Curated OER
Sun Seeking Plants
Students investigate the story "The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carle. This story is used to introduce the children to the concept that seeds change and grow into plants when conditions in the environment including temperature, light, water and...
Curated OER
Frog Metamorphosis
Students play 20 Questions with animal characteristics and then view an animation of how a tadpole changes into a frog. They consider the importance of camouflage to frogs and write out the story of a frog from tadpole to adult.
Curated OER
Beaver Ecology
Students explore the lives of bgeahvers. They identify the physical and behavioral adaptations that help beavers survive in their environment. Students compare and contrast how beavers influence the ecology of both forest and aquatic...
Curated OER
People-Growing and Changing
Second graders study how people grow and change. In this health lesson, 2nd graders describe how they have changed over the years and guess who each student is after looking at everyone's baby pictures.
Curated OER
From Seed to Apple
Students identify the stages of apple growth. In this agricultural lesson, students read the story I Am Apple and sing the song "Round the Apple Tree." Students place pictures of the stages of an apple into the correct order. Students...
Curated OER
The Global Impact of Insect Borne Diseases & Agriculture
Students study the global impact of insect borne diseases, the appropriate use of pesticides, and the concept of human interrelations on a world wide scale. They examine how to safely apply a pesticide, according to the label.
Curated OER
From Corn To Tortillas
Students investigate the food known as the tortilla. They research the growth cycle of the corn plant and how tortillas are made from it. The importance of the tortilla according to the Hispanic culture is explained to the students. The...
Curated OER
Window Gardens
High schoolers use a plastic sandwich bag containing a damp paper towel taped to a window as a model system to observe the germination and early growth of radish seeds. They are challenged to pose a question about seed germination and...
Curated OER
the Naturalist's Notebook
Third graders, after brainstorming what they already know about trees and what effect the seasons have on them, create a model of a hollow log. They participate in a young naturalist's notebook writing activity while walking outside...
Curated OER
Plants and Animals of Great Bay Animals and Plants of the Estuary
Students participate in a webquest about the plants and animals that inhabit an estuary. They role play as environmentalists researching this habitat and present the results of their research in a creative way.
Curated OER
Powerful Potato
Young scholars are introduced to the growth process of a potato. As a class, they place a potato on a plate and observe how long it takes for the eyes to appear. In groups, they follow a recipe to make potato soup that is shared with...
Curated OER
What Secrets Are Hiding in My Schoolyard?
Students investigate germination. In this schoolyard activity, students collect soil samples and germinate seeds. Students study how seeds remain dormant until conditions are right for germination.
Curated OER
If It Smells Good, Is Edible, and Attracts Wildlife, Then It's a Practical Garden
Students explore landscape design. In this practical gardening lesson, students design landscape plans that call for shrubs, trees, and plants that can be used for aesthetics, cooking, and wildlife.
Curated OER
Ecosystem Food Web Mural
Learners create a food web mural about an ecosystem of the freshwater marsh. For this food web lesson plan, students write about the organisms and how each one depends on another.
Curated OER
Mushroom Prints
Learners create a mushroom spore design on paper while studying the facts on fungi.
Curated OER
Seed Bugs; Stage 2
Students examine nature by participating in an environmental art activity. In this imaginary creature lesson, students discuss the importance of a habitat when pertaining to wild animals or bugs. Students utilize tree parts which they...
Curated OER
Milkweed and Monarch Butterfly puzzle
In this milkweed and monarch butterfly worksheet, students complete a crossword puzzle about milkweed and monarch butterflies. Students complete 15 blanks in the puzzle.
Curated OER
Milkweed and Monarch Butterfly Puzzle
In this milkweed bug and monarch butterfly worksheet, students complete a crossword puzzle dealing with milkweed bugs and monarch butterflies. Students answer 15 questions in the puzzle.
Curated OER
Signs of the Seasons
Students closely observe the natural world, record data, and notice patterns as the seasons unfold, they build a deeper understanding of seasonal change! The definition of phonology is the focus of this lesson and how it changes...
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Pond Safari
Students investigate organisms and animals by examining a nearby pond. In this ecosystem instructional activity, students participate in a field trip to a local pond where they utilize a net to gather animals, plants and pollution items,...
Curated OER
Illnois River and Lake Mussel Habitat Diorama Activity
Students identify the environmental elements of river and lake mussels. They compare the elements to the time before settlement and during industrialization. They also participate in a field trip to a mussel exhibit.
Curated OER
What's In The Forest?
Students examine forest food chains and create a forest habitat in the classroom. They are introduced to the concept of interdependence in Nature. They define a simple forest food chain and develop inquiry process skills.
Curated OER
Mystery Caterpillar Challenge and IPM or Organic Gardening Practices
For this caterpillar worksheet, students look at the picture of the caterpillar and identify what kind it is. Students then decide how to take care of it.
Project SMART
Dinosaur Trek
Second graders investigate dinosaurs. They explore various websites, submit questions to a paleontologist online, construct cut and paste model dinosaur skeletons, develop a graph to compare dinosaurs, and label pictures from online...