Education is one of Pacific Beach Coalition’s core pillars. It’s our honor to educate, engage, and inspire students of all ages about the natural world around us and the ways they can take action to protect it for generations to come. As part of our mission, we provide teachers, educators, and homeschoolers with access to a free toolkit that brings to life our annual Earth Honoree. This year, it’s the steelhead trout.

Get free access to our trout-standing lesson plans!

Our 2026 steelhead trout toolkit is filled with natural history education, captivating projects, and enriching lesson plans suitable for students in grades K-8. One section is dedicated to early and special education students, too.

What’s included: 

• 30+ pages of information and activities
• A dedicated early and special education section
• 10 outdoor education activities
• Math with actual San Pedro Creek data!

Explore these topics and themes:

• Art Exploration
• Climate Change
• Creative Writing & Nature Journaling
• Science & Mathematics
• Natural History & Biology
• Outdoor Activities
• Threats to Steelhead & Take Action

Target audience and scope

This digital toolkit is intended for K-8 teachers and educators interested in bringing the natural history of steelhead trout to their classroom, homeschool, or nature center. Pacific Beach Coalition is based in Pacifica, which is within the San Francisco Bay Area of California, but all activities are transferable to anywhere steelhead trout are of interest.

Scientific context

Steelhead trout are the same species as rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss. The toolkit begins by comparing and contrasting the two local trout and providing materials that are applicable to both forms. Steelhead are also members of the Salmonid family, so many activities are based on salmon and are interchangeable, as their life history is very similar. We have created novel activities and provided links to existing materials, which contain a variety of activities for both inside and outside the classroom.

Table of contents

• Pages 1-3: Cover & Toolkit Introduction
• Pages 4-21: Educational Information & Activities
• Pages 22-23: San Pedro Creek Study
• Pages 24-29: Nature Journaling & Outdoor Activity Pages
• Pages 30-31: Bay Area Field Trip & Additional Resources

Topics

Art Exploration, Biology, Climate Change, Creative & Research Writing Prompts, Mathematics, Natural History, Nature Journaling, Outdoor Activities, Stream Investigation, Special Education, Steelhead vs Rainbow, Threats to Steelhead, What can we do?

Accompanying slides

We have transformed the educational sections of this toolkit into PDF and Canva presentations.

What’s an Earth Honoree?

Our community selects an annual Earth Honoree—a local native species of plant or animal—to serve as a tangible focus for our educational programs. By learning about this specific species, our goal is that participants connect more deeply with our coastal ecosystem and understand how individual local actions impact our friends, neighbors, and the world around us. We hope to inspire a transformation in behavior, turning negative impacts into positive actions, with better outcomes.

Each year, Pacific Beach Coalition hosts Earth Day EcoFest, a day of action and celebration to help introduce our new Earth Honoree to the community. In this instance of the free, family-friendly event, we’ll tour San Pedro Creek as part of more than 30 booths and activities while reminding all to Clean It Out, for Steelhead Trout.

Credits and acknowledgements

This toolkit was created by Chloe Van Loon. Guidance and selected activities were provided by Fran Quartini, Sheila Gamble-Dorn, and Honey Sheridan. San Pedro Creek knowledge and flow data was provided by John Keener and Bill Schwegler.

Each download represents a vote of confidence in our work, helping us secure the funding and support necessary to continue offering these resources at no cost. Check out our other free teacher toolkits on the brown pelican, whales, nudibranchs, and the mission blue butterfly.

Thank you for all that you do for students and future Earth Heroes!

Sponsors and supporters

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We will not share nor sell your information nor try to sell you merchandise. We only send resources and educational emails to our teachers. Our toolkits are created by humans, teachers, and naturalists, working together to educate future generations and to empower them with knowledge.