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Lesson Plan
Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy: From America's Rainforest to America's Desert

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
On this virtual field trip, teachers will help their learners travel to the lush, rain-soaked splendor of the Olympic Peninsula and explore the urban watershed of Seattle. Next, they will head to Arizona's dry, desert landscape and take...
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Handout
Curated OER

National Park Service: Arches National Park: Animals

For Students Pre-K - 1st
A resource where you'll learn about amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles at Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. A good look at how animals live, sleep, eat, and stay active in a desert habitat.
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Article
Youngzine

Youngzine: Atacama, Once a Paradise!

For Students 9th - 10th
This desert in South America shows signs of former life. Was there a lake in this desert thousands of years ago?
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Website
Enchanted Learning

Enchanted Learning: Desert

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Students will enjoy a general description of a desert habitat, an easy-to-understand chart of the largest deserts in the world, and brightly colored pictures and descriptions of desert animals complete with printouts. There is also a...
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Handout
US Geological Survey

U.s. Geological Survey: Desertification

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the destructive process of desertification and how this impacts human beings, how satellite images provide data to document what is happening, and some solutions that have been developed to combat the problem.
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Handout
University of California

Ucmp: The Desert Biome

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about the four types of deserts: hot and dry, semiarid, coastal, and cold with this key facts and information. Includes links to other biomes: aquatic, forest, grasslands, and tundra.
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Graphic
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Deserts

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Not all deserts are the same. This still collage produced for Teachers' Domain features views of different deserts around the world.
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Website
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: School Publishers: Types of Land

For Students 3rd - 8th
This clickable map of the United States defines different geographic features such as mountains, plains, islands, and deserts.
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Website
University of California

U.c. Berkeley Libraries: Plant Distribution Maps

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource provides a list of online maps of world vegetation such as biomes, forests and plants.
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Website
InterKnowledge Corp.

An Introduction to Namibia

For Students 9th - 10th
Brief description of Namibia, including people and geography, with an emphasis on parks and wildlife preserves; includes photographs.
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Handout
Missouri Botanical Garden

Missouri Botanical Garden: Plants of the Desert

For Students 9th - 10th
The Evergreen Project reveals such desert plants as the dragon tree, the saguaro cactus, the prickly pear, the desert spoon, the aloe plant, and the like. Illustrated.
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Handout
Encyclopedia of Earth

Encyclopedia of Earth: Patagonian Steppe

For Students 9th - 10th
In this resource, students can investigate the location, biodiversity, and threats to the Patagonian steppe ecoregion and also find helpful links to further explore information about this area.
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Website
Other

The Desert Caves Project

For Students 9th - 10th
The Saudi Geological Society sponsors this site devoted to world desert cave exploration and geology. Includes a picture gallery, reports, bibliography, and related resources.
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Handout
Other

Branimir Gjetvaj: Sonoran Desert, Arizona

For Students 9th - 10th
This site has several pictures and links on the flora of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona.
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Website
Other

Greatest Places: Namib

For Students 3rd - 8th
Explore the Namib Desert and learn about its location, the Skeleton Coast, mirages, and general information about this home to the highest sand dunes in the world.
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Website
US Geological Survey

Deserts: Geology and Resources

For Students 9th - 10th
The U.S. Geological Survey provides information on what a desert is, how the atmosphere influences aridity, where deserts form, types of deserts, desert features, eolian processes, types of dunes, remote sensing of arid lands, mineral...
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Lesson Plan
Everything ESL

Everything Esl: Forest, Deserts and Grasslands

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Biomes and Ecosystems unit will increase the interest of the ELL students. Lessons are based on the TESOL, ESL standards.
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Article
NASA

Climate Kids: 10 Interesting Things About Ecosystems

For Students 9th - 10th
Discover 10 interesting things about ecosystems, including features of coral reefs, rainforests, deserts, grasslands, freshwater ecosystems, the tundra, the ocean floor, wetlands, boreal forests and big cities.
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Handout
American Museum of Natural History

American Museum of Natural History: Gobi Expeditions O Logy Card

For Students 3rd - 8th
Flip this interactive card to start learning about Gobi Expeditions. Answer multiple-choice and fact-or-fiction questions and review some fast facts about this expedition where paleontologists and scientists gather to collect Cretaceous...
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Activity
Read Works

Read Works: Deserts

For Teachers K
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about temperatures and rainfall in deserts. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
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Handout
World Wildlife Fund for Nature

World Wildlife Fund: Our Earth: Ecoregions: Habitats: Deserts

For Students 3rd - 5th
An overview of the climate conditions of deserts. Includes examples of plants and the adaptations that allow them to survive in the dry climate. Includes a link to information about animals that live in a desert habitat.
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Website
Nature Conservancy

Nature Conservancy: Planet Earth: Deserts

For Students 9th - 10th
From the Sonoran Desert in North America to Colorado's Great Sand Dunes all the way to Africa's Namib Desert, explore these incredible deserts and discover what scientists are doing to preserve these great lands. Peruse through an online...
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Graphic
Missouri Botanical Garden

Missouri Botanical Garden: Hot Deserts of the World

For Students 3rd - 8th
Find out about the sizes, physical features, and plant and animal life of some of the world's great deserts, including the Arabian, the Great Sandy, the Chihuahuan, the Kalahari, the Mojave, the Sahara, the Sonoran, and the Thar deserts.
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Graphic
Missouri Botanical Garden

Missouri Botanical Garden: Cold Deserts of the World

For Students 3rd - 8th
A chart summarizes the sizes, physical features, plant and animal life, and special facts of a selection of the world's cold deserts, including Antarctica, the Gobi, and the Great Basin Desert in the western United States.