Curated OER
Teaching Tips: Team Building Activities for Elementary Students
Students access a variety of team-building related resources on the Internet. They examine cooperative games, collaborative artwork, create me-shirts, develop Venn diagrams, and create a classroom quilt and class welcome book.
Curated OER
Under Pressure
Students view a video clip on dams. They discuss how the dam is reinforced and how it holds the pressure of water. They participate in an activity in which they use liter bottles to represent the dam.
Curated OER
Air: Air Quality Picture Project
Students recognize which activities contribute to poor air quality and which contribute to good air quality. They discover how air quality is measured, and come up with ways that humans can have a positive affect on air quality.
Curated OER
Biologically Altered (B/A Fish)
Students complete a variety of activities as they examine the ethics involved in biologically altering fish. They hold a mock town meeting in which they determine whether or not a transgenic aquaculture should be allowed to locate in...
Curated OER
I Got a Lava Livin' to Do in Pompeii
Scholars imagine themselves as citizens of Pompeii in 79 AD. First they are assigned a job (or place in society like a child or slave). Then they record their daily activities for the weeks leading up to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in...
Curated OER
Comet Encounters
Students create glitter-covered comet models. Then they make large outdoor chalk drawings of the solar system and place their comets at the location of the Kuiper belt. They carry their comets around an orbit of the sun, shaking various...
Mr Gym
Switch, Change, Rotate
Switch, change, rotate! Players are in groups of three scattered around the playing area. Switch means the lead and back players change positions. Change means the entire group turns and goes in the opposite direction. Rotate means the...
National Gardening Association
Migration Mishaps
Elementary ecologists pretend to be migratory hummingbirds. They fly between wintering and nesting grounds, trying to reach a habitat haven. In a musical-chair fashion, some birds will miss out, and are removed from the game. To further...
Florida International University
Counting FishStix
How do we count the fish in the ocean? An engaging lesson models how to estimate fish populations with observational surveys. Class members begin by studying the behavior of fish on the coral reef in the oceans. They then become the fish...
Curated OER
Nature Oriented Kindness Projects
Students complete various nature activities where they work together to create a butterfly garden, plant flowers, learn about nature survival, and more. In this nature lesson plan, students work together in groups and display kindness...
Curated OER
Make a Nature Mobile
Students take nature walks to collect items from the environment such as leaves, shells, branches, feathers, and seeds. Working in groups, they assemble their items into mobiles and display them in the classroom.
Curated OER
Surviving the Conditions
Students explore Earth science by participating in an environmental care activity. In this natural resources lesson plan, students discuss ways to protect themselves from the environment if they are ever in need of shelter in the...
Curated OER
Adjective? What's an Adjective?
Mount a variety of pictures (fantasy, rustic, portraits, action) on large sheets of paper and post them around the classroom. Groups rotate from poster to poster, adding adjectives to describe each of the pictures. Writers use these word...
Curated OER
Teaching with Nature
Students participate in a nature walk to learn about their natural environments. In this nature study lesson, students brainstorm a list of things to look for on their nature walk. Students go on the nature walk and locate objects they...
Curated OER
Investigating comparative biodiversity of wetland and schoolyard sites
Fourth graders participate in an activity dealing with the environment.
Curated OER
Identifying Indoor Environment Pollution Sources (List, Group, Label Activity)
Students identify the cause of indoor air pollution. In this indoor air pollution instructional activity, students list, group, and label sources of indoor pollution. They brainstorm a list of all of the indoor pollutants they can think...
Mr Gym
Tunnel Tag
Tunnel tag requires players to form some kind of tunnel when they are tagged. In order to become unfrozen from being tagged, another player has to go through the tunnel they formed. There are several examples of tunnels that a player can...
Mr Gym
British Warm-Up Tag
British warm-up tag is a team dodgeball game. One ball, two teams. Run away from the person who has the ball in his hand to avoid being hit by the ball and eliminated from the game. If you have the ball in your hands, you may not move...
Mr Gym
Double Tunnel Tag
Double tunnel tag is just the same as tunnel tag but the players are now with a partner. This poses it's own challenges when running around and trying to avoid being tagged. The only difference from tunnel tag is that when a player is...
Mr Gym
Stepping Stone
Challenge your learners to cross a piranha-infested river. Actually, it's just the gym floor, and they are trying to get from point A to point B, but the story makes it a more interesting challenge. Each group has two mats a given...
Curated OER
Make a Sundial
Students explore space science by conducting a sun experiment in class. In this time telling instructional activity, students discuss how the sun sits in our sky at exact times each day and how astronomy is based on our perspective of...
Curated OER
Frisbee Horseshoes
What a great way to practice the art of throwing a Frisbee! This Frisbee Horseshoes instructional activity could be used as a warm-up or it could be made into an entire instructional activity. If the cones were placed different...
Curated OER
Soccer - Lesson 10 - Dribbling Practice & Mini Games
Lesson 10 in this soccer unit has the players practicing their dribbling skills before embarking on their mini games. Practice dribbling with the inside of the foot, the outside of the foot, dominant foot, nondominant foot, different...
Captain Planet Foundation
Sorting Out Soils
Sift through soil and learn about why it's important for organic processes. After discussing what makes up soil, such as the living organisms and what types of soil have more nutrients, kids sample layers of mulch and deeper soil to...