Curated OER
Strange Winter Weather Affects Nature, People
Students react to a series of statements about the weather, then read a news article about the affect of unusual winter weather on people and animals. In this meteorology and current events instructional activity, the teacher introduces...
American Museum of Natural History
Theodore Roosevelt's Outdoor Adventures
Time for a virtual sightseeing trip. Pupils explore the Grand Canyon, Devil's Tower, and Yosemite Valley in an interactive online experience. They answer questions about the organisms in each location and draw conclusions based on their...
ARKive
An Introduction to Endangered Species
Playing games is a wonderful way to practice skills, start a discussion, or build memory. First, the class discusses extinction and conservation, and then they play a game of bingo. The game cards are printable and include images of...
Curated OER
Ways We Use Trees
Students use the Internet to find the ways we use trees. In this tree instructional activity, students make a list of the uses of trees and find magazine pictures that show these uses to make a collage. They read The Giving Tree by Shel...
Curated OER
The Snowy Day Science Lesson
Young scholars listen to the story The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats in order to become interested in the world of snow. In this snow exploration lesson, students scoop up snow to make snowballs, measuring the amount of snow they use so...
Curated OER
A Dog Eat Dog World
Fourth graders distinguish between acquatic and terrestrial organisms. They label animals as producers, consumers, and/or decomposers.
Curated OER
DRASING NATURE
Students take samples of local trees and identify the tree using a field guide. They keep data for the tree on the Tree ID sheet. They create leaf, seed, bark, and flower prints and paint them.
Curated OER
Marshland Wonders
Students review the characteristics of wetlands and list their benefits. After viewing short videos, they identify the organims that make their home in wetlands and how they have adapted. They compare and contrast the characteristics...
Curated OER
Science Charades
Students dramatize the wonderful world of nature, without making a sound. In this early childhood creative thinking lesson, students dramatize different aspects of nature to develop creative thinking, reading, memory, and motor skills.
Curated OER
How Does Evolution Work?
Students are introduced to how the process of evolution works. As a class, they review the characteristics of natural selection and how those with advantageous traits reproduce and survive. To test this theory of natural selection,...
Curated OER
Seeds! What is Inside; How does it Grow and Why is it Important?
Students discover the importance of seeds in relationship to nature. In this plant growth lesson plan, students create a collection of seeds and discover the best type of environment to plant them. Students plant their own wheat seeds...
Curated OER
OUT OF THIS WORLD AND INTO OUR CLASSROOM
Students create projects on Astronomy using math concepts and use of Internet resources.
Curated OER
Using a Thermometer
First graders use their senses to formulate questions and make predictions to determine what is in the "Wonder Bag". They hold pieces of ice and examine while listing descriptors on a chart and then take their own temperature using an...
Curated OER
Protect Me, Protect Me Not?
Students brainstorm natural resources found in Canadian National Parks. They, in teams, defend and support conservation efforts and give a presentation. Evaluation consists of speaking on both pro and con sides of a national parks' issue.
Curated OER
What's That? Diversity Among Organisms
Seventh graders can go outside and explore the organisms that live in the environment outside their door. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to examine the world around them with a new perspective. This activity will increase...
Curated OER
Owl Pellets: A Fowl-Up, Chuck!
Students discover the world of owls as predators. After watching a video of owls hunting and eating, are introduced to owl pellets. Students dissect their own pellet and match the prey's bones to a bone diagram.
Curated OER
Outdoor Art
Students create art projects outside. In these outdoor art lesson plans, students use items in nature to enhance their creativity. They are encouraged to paint rocks, use fences for collages, weave sticks/feathers through picket fences,...
Curated OER
Student Experiment Flies On NASA Space Shuttle!
Students design and construct an experiment that will be launched into space aboard a NASA research shuttle. How better to gain and appreciation for (and, hopefully, a love of) scientific investigation than to do real science and be...
Curated OER
The Environments of Big Sur -- Which Do We Protect?
High schoolers investigate the geological, climatic, and biological features of Big Sur. They watch a video, conduct Internet research, and create a script and images in the form of an outline in a simulation of an environmental group.
Curated OER
What's in a Brain?
Bring the brain to life for your students with thought-provoking activities
Curated OER
Feature Column: Virtual Field Trips
Students discover ways to stay healthy by utilizing Internet education software. In this computer technology lesson plan, students investigate Internet programs that simulate a field trip by showing images and video. Students...
Curated OER
Dancing Lights
Students view artwork and navigate the Internet, and read books to learn about the Aurora Borealis. In this Northern Lights lesson, students complete a KWL and separate the facts from the myths about the Northern lights. Students answer...
Curated OER
Darwin’s Bees
What do you call a bee born in May? A maybe! This first instructional activity in a series of four begins with a starter activity to get scholars thinking about the topic. Then a circus, or circuit of seven activities, show Darwin's...
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.