ReadWriteThink
Webcams in the Classroom: Animal Inquiry and Observation
Boost observational skills with an inquiry-based lesson that takes scholars on a virtual field trip. With help from webcams, learners observe animals in a zoo or aquarium. Observations go into a journal and a discussion is held to review...
Curated OER
Being Shadowed
What causes a shadow to appear? Have kindergartners and first graders explore shadows with a fun science activity. After reading a short paragraph about light sources, they draw a shadow for a little girl based on the location of the...
Novelinks
The Martian Chronicles: Fishbowl Discussion
Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles provides the text for a fishbowl activity. Class members to sit in concentric circles, with the center circle discussing the topics from the book, and the outer circle observing the...
Bethel School District
Observations and Inference
What's the difference between qualitative and quantitative observations? Learners make observations, inferences, and predictions about their environment with a set of questions and activities that are applicable to either language...
Curated OER
Investigate Science Using Crayfish
Young scientists discover the importance of scientific investigation by observing live crayfish. They carefully observe the patterns of crayfish in different environments. Then they discuss their conclusions and define what all living...
Curated OER
Close Observation: Coins
Integrate math, science, and speaking/listening with a collaborative hands-on activity. Each group works with a single penny, examining it with the naked eye and recording observations. Repeat using magnifying glasses. Then repeat with a...
Curated OER
When the Wind Blows Lesson Plan
Learners read a book and observe the wind and how it affects the environment. They explore what wind does by looking at pictures, reading a book, and by completing an experiment. They will use their own knowledge of the wind and compare...
Newspaper Association of America
Cereal Bowl Science and Other Investigations with the Newspaper
What do cereal, fog, and space shuttles have to do with newspapers? A collection of science investigations encourage critical thinking using connections to the various parts of the newspaper. Activities range from building origami seed...
Great Books Foundation
Discussion Guide for Handmaid's Tale
Great literature discussions are a consequence of carefully crafted questions, interpretative questions that permit more than one response, and responses supported by specific evidence from the text. The discussion questions in a guide...
Smithsonian Institution
Water/Ways: The Poetry of Science
Water is the source of life. It appears in poetry in both peaceful and torrential descriptions; it appears in earth science in its liquid, gaseous, and solid states. Combine these interpretations of our planet's most precious and...
Curated OER
Dirt Babies
Dirt babies are an excellent way to show young botanists the plant life cycle. They explore the functions and industry behind grasses before growing some of their own. Use the informational text here and consider implementing some...
Curated OER
Observing the Pumpkin Cycle
Students observe and listen to nonfiction books about the life cycle of pumpkins. They practice early reading skills in a shared reading related to pumpkins. They observe the life cycle of a pumpkin including growth and decay.
Curated OER
Science: Schoolyard Trees
Sixth graders choose specific trees to research while taking a nature walk around the schoolyard. They discuss tree and leaf parts and observe various types of leaves. After writing their reports, 6th graders present them to the class...
Berkshire Museum
Nature Journaling: Experience the Outdoors Through Writing and Drawing
Step into the great outdoors and develop young scientists' skills of observation with a nature journaling lesson. Given a specific focus or goal, children practice making and recording observations of nature through written descriptions...
Curated OER
A'planting We will Go
Germination is an amazing process that results in amazing things. The book The Tiny Seed is the inspiration for a set of activities that will help build early literacy, observation, language, and writing skills. The class observes how...
PBS
The Cat in the Hat Activity Exploring Weather
Observe different types of weather right in your classroom! Here, pupils look at clouds, rain, snow, wind, and hot and cold temperatures, and observe these weather patterns at school. They keep track of their observations in a worksheet...
C.S. Lewis Foundation
Study Guide to Miracles
Teaching is challenging, so is proving through logic that miracles and divine intervention can happen in this world. It is even more arduous to teach the text of that proposition—good thing there are resources available, like this study...
Curated OER
The Five Senses
Study various objects and help kindergarteners use their five senses to classify the objects. They are presented with various objects and then use their five senses to sort and classify the objects. Then they use a Visual Ranking Tool to...
Project Noah
Writing Goes Wild
Young scientists develop their observation and writing skills as they craft and then post a detailed description of a plant or animal they have spotted and photographed.
Curated OER
Special Place
Learners observe and describe a "special place" chosen along a nature trail. In this habitat observational skills and writing lesson, students take a walk on a nature trail and choose a spot to sit and meditate. Learners complete a...
Curated OER
Apple Observation
In this apple observation worksheet, students identify with the importance of observations and respond to the questions that follow the activity. They describe the image they see when they think of a red apple, including its texture and...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: "Putting in the Seed" by Robert Frost
Young botanists dig into a lesson that has them planting lima bean seeds and observing their growth. They compare their experience to that of the speaker in Robert Frost's poem, "Putting in the Seed."
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl Matilda Lesson Plans
Fifty eye-catching pages contain six lessons about Roald Dahl's novel, Matilda. Each lesson has a theme and covers a different subject—literacy, social-emotional learning, science, and geography. Scholars analyze characters, examine...
Curated OER
English Vocabulary Skills: AWL Sublist 3 - Exercise 6c
In this online interactive English vocabulary skills worksheet, students answer 10 matching questions which require them to fill in the blanks in 10 sentences. Students may submit their answers to be scored.