National Wildlife Federation
Massive Migrations
Turn your students into flocks of migratory birds for this fun lesson on animal migration. Prior to the activity, the teacher creates four different migration routes in the classroom or any available open space, labeling nesting...
Curated OER
Urban Life: What Lives In Our Local Park?
Fifth graders participate in activities during a visit to Central Park. In this urban life lesson, 5th graders visit Central Park where they explore pond dipping, stream chemistry, and play a native plant Bingo game.
Curated OER
Marine Animal Tracking
Students engage in a lesson which serves as an introduction to the ideas and implications of animal tracking. They monitor animal foraging behavior on a spatial scale. The students break into groups and track each other's movements as...
Curated OER
The Great Pond Safari
Students study pond life by visiting a pond and completing an associated worksheet. They play an online game based on the pond learning experience.
Curated OER
The Chesapeake Bay in Captain John Smith's Time
When Captain John Smith visited the Chesapeake Bay in the summer of 1608, what types of animals and habitats did he encounter? Your young historians will analyze primary source documents to answer this question, as well as compare...
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Exploring National Marine Sanctuaries
Students research marine ecosystems by creating class presentations. In this oceanography lesson, students research the different locations of marine sanctuaries by identifying them on a transparency map in class. Students...
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Fish Fashion 101
Young scholars explore fish anatomy. For this fish anatomy and adaptation lesson, students define and identify the location of fish body parts. Young scholars add these parts of a fish's anatomy to a life-sized fish costume worn by a...
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Human Impact on the Life Cycle of Corals
Students study the life cycle of a coral reef. They then participate in a simulated village meeting in which they roleplay various characters who must review proposed legislation dealing with reef management.
Curated OER
Designing a Hiking Trail
Put your students' map skills to the test with this engaging cross-curricular project. Given the task of developing new hiking trails for their local community, young cartographers must map out beginner and intermediate...
Curated OER
Sea Connections
Young scholars, after locating different marine habitats on a globe, play a card game about ecosystems, food webs and organisms.
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Wild Habitats
Students research and Illustrate the natural habitats of giraffes and other animals imported into ancient Rome. They draw a map of Europe, North Africa, and West Asia and draw the animals that come from each region in their proper places.
Curated OER
Fossils: Clues to Ancient Life
You can make your students amateur paleontologists with great fossil lesson plans.
Curated OER
Humans Leave Bob Bat Homeless!
In this science worksheet, students read an "interview" with a bat who has been displaced from his home in the rainforest. Using a word bank, students fill in 20 missing words from the script. Students then answer 10 questions about...
Curated OER
"We're Back ... Eagles Soar!"
Students use information from Internet websites to create a map of where Bald Eagle habitats can be found after being familiarized with the map by the instructor.
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Please Help!
Sixth graders examine the prairie food chain while designing a rescue strategy for an endangered species. They compare their strategy to that of a professional conservation expert.
Curated OER
Layers of the Forest
Students explore rain forests. In this rain forest ecosystems lesson, students identify and describe the layers of the rain forest. Students paint and decorate a large rain forest mural. Students write riddles about animals that...
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The Bear Facts
Students explore various kinds of bears and gather information about them. In this research and habitats lesson, students chart their bear information on large posters with illustrations of their bears. Students map the...
Curated OER
A Day in a Life of an Arctic/Antarctic Animal
Students, through video segments, explore what types of animals live in the Arctic and Antarctica. They also clear up any misconceptions they have about penguins or polar bears.
Curated OER
Penguins Around the World
Young scholars gain an awareness of the diverse habitats of the 17 species of penguins. Standard: 4.4 Interdependence of Life Changes in an organism's habitat are sometimes beneficial to it and sometimes harmful.
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Boston Harbor Cruise: A Shoreline Survey
The students take a harbor cruise, photograph, and draw shore line features attending to evidence of human impact/consequences, and its cost on marine/land animal habitats vegetation, weather patterns, signs of erosion, and the water...
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Endangered Giant Pandas
In this giant panda worksheet, students read and complete 5 pages of information and activities pertaining to the giant panda. Students study maps of the area, read fun facts about pandas, cut and paste life cycle sequencing, and read...
Curated OER
Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw
Students explore the science and art of taxidermy, and research various biomes that could be depicted in museum displays. They synthesize their knowledge by creating dioramas that depict the diverse life forms typical of these biomes.
Michigan Sea Grant
Survival Game
Musical chairs may be a classic game, but Ruffe Musical Chairs is a unique lesson on invasive species! Using the time-honored game, pupils role play the behaviors of the invasive fish called Eurasian ruffe. Learning about this aggressive...
