Grades K–4 Teachers' Resources

See if your state has one.

Pictures of the state rocks.

See if your state has one.

Pictures of the state minerals.

See if your state has one.

See if your state has one.

Some programs for childrens' classes contribute to genuine research.

How do people get their questions answered on the Internet? Where ask-geologist sites fit in the bigger picture.

Darryl Powell is Diamond Dan, creator of mineral activity books and other sound educational stuff.

The Discovery Channel has a wide-ranging set of lesson plans under the Teachers tab.

Take the Elevator to the Dinosaur Floor or the Earth Floor for good elementary lessons that touch on a surprisingly wide range of subjects. A project of NASA's Classroom of the Future project.

Online professional development courses for three levels of K-12 teachers are presented by institutions across the United States.

The pearl of the Kentucky Earth Science Education Network is this list of key topics from the National Science Education Standards (grades K–4, 5–8, and 9–12) with links to resources about each topic.

Even if you can't take your classes to this San Francisco edu-destination, you can use its free geology-related online content.

The eminent seismologist Gerard Schuster created this material while teaching his daughter Sarah's 4th-grade classes about mathematical principles.

Minerals and other Earth materials for teachers.

The Society of Sedimentary Geologists maintains this superb list of 40 lesson activities prepared by science educators.

The full text is online—or you can buy the book instead here at the National Academy Press site.

A Chicago parent nurtures his kids' passion in a site bursting with ideas.

A Long Island high-school teacher has maintained this site for several years with links, lesson plans, and project ideas.

A thorough teacher's guide for grades K–4 from the NASA Spacelink site, in PDF format.

A great list from the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory.

A teacher's guide to designing Web-based science instruction lives here, along with an Earth science "textbook."

Lessons about this ever-present sediment from Pasadena City College in California.

Bill Glaister of the University of Lethbridge created web and multimedia lessons based on Alberta and the Grand Canyon.

The U.S. Geological Survey's center for lesson plans. Major topics are geologic time, maps, and Earth hazards.

The U.S. Geological Survey's Howard Perlman, a hydrologist in Atlanta, maintains this friendly site for teachers and students (who can earn a certificate here).

Pick and choose from this understated site. Some of its resources, like "Minerals in Makeup" or "Minerals in Fireworks," are perfect for that certain lesson.