Minnesota Department of Natural Resoures
Minnesota’s Forests
The forests of Minnesota provide middle schoolers with an integrated learning opportunity. They examine the three biomes and their histories, conduct experiments, read stories, and draw pictures. A lovely lesson about trees.
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Pumpkin Multiplication and Division Facts Puzzle
Fifth graders practice multiplication and division facts while completing a pumpkin coloring sheet. For this multiplication and division lesson, 5th graders color based on the answers and the color key.
Illustrative Mathematics
Shape Sequence Search
Learning that size and orientation don't affect the classification of shapes is a big step for young mathematicians. Support children with developing this key understanding by looking at the array of shapes included in this resource. For...
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How to Achieve Your Financial Goals
Learners explore economics by creating a budget. In this financial goal setting lesson, students investigate their use of time by completing a worksheet. Learners identify financial goals they would like to achieve in the next several...
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Incredible Integers!
There are three parts to this lesson on integers. In the first, learners explore positive and negative numbers on an actual painter's tape number line and by playing a "Hot Seat" game. In part two, they view a BrainPop video and work...
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Proving that You Have Found the Minimum
Tenth graders pretend to set up an ice cream shop in a make believe town of shapes. In this geometry lesson, 10th graders work together to put up an ice cream stand in an ideal location and solve for the minimum given the shapes.
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Symmetry and Tangrams
Sixth graders build figures out of tangrams. In this symmetry lesson, 6th graders view tangrams and identify the polygons included in them. Students divide into groups, identify their tangram pieces, define the lines of symmetry, and use...
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Eleven
Students read an excerpt from the book Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff. They answer provided questions for group discussion along themes such as family, belonging, and anger. Assignment suggestions included for math, social studies,...
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Plate Tectonics: Kindergarten Lesson Plans and Activities
This unit focuses primarily on plate tectonics and plate boundaries surrounding continents. It contains pre- and post-lab sections that walk young geologists through plate movements in order to visualize what's going on inside Earth.
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Hazards: Kindergarten Lesson Plans and Activities
The last unit in the series allows kindergarteners to see the dangers and hazards associated with each of the natural disasters learned so far in the series—earthquakes and volcanoes. They listen to sounds associated with the disasters.
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Volcanoes: Kindergarten Lesson Plans and Activities
In the pre-lab, kindergarteners mimic the movements of the eruption of a volcano and discover various volcanoes around the United States. Then, pupils sort different types of volcanic rocks in the lab before learning how volcanoes grow...
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Second Servings
Second graders understand the appropriate sizes for food portions. In this food groups activity, 2nd graders create and measure a meal using correct portion sizes and correct measurements.
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Geography Journey
Fourth graders examine the geographic features that define places and regions and answer questions about the state of California. They discuss the components of a map legend and answer worksheet questions using a map of California as a...
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The Great Archeological Dig
Young scholars explore biology by identifying a diagram. In this cell anatomy lesson, students read a story about archeology and conduct a fictitious archeology dig in class in which they search for animal cells. Young scholars define a...
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Transforming Triangles
Sixth graders graph translations (slides) and reflections (flips) on a coordinate plane. They visualize and identify geometric shapes after applying transformations on a coordinate plane. Finally, 6th graders write a paragraph telling...
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Is the Hudson River Too Salty to Drink?
Students explore reasons for varied salinity in bodies of water. In this geographical inquiry activity, students use a variety of visual and written information including maps, data tables, and graphs, to form a hypothesis as to why the...
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Meet Geodesy-The Science Behind GPS
Learners discover how a datum of reference points are used to to describe a location. For this Earth Science lesson, students will simulate how a GPS accurately determines the location of reference points within a datum.
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Keeping Watch on Coral Reefs
Students investigate the dangers Coral Reefs face by investigating satellite images. In this environmental protection lesson, students utilize the Internet to discover the types of satellites and sensors used to provide oceanographic...
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How Tolerant Are Kids in Your School?
Learners graph results of a survey about attitudes and tolerance in their school. They discuss the social climate of their school. Students complete a questionnaire, and tabulate the raw data from their class. They create a bar graph...
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Attracting Business to Arkansas
Groups of learners research a city in Arkansas, then plan and create a brochure which would promote business growth in that city. The groups access the Internet in order to find out the necessary information about the town to put in...
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Pump Up the Curriculum With Pumpkins!
Students complete a variety of activities as they examine "pumpkins."