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New toolkit makes finding weather, climate lesson plans easy

Courtesy of Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant

The weather and climate toolkit for educators includes more than 60 resources for K-12 teachers, parents and students.

URBANA, Ill. - With the prolonged pandemic continuing to affect the U.S., traditional education has turned toward at-home learning and virtual classrooms to keep students safe. Teachers must be able to find lesson plans that are adaptable to different learning environments and cover topics required by the curriculum. 

To meet these needs, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, a University of Illinois Extension and Purdue Extension program, has created a weather and climate education toolkit where teachers can find classroom resources on weather, climate and climate change.

Teachers, including parents, home school tutors or licensed professionals, can find what they need by using the search function to filter by grade level, specific weather and climate subtopics or geographic locations, learning mode and more. Many of the lesson plans and activities in this curated catalog of resources can be used as-is or adapted for virtual learning and at-home teaching environments.

“It was great to be able to work closely with our IISG education team to create this toolkit,” said Veronica Fall, a climate extension specialist with Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant and Illinois Extension. “These are tough times we’re living in, so we’re excited to help empower educators, both locally and nationally, with additional resources to be able to teach complex topics in a virtual setting.”

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant developed the weather and climate education toolkit with support from the Center for Great Lakes Literacy and the Midwestern Regional Climate Center.

Illinois Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment. If you need reasonable accommodation to participate in programming, contact the program coordinator. 

SOURCEVeronica Fall, Climate Extension Specialist, University of Illinois

WRITERHope Charters, Communications Coordinator, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant

ABOUT EXTENSION: Illinois Extension leads public outreach for University of Illinois by translating research into action plans that allow Illinois families, businesses, and community leaders to solve problems, make informed decisions, and adapt to changes and opportunities.