RIMS
Serving Riverside, Inyo, Mono, and San Bernardino Counties

EE Curriculum

For curriculim please click the "Resource Directory" button on the left hand side of the menu.

Check out the "Watershed Wonders" opportunity

Order this great new poster on the Water Facts & Fun on-line ordering catalog : http://www.publicaffairs.water.ca.gov/education/catalog.cfm.

For more information on Wastewater Treatment Plant Tours click here Wastewater Treatment Plant Tour

ELECTRONIC NAVIGATIONAL CHARTS DIRECT TO GIS WEB PORTAL

Cost: Free

The NOAA ENC Direct to GIS Web portal provides comprehensive access to display, query and download all available large-scale NOAA ENC (electronic navigational charts) data in a variety of GIS/CAD formats for non-navigational purposes using Internet mapping service technology. Nautical chart features contained within a NOAA ENC provide a detailed representation of the U.S. coastal and marine environment. These data include coastal topography, bathymetry, landmarks, geographic place names and marine boundaries. Features in a single NOAA ENC are limited in that they only represent the geographic region that is depicted in that particular NOAA ENC cell. By aggregating nautical features from all NOAA ENCs in the creation of GIS data, a continuous depiction of the U.S coastal and marine environment is achieved. This is a great site for students to explore the coast from their computer. For more information, visit http://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/csdl/ctp/encdirect_new.htm.

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NATIONAL SCIENCE DIGITAL LIBRARY

Cost: Free

The National Science Digital Library was created by the National Science Foundation to provide organized access to high-quality resources and tools that support innovations in teaching and learning at all levels of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education. It offers an easy-to-use search engine, or browsing by selections. A special portal has been created for middle school teachers to provide a direct path to selective online resources for instruction and professional development. Enter the science, mathematics or technology sections of the site to browse resource lists organized by topic and to take an in-depth look at how digital resources can help you teach specific concepts. You can find it all at

http://www.nsdl.org.

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PREDICTING THE WEATHER

Cost: Free

The Internet Scout Project focuses its Topic in Depth of the NSDL Scout Report for the Physical Sciences newsletter for June 10, 2005 on Predicting the Weather. The listed Web sites describe the basic tools and knowledge used to create weather forecasts, explore how the weather can impact local communities, provide graphics for five forecast models and more.  Check them out at http://scout.wisc.edu/Reports/NSDL/PhysSci/2005/ps-050610-topicindepth.php#1.

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PROTECTING WATER RESOURCES WITH SMART GROWTH

Cost: Free

The EPA offers Protecting Water Resources with Smart Growth, intended for audiences already familiar with smart growth, seeking more ideas on how to protect their water resources. The document describes how communities and local governments have used smart growth practices to minimize impacts of new development on their water resources. Education sections describe how communities or local governments engage in activities such as water quality education, model town demonstrations, certification programs for industry best practices, teacher training and providing smart growth resources to developers. You can find it at http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/water_resource.htm.

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  RICHMOND BRIDGE HARBOR SEAL SURVEY

Cost: Free

The Richmond Bridge Harbor Seal Survey is a collaborative research project between San Francisco State University and the California Department of Transportation, examining possible effects of seismic-related bridge construction on resident harbor seals in the San Francisco Bay. The Web site provides an overview of the project; tracking and tagging activities; and basic information about harbor seals. The site also provides Kids' Pages with photo ID matching, wildlife of San Francisco Bay overview and more. For more information, visit http://userwww.sfsu.edu/%7Ehalmark/seals.htm.

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NEW NSLC FACT SHEET: IMPACTS OF SERVICE-LEARNING

Cost: Free

A new fact sheet from Learn and Serve America's National Service-Learning Clearinghouse summarizes a number of findings from studies on the impacts of service learning on participating K-12 students. You can find the facts at http://www.servicelearning.org/resources/fact_sheets/k-12_facts/impacts/index.php.

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GREENBELT ALLIANCE REPORTS

Grade level: 3 through 8

Cost:          Free

This teacher's guide contains five activities for grades 3-8 that aim to help young city dwellers examine their connection to the greenbelt. It includes hands-on lessons, discussion questions and ideas for taking action. Through these activities, youth will see that the greenbelt is not just "out there," but that elements of it are present in their everyday urban environment. Each lesson takes approximately 45 minutes. Download the lessons at http://greenbelt.org/resources/reports/.

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SOLVE THE OCEAN CHALLENGE PUZZLE ON NOAA’S REDESIGNED OCEAN EXPLORER WEB SITE

Cost: Free

What’s the average salinity of the ocean? Is Earth’s highest mountain above or below the sea? What are rusticles? How far is “20,000 leagues under the sea?” Visitors to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s redesigned Ocean Explorer Web site can team up with other players around the globe to answer these and other questions. http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov.

