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Land Assessment
Learners work in small groups on a problem based learning activity. Students are presented with a problem of buying land to use for educational purposes only and must determine if it is feasible to buy it based on soil analysis and plant...
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Go To The Head of the Cloud
Students pretend they are water droplets traveling through the water cycle. Using their text, they discover the steps in the cycle and the different paths water can take. They write a report about their journey through the water cycle...
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Stream Ecology In Wisconsin and Puerto Rico
Students identify the different types of water and explain in what proportions they exist on Earth. They identify and correctly label the parts of the water cycle and how these parts interact with each other. Students identify the...
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Rain and Rainbows
Students explore the weather system by analyzing water properties. In this precipitation lesson plan, students review weather related vocabulary terms and discuss how rainbows are created by light hitting droplets at the right time....
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What Goes Around Comes Around!
Students create an ecosystem in a jar to show a model of the water, carbon, and nitrogen cycle. Working in small groups, they research and present orally the information they find on this cycle.
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What and Where is Puerto Rico?
Learners explore Puerto Rico. They create K-W-L charts of their prior knowledge of Puerto Rico and observe maps of Puerto Rico. They code the map for measurements and land and water forms. They explore websites to gain background on...
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Be a Watershed - Create a Living River
Students investigate water ways by conducting an experiment with classmates. In this natural resources lesson, students define a watershed and identify where large ones are located within the United States. Students utilize...
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Biomes: Islands and Evolution
Students discover how islands form, how plant and animal species get there and what the term means. For this biomes lesson students prepare a presentation that describes the life forms and geography of an island.
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How Islands Form
Students how islands form, rising water levels, growth of coral, and volcanoes. They complete Island Investigation worksheets after researching island formation on various Internet websites.
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The Land and the Water
Third graders read "The Land and the Water," a fictional short story and an article about John F. Kennedy, Jr. and compare and contrast fictional tragedy to a non-fiction tragedy. They fill out a Venn diagram and write an essay using...
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Land Associations
Students identify and explore life forms of various biomes, define transitional regions, examine effects of abiotic and biotic interactions, research a biome, and produce newspaper that features environmental information. Lessons all on...
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Growth of a River
Students evaluate geography by drawing an image in class. In this river lesson, students identify a list of vocabulary terms associated with bodies of water. Students identify how a river is formed and draw a picture of one including the...
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Anchialine Cave Species
Ever heard of a stygofauna or a stygobite? How about an anchialine cave? Set your young biologists on a quest to find information about organisms that live in and have adapted to life in caves located near the water. Class members then...
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Google Earth Geology Field Trip
Students take a virtual field trip around California using Google Earth. In this geology field trip lesson, students explore landforms and a variety of rocks located in California. Students compare environments where rocks are...
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Rivers... for Kids
Students investigate U.S. geography by exploring it's bodies of water. In this river formation lesson, students identify the reasons rivers are needed in our country by reading assigned text. Students examine a diagram which explains how...
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Bermuda: Search for Deep Water Caves: Living Fossils
Students explore relict species. In this anchialine cave lesson, students identify relict species associated with anchialine caves, and explain the importance of preserving anchialine caves and species.
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Landforms of Illinois
Young scholars discover the primary landforms of Illinois. They examine how those landforms were formed as well. In groups, they research one of the landforms from their vocabulary list. They create their landform in a shoebox and...
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Mapping World Explorers
Students research early explorers from selected nations, routes, or time periods. After finding maps of exploration routes over water and land, they create a time line. Presentations are created in the form of three-dimensional models...
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Class Presentation on Coal
Did you know that coal was formed from plants? After being assigned a coal-related topic, groups gather, organize, and present information about this energy source. The presentations should include visuals like graphs, charts, tables,...
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Drought, nomads and the price of peanuts
Learners read two short text items, which describe different approaches to agriculture. They describe the likely advantages and disadvantages of each approach for farmers, commercial peanut buyers, the government, nomadic herdsman and...
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Winds of Destruction
Fourth graders discuss the problems that have arisen from the lastest string of hurricanes and tsuanamis. They watch a video about severe weather. After the film, 4th graders write four facts they found out about severe weather. ...
Columbus City Schools
Constructive and Destructive Geologic Processes
Show the class the world as they've never seen it before—from way above! Learners try to unravel the mysteries presented by rich satellite imagery, learn to interpret topographic maps, and study erosion by constructing their very...
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Soil Erosion
Students examine how erosion is affected by the composition of the soil and the slope of the land. They look at plant roots, rocks and land slope as experimental factors. They complete the associated worksheets before discussing their...
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Investigation 3 - Weathering
Fourth graders study 4 types of weather processes: wind, running water, plant growth, and freezing water. They explain how the processes of weathering and erosion change and move materials that become soil. They draw diagrams...