K-12 Lesson Plans About Lead
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/materials/lead_and_your_health_508.pdf
A fact sheet on sources of lead, how it enters the body, its effects–especially on children, research studies, and more resources.
https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/documents/leadblockers.pdf
This 6-page document includes background information on lead as well as two activities, one designed for grades K-4 and one for grades 5-8. The activities help to teach students about lead while also being able to play.
https://kids.niehs.nih.gov/topics/chemicals/lead
This site focuses on places in the home in which lead might be present. For slightly younger audiences (5th – 8th grade), the material includes a helpful diagram of a home, along with products distributed throughout that may contain the metal. Unlike most other sources of information, this one mentions specific symptoms that are manifest in humans, including children, who have been exposed.
http://www.usingtheirwords.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Water-Unit-Fifth-Grade.pdf
Designed for New Jersey as part of their state curriculum. Document states it can potentially be used for 5th grade, I believe it is likely suitable material for all middle grade levels (5th-8th). This is a fully designed lesson plan, and the document is 111 pages long. This is good though because it is not just one activity like the previously listed sources, but an entire unit full of lessons and activities. It covers the idea of clean drinking water as a basic human right, what lead is and where it can be found, as well as how lead gets into drinking water and the effect lead has on children (page 45).
https://deohs.washington.edu/edge/sites/deohs.washington.edu.edge/files/FF_Lead.pdf
This is another link that has a full unit worth of lesson plans. Interdisciplinary environmental health curriculum for middle school students. Included activities for social studies, science, language arts, math and more that relate back to lead. Includes an activity specifically about lead in drinking water on page 75 (student handout for the activity is on page 191).
https://www.globalonenessproject.org/lesson-plans/do-we-have-right-clean-water
Lesson plan suitable for grades 9-12 that asks if we, as American’s, have a right to clean water. It includes background information about the Flint water crisis, and lists the national standards the lesson relates back to. It is available to download in English and Spanish.
Environmental Class Curriculum (thrivingearthexchange.org)
High school level curriculum to introduce students to environmental health issues and science. It includes roughly 15 lessons including topics such as the Flint water crisis, lead toxicity (including a lab activity where school water fountains are tested for lead), environmental ethic, and environmental justice to name a few.
https://www.fda.gov/food/environmental-contaminants-food/lead-food-foodwares-and-dietary-supplements#:~:text=The%20FDA%20monitors%20and%20regulates%20levels%20of%20lead,it%20comes%20from%20industrial%20uses%20and%20environmental%20contamination
The FDA describes various ways lead may be present in food, the agency’s role in oversight of food safety, the programs it implements to monitor and test for lead, (dis)advantageous consumer behaviors, specific health consequences related to lead consumption, and the regulations and guidelines it issues to food manufacturers.
Prepared in part by Ms. Grace Brennen,