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Top 10 Summer Science Lesson Plans
Make this summer an exciting learning experience for your students with these engaging science activities!
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Summer Science Lesson Plans
You can use these lesson plans to incorporate some science into your summer.
Stanford University
Solstice and Equinox Season Model
How can December 21 be the shortest day of the year when all days are 24 hours long? Pupils see how to build a model showing the differences between winter and summer solstices and equinoxes. Using this model, classes can then discuss...
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Alliance to Save Energy's Green Schools Program
First graders, in groups, discover which colors absorb heat and which colors best reflect heat. They do this using the scientific method.
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How Soluble Is It?
Is sugar more soluble than salt? Experiment with water and solubility with an elementary science activity. After interpreting data from a bar chart, fifth graders use different types of sugar to determine if the size of sugar particles...
Montana Natural History Center
Studying Grassland Ecosystems
At first glance, grassland ecosystems might seem dull and uninteresting, but once you start to explore it's amazing the things you'll find! Through this series of engaging lessons, activities, and experiments, elementary students examine...
S2tem Centers SC
Seasons
Winter, spring, summer, and fall—take the learning of the seasons beyond the elementary level to the middle school classroom. Curious learners begin by watching videos about the seasons and the rotation of planet Earth. Then,...
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Puffin Patrol
Bird diversity and the majestic puffin are the topics of today's lesson. Children discuss and look at images of puffins, and then they use felt to put a puffin body together. After that they talk about what and how puffins eat. They get...
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Understanding Seasons
Students study the four different seasons: fall, winter, spring, and summer. They match the seasons with pictures that relate to them developing an understanding of the differences. They then complete the worksheet about the seasons.
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All The Seasons
Students explore winter, spring, summer, and fall. In this science and technology lesson plan, students use "Kid Pix" to draw pictures that represent the four seasons.
US Department of Energy
Draft-O-Meter
Help your class improve the energy efficiency of their homes with the draft-o-meter. Simply tape a sheet of plastic wrap to a pencil and use it to observe any air leaking through windows, doorways, and other locations around the house....
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Plants and Animals: Alike and Not Alike
After reading an informative paragraph that outlines some of the differences between plants and animals, fifth graders attempt to correctly categorize 12 words in a word bank. They must put them in the plant, or animal category. This...
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Getting nosy
A nose knows! Connect animals to their noses with a fun science activity. Animals include elephants, rats, pigs, and even humans. For a science exploration, kindergartners answer questions about what they can smell. A great addition to...
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How Light Can "Bend"
Examine the properties of light with a fifth grade science experiment. Pupils find out how light bounces off the surface of a mirror, as well as how a periscope works. For the science investigation part, kids build their own periscope...
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Plants have needs, too!
Plants can die if they don't get enough sunlight and water. Kindergartners observe a picture of a hanging plant and grass under a tree, and interpret which each plant has died. Next, they grow watercress seeds in wet cotton to compare...
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Bend It! Stretch It! Squash It!
Some items keep their shape no matter what happens! Have your kindergarten class choose which items would stay the same if they were bent, stretched, or squashed. The last activity prompts kids to see what happens when they stretch a...
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Feel the Vibrations
How does sound travel in a string walkie-talkie? Third graders read about the way vibrations act between two cups and a string. Next, they put the steps in order, and experiment with their own walkie-talkies.
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Food chains at sea
Fifth graders interpret a table of data about food chains in the ocean. They create a food chain to represent the information on the table. Periwinkles eat seaweed, and crabs eat periwinkles - so who eats crabs? Extend the activity with...
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Hot Stuff
Very young scientists who are learning about solids, liquids, melting, and freezing will use this worksheet to identify things that would melt if put in a warm place. There are eight objects altogether, and learners place a check mark...
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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...
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Munchtime for animals
Which animals eat meat to stay alive? Third graders group fish, hawks, and cats into carnivores and herbivores. An extended activity prompts kids to cut out magazine pictures of different animals according to the foods that they eat.
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Name That Critter
Young learners classify five different animals into their proper category. The animals pictured are a pigeon, a lizard, a cat, a frog, and a goldfish. Pupils are also asked to tell why they know it's a certain kind of animal. An...
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My Shadow and Me
Practice making shadows with a kindergarten science experiment. After deciding which picture would represent the biggest shadow, kids use a flashlight to experiment with their own shadows. For extra fun, have kids mark their shadows...
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Night Here, Day There
Explore astronomy with a lab sheet for fifth grade scientists. After reading a short explanation about the earth's rotation, they solve a word problem about the differences in times across the world. Next, they make a model of the solar...