Climate Change Topics in the Classroom

You may be teaching a unit on birds and discussing habitats and migration. There is a climate change element that can be incorporated into the unit. Or, you may be teaching the water cycle – again, there is an opportunity to bring climate change information into the classroom.

Lesson plans are located under each names of a province or territory in the menu to the left. On the lesson plan page, one or more icons will be highlighted to let you know which topics are covered in the plan. You can also search by topic and grade level.

A brief explanation of our icons, and how the topics relate to climate change and typical curriculum units:

Nature, Wildlife and Ecosystems topics are shown by these icons.

	Nature
	Wildlife
	Ecosystems

Climate change will affect all three by changing food supplies for all forms of wildlife, affecting water supplies that sustain life and provide habitat and perhaps even affect the wind patterns that help birds migrate.

Weather is shown with this icon.

Changes in weather patterns will be one impact of climate change.

Water is shown with this icon.

The water cycle shows the importance of lakes, rivers and oceans to sustaining life on earth. Climate change could bring less water – or more.

Energy and greenhouse gases are shown with these icons.

Energy used by people produces greenhouse gases that lead to climate change.

Humans are shown with this icon.

People will be affected by changes in weather, ecosystems, water supply and other impacts of climate change.

Atmosphere is shown with this icon.

Climate change is about the atmospheric balance. Teaching about the atmosphere provides a great opportunity to introduce the climate change concept.

Earth is shown with this icon.

The entire planet will be affected by climate change as we all share the same atmosphere.