Your pupils may believe that you and their parents are the oldest things in the universe, but surprise! There are elements of the universe that are even older. Elementary scientists create a class timeline to demonstrate the...

Does it ever seem like time is slipping through your fingers? Model the passing of time with an hourglass activity in which individuals determine whether hourglasses are the most efficient way to measure time.

Get to know our galaxy with an astronomy-themed, hands-on activity. Scholars watch an informative video, answer questions, and construct a model of the Milky Way in order to examine its contents and the distance inside it.  

Weather versus climate: weather relates to short time periods while climate averages the weather of a period of many years. Scholars learn about average temperature and precipitation in various climate zones and then apply statistics...

A greenhouse provides additional warmth and protection to the plants inside, but what if the greenhouse gets too hot? Pupils discuss and experiment with the difference between natural and anthropogenic greenhouse effect. They measure the...

Why do some stars in a constellation appear brighter than others? Using a get-up-and-move astronomy activity, scholars explore perspective and the appearance of constellations in the sky while developing an understanding of the...

How do different parts of the world experience day and night? Introduce scholars to the concept of global citizenship while teaching about animal behavior with discussion of nocturnal and diurnal animals. Then, learners complete...

Can people really measure time just by using the sun? Scholars venture outside on a nice, sunny day to build sundials and learn how people measured time 600 years ago. The class builds two different sundials while gaining practice with...

Why does Earth experience summer, fall, winter, and spring? Using an informative demonstration, learners see how the angle of the sun on Earth and the rotation of Earth determine the seasons. Scholars work in pairs to learn that the...

In this comprehension worksheet, 5th graders focus on following written directions. Students seek out and circle specific "direction" words in the 11 sentences given.

Students explore the concept of daylight. In this daylight lesson, students compare the amount of daylight on a particular day in Anchorage compared with daylight where they live. Students color maps of the US according to amount of...

Students participate in a lesson that is concerned with the factors of describing a neighborhood. They follow a set of target questions in order to obtain information about individual neighborhoods. The information is used The write...

How can you interest your reader? Here is a great lesson on reading and discussing the characteristics of a narrative. Elementary schoolers explore writing techniques to hook the reader. They identify their hook and share their...

Read through the extensive background information and then lead your geology or physical oceanography class through an investigation of actual temperature anomaly data from the Juan de Fuca ridge. They translate the data onto a plot,...

High schoolers visit a local stream, pond, creek, or river and collect macroinvertebrates. They sort macroinvertebrates and identify each species using a dichotomous key. Students decide on trophic levels and construct a possible food...

Students are taught that a watershed is, what types of basic land cover are impermeable and permeable to water. They trace the flow of water around their school and around their home. Students determine what watershed their school is a...

Who says learning can't be enjoyable? Your class will love identifying the x axis and y axis of a coordinate plane and plotting various points when it's dressed up in the guise of a Battleship game. Rather than sets of the actual game,...

Pupils explore how to search the Internet with WebFerret.

Junior archaeologists examine types of artifacts from the Bronze Age on the internet. In collaborative groups, they create a story about a ship from this period and then construct a model of the ocean floor after their ship has sunk....

Pupils sharpen their dictionary skills and their understanding of compound words in this plan. Tailor it to the grade level you teach by honing in on specific skills. For older learners, the plan suggests providing a word and having them...

Students are shown how temperature affects dissolved oxygen and they create a graph showing this relationship. They think about the adaptations of animals to live in different water temperatures. Students test four different water...

Students are shown how dissolved oxygen enters the water. They are taught the difference between a water sample that has been exposed to the air and one that has not. Students brainstorm what organisms need to survive. They use dissolved...

Students test water for a least one chemical characteristic. They hypothesize how a storm event might change the chemical characteristics of a stream. Students collect water samples and use the chemical test to test the water.

students discuss the importance of light and the consequences of living without it. Using a plant as a demonstration, students predict and observe what happens to a plant when it does not receive enough light. In groups, they experiment...