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Coral Reef Teacher’s Guide Benefits, Threats, and Solutions
Here are some addresses to get you started:
How You Can Help Name _____________________
Reef Relief! President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington,
Objective: Students use their knowledge of DC 20500
anthro- pogenic threats to coral reefs to write
effective direct action letters to elected offi- Name __________________________
cials.
Vice-President of the United States United
Interdisciplinary Index: Science, Language
Arts
Materials: States Senate Washington, DC 20510
• a copy of Effective Letter‐Writing Guide- Your Senator __________________
lines, one per student United States Senate Washington, DC
• paper 20510
• pens/pencils Your Representative ______________
U.S. House of Representatives Washington,
PRESENTATION: DC 20515
1. Choose one or more of the current threats Name
to coral reefs and discuss with the students. Administrator
Also, discuss the value of taking direct ac- Environmental Protection Agency
tion as a way to protect the reefs. Review the
Effective Letter‐ Writing Guidelines. 401 M Street, SW
2. Based upon this information, ask the stu- Washington, DC 30460
dents to write a direct action letter about For specific information about current cor-
one of these threats. You can either assign al reef threats and whom to write, contact
a threat to each student or they can choose REEF RELIEF at tel: (305) 294-3100, fax:
one of their own. (305) 293-9515, e-mail: reef@bellsouth.net,
3. Have each student read his/her letter to or go to our web site: http://www.reefrelief.
the class and discuss its effectiveness. Were org
the guidelines followed? Is the letter persua-
sive? Did the student understand the issue?
FOLLOW-UP/EXTENSION:
4. Mail the finished letters to the elected offi-
cials, then wait and see if the elected official
replies to them. Ask students to research the countries
worldwide that have coral reefs. Then, have
them choose a country and ask that coun-
try’s leader(s) to help preserve the coral
reefs by creating marine parks and passing
laws to protect coral reef ecosystems.
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