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.
Curated OER
Plants 'n' Bugs
Second graders experiment to find if pollinators have color preferences. In this plant and bug instructional activity, 2nd graders gather information about how flowers pollinate. Students participate in a pollination experiment using...
Oklahoma Ag in The Classroom
Bee Smart Bee Happy
Here is a wonderfully designed lesson on bees and pollination designed for early elementary learners. After a class discussion on bees, pupils pretend to be a bee by picking up nectar off of "flowers" in the class. The flowers are...
Curated OER
Bats: Need Nectar, Will Travel
Beginning wildlife biologists become adult bats, baby bats, snakes, owls, bobcats, or land-clearing developers in a grand role-playing activity. In a large open space, they play a game in which they move to designated areas based on what...
Curated OER
The Value of a Garden
Students explore the history of taxonomy, the work of Carl Linnaeus, and the factors involved in the decline and extinction of a variety of botanical species.
Curated OER
If the Forests Could TAlk
Third graders research insects using the internet sites provided. They research the role of insects as pollinators for plants, and the impact they have on our ecosystem. They participate in various activities/centers utilizing the facts...
Desert Discoveries
What's the Buzz on Native Bees?
Young biologists describe the different types of bees that are native to the Sonoran Desert. They look at the nesting and feeding requirements of the insects, and study how they are able to pollinate many plants found in the environment....
Curated OER
Hummingbirds and Flowers: A Study of Co-Adaptive Relationships
Hummingbirds and flowers need each other to survive! Pupils explore the co-adaptation of hummingbirds and the flowering plants. They explain how a flowering plant has adapted to be pollinated by a hummingbird and how the hummingbird has...
PBS
Season Seeking
It's a time of change. A hands-on activity engages young scientists in a lesson highlighting the change of seasons. They brainstorm indicators of season changes in nature and then look for them. Next, they record observations in a field...
Primary Resources
Science - The Parts of a Flower
Here is what a PowerPoint presentation should look like! This excellent show lets students know what they will be learning about, takes them through nicely-designed examples, leaves room for discussion questions, has a built-in activity,...
English Worksheets Land
A Tale of Two Gardens
Gardening is fun, no matter what you're growing. A reading comprehension activity encourages learners to compare and contrast two gardens that grow different items.
Curated OER
Honey ! I Blew Up The Bee!
Second graders complete a variety of bee-themed activities. They consider the importance of honeybees in food production, conduct Internet research, prepare foods using honey, complete puzzles and compile a portfolio of their work.
Curated OER
Coevolution: A Simulation
Students participate in a demonstration in which they must attempt to suck liquid from varying containers with straws of varying sizes. They discuss the concept of coevolution and see why this activity illustrate the coevolution of...
Curated OER
Dry Forest: Flowers
Students explore botany by examining diagrams. In this plant reproduction lesson plan, students define a list of plant vocabulary terms and identify plant anatomy from a diagram. Students complete several plant activity worksheets and...
Curated OER
Good Bug Survey
In this bug survey worksheet, students fill in squares on a graphic organizer with information about flowers currently blooming, hiding places for "good bugs," and any bugs they have seen that are helpful for pollination, as food for...
Curated OER
The Great Pollinators
Young scholars discover the reproductive parts of a plant. In this biology lesson, students identify and categorize several different plants they dissect in class. Young scholars record their information using a data chart.
Curated OER
Plant Structure and Function
Students examine the structure of Velcro and its function then relate it to seeds and seed stock. In this experimental lesson students test seed activity and what its function is for the plant, examine seeds under a microscope, and do a...
Curated OER
Plant Pollution
Learners study the different parts of a flower and their functions. For this pollination lesson students study a flower under a microscope.
Curated OER
Into the Bat Cave
Students explore the lives of bats. In this bat lesson plan, students participate in up 6 activities that focus on bats and build their background knowledge about the nocturnal mammals.
Desert Discoveries
Creating a Garden Journal
Youngsters create science journals which are used to record observations from the school garden. The goal of this activity is to help kids tune into nature by making daily observations on the growth of the plants, and also to take note...
Curated OER
Bird Interdisciplinary Possibilities
Learners explore birds, their territory, breeding, and seasonal movement. They research and collect information on birds through writing letters to ornithologists, reading in books, comparing web sites, and observing pictures. Students...
Curated OER
Flower Power
Students use video learning to explore how flowers make seeds and dissect their own flower, and make a flower with its reproductive parts out of construction paper.
Curated OER
Growing Tomatoes From Seed Activity
In this growing tomatoes worksheet, students plant tomato seeds in February, and follow their growth through the summer break. They observe and investigate the plant growth from seed to plant.
Curated OER
Honeybees are Vanishing
Young scholars decide if they agree with a series of statements about the bee population, then read a news article about the disappearance of millions of U.S. honeybees. In this biology and current events lesson, the teacher introduces...