Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Create a Classroom Exhibit: Rocks and Minerals

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students bring in rocks and minerals from home. They observe them and describe them carefully, completing a worksheet. Finally, a classroom exhibit is created.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plants and Animals, Partners in Pollination

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students participate in multiple hands-on activities to explore reproduction and pollination. In groups, using a cotton swab and powder, students simulate being pollinators and plants. They name the parts of the flowers and the function...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rocks and Minerals

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students bring rocks and minerals from home to investigate in the classroom. In this rocks and minerals lesson plan, students observe all the rocks and minerals brought into the class and answer 7 questions about the features of the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Under the Spell of Spiders

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students examine spiders. In these spider lessons, students will view spider images and live spiders to determine physical characteristics, habits, and habitats. Students will examine fantasy and folklore about spiders to create and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

How Size Shapes Animals

For Teachers Pre-K - 3rd
Students investigate how size affects large and small animals differently. In this animal lesson plan, students determine how size affects different animals by constructing their own animal out of marshmallows. Once students create...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fossils Footprints Across Time

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students examine fossils to understand how they are formed and how they give information about geological history. For this fossil lesson, students research and write about fossils and make models of different fossil types.The PDF...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Going...going...gone? Tropical Rainforests-How They Work, What They Do for Us, What's Being Done to Them...

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders explore the Tropical Rainforest and come to understand what it is and how it affects the ecosystem. For this rainforests lesson, 6th graders write about the Tropical Rainforest, imagine they are in the Tropical Rainforest,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Catch a Dream

For Teachers 7th - 11th
Students apply the concepts of air pressure, the Bernoulli Effect, and angle of attack to build their own model planes out of paper, plastic, wooden rods, and drinking straws.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

10 Great Places to Savor the Wild Blue Yonder

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students discuss developments in aviation.  In this reading comprehension lesson, students read an article that discusses ten aviation museums and developments in civil and military aviation.  Students find relationships...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Plants and Animals: Partners in Pollination

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students identify the plant parts and bee structures that are involved in pollination. They simulate pollination in a group activity and process the information.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Minerals, Crystals, and Gems

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students discover the relationships between minerals, crystals and gems. They bring in rocks that they find at home, in the schoolyard, etc. and examine them and attempt to identify them. They set up a classroom exhibit that includes all...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Climate and Cultures of Africa

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Young scholars gain an understanding of the relationship between climate and culture in the sub- Saharan Africa. Students will complete short exercises pertaining to the various cultures of Africa and the climate in which they live....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dinosaurs Were Real!

For Teachers Pre-K - 3rd
Students investigate the history of dinosaurs, as real animals. In this dinosaur lesson plan, students examine basic concepts that help them understand the history of all life. Included in this article is information on the world of the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Spy on a Spider

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students view slides or live specimens to name and describe the distinguishing features of groups of arthropods, especially spiders and insects. They complete worksheets, observe webs and then search for and record where spiders can be...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creatures from Planet X: Spiders

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students are given a description of some fascinating animals from "Planet X". They follow the descriptions given to illustrate one of these animals paying careful attention to introduced vocabulary such as 'appendages', 'receptors', and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Facts, Feats and Folklore: Spiders

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Young scholars review and discuss a variety of sayings, folklore and superstitions about spiders. They discuss this information and choose either an interesting fact or appealing foklore tradition to illustrate.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Air and Space Museum: Apollo to the Moon

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource offers an in-depth exploration of the U.S. space program and the role President John F. Kennedy took in setting the agenda for manned space flight to the moon.
Handout
NASA

Nasa: Astronaut Biography:john Glenn

For Students 9th - 10th
Extensive biographical information with personal data, education, special honors, aviation experience, NASA experience and space flight experience.
Primary
NASA

Nasa: An American in Orbit

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from NASA provides a detailed description of the first manned American orbital flight of a Mercury spacecraft.
Handout
NASA

Nasa: Astronaut Biography: m.lopez Alegria

For Students 9th - 10th
Read biographical facts about this Spanish-born astronaut who is the veteran of three space flights including the Columbia, the Discovery, and the Endeavour.
Primary
US National Archives

Our Documents: Transcript of John Glenn's Official Communication

For Students 9th - 10th
The official transcription of John Glenn's in-flight communication with Mission Control during his orbit around the earth in 1962.
Website
NASA

Nasa: Buildup for the Space Offensive

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from NASA provides a detailed description of the events immediately preceding the first American in orbit mission of the Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7.
Website
Other

We Choose the Moon

For Students 9th - 10th
Feel like you were right there when Apollo 11 was launched as you listen to the actual Mission Control audio from that date. The mission is further brought to life by photos and video of the event as well as a virtual animation. Go...
Website
NASA

Nasa: John Glenn the Hero

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from NASA provides a detailed description of events following the successful 3 Earth orbit mission of the Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft.