Here at Population Education, we are thrilled to announce a massive overhaul of the activities in our elementary curriculum Counting on People: K-5 Activities for Global Citizenship. Long-time favorites have been updated with the newest information and best practices, various activity sections have been revamped to better meet state standards, and new lessons have been added to focus on real-world topics like climate change and wealth inequality.
In this blog, we’ve picked out a couple of the new, or updated, elementary lessons we’re most excited about.
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Lend a Hand to the Earth: Activity on Collective Action
Many PopEd lessons have students consider changes they can personally make to help the planet. The new Lend a Hand to the Earth activity goes beyond individual actions and puts collective action front and center for young learners. Students discover the difference a group can make when everyone works towards the same goal. We also added some lower elementary data literacy skills to the procedure, like using tally marks and creating simple data representations. And the art portion remains, ensuring students tap into both sides of their brains.
Lessons for the Lorax: Cooperative Board Game
One of the lesson updates we’re especially thrilled with is Lessons from the Lorax. It still starts with a reading of the classic Dr. Suess book, supported by a cause-and-effect graphic organizer. The new board game puts students in the home of the Lorax once all of the Truffula trees have been cut down. The game is accessible for lower elementary students and a key feature is that the students aren’t playing against each other. Instead, they must all cooperate and work together in order to “win” by planting trees in the forest while a lumberjack simultaneously works to cut them down!
Counting Carbon: Elementary Climate Change Lesson
Counting Carbon is a brand-new lesson for teaching about climate change in the elementary classroom. The first part has students consider how much CO2 goes into the atmosphere in order to get an imaginary class of students to school. The second part of the lesson is all about carbon sinks. Students explore the four types of natural carbon sinks: oceans, forests, grasslands and wetlands. They dive into how carbon sinks store CO2 (including the emissions from their drive to school in Part 1) and strategize ways to limit the “extra” CO2 that goes into the atmosphere. Funny actions and strong visuals ensure its information they’ll remember.
More or Less: Provides Scaffolded Vocabulary Support
Our popular cause-and-effect lesson, More or Less, got an upgrade. Students still use provided cards to build a word web around the central idea of more people. But students’ understanding of the vocabulary is now supported by images on the cards along with the text. This is an especially helpful addition for ELL.
Building Communities: Activity on Wealth Inequality for Elementary Students
Another new lesson is Building Communities, great for upper elementary economics and global citizenship. Students are introduced to wealth inequality when they work in small groups to construct 3-D communities with supplies purchased in the “class store.” What the students don’t know, is that different groups have different amounts of money. When they examine the completed communities, it will be apparent that some groups were able to buy more, and better, materials than other groups. Starting with this local look, students are then challenged to consider wealth inequality at larger scales.
When the Chips are Down: Elementary Economics
Speaking of elementary economics, When the Chips are Down has gone from a fun simulation to a more robust, standards-aligned activity on elementary economics content. And don’t worry, it’s still fun! The first part of the activity remains the same, though with the use of more purposeful economic vocabulary like scarcity, surplus, import and export. The new second part of the lesson introduces students to trade. Building on Part 1, where they acted as countries with differing amounts of resources, they now are able to trade amongst themselves. Students set their own prices and get a first-hand look at supply and demand. It’s a great activity for showing the interconnectedness of our global economy and how countries get the goods and services they need, all while being appropriate for upper elementary!
Green Spaces: The Importance of Nature in Our Cities and Towns
The urban planning lesson Green Spaces includes a new intro activity that has students rank, and graph, how they feel before and after spending time outside in nature. The idea is to show students some of the unexpected benefits of green spaces – like impact on mood – before challenging them to design a city with adequate green space for its population. In addition to the science, social studies, and math content, there is a nice dose of SEL too.
Energy Imagery: Comparing Energy Use Long Ago with Today
PopEd’s classic guided visualization lesson, Energy Imagery, is now more interactive with students acting out how energy is used. They first role-play a person 200 years ago performing various tasks like making breakfast or heating their home, and then role-play how people today perform similar tasks. How has the way people use energy changed over time? Then it’s time for creative thinking: Students come up with an original idea for a renewable energy source that doesn’t yet exist, and create a labeled drawing to share with the class.
Best Lessons for Elementary Global Citizenship
Whether you teach kindergarten or 5th grade, and no matter the subject, if you care about sustainability and global learning, these lessons are for you. Check out the full Counting on People lesson plan library, made up of 44 teacher-friendly elementary activities that will fit into your curriculum today.
Photo credits: Children playing in park (Photo by Alexandr Podvalny on Unsplash)