Curated OER
Earth Day Trash Survey Unit
Students participate in local Earth Day activities. They keep track of the types of trash they pick up. They aggregate their data to develop whole-class statistics of what they found.
Curated OER
Reading and Writing about the Solar System
A superb interdisciplinary approach highlights this instructional activity which incorporates space science knowledge and narrative skills. After reading The Magic School Bus, two excellent poems, and watching a video, all about our...
Curated OER
Our Poetic Planet - Writing Poems about the Earth
As a way to combine language arts and science, try this lesson on writing cloud poetry. Begin by showing a PowerPoint presentation and images of cloud types. Take meteorology masters outdoors to explore the sky using the provided "Cloud...
Curated OER
In the Desert
Students explore earth science by completing several environment activities. In this desert lesson plan, students identify where the U.S. deserts are and what types of wild life inhabit them. Students utilize arts and crafts to create a...
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Earth Science
Students explore the planets and celestial bodies in our solar system. In this outer space lesson plan, students identify the planets and record journal information about them and other celestial bodies. Students define outer space words.
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Children of the Earth and Sky
Fourth graders explore the culture and traditions of Native Americans. After reading "Children of the Earth and Sky," students discuss the lives of Native American children in relation to their own. They create replicas of Hopi...
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The Geography - Writing Connection
Students examine and describe the four physical systems of the Earth. Using two of the systems, they practice their writing skills and use vocabulary associated with the different types of landforms. They predict the types of shelters...
Penguin Books
Gulliver's Travels Teacher's Notes
Who are "the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth”? Readers of Gulliver’s Travels will learn the answer, as the journey with Lemuel Gulliver to Lilliput,...
Curated OER
Hyper for Expository Writing!
Fifth graders use the internet to research a plant or animal they read about in "The Talking Earth". Using notes, they develop a graphic organizer and use the main topics to create a HyperStudio stack. Using all of this information,...
Curated OER
Our Poetic Planet : Writing Poems about the Earth
Students share their thoughts regarding nature. For this poetry lesson, students compose poems in different formats that feature weather and clouds.
Mary Pope Osborne, Classroom Adventures Program
Mummies in the Morning Egyptian pyramids, hieroglyphics
Visit the Magic Treehouse and take your class on a trip through time with a reading of the children's book Mummies in the Morning. Using the story to spark an investigation into Egyptian culture, this literature unit engages...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Personal Choices and the Planet
How big is your footprint? Activity three culminates the series by having groups complete carbon footprint audits with people in their schools and/or around the districts. Groups then gather their data, create a presentation including...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Impacts of Climate Change
Scholars become experts on the eight major impacts of climate change through a jigsaw and grand conversation. They then research and present what they learned about effects specific to their region.
Curated OER
Money Talks
Students move from fact finding to interpretation as they examine paper money from the time of the American Revolution. In the final exercise, they use the issue dates of the bills to construct a chronology of political changes during...
Curated OER
Understanding the Roots
Students investigate the parts of a flower. In this earth science lesson, students read the book The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds and identify various plant parts. Students construct a model of a flowering plant from various art supplies.
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Working on the Moon
Students take a mission to the moon. In this space science instructional activity, students visit selected websites to discover information about Earth's moon and the solar system. Students may take virtual missions to the moon...
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What is Climate Change?
Students research climate change. In this environmental lesson, students view a PowerPoint slideshow about climate change and identify the ways that climate change affects life on Earth.
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Sowing Seeds
Students observe earth science by participating in a planting activity. In this seeds activity, students identify the process for seeds to transform into plants which eventually produce food. Students sow seeds in the ground and...
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The Heat is On
Students investigate climate change. For this current events lesson, students research the listed Web sites that include information about the effects of greenhouse gases on the Earth. Students discuss how to combat the negative effects...
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Teaching English: Consumer Society - Consumer Items
Students read an article about consumer society. In this consumer lesson plan, students read an article for information in order to argue a point. They talk about their opinions, or how they feel about consumer society/consumer items....
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West Climate Change
Students read an internet article about hurricanes. In this hurricane lesson, students explain how they form and the damage they bring. They analyze the article and answer questions about it.
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Mars
First graders listen as the teacher reads a copy of the WEEKLY READER that talks about Mars and ask questions accordingly. They again listen as a section about Earth is read from the magazine. Now, the class orally compare and contrast...
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Bryant Creek Watershed Project - Making a Karst Dictionary
Students explore the definitions relevant to Karst topography. They develop a Bryant Watershed Dictionary of the special words and terms that are used to talk about the topography and hydrology of the area they live in.
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Meet the Weather Scientist
Fourth graders collect, record and analyze data using simple weather instruments or use weather resources to comprehend weather. They comprehend that scientists are very important people in today's world. Pupils look at cloud types to...