Biology Junction
Land Biomes
Biomes share similar climates and ecosystems, despite being separated geographically on the planet. A presentation introduces the six most common land biomes. It focuses on the commonalities in climate, plants, and animals with many...
Curated OER
Bug Work
Students explore the life cycles of insects and how they interact with each other in the prairie to create a healthy ecosystem and viable food chain. They list animals or insects in their own community that are similar to the prairie...
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The Formation and Value of Temperate Grasslands
Students get an overview of the climate and organisms of the North American Prairie. After a lecture, and watching some videos imbedded in this plan, students compile research data on the North American Prairie.
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Habitats - Explore the World Around You.
Explore the habitats found around the world. The Desert, Rain Forest, Tundra, Prairie, Grassland, Forest, Marine and Zoo habitats are all covered in this easy to follow presentation. Each slide has a themed background picture, several...
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Where's the Grass
Students participate in a grassland game. In this grassland lesson plan, students simulate the impact of grazing animals and invasive weeds on grasslands.
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Prairie Dogs: Finding the Balance
Students study about prairie dogs and determine the mean, median, and mode of a prairie dog tow's population.
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Striking a Balance
Young scholars demonstrate understanding of food chain by assuming roles of animals, playing tag, and simulating feeding relationships.
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Prairie Food Chains & Webs
Learners complete a food chain. In this ecosystem lesson, students learn about producers, consumers and decomposers. Learners identify herbivores, carnivores and omnivores and complete two worksheets.
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Prairie Field Trip
Students study prairie conservation and the plant and animal life within. In this prairie life lesson plan students divide into groups and complete a lab activity.
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The Role of Fire in Healthy Prairie, Brush and Forest Lands
Students create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast wildfires and prescribed fires. In this earth science instructional activity, students conduct a series of experiment to explore fire characteristics. They describe favorable...
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The Web of Life
Students construct a food web to learn how living things in an ecosystem are interconnected. In this food web simulation lesson, students will be assigned an animal and the teacher will represent the sun. Students and teacher discuss...
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Striking a Balance
Students participate in an activity that demonstrates the principles and dynamics of food chains. They discover that the sun's energy is captured by individual plants and transferred to animals.
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Wagons Ho! Hard Times! Hard Choices!
You have just hit the lesson plan jackpot! This isn't just a instructional activity, it's a ten-day unit covering westward expansion, pioneer life, and the Oregon Trail. Activities include baking, model building, role-play, newspaper...
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Praire Biome Models
Fifth graders, in groups, list the physical characteristics of a biome and think of ways in which animals might have to adapt to live there and make a biome mobile ball that show the different types of habitats that shape the praire biome.
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Forest Habitat Fragmentation
Seventh graders discuss the loss of animal habitats and the importance of refuge areas for them. They collect small pictures of animals found in their state and glue them to an outline of their state according to their range. Finally,...
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Ecology
Students explore, experience and experiment identifying the human impact on the environment of vegetative differences within the same biome. They assess what causes deserts, rain forests, savannahs, tundras and saguaros and how these...
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Exploring Regions of Our World
Examine how climate and landforms affect plants and animals that live in particular areas. Discover that these same factors affect peoples' homes, jobs, and recreational activities. Pupils research ecosystems and biomes, and then write...
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Boom and Bust in the Ozark Forests
Here is a hard-hitting, cross-curricular lesson plan on the effects that the deforestation of the Ozark forests in the 19th century had on the people, animals, and ecosystems of the area. The Dr. Seuss book The Lorax is used as a way of...
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Fish and Wildlife in America
Some of the details of the use of wildlife as food and crop resources are given at the beginning of this slideshow. Next, the historical problems with wildlife are explained, as are some mistakes that have been made leading to extinction...
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The Role of Fire in Healthy Prairie, Brush and Forest Lands
Sixth graders read and discuss background information and brainstorm reasons for wildfires. They use a Venn Diagram to list the similarities and differences between wildfires and prescribed fires and then track the weather forecast for...
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Identifying plants, animals, insects, reptiles, and birds on the prairie
Students identify all of the plant an animal life on the prairie. In this plant identification lesson students divide into groups and draw sketches of things they saw on the prairie.
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Listening to the Prairie
Students, in groups, visit an exhibit and for a prairie scavenger hunt to locate sunflowers and name products made from them. After sketching a prairie dog, they find nature cues farmers use when growing plants and raising animals. The...
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At Home on the Prairie
Learners discover the importance of the bison within the prairie ecosystem and Native American culture, and explain the importance of habitat and place to living organisms.
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Links in the Chain of Life
Using the prairie dog community as an example, middle school ecologists examine the food web. Pairs of learners take one species in the community and research its role in the ecosystem. They share their findings with the rest of the...