According to Natural Resources Canada, the average North American will produce 600 times their own weight in garbage over their lifetime. A 68kg person will leave behind a 40,825 trash legacy. By altering daily practices, such how an individual packs their lunch for school or work, a significant amount of waste can be prevented from entering the landfill. In this lesson, students identify the amount of waste they produce in their lunch and establish classroom goals for waste reduction.

Use some rather unique building materials to design and build a structure which is strong enough to support a book. Then try out different base shapes and see what happens!

Unlike garbage, recyclable materials can be broken down and rebuilt into new items like pillow stuffing, traffic cones or even the lining in ski jackets! Recycling or reusing items reduces the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. In this lesson, students will investigate the environmental importance of recycling and the impact of waste.

When we think of rainforests, broad-leafed plants and animals like monkeys, giant snakes, brightly-coloured frogs come to mind. We have a different type of rainforest in British Columbia—the coastal temperate rainforest.

These activities introduce the main animals and plants and the primary characteristics of our coastal temperate rainforest. 

Decomposers play an important role in the circle of life—without them, waste would just pile up! These activities help students study decomposers, with particular relevance to recycling and sustainability.

While investigating the power of the sun, students will discuss methods of protecting themselves from the sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation. They will explore solar thermal energy by examining a radiometer, playing with a solar UFO and creating solar ovens. They will use photovoltaic cells to power small motors.

A watershed is a section of land where all of the area’s water is collected and funnelled into the same waterway. Many human activities can negatively affect animals, particularly wild salmon, in their natural watershed habitat. The health of the watershed animal population depends on the health of their natural habitat. In this lesson, students will identify each stage of the salmon lifecycle and identify factors that affect salmon survival.

Students growing up in a city may have difficulty tracing their food further than the grocery store aisles. Learning where our food comes from and how it was grown and harvested helps us develop healthy eating habits and a sustainable lifestyle. Planting seeds and watching them grow is a natural first step to appreciating the source of our food. In this lesson, students identify various plant parts and discover which plant parts we eat and where they’re grown.