Curated OER
Separating Soil from Dirt
You can use these lesson ideas to teach students about the importance and ecology of soil.
Curated OER
Rock On! Featuring the Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic Trio!
Get your classroom rocking with this four-lesson earth science unit. Through a series of shared reading activities and hands-on investigations, young geologists learn about the three types of rocks and the unique properties of each.
Curated OER
Moh's Hardness Test
Young geologists utilize Moh's hardness scale to help them correctly sort and classify different types of rocks. This lesson has everything you need, including an excellent example of the Mohs' Hardness Test, to successfully implement...
Curated OER
Keying Rocks
Young geologists learn how to use an identification key in order to classify rocks. The key is designed to help them classify rocks into three types: ignesous, metamorphic, and sediimentary. After an initial teacher-led demonstration,...
Curated OER
Who Cares for the Land?
A very thorough lesson plan focuses on what plants need to grow and stay healthy. There are excellent reading activities and worksheets included in this fine plan. A terrific way to introduce a unit on plants and their needs.
Curated OER
Soil Management
Fourth graders examine different opinions on soil management. In this soil management lesson, 4th graders use a variety of resources to research how agriculture and the environment are related. They investigate cause and effect...
Curated OER
3rd Grade Earth Science
In this Earth Science worksheet, 3rd graders answer multiple choice questions about minerals, properties, fossils, and more. Students complete 20 questions.
Curated OER
Pet Rocks
Students complete a variety of activities related to the physical characteristics of minerals. They classify and group candy, classify rocks and complete a Pet River Rock worksheet. Students try to guess which rock goes with each...
Curated OER
Let's Take a Rock Apart!
Students examine a crushed rock and sort the minerals they find in that rock by color and other properties.
Curated OER
Worm Watching
Pupils examine the role earthworms play in building soils. They discuss worms and what they do with soil, make predictions and draw pictures, and observe their worms in soil over a two week period.
Curated OER
SCRUMPTIOUS SOIL
Students engage in investigations that lead to the discovery that earth materials consist of rocks, soils, water, and air. They build models of soil profiles, using breakfast cereal and other edible materials. They observe how water...
Curated OER
Rocks, Minerals, and Erosion
Fourth graders describe the difference between minerals (composed of the same substance throughout) and rocks (composed of two or more minerals). They recognize that there are three classes of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic
Curated OER
Rocks and Minerals
Learners are able to describe earth processes (e.g., rusting, weathering, erosion) that have affected selected physical features in students, neighborhoods. They are able to identify various earth structures (e.g., mountains, faults,...
Curated OER
How Much Is Too Much? How Little Is Too Little?
Young scholars perform a series of experiments which show that plants require nutrients in certain quantities. They also cooperatively read materials on the nutrient requirements of plants, fertilizers, composting, and soil management,...
Curated OER
Field Research Project: Comparing the Parent Rock Material of the San Francisco Terranes With Local Soil Types
Students investigate rocks and minerals and take a field trip to sample soils. They analyze rocks and soil, research the geological terrenes of the topology of San Francisco, and produce a lab research report.
Curated OER
Soil Analysis
Students examine zip lock bags of clay, silt, and sand to determine its origin. They rotate through stations to compare different soils and perform oil separation and Tullgren funnel tests.
Curated OER
The Formation of Soil
Students identify the different components that make up soil. In this earth science lesson, students create a pamphlet for next year's class. They analyze how erosion and weathering shape the Earth.
Curated OER
Organic Matter in Soils
Students examine soil samples for the presence of organic matter. They determine which soil sample from their area contains the highest amount of organic matter.
Curated OER
Save Our Soil
Students gain an understanding of the small amount of soil available to sustain humans on earth and complete an appropriate graph or chart from their collected data. They locate some of the countries they have heard about where people do...
University of Colorado
Marvelous Martian Mineralogy
All you need is light. Groups use a reflectometer to find the reflectivity of specific chemical compounds. Learners compare the graphs of the reflectivity of the known compounds to Martian soil. Using the graph comparisons, scholars...
Utah Education Network (UEN)
Utah Open Textbook: 4th Grade Science
How does weather affect Earth? Learners understand the characteristics of water and make predictions about weather patterns. They recognize how water and weather affect rocks and minerals through erosion. They also learn about fossils...
Curated OER
Make Your Own Biodegradable Plastic Stuff
Students identify the four basic natural resources. They distinguish bettween renewable and non-renewable resources. Pupils recognize that all natural resources are needed by living plants and animals. Students list consequences for...
Curated OER
Take a Stab!
Your geology class practices taking core samples of a potato to examine the stratigraphy. This is a terrific modeling lesson that helps youngsters visualize strata that cannot be seen from the surface of the ground. The directions...
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Section Two: Why is Biodiversity Important?
Explore soil, genetic traits, natural resources, and pollution in a series of lessons that focus on biodiversity. Kids complete experiments to learn more about the importance of varied genes and organisms in an ecosystem.