Curated OER
Marine & Aquatic Habitats Activities - Habitats of Birds, Fish, and Mammals on the Island and the Pacific Region
Students create habitats in jars to understand integral aspects of plants' and animals' habitats.
Curated OER
The Water Cycle - starring "Drippy"!
Students become actively involved in building a model illustrating how energy, such as the water cycle, flows through a system. In making a terrarium, the student understands the flow of energy, beginning with the sun, and making a...
Curated OER
Food Webs and Making Miniature Ecosystems
Students model a food web and create a miniature ecosystem. In this animal interactions lesson, students engage in a role playing game which simulates a food web. Students then build miniature ecosystems using pop bottles, snails, plants...
Curated OER
Plant Systems
Students examine plant systems. In this life science lesson, students explore leaf and root systems on paper in a terrarium that they design and construct.
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Miniature Water Cycles
Fourth graders create a biome of their choosing in a terrarium. Terrariums are observed and results recorded daily for 2 weeks. They observe/record changes in the water within their terrarium and use the data to write sentences...
Curated OER
Creating the Water Cycle
Students create a terrarium to examine the stages of the water cycle. In small groups, they plant and water a seed in an enclosed plastic container. Each day they diagram and write observations of the terrarium using water cycle vocabulary.
American Museum of Natural History
What is the Greenhouse Effect?
Without the greenhouse effect, Earth would not be inhabitable. A thorough online resource describes the greenhouse effect and how it occurs. The source highlights the different types of gases that work together to absorb the sun's...
Curated OER
Death On Board La Belle: Finding Clues from Old Bones
Students practice analyzing skeletal remains for clues by using the Internet. In this scientific investigation lesson, students research the La Belle shipwreck using the Internet and written materials, later completing a Skeletal Report...
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Using Solar Energy
Students experiment to determine the effect of solar energy on the temperature of water. In this renewable resources lesson, students measure the temperature of water in a flask that is exposed to sunlight. They relate their results to...
Curated OER
Ecosystem Energizers
Fourth graders see how the flow of energy through an ecosystem made up of producers, consumers, and decomposers carries out the processes of life and that some energy dissipates as heat and is not recycled.
Curated OER
Mini-Ecosystems
Third graders identify the living and non living things in a book read aloud and discuss the interactions represented in the book. Then, they research and include a list of food that each animal needs in an ecosystem. Finally, 3rd...
Curated OER
What Does It Eat?
Pupils use crickets, mealworms, and pill bugs and observe what they choose to eat. In this science lesson plan, students record data, create graphs, and do a write up on what they see happening.