Berkshire Museum
Nature Journaling: Experience the Outdoors Through Writing and Drawing
Step into the great outdoors and develop young scientists' skills of observation with a nature journaling lesson plan. Given a specific focus or goal, children practice making and recording observations of nature through written...
Purdue University
Benefits of Connecting with Nature
Feel the healing effects of nature. Individuals learn about the benefits of nature using imagery. They begin by defining words to express how they feel emotionally and then practice using those words with hands-on activities. Once they...
K12 Reader
Natural Resources
What natural resources are available in your area? Your learners can consider this question after reading a brief passage about natural and renewable resources. After reading, class members respond to five questions related to the reading.
Curated OER
Mother Nature Has Her Say
Young scholars use their creative writing skills to develop interview questions for Mother Nature. Using writing, they respond to the questions another student developed and use the internet to research any topic they need more...
Curated OER
The Delicate Balance - Iowa's Natural Resources
Discover the natural resources in Iowa by studying it's history. In this environmental instructional activity, your students will observe a topographical map of Iowa and identify where its most valuable resources are. They complete an...
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Section One: What is Biodiversity?
Four intriguing and scientific activities invite learners to explore the natural resources of their town. The activities cover concepts such as genetic traits, organizing species in a taxonomy, the differences between different species...
Curated OER
N is for Natural State
For any pupils who live in the state of Arkansas, this would be a fabulous educational experience to help them get to know their state better. Through the use of activities in literature, art, mathematics, science, social studies, and...
Berkshire Museum
Meet a Naturalist: Researching, Writing, Interviewing
Young scholars reach out into the community and learn about different environmental science careers in this inquiry-based instructional activity. Beginning with a short research assignment, children gain background knowledge about...
Curated OER
Forests/Natural Resource Management II
Students write about the importance of trees. For this natural resources lesson, students look at deforestation occurring across the globe and present what they learned to the class. As closure, all students write a poem about the...
Curated OER
Natural Inquirer Ecosystem Article Lesson
Students discover new ways to preserve the ecosystem by completing graphic organizers. In this environmental lesson plan, students read an article from the Natural Inquirer in small groups and fill out a graphic organizer based on the...
Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary
Science Pen Pals
Students explore the scientific career of Benjamin Franklin. For this science lesson, students discuss Franklin's correspondence with other scientists and write letters describing Benjamin Franklin's experiments.
Curated OER
Readings in Hudson River Natural History
Reading and understanding informational text is a key element to understanding every discipline. Elementary learners read three different articles focused on various animals and habitats in the Hudson River. They answer comprehension...
Channel Islands Film
Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island: Lesson Plan 4
Imagine being stranded all alone on an island for 18 years. How would you survive? Class members are challenged to makes necessities out of natural materials that would likely be found on an island.
Curated OER
Analyzing a Science Fiction Movie
Fourth graders watch the movie "Contact" and write a review. They discuss in their review how scientists deal with technological problems, the movie's connections to the nature of science and how technology affects science. They share...
Curated OER
The Shape of Things
Fourth graders develop their writing skills. In this paragraph structure lesson, 4th graders research natural disasters, compile their findings, create mobiles and write stories based on the mobiles.
Curated OER
Mini-Landslide
Students explore how different materials (sand, gravel, lava rock) with different water contents on different slopes result in landslides of different severity. They measure the severity by how far the landslide debris extends into model...
Curated OER
The Amazing Ant
Students explain that ants are an important element of nature's balance. Ants eat many insects and are food to other animals. They watch a video and conduct hands-on activities that give them an excellent overview of the ants role in...
Curated OER
The Physics of Flight
Three activities allow young flight engineers to understand the 4 principles of flight (weight, lift, thrust, and drag), to construct a glider, and to create a propeller. Multicultural history and literature are integrated by reading...
Berkshire Museum
Backyard Rocks
You don't have to travel far to learn about rocks, just step outside, pick up a stone, and begin investigating. After taking a class walk around the school grounds collecting rocks, young scientists practice their skills of observation...
California Academy of Science
Poetic Reflections
Poetry is a wonderful way to explore language, express topical understanding, and incite creative thinking. After a trip to the local natural history museum (or zoo), learners write an acrostic or a cinquain poem describing one of their...
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Pesky Plastics: The Problem with Plastic
What can happen to the environment if plastic continues to pollute it? Learners read about the implications of plastic on health, water, and nature in a two-page reading passage. After they finish reading, they work on six comprehension...
Curated OER
Teaching with Nature
Students participate in a nature walk to learn about their natural environments. In this nature study lesson, students brainstorm a list of things to look for on their nature walk. Students go on the nature walk and locate objects they...
Curated OER
Do What You Water: Natural Inquirer
Students investigate water resources on Earth by reading a science magazine. In this natural resources lesson, students read an article in the Natural Inquirer dealing with the scarcity of fresh water. Students complete a survey...
Curated OER
Life Science Observations: Living vs. Non Living Things
Students investigate the difference between living and non-living things. In this life science lesson plan, students discover the different characteristics of living things and the natural or human created non-living things. Students...