Scholastic
Study Jams! Plants with Seeds
Are your blooms doomed? Not if you plant your seeds in the proper condition! Cartoon character teenagers explore seed-bearing plants, germination, and seed dispersal. They compare gymnosperms with cones, angiosperms with flowers. They...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Angiosperms: Seeds in Fruit
Flowers are lovely, but they are also very practical if you are a plant! In this video, kids learn that without a flower, there would be no seeds. They also find out about the two types of seeds: monocots and dicots. Pollination and...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Plant Adaptations
Mia video chats with Sam from Hawaii! They talk about plant adaptations that allow them to live in particular environments. Examples include the flexible stems and leaves, or floating seeds and flowers of aquatic plants. The adaptive...
California Academy of Science
Fish Prints
What do a dead fish, conservation, and paint have in common? The answer is a great lesson about fish anatomy, fun print making techniques, and unsustainable fishing practices. The class will start by making fish prints with a...
Scholastic
Study Jams! The Digestive System
Mostly made up of colorful diagrams, this presentation winds through the digestive system. Beginning with the mouth, passing by the liver, and then leaving the body, viewers examine the length of the digestive system on captioned slides....
Scholastic
Study Jams! Skeletal System
A dazzling display colorful computer-generated images, x-rays, and photographs create a comprehensive introduction to the skeletal system. With 12 slides in all, aspiring anatomists learn that there are 206 bones in the human body and...
Polar Trec
Foraging for Fish in a Melting Arctic
How much do you know about the black guillemot of the Arctic region? With great background information, images, and a quick discussion, the class will learn all about the plight of the foraging seabird as they play a fun game. First,...
California Academy of Science
Poetic Reflections
Poetry is a wonderful way to explore language, express topical understanding, and incite creative thinking. After a trip to the local natural history museum (or zoo), learners write an acrostic or a cinquain poem describing one of their...
California Academy of Science
The Emperor Penguin's Egg
Here is a game intended for use at home that could easily be adapted to the school environment. The class reads an informational story about emperor penguins and then they watch a clip from the film, March of the Penguins. They focus on...
California Academy of Science
Coral Reef Habitat Match
Different animals live in different habitats, and each animal has specifically adaptive traits that make them tailor-made for their environments. This is true on land and in the ocean. Little ones examine how various marine animals have...
California Academy of Science
What Would Happen?
Nothing says classroom fun like an invertebrate and a magnifying glass! Snails, earthworms, and roly-poly bugs become the center of attention as pint-sized investigators hone their inquiry and observation skills. They are guided through...
ARKive
Parts of the Plant
Every good lesson on plant life should have a good worksheet to go along with it. Here is a very nice worksheet that requires students to label the four main parts of a plant. Included is a second worksheet that shows three different...
Curated OER
Human Body Series - Respiratory System
Elementary schoolers play a respiratory relay toss in order to take in the respiratory system! They also create their own question cards based on several kid-friendly online articles about breathing and the health of the lungs. They use...
California Academy of Science
Notice and Wonder
Pint-sized zoologists practice the art of observation. They take notes, pictures or written, as they observe an animal for a period of time. This can be done at the zoo, with a visiting classroom animal, or perhaps at the humane society....
California Academy of Science
Plants: Hanging Tough
Learning about the rainforest can be more fun than you think. The class discusses vocabulary-in-context as they cut cardboard boxes, destined to become part of a rainforest model. Small groups of children color, cut, and construct...
California Academy of Science
Snakes and Lizards Length and Movement
Snakes and lizards can be very tiny or very long. Your class will get out their rulers to see just how big snakes and lizards can be. They discuss several different reptiles by reading the included animal fact cards, then each small...
California Academy of Science
Fish Forms
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you can add art to any instructional activity! While little learners are discovering why fish have specific body parts such as, scales, fins, and gills, they start making three-dimensional fish...
Curated OER
Arctic Animals: How Do They Measure Up?
Young scientists grab their measuring tapes, rulers, and yard sticks as they see how big Arctic animals really are. To conceptualize the trait of height or length, each small group will measure out the entire length of an arctic animal....
Polar Trec
Animal Monitoring Introduction
Not only do mealworms taste great, they are also great for classroom science lessons. In pairs, young scientists observe and record what they see as they check out what their mealworms are doing from minute to minute. Each minute...
ARKive
Nocturnal Animals
How do those nocturnal animals see in the dark? This perplexing question does have an answer. First, little ones use their sense of touch to determine the name of a mystery object, then they listen closely to identify various animals by...
ARKive
Penguin Diversity – Mask Making
Penguins are very diverse and well-adapted birds; they live on islands, in warm and cold climates. Little ones examine penguin diversity and discuss the highly functional adaptive traits that have helped them survive in some of the...
California Academy of Science
Parts of an Antelope
There are so many wonderful parts to an animal: fur, antlers, tails, and legs, to name a few. A large diagram of an antelope is used to start a matching game, where the class matches body parts made of the same material. They discuss...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Animal Life Cycles
Only five slides, but worth the while for introducing upper-elementary zoologists to different animal life cycles. Two types of metamorphoses are explained: complete and incomplete. Stunning photography flows before the eyes of the...
Scholastic
Study Jams! The Human Body
A brief set of anatomy slides introduces viewers to the five levels of organization (cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and organisms). The slides focus on the muscular, circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems.