New Offerings
For Teachers
Curriculum thoughtfully developed and designed to easily
be integrated into the classroom environment.
hands-on learning opportunities
As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention… While the 2020-21 school year has necessitated a pivot away from EDCAITC’s signature in-person, hands-on learning opportunities for teachers and classes, it opened up the opportunity to expand our educational reach by creating engaging, standards-based science curriculum focused on the local industry and landscape.
Take your students on a journey through the life of a water droplet and the role of watersheds, apples - from seed to engineering juice, the work of bees, trees and soil, to the tools and engineering that are used to manage and protect the land and bring everyone food and water. All the while, they’ll be building a better understanding of the environment around them and learning to apply science standards to things they experience in their community.
We’ve worked with local experts to create lessons focused on 6 topics. Within topics, each unit lesson is targeted to specific elementary or middle school grade levels and maps to grade level science standards. Each unit lesson includes:
- A detailed lesson plan
- Materials needed for activities
- Supplementary teaching materials such as videos and posters
All available online!
Covering the Basics
Each topic contains unit lessons that are targeted to specific grade levels and map to specific science curriculum standards. Each lesson maps to grade level Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Environmental Principles and Concepts (EPCs). Unit lessons range in instructional time, from 55-200 minutes and are organized in the 5E instructional model - Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend and Evaluate. Each lesson plan divides the content into the 5E sections, includes links to supporting materials for the lessons and lays out how the material supports the educational standards. Starting in the 2021-22 school year, many of the lessons can be supplemented with a kit of materials to enhance the experience that will be available for teachers to check out. For a quick tour of the design and set up, please check out the three short videos, below this box, that walk through the navigation, structure and components of units and lessons:
- Unit and lesson folder overview and navigation (video 1)
- Lesson plan (5E Hyperdoc) overview and navigation (video 2)
- Common lesson components (video 3)
Kits to accompany specific lessons will also be available
to check out starting in the 2021-22 school year.
INTRODUCTORY VIDEOS
Topics
WATER
Dive into one of the 4 basic survival needs of humans, animals and plants - water! This unit covers the importance of water for survival, explores forms and patterns of water, watersheds, the water cycle. This topic also delves into the impact humans have on the environment and actions we can take to monitor and minimize negative impacts and protect this important resource.
APPLES
Cider, pie, donuts... but there’s more to this story. This unit explores the biodiversity found in apple farms and human connections to the natural resources and environment, as well as the origins of our county’s apple industry and varieties found here. Students learn to synthesize information from various sources and choose the best equipment to grow and produce apple products - they are the apple juice engineers!
AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING
Punch above your weight! From understanding simple machines and their power to help us do more to applying harnessing hydro power and thermal energy. All of these are found right here from small gardens to farms to large dams. Explore how engineering helps create and scale human efforts and how you can better harness the power of resources through machines and a bit of engineering!
BEES AND BLOSSOMS
We all know that bees are vital for pollination and we’d rather avoid their sting, but have you ever wanted to dig a little deeper? How do they talk? What really happens in pollination? How does a flower that appears so fragile survive the elements? Why are beehives constructed with cells that shape? There’s so much to explore and apply in looking a little closer at the life of bees!
DORMANCY
Trees. What better subject to use to hone our observation skills? Many trees are similar, but no two are exactly alike. In this topic, something so familiar and ubiquitous takes center stage and gets a closer look. Use all the senses and keen observation to compare and contrast, ask questions, understand external impact of seasons and hone their scientific inquiry skills.
SOIL HEALTH
Let’s get our hands dirty! Soil is one of the building blocks of the earth’s landscape. Explore how weathering and erosion cause landscapes to change over time. Dig into the job of decomposers, with a shout out to the worms out there and all they do for our landscape. Mix up some dirt by working with the main components and observing how they interact with water that passes by and through.
What educators are saying ...
"Ag in the Classroom can provide students and teachers with materials that allow the outdoors to become their own laboratory."
Gigi Marchini
EDCOE: Director of Curriculum, Instruction, & Accountability
SIGN UP NOW!
Click HERE to explore lessons by topic and grade level.
We’re offering an annual subscription for individual teachers and for larger groups, such as grade level teachers and schoolwide. Each subscription comes with an individual sign-in and access to all the teaching material for each lesson for a school year.
Subscriptions are built around the school year schedule. New or returning members can sign up on or after July 1st of every year. As a special introductory offer, sign up now and your subscription will be good through June 2022!
What’s included
- Detailed lesson plans within the six topics
- Lessons targeted to specific elementary or middle school grade levels
- Unit lessons mapped to grade level science standards
- Supplementary teaching materials such as videos and posters
- Materials needed for activities
HANDS-ON LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Curriculum thoughtfully developed and designed to be easily
integrated into the classroom environment.
El Dorado County discount. El Dorado County teachers enjoy special savings. If you qualify, contact us and we'll send you a discount code to apply at checkout. Individual and group licenses receive $20 off per license and schools in El Dorado County save $125 annually!
Introductory bonus. Subscriptions are built around the school year and run from July 1st through June 30th, annually. New members get the balance of this subscription period plus next year's subscription. Sign up early to get the most benefit.
INDIVIDUAL
- Individual membership
- $40 for El Dorado County teachers
GROUP / PER LICENSE
- Group pricing for four to six
- $30 each for El Dorado County teachers
SCHOOLS
- School pricing for seven or more
- $200 for El Dorado County schools