Curriculum & Resources for Teachers

Please note:  these lessons are regularly being updated. Be on the lookout for new ones at all grade levels soon!

Preschool Lessons

Where does an Osprey live?:  A preschool lesson exploring nests and challenging children to create model osprey nests.

What belongs in the water?:  A preschool lesson comparing and contrasting items that do and don't belong in bodies of water. 

Shoreline Terrariums:  A preschool lesson in which children create scientific models of shoreline ecosystems in jars. 

Kindergarten Lessons

Sea Jellies Among Us:  A kindergarten lesson in which students create models of jellyfish to help understand the way their bodies interact with their marine environment. 

Modeling Shorebird Habitats:  A kindergarten lesson in which students model migrating NJ shorebirds interacting with their environment. 

Oil Spill Cleanup:  A kindergarten design challenge in which children use different tools to help clean up a model oil spill 

First Grade Lessons

Parents & Offspring:  A first grade lesson about bird vocalization and communication between parents and offspring. 

No Crabbing Around:  A first grade lesson about structure and function of horseshoe crabs with a biomimicry-inspired design challenge. 

Making Waves:  A first grade lesson exploring sound waves and how they travel through water. This lesson connects to echolocation and animal communication as well. 

Second Grade Lessons

We are all Connected:  A second grade lesson in which students identify and categorize reservoirs of water on Earth. 

Tunnel Vision: A second grade lesson exploring which animals are best suited for which sand habitats. 

Modeling Currents:  A second grade lesson which uses two different types of models to describe surface and deep ocean currents. 

Third Grade Lessons

Web of Life: A third grade lesson on foodwebs. 

Sealed with Blubber:  A third grade lesson about adaptations that help animals survive in their environments. 

Native Plants: A third grade lesson about the role native plants play in our ecosystems. 

Ocean Engineering:  A two-part third grade lesson including design challenges to help students better understand oyster reefs and ocean monitoring systems

Fourth Grade Lessons

One Shell or Two:  A fourth grade lesson on structure and function. 

Green Infrastructure:  A fourth grade lesson and design challenge exploring watersheds and green infrastructure.

We Eat it Too:  A fourth grade lesson about features of migrating sea turtles' bodies that make them well suited to their environment. This lesson includes a biomimicry-inspired design challenge as well. 

Fifth Grade Lessons

Stormwater:  A fifth grade lesson on the water cycle considering stormwater cycling in particular. 

Battleship Windfarms:  A fifth grade lesson using a battleship-type game to help children decide where to build wind turbines. 

Food Chains in Barnegat Bay:  A fifth grade lesson about the effects of toxins on organisms in a food chain. 

Incredible Journey: A fifth grade lesson about movement of water through the hydrosphere inspired by Project Wet.

My Sand is Fine:  A fifth grade lesson about how location, wind, water, and living things influence the effect of sand grain size. 

Middle School Lessons

Carbon Dioxide and Climate:  A middle school lesson using numerical and graphical data to help students better understand the relationship between carbon dioxide and climate. 

Where Did My Beach Go?:  A middle school lesson modeling changes in coastlines due to erosion. 

New Jersey Severe Storms: A middle school lesson exploring how storms in NJ are impacted by our changing climate. 

Properties of Fresh and Saltwater:  A middle school lesson exploring properties of fresh and salt water in the liquid and solid phases. 

High School Lessons

Oyster Reefs:  A high school lesson exploring the role of Oyster Reefs and causes for their decline. 

Runoff & Pollution:  A high school lesson that examines contents of runoff  and analyzes the affects of pollution on our local water resources.

Sea Level Rise:  A high school lesson that discusses the causes for the increase in sea level rise and its impact on coastal regions. 

Gulf Streams: A high school lesson that discusses the cause and effect relationship between the gulf stream and climate change, and the potential negative effects on Earth's marine systems in the future.