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650 EFFECTIVE PRACTICES

Cost: Free

We just keep on growing! The Effective Practices Collection now has 650 effective practices to help support the efforts of national service and community volunteering programs across the nation. You can find them all at http://www.nationalservice.gov/resources/.

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NORTH ATLANTIC STEPPING STONES EXPEDITION WEB SITE

Grade level: 5 through 12

Cost:          Free

This expedition will run from till Sept. 3. This exploration involves a collaborative effort among many scientists to explore the very old New England and Corner Stone seamount chains, which range in age from 75 to 100 million years and are part of a volcanic chain extending from Canada to the African tectonic plate. The North Atlantic Stepping Stones Expedition Web site contains content essays and lesson plans directly tied to this exploration. These lessons have been developed for students in Grades 5-12, are inquiry-based and are tied to the National Science Education Standards. Web logs are being written by scientists and educators, which capture daily activities and discoveries. These logs, which contain compelling video and images, are usually posted within 24 hours of their receipt from the explorers. An “Ask an Explorer” feature will also be available for students to submit questions to, and receive answers from, the explorers while at sea. You can find it all at http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/05stepstones/welcome.html.

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JOURNEY SOUTH

Grade level: K-12

Cost:          Free

K-12 teachers and students can participate in one of the Journey North project’s free online global studies of wildlife migration and seasonal change. The fall "Journey South" activities prepare students for spring and help them grasp the cyclical nature of the seasons. Participating classrooms follow the migration patterns of monarch butterflies, bald eagles, and other animals and study plants, changing sunlight and other natural events. Students share field observations with classmates across North America and analyze real-time maps and data from other classroom and professional scientists. Each Journey South study features many entry points to meet your teaching needs: standards-based lessons and challenges, reading and writing connections, photos and video clips, weekly migration updates, interactive maps, connections with field scientists and migration "stories." The studies help students conduct local observations and relate them to a global context. To learn more and participate and to receive more information about local teacher professional development programs connected with the program, visit http://www.learner.org/jnorth/.

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GONORTH! A FREE K-12 ONLINE CLASSROOM EXPEDITION IN THE ARCTIC

Grade level: K-12

Cost:          Free

Setting out to explore the prospects of oil exploration, document the realities of Arctic climate change, and the value of traditional ecological knowledge, Team GoNorth! will dogsled the land of Alaska to learn from the Gwiich’n and Inupiat Eskimo (Inuit) people along the trail while gathering scientific data from the field in collaboration with the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) and the Office of Polar Programs at National Science Foundation (NSF). The team consists of 27 Polar Huskies and seven international educators, scientists, and explorers. Learn how real-time learning adventures create a standards-aligned curriculum resource for the K-12 classroom, covering science, math, language arts, and social studies. Upcoming dates connected with this expedition include Summer/Early Fall 2005--"GoNorth! ANWR 2006 Curriculum and Activity Guide" available for download or in print, and professional development opportunities available; Fall 2005--Teacher Explorer competition; February-May 2006--LIVE! GoNorth! ANWR 2006 Online Classroom Expedition. Register your class and take your students to the Arctic at http://www.polarhusky.com/te2005.asp?menuID=121.

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THE FUTURES CHANNEL'S REAL-WORLD SCIENCE AND MATH MOVIES FOR STUDENTS

Cost: Free

In "Testing the Robotic Hand," NASA's Larry Li will show your students that programming a robot to perform actions can involve some very challenging mathematics. Introduce your students to Jan Dietrick of "Growing Bugs" (showing through August 24). Her job is to supply organic farmers with good bugs that attack bad bugs. See the channel's movies and access teachers guides at http://www.thefutureschannel.com/movie_of_the_week.html

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NATIONAL ENERGY FOUNDATION

Grade level: K-12

Cost:          Free

The National Energy Foundation Web site offers materials and information for educators, and students grades K-12, concerning energy awareness. The NEF Academy offers several professional development university graduate credit, independent study courses developed for K-12 school teachers. For more information, visit http://www.nef1.org.

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FREE VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP

Grade level: K-12

Cost: Free

Explore, study and compare five of the nation's estuaries (including San Francisco Bay) without leaving your school with EstuaryLive. Professional marine educators, scientists and other kids will guide your students on an interactive exploration of estuaries and wetlands on Sept. 22 and 23. For the first time, this award-winning program will include a California estuary; featuring the San Francisco Bay and filming from China Camp State Park in Marin County. Estuary Live broadcasts are designed for live viewing in K-12 (though mainly 4-8th) grade classes. To extend the experience beyond the trip, complementary, standards-based curriculum is provided at http://www.estuaries.gov/. A great way to kick-off your school year! To register, visit http://www.estuaries.gov/ or http://www.sfbaynerr.org/.

