Scholastic
Lesson Four: The Earth, Layers of Earth
Get your hands dirty with a set of earth science activities! Class members delve into a hard-boiled egg to find the similarities to the earth's layers, create a papier-mâché model of the earth, craft a simulation of the earth's...
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Soil Scrolls
Third graders examine soil samples and explore the what happens in each layer of the subsoil. They work in cooperative groups to create a scroll that shows what takes place in each layer, and discuss why much of the activity is in the...
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Archaeological Soils
Students evaluate how archaeologists use soils to interpret sites and determine components of a soil sample.
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Soil and Agriculture:Lesson 3 - Soil Erosion
Students reseach the different types of soil erosion and ways to control it in this series of activities.
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Determining the Percolation Rate of Soil
Students discover how water moves through different types of soils. In groups, they use the same sample from a previous activity and empty it into a milk carton in which they have layered with cheesecloth to determine the percolation...
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Look Out, Below!
Students study the four layers of soil while identifying the substances that each level is composed up. They investigate the properties of soil such as color, texture, water retention and the ability to maintain life by growing a plant.
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What is Soil?
Third graders examine what makes soil by creating a Venn Diagram. In this Earth environment activity, 3rd graders identify the different components that soil is made from. Students bring soil from their homes to examine and create...
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Investigating Soil
Fourth graders swap local soil samples with another school and examine the differences. They research soil properties, identify organisms that live in soil, create and maintain a biome of soil decomposition and design a poster to present...
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Take a Stab!
Your geology class practices taking core samples of a potato to examine the stratigraphy. This is a terrific modeling activity that helps youngsters visualize strata that cannot be seen from the surface of the ground. The directions...
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Climate and Temperature
Students explore what the soil temperature would be on the north and south sides of a building. For this temperature lesson, students hypothesize what the results will be using a thermometer and then after a week see what the...
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Layers of The Past
Sixth graders identify methods archaeologists use to date soil layers. They interpret soil profiles and discuss the examination of soil at a dig site. They discuss texture and color of soil.
California Academy of Science
Discovering Rainforest Locations
How many rainforests are there, where are they, and do global factors effect their locations? These are great questions that have great answers. Children in grades four through eight use several different maps to determine why...
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Geology/Earth Structure
Third graders examine the rock-soil cycle. They identify the steps and describe what happens. They also discover the three layers of soil.
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Cupcake Core Sampling
Students discuss core samples. In this environment lesson, students experiment discovering what is beneath the surface by using cupcakes as models finding out what sort of layers are found within the cupcakes.
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Earthquakes
Fifth graders explore the causes of earthquakes and the various types of fault lines through a variety of hands-on demonstrations using prepared cakes. They record their observations in their science journals.
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Plotting the Petroleum Plume
Eighth graders examine the difference between confining layers and aquifers in a basic water table aquifer scenario. They contour groundwater elevation and petroleum product thickness data.
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A Home for a Cricket
First graders build a habitat for crickets after studying animal survival needs. They care for and observe the crickets in the classroom habitat.
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Youth Activity: How People Get Their Water Reservoirs: "Holding Tanks" for Drinking Water
Students experience and participate in "Riding the Water Cycle" with this lesson. They explore, analyze and study the role of reservoirs in maintaining a reliable supply of drinking water. Each student constructs a model of a reservoir.
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Trash Bashing
Students define trash, garbage, or solid waste, discuss ways of disposing of trash, list examples of biodegradable materials, and have trash relay race in order to sort trash into appropriate containers labeled biodegradable, reusable,...
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Mature Forest Mime
Learners come to understand vocabulary words through pantomime. In this vocabulary lesson, students first review several vocabulary words and their meaning, then they work in groups to pantomime the definitions.
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Excavate and Explore
Learners simulate an archeological excavation to explain how archeologists identify, date, and make inferences about their findings. They explain the importance of spatial and stratigraphic contexts in archaeology.
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TRB 5:2 - Activity 3: Earthquakes
Students watch a classroom demonstration, and experiment to discover the five ways that Earth's crust shifts along a fault.
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Archaeology: Digging in the Classroom
Students explore how an archaeologist works and makes discoveries. In this archaeology lesson, students participate in a simulation in which they excavate broken pottery. Students use measurement, geometry, and observation skills during...
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Underground Pollution
Fourth graders construct their own aquifer. They discover how water travels underwater and identifies sources of underground pollution. They record their observations and discuss the results.