Public Utilities Teacher Resources

Students discuss physical and human characteristics and list examples. After identifying government goods and services provided to the community, they locate examples of each located near their school. Based on their discoveries,...

Students build and compare models of both an energy inefficient and efficient classroom. In this energy efficiency lesson, students creatively use recycled materials to build two separate classroom models. They factor in concepts such as...

Did you know that cutting down your shower by one minute a day can save five gallons of water? Learn about water conservation with a science reading activity. After kids finish reading key terms and water-saving tips in a reading...

What can happen to the environment if plastic continues to pollute it? Learners read about the implications of plastic on health, water, and nature in a two-page reading passage. After they finish reading, they work on six comprehension...

How much water does it take to brush your teeth? How about to wash your clothes? Perform an experiment that measures water usage in everyday tasks and compares them to the days before indoor plumbing, specifically the California gold...

What types of water qualify for recycling and how does the recycling process work? The eighth lesson in the 10-part series exploring Fresh Solutions presents both the financial and water savings associated with emerging recycling methods.

How did San Francisco supply enough water for its residents over the last two centuries? Learn about droughts and water conservation in California, as well as specific historical events that led to the water system today. Kids read two...

How can climate change affect our water supply? Have kids read a passage about the water cycle and water conservation, which includes six questions that challenge them to use context clues.

Learn about the consequences of groundwater with a lesson about the different ways California handles water conservation and pollution. After reading a passage about the water table, learners apply what they have read to six...

Learn about wastewater and recycled water with a science reading activity. After learners finish a two-page passage about conserving the water supply, they answer six comprehension questions about what they have read.

How does San Francisco supply its citizens with enough water, even during a drought? Learn about reservoirs and why desalination could be a good solution with a reading passage about water conservation. After kids finish the...

California's water supply is not always stable. Learn about the ways that California weathers a drought with a reading activity about water usage and agriculture. Once kids finish the reading passage, they answer a series of...

Students take a survey of energy-consuming appliances in their homes and calculate the daily cost of operating these machines. They identify those appliances that consume the most energy and consider ways to reduce the amount of energy...

Young scholars explore alternative energy sources. In this environmental lesson, students discuss alternative energy sources and construct a plan to incorporate an alternative home technology into a bedroom. Young scholars build a model...

Students identify qualities of clean water and develop an awareness of people in the community who keep our water clean.

Fifth graders investigate the process of water treatment. They listen to the book, "The Magic School Bus Visits the Waterworks," design a plan for a water treatment system, construct a water filter using various materials, and test the...

Pupils identify qualities of clean water which will develop an awareness of people in the community who keep our water clean. This lesson has a literature tie-in with the "Magic School Bus" series.

Fifth graders draw a plan that they think will clean the sludge in a jar. Students construct the treatment system they designed, take a bottle of sludge to the system and try it out, writing down what happened.

Students identify how the human activities in the state of Maryland have changed/ evolved over the last 50 years. They evaluate a land planning document and prepare a fictitious planning document for a given area of land.

Young scholars build a model of a water system from the source to users and read and interpret a water meter.

Fourth graders explore how the Utah pioneers used irrigation to make the desert 'blossom as a rose'. They use geographical tools to analyze political and physical features of Utah, the United States, China, and Asia.