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NOAA CENTRAL LIBRARY WEB SITE

Cost: Free

The NOAA Central Library web site features a variety of resources useful to marine educators. The NOAA Library Catalog is the gateway to the records of the NOAA Library Network's comprehensive research collection covering hydrographic surveying (from 1820-); oceanography, meteorology and hydrology (from 1870-); living marine resources (from 1970 on with selected coverage from 1870); and meteorological satellite operations (from 1960-). The site's WINDandSEA: Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences Internet Locator features links to science and policy sites in the oceanic and atmospheric sciences, as well as a Teachers' and Students' Corner link in the top-of-page menu row, which links to over 100 NOAA Web pages devoted to education, NOAA photo Web sites, science education organizations and organizations concerned with introducing new technologies to the teaching profession. Check it out at http://www.lib.noaa.gov/.

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MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD

Cost: Free

In preparation for summer activities, The Bridge recommends the following marine recreation sites Kids in Boats -- this Australian site includes boating safety resources and student activities about navigation, map reading, weather and tides at http://www.safeboating.org.au/Boating/Kids_in_Boats/ or Newton’s Apple -- offers two lesson plans that focus on scuba diving and the bends at http://www.tpt.org/newtons/15/scuba.html or http://www.tpt.org/newtons/11/bends.html. These recreational sites offer safety messages for students, and address important ocean science subjects such as physics, chemistry and the atmosphere. For more ocean recreation links, visit the Bridge Recreation page http://www.marine-ed.org/bridge/index_recreation.html, and for more lesson plans visit the Bridge’s lesson plans collection http://www.marine-ed.org/bridge/indexlesson.html.

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FISH OF THE GREAT LAKES

Cost: Free

The University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute has developed this Web site for the Fish of the Great Lakes. The Web site includes a downloadable version of George C. Becker's text Fishes of Wisconsin, profiles of the major fish species in the Great Lakes, information about fish anatomy and even tips for safe cooking and eating. The Kids’ Page includes a fish quiz, glossary and more. Check it out at http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/greatlakesfish/.

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KINECTIC CITY

Cost: Free

Developed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, this Web site offers an assortment of science experiments, on-line games, activities and projects. As an example, A Touch of Class is an online classification game, while the Grinder explores biodiversity. There are also downloadable leader guides for the activity kits. Check it out at http://www.kineticcity.com/.

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NASA IMAGES – VISIBLE EARTH

Cost: Free

NASA presents The Visible Earth, a catalog of over 32,000 images and animations of our home planet. Topics include Human Dimensions (environmental impacts, natural hazards, etc), Hydrosphere, Oceans and more. View them at http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/.

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OCEAN ADVENTURE

Cost: Free

The Thinkquest Web site, Ocean Adventure, explores the hydrothermal vents in the depths of the Earth's oceans. Learn what hypothermal vents are, where they are located, how they are formed and why they are important. Take a virtual dive in an actual submersible to learn more about these vents and their environments. Make sure to check out the downloadable classroom activities and more at http://library.thinkquest.org/18828/index.html.

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PROTECTED RESOURCES EDUCATION

Cost: Free

The Office of Protected Resources works in cooperation with NOAA Fisheries Regions and Science Centers to provide educational experiences and materials for students, education professionals and the public about the conservation and protection of marine species. The Web site includes links for kids to a variety of projects, activities and information, including The Kid’s Times about whales and turtles. There are also downloadable lesson plans and guidelines for responsible wildlife viewing. You can find it at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/education/.

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SEAWORLD EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

Grade level: K-12

Cost: Varies

The SeaWorld Web site has books, teacher’s guides and videos both for sale through their catalog and free online. The down-loadable teacher guides include Shark, Splash of Math, Whales and many more. The kids’ Fun Zone includes songbooks, stories and activities. There is also a toll-free number or “Ask Shamu” email that students and teachers can contact with questions about animals. Check it out at http://www.seaworld.org/education-programs/index.htm.

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2005 CFAITC INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS CD

Cost: Free

Educators have the constant challenge of linking classroom curricula to the lives of their students. Since agriculture touches everyone's lives, everyday, it can be a valuable tool in helping students connect what they learn in the classroom to their daily lives. This brand new instructional materials CD, containing CFAITC's current lesson plans, teacher guides and fact sheets, can make agriculture come alive in your classroom or after-school program. All resources on the CD also can be downloaded from http://www.cfaitc.org/.

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COMMODITY AND NATURAL RESOURCE FACT AND ACTIVITY SHEETS

Cost: Free

From alfalfa to walnuts, these sheets present facts on one side and activities on the other. They contain current information on specific agricultural commodities or natural resources, including the history, production, top producing regions, varieties and economic value. On the reverse side, the activity sheet provides specific lesson ideas and fun facts for each topic, making it easy for you, the educator, to incorporate agricultural information into your own classroom. All 25 sheets, including the newly developed sheet on asparagus, are now available in a convenient tear-off pad. One complimentary set is available to California educators at http://www.cfaitc.org/EMailForm/EMailForm.php. All are available to download individually at http://www.cfaitc.org/Commodity/Commodity.php.

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