Curated OER
Fall is All Around Us
Students develop and create a production company and produce a fall event that demonstrates what they have learned in various subject areas. STudents create stories, complete a venn diagram comparing fall and summer, graph and measure...
Curated OER
"ART ZOO 'Blacks in the Westward Movement', 'What Can You Do with a Portrait', and 'Of Beetles, Worms, and Leaves of Grass'"
Students study black history, examine portraits and portrait making and create their own portraits, and investigate their natural environment. This humanities lesson provides a text that can be used to teach lessons in black history,...
Curated OER
Growing a Lawn
Students research plant growth. In this plant growth lesson, students explore the needs of plants. Students compare and contrast grass and broadleaf plants and grow a miniature lawn in a cup of soil. Resources are provided.
Curated OER
Where's the Grass
Students participate in a grassland game. In this grassland lesson, students simulate the impact of grazing animals and invasive weeds on grasslands.
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Grass as Biomass
Students explore energy properties by listening to a sustainability lecture in class. In this biomass lesson, students identify what biomass is, how it can be transformed into a usable energy and how it complements the energy cycle....
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Camouflage
Here is a lesson which incorporates ingenious hands-on activities that simulate how many animals use camouflage as a survival technique. This lesson clearly outlines how to implement the activities and discussion sessions found in it....
Curated OER
Learning To Look
Sixth graders investigate a flower plant and the plant cycle. They extend observational skills when looking at a tree by observing, questioning and sharing ideas. They observe a living and nonliving flower and compare and contrast how...
Curated OER
Plant Parts Chapter #3
A few diagrams and bullet-point notes fill the 24 slides of this presentation on plant parts. The content is advanced enough for high school or college botany courses. The diagrams, however, are of substandard quality and quantity. You...
Curated OER
Compost Lesson
If you are looking for how to introduce elementary environmentalists to the process of composting, here is a comprehensive outline for making it happen. The plan is to set this up at the beginning of a school year in order to observe the...
Curated OER
What is Soil?
Students study living and non-living materials that are found in soil. They study the things required by plants and animals to remain healthy. They design a collage of sand, stones, leaves and other natural items.
Curated OER
Everybody Needs a Little Sunshine
Three activities introduce upper elementary ecologists to photosynthesis and food webs. In the first, an experiment is set up to determine how plants respond to different types of light. In the second, they connect organism cards with...
Curated OER
The Organization and Function of Plants
In this plant worksheet, students investigate the structures and functions of plants. They also study seed germination through the use of a wall chart.
Curated OER
Playground Greenup
Students document changes in the playground vegetation during the year by making drawings or taking digital photographs of grass, trees, bushes, weeds, and other vegetation. They study how the color of vegetation changes during different...
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Feeling the Heat
Students investigate the urban heat island effect. In this urban heat island effect lesson, students learn how trees, grass, asphalt, and other things on the school grounds effect temperature. They use the information to generalize it to...
Curated OER
Smile...you're on Insect Camera!
Students study insects. They go on an outdoor insect outing and look for insects in a variety of places--in the air, under rocks, on leaves, in water, etc. They record information about the insects they find, including habitat, weather...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Preparing for Project BudBurst
Male deer growing antlers to begin the breeding season is an example of a phenological event. First in a four-part series is an activity requiring individuals to collect phenological data on their campus. Classes discuss phenology, the...
Polar Trec
Permafrost Thaw Depth and Ground Cover
The thaw depth of tundra creates a positive feedback loop with both global warming and the carbon cycle. Scholars sort photos and develop a hypothesis for ground cover and permafrost depth. Then they review the data and measurements...
Curated OER
Adaptations to Environments with Mammals
Fifth graders, after viewing a PowerPoint on different mammals, analyze what a biome is. Then they choose a mammal to research and go outside to feel the grass and leaves and hypothesize about which biome they live in as well as its...
Curated OER
Windy Weather
Make wind detectors with paper plates, ribbon, and streamers. Go for walks over an extended period of time to observe and record the effect of the wind on the detectors and other observable objects (leaves, grass, etc.).
Curated OER
Best Nest Builders
Students construct a nest out of mud, string, sticks, and grass using only two fingers or two popsicle sticks to simulate a bird building a nest. They compare/contrast pictures of various bird nests and draw the differences between the...
Curated OER
HAPPY SOIL, SAD SOIL
Students will be able to identify the characteristics of healthy soil and unhealthy soil.Take the class outside to an area of thick grass near trees, if available. Compare the
clothes people wear to the thin cover. Discuss the reasons...
Curated OER
Classifying Monocot And Dicot Plants
Sixth graders identify the parts of a flower, and tell the difference between monocots and dicots. They group plant by leaf types and characteristics placing the information in table form on the computer.
Curated OER
Biology Leaf Collection
Students collect leaves and compile them into a collection booklet. They collect tree leaves, shrub leaves, grasses, and weeds. For each sample they also label its common name and information about where and when it was collected.
Curated OER
Composting
In this recognizing items that can be composted learning exercise, students identify organic items that can be composted, write items that can be composted for each of the letters in the word compost, and make a list of vegetables and...