Teach LA’s Kids!

Teachers are instrumental in educating Los Angeles students about the importance of keeping our rivers, creeks, and oceans free of pollution. These lessons teach our kids how to protect LA’s local waters and inspire them to become lifelong stewards of the the environment. Below, you’ll find educational clean-water classroom materials and teacher resources developed by the Watershed Protection Program.

Classroom Materials

  • These materials, provided by the City of Los Angeles, help support LA teachers in educating students about the importance of keeping our water pollution-free. You can also request hard copies of materials by filling out this form.
  • These ocean creature stickers can either be printed on special sticker paper or cut out and affixed using tape.
  • The Clean Water Patrol Activity Book is full of creative activities and facts that get young minds thinking about storm water pollution. (Eng./Sp.)
A teacher high-fives a young student sitting a desk in a classroom. Other students sit at nearby desks. It is a bright day, sunlight streams in, and we get the sense the teacher is congratulating the student on a job well done.

Hands-On Educational Resources

Multiple organizations and municipalities across Southern California offer a wide array of storm water pollution prevention information, available for all audiences. Scheduling an assembly or field trip is a great way to get kids passionate about the environment and conservation.

School Assemblies

Learn important environmental lessons with the Environmental Defenders! This 30-minute, high-energy assembly is free to all elementary schools in L.A. County. It encourages kids to identify environmental problems and learn about solutions. Interested? Follow this link to book or call Emily Jerome at (310) 552-4173.

Interested in inspiring children to care about local beaches, oceans and neighborhoods? Check out the Malibu Foundation for Environmental Education. This foundation offers a limited number of school assemblies in Los Angeles. In addition, this year-round assembly program gives students a chance to participate in the annual Kids Ocean Day, a massive beach clean up in Los Angeles. Contact Michael Klubock at happyfish@kidsoceanday.org for more information.

Field Trip Opportunities

Getting Hands-On with Nature

Students better appreciate the need to care for nature when they get to see it up close.

  • At the Ballona Wetlands, students see different species of birds, can count butterflies and learn about animals that exist in the wetlands.
  • Docent-led tours at The Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden at UCLA provide students with insight to more than 5,000 species of plants from all over the world.
  • San Gabriel Mountains Heritage Association in the Angeles National Forest offers a variety of environmental educational programs that include water ecology, native plants and animals.
  • TreePeople offers numerous environmental education programs for schools and teachers. With the goal to help young people grow into lifelong caretakers of the environment, kids can “dig in” with hands-on activities. These include opportunities to plant and care for trees at urban sites and participate in restoration activities in the mountains.
  • At the Audubon Center at Debs Park works to inspire people to experience, understand and care for the local natural world. The center offers environmental education and conservation programs for the communities of northeast Los Angeles.

Digital Resources

These downloadable lesson plans and materials make lesson-planning for environmental education a breeze. All included resources are sourced from local Los Angeles organizations.

  • Friends of the LA River: Recommended for Grades: 9-11. Friends of the LA River (or FoLAR) offers its River Fellows program to high schoolers at Title I schools near the middle soft bottom area of the River. Students can gain practical, hands-on experience in environmental STEM projects. And for all ages, FoLAR emphasizes that the LA River itself is “one of the best classrooms in the city.” Joining in on one of their volunteer cleanup days can be a great way to learn while doing!
  • Cabrillo Marine Aquarium: Cabrillo Marine Aquarium hosts a number of materials for teachers, including resources for lesson plans on various topics and information on educator workshops.
    • Recommended for Teachers
  • CA Science Center: Their “Stuck at Home Science” video series is a bit of a misnomer – you don’t need to be stuck at home to get something out of these exciting experiments and introductions to exhibits around the Center.
    • Recommended for All Ages
  • Descanso Gardens Resource Library: Descanso Gardens’ online resource library features nature-focused educational videos, activity journals, and city nature guides, so you can find the green wherever you go.
    • Recommended for All Ages
  • TreePeople: TreePeople offers a true bounty of guides and deep dives that you can explore from home or in the classroom! Whether you want to learn how you can save our urban canopy, find out about native plants, or dig into other facets of SoCal’s ecology, TreePeople is a valuable resource.
    • Recommended for All Ages
  • Heal the Bay: Their Ocean Heroes Activity Book (English and Spanish) is a fun, informative resource for older kids to learn how protecting our oceans is tantamount to being a real-life superhero.

These are just a selection of the wonderful educational opportunities our city has to offer. We’d love to know if there are any other environmental resources, activities, or venues you’d like to see us add to the list. Teachers can email lastormwater@lacity.org to let us know any recommendations we may have missed.