Curated OER
Help, I'm Melting!
Young scholars explore the parts of the rock cycle and the process of erosion as they build their own mountain and observe the effects of wind and rain as erosive agents.
Curated OER
Sedimentary Structures- An Adventure in Painting and Collage
Students identify and interpret concepts about how the Earth was formed and convey some of these ideas in a painting.
Students experiment with different types of paints and paint applicators to achieve a variety of visual textures....
Curated OER
Water Cycle and Ecosystems
Students explore the water cycle. For this investigative lesson, students examine the water cycle process. They will record their observations and discuss marine and freshwater ecosystems.
Curated OER
Air and Water in the Environment
Students demonstrate an awareness of air as a substance that surrounds us and takes up space, and whose movement we feel as wind. They predict and describe how local weather conditions affect living things, including themselves.
Curated OER
Daily and Seasonal Cycles
First graders identify the sun as a source of heat and light. They identify features of houses that help keep use sheltered and comfortable throughout daily and seasonal cycles. Students are told that summer is the best season to...
Curated OER
How Are Rocks Formed?
Students identify types of rocks. In this geology lesson, students view animated graphics to identify how sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks are formed. Students take a rock quiz to show how different rocks are formed.
Curated OER
The Magic School Bus Out of This World
Learners learn along with Ms. Frizzle's class. In this Magic School Bus lesson plan, students explore craters that objects of different sizes and weights (marbles, Ping-Pong balls, and aluminum foil balls) create.
Curated OER
Structural Geology Laboratory
Students explore modeling of geologic structures in experiments. They study how compressive and tensile forces produce these structures. The compression makes the flatlying strata shorter and tension make the strata longer.
Curated OER
Earthquakes
Students observe the melting of ice. In this phase change lesson, students observe ice as it melts. They discuss the process and create a Venn diagram comparing water and ice.
Curated OER
Treetures
Students identify the different forests of the world and some of the characteristics that differentiate them. They explore old magazines, calendars and photos and fill out a scavenger hunt worksheet.
Curated OER
Rocks, Rocks, Rocks
Students are introduced to how the different types of rocks formed. As a class, they are read a book about rocks and create a list of what they already know about them. Using examples of rocks they find around the school, they discover...
Curated OER
Erosion
Students examine soil erosion and what causes it. In this soil lesson students complete several experiments on soil erosion and the weathering process.
Curated OER
Wetlands: Pave or Save?
Students discuss the characteristics of wetlands and how to make them more productive. Using a map, they locate the major wetlands in the United States and color them using a key. They read an article and in groups answer discussion...
Curated OER
The Nitrogen Cycle
Young scholars design and create a compost pile in order to study the Nitrogen Cycle. They then use the scientific method to determine if plants grow better when they add organic matter from their compost pile to the plant's soil.
Curated OER
Natural Gas Lesson-How Natural Gas Forms
Students examine background natural gas and how it is formed and what it is made of. Titles within the series include How Natural Gas Forms, What Happens to Natural Gas when it is burned, and How Natural Gas can be used. Provides very...
Curated OER
Cookie Bar Coal
Young scholars observe the effect of heat and pressure on materials representing those involved in the formation of coal.
Curated OER
Investigating Erosion in an Outdoor Classroom
First graders observe the effects of erosion. They work in groups to simulate erosion in a streambed, participate in class discussion, read books about fossils and rocks and then go on a fossil hunt.
Curated OER
The Magic School Bus Out of this World
Pupils explore the craters that objects of different sizes and weights make. They use marbles, Ping-Pong balls, and aluminum-foil balls for this experiment. They investigate what would happen if they drop objects that aren't round.
National Park Service
Rock Ranking
Junior geologists sort rocks and soil. They separate a sample of river gravel by size, shape, color, and other characteristics. To include Common Core standards, you could have little ones graph the number of particles in each sample.