Designing a Sustainable House

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The cold weather months are an ideal time to encourage students to think about how we heat our indoor spaces, and the environmental impacts of the choices we make.

This can lead to exercising their creativity by designing their own healthy, sustainable home.  This is a multi-step activity:

  1.  Review a variety of videos showcasing options for sustainable building design.
  2.  Play the Building Design Game that shows the cost and impact of several building options.
  3.  Create a floor plan and sketch of their own ideal, sustainable home.

Intro Videos

VIDEO #1  – A tour through a beautiful home built of cob – a sustainable building material (3.56 min).

VIDEO #2 – Brief introduction to the concepts of green, sustainable and healthy buildings (2.25 min).

VIDEO #3 – A Landscape architect discusses design principles in a house built entirely from local and sustainable materials (5.19 min).

VIDEO #4 -A sustainable design expert explains some of the best approaches to making homes more environmentally friendly (7.33 min).

VIDEO #5 -A brief tour of 10 sustainable homes in various locations around the world (8.02 min).

Building Design Game

Teacher Sherri Owen has created an activity that explores a variety of building options (roof, insulation, electricity, appliances, heating), and involves students in making selections based on available funds.  The game PDF contains complete instructions and templates for money and building parts that can be copied before playing the game.  A simple video walks you through the process of playing the game.

Building Design Game PDF
Game Video

Design Your Own Sustainable Home

Now, design your sustainable ‘Dream Home’!  Use everything you’ve learned about building options and costs, and create a sketch and floor plan of the home you’d like to live in.

Then, have a tour of Dream Homes!  Students can compare their designs and explain the decisions made in creating their home designs.  Were there difficult choices to make?

Turtle Patrol

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  • June
  • Activities, Animals, Intermediate Videos, Intermediate Workshops, Intermediate Years Deeper Activities, Landmark 28, Middle Years Deeper Activities, Middle Years Videos, Middle Years Workshops, Senior Videos, Senior Years Deeper Activities, Student Workshops, Summer, Turtles, Videos, Workshops
Turtle Video #1
Turtle Video #2

Size of Group

any

Age Range

8-18

How to:

June is a month when many turtles are travelling from their wetland homes to drier places to lay eggs.  This can be a perilous journey if they must cross roadways.  The Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre teaches about the species of turtles in Ontario, why they are in peril and what we can do to help (Video #1 – 11 minutes).  In Video #2 (6 minutes), older students can learn about turtle rehabilitation and get involved as volunteers.

Owl Workshop: Kookoo Onnagosh

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  • November
  • Activities, Birds, Educator & Parent Workshops, Fall, Indigenous Education, Intermediate Videos, Intermediate Workshops, Intermediate Years Deeper Activities, Senior Videos, Senior Workshops, Senior Years Deeper Activities, Student Workshops, Videos, Workshops
Video Link

Size of Group

any

Age Range

10-18 years

How to:

Educators from the TRACKS program share Indigenous and biological information about these fascinating birds of the night.  In this 1 hour workshop, learn cultural teachings and unique adaptations that make owls of Ontario unique and amazing!

Climate Change Impacts on Nature in the Kawarthas

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  • April
  • Activities, Animals, Educator & Parent Workshops, Intermediate Videos, Intermediate Workshops, Plants, Senior Videos, Senior Workshops, Senior Years Deeper Activities, Student Workshops, Videos, Workshops
Video Link

Size of Group

any

Age Range

14-18 years

How to:

Join naturalist Drew Monkman as he explores the impacts of Climate Change on nature in southern Ontario.  Watch the 45 minute video and then discuss what you could do to draw public attention to the issue.  Explore some of the options available to us to help reduce the impacts of Climate Change.

