will harm the local community by creating concentrated exhaust plumes. They advocate for either full removal of the highway or, at a minimum, a more comprehensive restoration of the parkway.

“I ask you not to oppose that," said Esterphine Greene, president, Hamlin Park Community & Taxpayers Association.

Opposed: "Please don't because it will be another 40-50 years. Black folks are super suffering from asthma and emphysema, as someone said, but at least with the tunnel, we will have something aesthetic to look at and the fumes, many of them will be below grade." But aesthetics won't fix the fact that we're in the top one percentile for COPD, asthma and other, you know, respiratory illnesses," Richardson said. "You know, a tunnel is not going to fix the health issues in the neighborhood.” (Buffalo News WKBW 7 8:05 PM, Mar 25, 2025)

Support For: “Restoring the Humboldt Parkway, we lessen the burden of pollution and the breathing of those toxic chemicals for community residents along the highway,” said Moppins. (Buffalo News WKBW 7 8:05 PM, Mar 25, 2025)

Students will investigate and research issue and tell whether they are in agreement with the restoration of Humboldt Parkway or opposed to rebuilding the Park.

Students find out the statistics of asthma in their community, would adding trees and improving aesthetics and putting cars in tunnel improve the air quality. Students can debate and give evidence for each side.

The “Day in the Life of the Niagara River" is a citizen science project where students go outside and act like real scientists. They collect water samples, test things like temperature and pH, and observe organisms in the water. Students are fully involved because they are the ones doing everything like collecting data, recording it, and observing what’s happening in the environment. It’s not just learning from a textbook, they’re actually participating in real science and contributing to something bigger and hands on.

How would you bring this into the classroom?

I would bring this into the classroom by making it a hands on activity. If possible, I would take students to a nearby creek or water source, or a park or outside. A modified version in class would ne using sample data or simple experiments or even interactive videos. Students would work in groups to collect or analyze data, then we would come together as a class to talk about what we found. I would also connect it to topics like pollution and human impact, and maybe have them do a follow activity like a poster or a classroom share out.

Tie it to a NYSLYSS standard:

MS-LS2-1, because students are analyzing data and learning about ecosystems.

Neydelin Enriquez