Activity
Smarter Balanced

Classifying Vertebrates

For Teachers 5th - 7th
What features do scientists use to classify animals into groups? Class groups examine a series of paired images of vertebrates (a bass and a trout, a toad and a newt, a crocodile and a tortoise, an owl and a robin, a tiger and a bear)...
Lesson Plan
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Illustrative Mathematics

The Geometry of Letters

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Use the alphabet as a tool for teaching your class about geometric figures. Break apart capital letters into line segments and arcs. Classify angles as right, acute, or obtuse. Identify parallel and perpendicular lines. An excellent...
Activity
Discovery Education

The Key to It All

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Which characteristics make organisms unique? Dichotomous keys simplify the process of classifying organisms by focusing on these unique characteristics. Young scholars learn how to use the dichotomous key flow chart by creating their own...
Lesson Plan
Illustrative Mathematics

What is a Trapezoid? (Part 1)

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Challenge your class to construct a definition for trapezoids. Looking at four examples and four non-examples, students individually create definitions and use them to classify an unknown shape. Allow for small group and whole-class...
Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Lesson Five: The Earth, Rocks and Minerals

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Apply the principles of geology to a series of collaborative, hands-on class activities. Young earth scientists learn more about igneous, metamorphic, and sedentary rocks before classifying and weathering rocks that they find....
Lesson Plan
Illustrative Mathematics

Lines of Symmetry for Triangles

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
What can symmetry tell us about triangles? After looking at four examples, learners will come to realize that lines of symmetry are different for equilateral, isosceles, and scalene triangles. Use this guided practice activity as an...
Activity
New South Wales Department of Education

History of Plant Classification

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Bamboo, the fastest growing plant in the world, can grow up to 35 inches in one day! Pupils learn how plants historically have been classified and determine if these traits are appropriate to use in this 17th lesson of 20. They will also...
Activity
New South Wales Department of Education

Invertebrates

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Of all invertebrates, insects by far are the most numerous. Scholars discuss invertebrates and then use a key to classify them. They see different examples and must describe features of each organism based upon the key. 
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Teach Engineering

Rocks, Rocks, Rocks: Test, Identify Properties and Classify

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Time is growing short. Teams work together to identify physical properties of rocks in order to determine the properties that would best suit their cavern shelter design.
Activity
Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning

A Foundation for Implementation

For Teachers K - 4th Standards
Color is the focus of this amazing resource packed with math, social studies, science, and language arts activities. Kids create a color word wall and post symbols, graph the number of objects they find of each color while on a...
Activity
PBS

Classification

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore classification skills used in scientific research. They classify a variety of objects in order to compare and contrast. In addition, they analyze previously collected data in order to place items into meaningful groups.
Activity
New South Wales Department of Education

Plant Features

For Students 6th - 8th Standards
Pine needles are actually modified leaves. In the 16th installment of 20, young scientists explore plants. Through an analysis of leaves — shape, veins, and edges — pupils see how to classify plants based on structural features.
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It's About Time

Plate Boundaries and Plate Interactions

For Teachers 7th - 12th
How does the Earth continually repair itself? Explore the answer to this question, and others, with a unit on plate boundaries and interaction. Pupils classify the types of movement at plate boundaries and identify the...
Activity
It's About Time

Metals and Nonmetals

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Did you know you can melt the metal gallium with just the heat of your hand? Pupils observe and test materials in order to classify them as metal or non-metal. A reading passage and analysis questions wrap up the lesson. 
Lesson Plan
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Illustrative Mathematics

3-D Shape Sort

For Teachers K - 2nd Standards
From the apple on your desk and the coffee cup in your hand, to the cabinets along the classroom wall, basic three-dimensional shapes are found everywhere in the world around us. Introduce young mathematicians to the these common figures...
Lesson Plan
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Illustrative Mathematics

What Shape Am I?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Sharpen your pencil and grab a ruler, it's time to draw some quadrilaterals! Given the definition of a parallelogram, rectangle, and rhombus, learners draw examples and nonexamples of each figure. The three definitions are...
Lesson Plan
Illustrative Mathematics

Lines of Symmetry for Quadrilaterals

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Explore how lines of symmetry help define different categories of quadrilaterals. Looking at a square, rectangle, trapezoid, and parallelogram, young mathematicians discover that each shape has its own, unique symmetry. Encourage your...
Activity
PBS

Sink or Swim?

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
What's with all the numbers on plastic products? Learners complete an in-depth analysis of the physical properties of the different plastic types. They connect the properties of the plastics to uses and test their observation skills by...
Lesson Plan
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Illustrative Mathematics

Shape Sequence Search

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st Standards
Learning that size and orientation don't affect the classification of shapes is a big step for young mathematicians. Support children with developing this key understanding by looking at the array of shapes included in this resource. For...
Activity
South Gloucestershire Council

Animal Classification: A Collaborative Sorting Activity for Key Stages 2 & 3

For Teachers 4th - 8th Standards
Introduce the logic behind a dichotomous key or administer a group performance assessment with a fun and challenging classification lesson. With explicit instructions for the teacher and for collaborative groups, as well as engaging...
Activity
Las Cumbres Observatory

Create a Hubble Tuning Fork Diagram

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Add a little color to the universe. Learners recreate images of the galaxies using real data and Photoshop software. They display their images in a Hubble tuning fork diagram by classifying and categorizing their shapes.
Lesson Plan
Discovery Education

Clutter Cutter

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Challenge young learners to cut the clutter with this fun engineering project. As employees of a home and office supply company, young engineers are asked to develop devices that organize everyday items. After participating in a...
Lesson Plan
Illustrative Mathematics

Are These Right?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Is that a right triangle or a wrong triangle? Young mathematicians look at eleven different shapes and use a measuring tool of their choice to determine which triangles have right angles. Consider cutting out sets of the shapes to...
Lesson Plan
Illustrative Mathematics

All vs. Only Some

For Teachers Pre-K - 2nd Standards
All shapes have certain defining attributes that set them apart from others. In order to understand this, young mathematicians look at examples and non-examples of triangles, rectangles, and squares, working as a whole class to create...

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