Curated OER
Role Models
First graders identify heroes by researching their family history. For this personal heritage lesson, 1st graders define the term "hero" and the characteristics that represent it. Students research family resources and family trees in...
Curated OER
My Family and Me
Students discuss the family unit and compare it to an ant colony. In this family instructional activity, students draw their family and extended family and talk about their jobs and family roles. They compare this to an ant colony...
Curated OER
Family Traits
Students investigate the study of pedigree designs and human genetics. They construct the pedigree representing two, three, or four generations. They investigate their family members' traits for ear lobe attachment, tongue rolling,...
Curated OER
A Wild Family Album!
Students create a scrapbook style family album for a selected animal. They complete an interactive Internet activity on research reports, fill out a graphic organizer, diagram a food web, and complete their scrapbook that includes...
Curated OER
Traveling Through Literature
Integrate geography with literature in this interdisciplinary instructional activity. Begin by reading a poem such as The Time We Climbed Snake Mountain by Leslie Marmon Silko. On a large map, place push pins in the cities or states...
Curated OER
Learning about gravity
Learn how to measure weight with newtons in a science experiment about gravity. After they read a short paragraph about force, fifth graders draw an arrow to indicate which way a spring is being pulled. Next, they survey their family...
Curated OER
Genetics
Trace simple genetic patterns of inheritance through a small population. Your students create a family pedigree that traces a genetic condition through several generations.
Curated OER
Environment: Clouds of Changing Times
Here is a wonderful lesson which has youngsters interview family and local elders about the seasonal history of their local area. They focus on climate change by asking questions about rainfall, temperatures, length of the seasons, and...
Rainforest Alliance
Stop and Smell the Flowers
It's a bird! It's a bee! Actually, it's your learners flying from flower to flower smelling their scents! Using paper flowers and essential oils, pupils flutter between flowers to use their sense of smell to experience how animals use...
Star Date
Shadow Play
Three activities make up a solar system lesson that features the sun, its light, and the shadows it produces. Scholars step outside to discover the changes shadows make at different times of day, take part in a demonstration of...
Channel Islands Film
Magic Isle: Lesson Plan 1
What are the factors that limit growth and expansion? As part of their study of Catalina Island, class members view the West of the West's documentary Magic Isle and research William Wrigley and the Santa Catalina Island Company. After...
Teach Engineering
Go Public: Osteoporosis Brochure
Osteoporosis and family — notice the connection between the two. Pairs develop a brochure to educate the public about osteoporosis in the last portion of the six-part series. The teams draw on the information learned throughout the...
Curated OER
In a Family Way
Students research a rare species of animals that are a step away from the well known animals of our zoos. They create a mobile which displays the geography, habits, population and habitat of the animals. They draw a picture.
Curated OER
Little Bees, Big Potential
After reading an article on the alfalfa leafcutting bee, learners chart its characteristics alongside those of the honeybee. Then they draw the leafcutter lifecycle. The article provides fascinating reading when studying the role of...
Curated OER
Biology: Genetics and Heredity
Seventh graders explore the connection between genetics and heredity by examining the cellular structure. Among the numerous activities to engage students are drawing DNA molecules, vocabulary puzzle sheets, and predicting possible...
Curated OER
What Are Erosion and Sediments?
Middle schoolers create experiments in class based on the erosion of Earth. In this erosion lesson, students perform a lab in class replicating the effects of erosion. Middle schoolers finally draw their own conclusions based on the...
Curated OER
If Your Mom Has Big Feet, Will You Have Them Too?
Students describe and apply the Mendellian principles of genetics, focusing predominantly on dominant and recessive genes. They demonstrate how two parents contribute genes and how those genes appear in their offspring. They describe...
Curated OER
What is in a Name?
Students examine taxonomy and the use of dichotomous keys through two activities. They use a dichotomous key and create one of their own as well as create new scientific Family names for penguins using same word roots used by taxonomists.
Curated OER
LIFE CYCLES
Third graders work in cooperative groups to gather information, create their product and present to an audience. The groups use all sources of media to gather information, including electronic encyclopedias and the Internet. They use...
Curated OER
LIONS and TIGERS and BEARS. . .Oh My! Animals of Connecticut and the World
Students identify and list the different types of pets owned by the children in the class.
They graph the total number of each type of pet owned. They draw or cut-out a picture of an animal. Using the materials listed above, the children...
Curated OER
Moon Journal
Fourth graders observe Moon and its features, and record results both in written form and in a drawing on the given template.
Curated OER
Weatherman Phil
Third graders examine the life of a groundhog and their role in predicting weather. They write a postcard or a letter to Punxsutawney Phil on the Internet.
Curated OER
Variety is the Spice of Life
Students explore Gregor Mendel's work with genetics. They complete a survey of their friends and family in order to identify dominant and recessive traits. Once their surveys are complete, students discuss the ways in which dominant...
Curated OER
Working-with-Animals Careers
First graders list and discuss careers that involve working with animals and draw pictures of careers that interest them. They compare and contrast domestic and wild animals.