Citizen Science: Using Seek and iNaturalist

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  • May
  • Activities, Citizen Science, Educator & Parent Workshops, Intermediate Videos, Intermediate Workshops, Intermediate Years Deeper Activities, Landmark 19, Landmark 22, Plants, Research, Senior Videos, Senior Workshops, Senior Years Deeper Activities, Spring, Workshops

Materials Needed

  • iPads
  • Seek app on cellphone
  • Sweep nets
  • Aquatic nets and buckets
Video Link

Size of Group

1-20

Age Range

10-18 years

How to:

Paul Elliott and Annie Corkery instruct a class in using the Seek and iNaturalist apps to help identify plants and animals close to the school.(10 minute video)

Exploring Pond Life

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  • May, September
  • Activities, Early Years Deeper Activities, Educator & Parent Workshops, Intermediate Videos, Intermediate Workshops, Intermediate Years Deeper Activities, Middle Years Deeper Activities, Middle Years Videos, Middle Years Workshops, Spring, Student Workshops, Videos, Water, Workshops

Materials Needed

  • Scoop nets
  • Bucket
  • Ice cube trays
Video Link

Size of Group

1-20

Age Range

4-14 years

How to:

Join Jacob Rodenburg in this 28 minute video to learn the basics of exploring the fascinating life in spring ponds.  Then, go outside and explore a nearby pond and see what amazing creatures you can find!  Just be sure to return creatures unharmed to their habitats afterwards.

Natural Fibres Workshop

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  • March
  • Activities, Animals, Educator & Parent Workshops, Intermediate Videos, Intermediate Workshops, Intermediate Years Quick Activities, Middle Years Quick Activities, Middle Years Videos, Middle Years Workshops, Senior Videos, Senior Workshops, Senior Years Quick Activities, Spring, Student Workshops, Videos, Workshops

Materials Needed

  • Samples of natural fibres (if available: wool, cotton etc.)
Natural Fibres Video

Size of Group

any

Age Range

6-18 years

How to:

This 10 minute video, produced by Farms at Work, focuses on farmers in the Kawartha region who raise animals for natural fibres for clothing.  It explores the care of the animals, shearing and processing the fibres, and the reasons why natural fibres are especially important.  Recent research is showing that synthetic fabrics are one of the sources of microplastics in waterways, so environmental concerns are sparking renewed interest in natural fibres.

Citizen Science: Winter Birding with eBird

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  • January
  • Activities, Birds, Citizen Science, Educator & Parent Workshops, Intermediate Videos, Intermediate Workshops, Intermediate Years Deeper Activities, Landmark 22, Research, Senior Videos, Senior Workshops, Senior Years Deeper Activities, Student Workshops, Videos, Winter, Workshops

Materials Needed

  • Access to Merlin app
  • Access to eBird app or website
  • Winter Bird ID sheets
  • Binoculars (optional)
Winter Birding Video
Winter Birds ID Sheets

Size of Group

1-12

Age Range

12-18

How to:

You don’t need to wait until spring to look for birds!  Many birds stay all winter, and sometimes it’s easier to begin bird identification in the winter months when there are fewer species to learn.  This 7 minute introductory video describes how you can collect important data for conservation by learning to identify common species and reporting them through the eBird app.  Also included in this package are simple identification sheets for common winter birds in the Kawartha region.

Citizen Science: Using Water Rangers Test Kits

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Meredith Carter and Candace Clark from Otonabee Conservation explain how you can use the Water Rangers Kit to explore water quality with your class. Try these techniques and then report your findings to the Water Rangers website. (9 minutes)

Schoolyard Score Card

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Schoolyard Report Card

Schoolyards are places for playing, socializing, exploring, and sharing the land with other living things. How would your schoolyard score if you gave it a report card?

The best schoolyards build health in many ways – healthy kids as well as a healthy environment.  That means opportunities for active play, creative play, quiet reflection, social interaction and exploring the natural world.  Many schools are beginning to see their schoolyard as a habitat – welcoming many plants and animals to share the space with the students.  This also provides excellent opportunities for outdoor learning and building stewardship skills.

1. INTRODUCTORY VIDEO

Watch the video with your students to help you get started.  It explores what we mean by a ‘habitat for people’ and a ‘habitat for wildlife.’  It showcases some projects from other schools to help get your ideas flowing!

These score sheets have grade-linked opportunities to explore your schoolyard using math, science and geography skills.  Grades 3-6 will go out and measure the schoolyard and make maps of what they find.  Grades 7-8 will begin by drawing their schoolyard from memory, then use satellite images to compare with their drawings, and create accurate basemaps.

