Science Geek
Build a Food Web Activity
Entangle your life science class in learning with this collaborative food web activity. Using pictures of the plants and animals native to a particular ecosystem, young biologists work in small groups to construct visual representations...
Curated OER
Energy Flow and the Food Chain
Students complete discussions and worksheets about the Hawaiian food chain. In this food chain lesson plan, students research decomposers, consumers, and producers.
Curated OER
Why Are Plants Green?
Students smash plant parts and wait for visibility of chlorophyl to show why plants turn green. In this green plants lesson plan, students use acetone and filter paper for this experiment.
Curated OER
Shark Food
Students create a linking chain to demonstrate the food chain. In this food chain instructional activity, students use the Internet to research sharks, including what they eat, and create a chain link with a picture of a shark. They...
Curated OER
Learning About Plants- Flowers for a Special Occasion
Students explore the parts of plants and discover that plants need to grow. In this plant instructional activity, students discuss the parts of the plant and plant petunias. Students can share their plants with friends or families.
Curated OER
Pesticide Watch Card
Students examine human health by identifying dangerous pesticides. In this agriculture lesson, students research the food production system in the United States and discuss dangers such as pesticides, chemicals and insecticides which...
Curated OER
Rocky Shore Food Web Drama
Students explore food chains. In this ecosystem lesson plan, students discover how plants and animals rely on each other for survival. Students research the rocky shore ecosystem and create a skit representing the ecosystem.
Curated OER
Linking Up the Food Chain
Students to the book, Life in a Pond, then discuss the food chain and create a food chain mobile. On one strip of paper students draw and label a pond plant, on another a tadpole, on another a fish and on the last a person.
California Academy of Science
Plants: Hanging Tough
Learning about the rainforest can be more fun than you think. The class discusses vocabulary-in-context as they cut cardboard boxes, destined to become part of a rainforest model. Small groups of children color, cut, and construct...
Curated OER
Build a Coral Polyp
Students build a coral polyp out of a banana, straw, oyster crackers, sprinkles, and more. In this coral polyp lesson plan, students also list the differences between plants and animals.
Curated OER
Dry-Land Kalo-Growing New Plants from Stems
Students explore Hawaiian plants. For this Hawaii culture and botany lesson, students plant the haha(stem) of a taro plant. Students listen to Hawaiian myths about the taro plant and chorally speak a Hawaiian chant of protection....
Curated OER
My Colorful Food Chain
Students explore biology by participating in a dietary habit activity. For this food chain lesson, students discuss their own diets and the animals we feed upon daily. Students create a poster demonstrating the animals that we feed upon...
Curated OER
Create a Food Chain
Learners explore the food chain and the ways that animals depend on each other and on plants for food. They create a paper chain with different colors relating to carnivores and herbivores. The chains are linked to the sun to create a...
Curated OER
Coral Polyp Party
Students complete a project where they label the parts of a coral polyp and discuss the differences between plants and animals. Students use marshmallows, sprinkles, toothpicks, and more to label their coral polyp.
Curated OER
Everybody Needs a Little Sunshine
Three activities introduce upper elementary ecologists to photosynthesis and food webs. In the first, an experiment is set up to determine how plants respond to different types of light. In the second, they connect organism cards with...
Curated OER
A Hidden Beauty
Expose the beautiful mystery of bulbs as young botanists learn all about these fascinating plants. They glean information from a short text before observing actual bulbs (consider an onion), and comparing their findings with predictions....
Curated OER
Sustainable Livestock
Young scholars investigate healthy eating habits by researching livestock. In this food sustainability instructional activity, students research the negative impact factory farming has on our environment due to pollution. Young scholars...
Curated OER
Nutrients Nutrients We Need
Second graders examine the six nutrients humans need to maintain good heath. In this ecosystem lesson, 2nd graders learn about how plants grow and compare how humans need nutrients from plants to how plants need nutrients from the soil....
Curated OER
The Amazing Tomato
Students gain an understanding of where our food comes from. In this plant life lesson, students review what plants need for growth and how long it takes them to grow. Students research which plants it takes to make salsa. Students then...
Curated OER
Munching on Mixtures
Third graders view the food Power Tower and discuss the food groups. In this food lesson, 3rd graders cut out favorite foods from magazines. Students read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and record the foods they would miss from the...
Curated OER
Milkweed Plants
Second graders view milkweed plants (or pictures). The describe the plant and discuss ways some butterflies use it as a food source. Students view four pictures of different phases of a milkweed plant's life cycle. They discuss the...
Montana State University
Everest Extremes: Biodiversity
How many animals can live in a climate as cold as Mount Everest's? Find out with a science lesson all about biodiversity. Activities include research, presentations, group work, coloring maps, and a simulation of a food web.
Curated OER
Spring is Sprung
Students participate in a science experiment that shows them how water moves around in plants. They see how food coloring moves up a celery stalk to simulate how water moves up through roots in plants. They make predictions before the...
Curated OER
Making a Food Web and Learning About Ecosystems
Third graders examine the difference between a food web and food chain. They also examine the importance of the sun in a food web and food chain. Students understand what happens when you remove parts of the chain.