This lesson introduces students to the concept of rain gardens and why they are beneficial in cleaning up polluted waterways. Students will learn how and why rain gardens are created and then use their knowledge to build a model rain garden as part of a group.

Students are introduced to the concept of how matter cycles by learning about the carbon cycle. They learn how carbon atoms travel through the geological (ancient) carbon cycle and the biological/physical carbon cycle. They consider how human activities disturb the carbon cycle by emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. They discuss how engineers and scientists are working to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Lastly, with the associated activities students draw connections between the past and present to consider how they can help the world through simple energy conservation measures.

Under an Ohio Environmental Education Fund grant, Clermont SWCD worked with Greenacres Foundation to develop a Rain Garden Lesson Guide tied to Ohio Academic Content Standards. With this guide, schools can turn their rain gardens into outdoor learning labs. The Lesson Guide provides six separate activities. Each activity has separate options for elementary (3-5), middle (6-8) and high school (9-12) students. Links to PDFs of the entire guide as well as the individual lessons are provided.

An online game that teaches kids what foods and eating materials astronauts can take with them to space.