Minnesota Department of Natural Resoures
Getting to Know Trees
Celebrate the beauty of trees with a packet full of activities designed to help kindergarteners get to know about their leafy nature friends. Covering a variety of subjects, scholars go on a nature hike, read Shel Silverstein's The...
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Dating a Volcanic Eruption
Students discover the various ways in which tree rings can give information. After a brief disucssion of concentric tree rings, they use cross section cut outs of tree rings to identify the time and type of various naturally occuring...
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Find the Meaning of Christmas with Charlie Brown
The spirit of the holidays can shine through with an exploration of A Charlie Brown Christmas and activities that focus on giving.
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Time and Seasons
Here is an engaging crossword puzzle which focuses on time and the seasons of the year. Learners determine the answers to 17 clues using words that are associated with time and seasons. They complete sentences about months, holidays,...
Global Oneness Project
A Vanishing Island
The effects of rising sea levels on Isle de Jean Charles, located off the coast of Louisiana, are documented in Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee's poignant short video. Viewers are asked to consider not only the plight of residents but also what...
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The Climate Change Skeptic's Argument: Natural Solar Cycles or Human Activity?
Teachers explore patterns in sunspots and total solar irradiance to understand the counterpoint to the human effect of global warming. In this professional development tool, teachers work through a lesson plan on the sun's natural...
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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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Tree Friends
Students are introduced to tree structure and use. They identify their special tree using all senses except sight. Students identify six different internal parts within a cross section of tree trunk (bark, phloem, xylem, cambium,...
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Weather "Whys" Lesson 2 Seasons
Students explore seasons. In this cross curriculum weather and seasons lesson, students identify characteristics of the four seasons and sequence related pictures. Students listen to poems and stories about trees in different...
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Seasons
First graders investigate the four seasons of the year. In this seasons lesson plan, 1st graders identify the correct order of seasons, discover different climates, and examine how to dress appropriately for each season.
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Fall Lesson Plans
Students participate in various fall activities. In this fall instructional activity, students take a trip to a farmers market and purchase the ingredients needed for vegetable soup. Students paint fall scenes and create a fall story....
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Seasons
Students listen to stories about the seasons, and discuss the kinds of clothing people wear for each season. They take a walk, collecting items to go with each season, then draw pictures to match the season.
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The Night Tree
Second graders explore the book, Night Tree, by Eve Bunting. They read and discuss the story, identify what the tree did for the animals, create a food chain for animals to hang on a tree, and decorate a tree at school.
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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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Flora, Fauna, and the Passing Seasons
Students discover representations in art, religion and cultural practices of the flora and fauna of specific geographical regions in this early elementary lesson plan. The lesson ends with a mural project by the entire class.
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Mapping a Refuge
Students record observations gathered while at a national wildlife refuge. In this lesson on wildlife refuges, students choose an observation spot and record seasonal changes throughout the year.
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Apple: Bare to Pick
Students investigate the seasons of the apple tree. In tree seasons lesson, students use a sun model and a globe to study the tilt of the Earth to create the seasons. Students discuss the tilt and the seasons. Students discuss...
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African Pride- Reading Comprehension
In this reading comprehension worksheet, students read a speech which the President of South Africa delivered. Students answer questions, and write an essay.
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Bursting Buds
In this spring worksheet, students choose any of the 6 activities pertaining to the season of spring to do with their families. Students also may list the books about spring they have read.
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A Day in the Life
Students write an essay. In this comparison lesson, students read about a child's typical day on a fair trade cocoa farm in the Dominican Republic. Students write about a typical morning of a child in the US and make comparisons.
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Earth Day - Bursting Beans
Students fill jars with dried beans and water, cover the jars, and wait to see what happens in this excellent Science experiment ideal for Earth Day (April 22nd). Emphasis is placed on discovering the reactions of seeds to water.
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Weather or Not!
Students are introduced to the different climate regions of Canada. In groups, they discuss ways in which people are affected by the weather and how it limits their outdoor activities. They use artwork by Robert Harris to predict what...
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The Earth's Rain Forests
Students study the importance of the world's rain forests. In this rain forest lesson, students read about the role of the rain forests in the world's environment. Students then write a formal letter to a member of Congress or Senate...
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What Makes a House a House
Students examine the ways in which the environment influences the house design. They describe how the physical environment, weather and local materials influence the type of house a family builds. They draw a house according to a given...