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Four Seasons Class Mural
Students create a class mural showing them involved in different activities appropriate for the season they are examining. They describe the season they are examining and activities related to it. They practice using their listening and...
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The Letter Race
Students practice identifying the letters in the alphabet. They use this activity in phyical education class and run to each letter when they identify it correctly. They also state the name of different objects throughout the room.
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Echo Location
Students participate in a role-playing activity that demonstrates how whales use sound as an adaptation to their environment.
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Children's Health: Children Aren't Little Adults
This lesson is a compilation of interdisciplinary, technology-infused activities that focus on the often complicated and sometimes controversial issues related to toxic chemicals in children's environment. Special emphasis is placed on...
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Water in the Atmosphere
A slide show serves as the backdrop for a lesson on the moisture in Earth's atmosphere. Through it, mini meteorologists learn about the attributes of the atmosphere and actually use data-collecting weather tools to make observations and...
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Private & Public
Some disabled high schoolers have a difficulty understanding what is and what is not publicly appropriate behavior. Help them build healthy social skills by defining public and private behaviors, labeling public and private places, and...
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Soccer Scatter
Students practice dribbling the ball with his/her feet and passing to a partner.
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Port Hole
Third graders work together to lift and pass each other through a tire. They simulate time travel and decide on an object they would take with them through the time portal. They reflect on their experiences and consider the importance of...
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A Tree-mendous Project
Seventh graders use their observation and measurement skills to identify trees. Using a tree diagram, they label the parts and discuss the functions of the tree. They practice using a dichotomous key to identify trees as well.
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Poetry and Nature
Students observe an object in nature and record them. In groups, they create a group poem about the same object. They create their own poem based on another object using other their senses to help them. They share their poems with the...
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Up the Down Tree House
Students investigate the decomposition process. In this ecology lesson, students participate in a play, "Up the Treehouse" where the main idea focuses on a decomposing tree and how food chains are effected by decomposition. After the...
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Tree Cookies
Students identify heartwood, sapwood, and a tree's annual rings, infer from a tree's rings what damage or stress might have occurred in its life, and make a time-line of human history that coincides with a tree's rings.
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Illinois Biodiversity
Young scholars examine the amount of biodiversity in the state of Illinois. They practice using new vocabulary and listening to stories about animals. After given time to reflect, they write their own haiku. They work together to create...
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Photosynthesis
Young scholars are introduced to the process of photosynthesis. In groups, they test the effects of the lack of sunlight on plant leaves and compare the results with their hypothesis. They note the characteristics that plants and animals...
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Tree Identification/Tree Art
Seventh graders identify and examine a deciduous and coniferous tree. Using the descriptions, they discover the types of tress in their local area. As a class, they practice identifying trees on a walk in a park collecting leaves. They...
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Composition and Line
Students examine the use of composition and line as they create original drawings. In this composition and line instructional activity, students recognize the art vocabulary associated with line and composition. Students...
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Field Trip Preparation
Students prepare for a field trip. They navigate through a Underground Network site. This "field trip" can be conducted in a patch of healthy grass or soil anywhere you can find it: right outside your building, in a backyard or at a...
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Views of the American West: True or False?
Students explain that a landscape painting may or may not accurately represent a specific place. They identify techniques that create the illusion of three-dimensional space on a flat surface.
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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...
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Conservation in Action
Students research the life and works of Rachel Carson. In this conservation lesson, students discuss environmental protection and why protection of wildlife is important. Students read a Rachel Carson Fact Sheet and work in groups...
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Habitat Hunt
Students discover how hard it is for animals to find all the items needed in their habitat. In this habitat lesson, students play a game in which they pretend to be an animal, they discover that not all animals can find the food needed...
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Balance of Nature Pyramid
Students study the concept of food chains and create a physical forest food chain pyramid. In this balance of nature pyramid instructional activity, students identify the ingredients needed on each level of the pyramid then make...
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Build A Tree
Young scholars study the different parts of a tree and the significance of each part. In this build a tree lesson, students use role-playing theater to reinforce what they are learning. Young scholars use their imagination to...