Then, using the Score Sheets, students will evaluate their schoolyard on the basis of:

a) Habitat for People

b) Environmental Health

c) Habitat for Wildlife

Download the Schoolyard Score Card below to get started!

Grade 3-6 Report Card
Grade 7-8 Report Card

 3. DISCUSSION AND FOLLOW-UP

How did your schoolyard score?  Are there things that scored well?  Are there opportunities for improvement?  Can your class play a role in improving your schoolyard’s score?

The score cards provide suggestions on simple places to begin.  Realizing that we can make positive changes in the world around us, and working together to do that, helps build hope, empowerment and leadership skills.

Become a Citizen Scientist: Testing Water Quality

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Citizen Science Workshop

This comprehensive set of resources provides excellent support for teachers exploring water quality and aquatic ecosystems with intermediate-level classes.  The workshop also introduces Pathway Landmark 22:  ‘Become a Citizen Scientist by helping to monitor environmental health,’ which is geared to Grade 7-8 classes.  The workshop is a partnership between Otonabee Conservation and the Pathway Project.

Ontario Curriculum Links:

Grade 7:  Understanding Life Systems - Interactions in the Environment

Overall Expectations:  1. Assess the impacts of human activities and technologies on the environment, and evaluate ways of controlling these impacts; 2.  Investigate interactions within the environment, and identify factors that affect the balance between different components of an ecosystem; 3.  Demonstrate an understanding of interactions between and among biotic and abiotic elements in the environment

Grade 8:  Understanding Earth and Space Systems - Water Systems

Overall Expectations:  1.  Assess the impact of human activities and technologies on the sustainability of water resources; 2.  Investigate factors that affect local water quality; 3.  Demonstrate an understanding of the earth’s water systems and the influence of water systems on a specific region

Workshop Components:

1. Introductory Video:  This 20-minute video, produced by Otonabee Conservation,  introduces the Otonabee region watershed and provides an overview of chemical and biological methods used locally to monitor watershed health.  This can be used as a stand-alone activity or an introduction to hands-on monitoring opportunities for students.

2. Worksheets:  Depending on the equipment you have available and your access to nearby waterways, the following worksheets have been prepared by Otonabee Conservation to guide students through a variety of activities to learn about their watershed and monitor its health:

  1. Mapping Activity Worksheet
  2. Water Quality Worksheet
  3. Biological Indicators Worksheet
  4. Surface Water Velocity Worksheet
  5. pH Worksheet

French Language Worksheets

  1. Macroinvertebrate Worksheet
  2. Punaise D’Eau – Mots Caches
  3. Quand Je Serais Grand

3. Lesson Plans: These comprehensive lesson plans were developed by teacher and Outdoor Educator Sherri Owen to guide you through aquatic field labs with your class.

FIELD LAB 1: WATER CHEMISTRY

This guide outlines safety considerations as well as protocols for water collection and testing. It includes tracking and assessment sheets and identifies where you can find testing tools and supplies. 

Finally, we show you how to submit your data to Water Rangers, a Canadian organization accepting water quality data from citizen scientists like you. 

Thanks to Water Rangers for contributing a Water Rangers Testing Kit to the Pathway Project.  To borrow our kit, email Cathy at  cathy@pathwayproject.ca

DOWNLOAD: WATER CHEMISTRY FIELD LAB

FIELD LAB 2: BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS

This guide provides everything you need to catch and identify benthic bugs, calculate water quality ratings, and create a water quality statement.  

You’ll also get two worksheet protocols for evaluating water quality using aquatic macroinvertebrates. 

This field lab explains how to submit your data to the Leaf Pack Network Database. 

DOWNLOAD: BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS FIELD LAB

It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighbourwoods

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Nancy Thomson of ‘Think Outside’ shares her secrets for exploring natural habitats with classes of junior-level students (Grades 4-6). Whether you’re visiting forests, wetlands, meadows, or the schoolyard, Nancy can help teachers build their skill and comfort in guiding engaging and respectful outdoor discovery. (47 minutes)