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Sunflowers (Grades 3-8)
Students examine sunflowers and discuss the importance of sunflower cooking oil and seeds. They view pictures, read books, sing sunflower songs, and grow flowers from sunflower seeds.
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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.
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School Forest
Sixth graders explore the concept of biodiversity. For this biodiversity lesson, 6th graders discover a variety of planets and animals that live in forests, and how a rotting log benefits that environment. Students also...
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Critters of the Water
Students examine different organisms in various marine habitats. They identify any adaptations that have allowed the organisms to survive. They develop an imaginary organism and describe its life cycle.
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Introduce Vocabulary: a Day at the Apple Orchard
Students explore language arts by reading a story book in class. In this tier two vocabulary lesson, students read the book A Day at the Apple Orchard and identify the use of specific vocabulary words. Students define the selected vocab...
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Eco-Logical: A Coastal Logic Problem
Fourth graders study the characteristics of five coastal communities. They use logic cards and matching activities to identify the proper community for plant and animal species.
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Sowing Seeds of Service
Third graders use metric measuring for model and actual plan in designing a roof garden. They photograph the process, record results in a journal, and plant seedlings in small containers. Finally, 3rd graders complete an acid rain...
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Plant Parts and Functions
Fifth graders examine two or three unfamiliar flowers or fruits, such as eggplant and mango and realize that each flower or fruit comes from a flowering seed plant. They then identify the plants.
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How Does Your Garden Grow?
Students discover gardening by documenting plants grown on school grounds. In this botany activity, students utilize digital cameras to capture images of plants on photo hikes which are turned into a slide show. Students...
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Plant Diversity
In this nonfiction comprehension worksheet, students read the selection on plant diversity and answer 10 questions that include true/false, short answer, multiple choice, and fill in the blank.
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The Miracle Fish: Learning to Design an Experiment
Students develop procedures to explore the behavior of fish. In this scientific experiment instructional activity students from a hypothesis, write a question, identify different variables and controls in their experiment.
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The Role of Fire in Healthy Prairie, Brush and Forest Lands
Pupils create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast wildfires and prescribed fires. In this earth science lesson, students conduct a series of experiment to explore fire characteristics. They describe favorable conditions to start a...
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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.
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The Long Road to Coffee
Students organize picture cards of the sequene of how food gets from a farm to their home. They then sequence cards of how coffee grown in Colombia gets to their home comparing the differences.
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Photosynthesis and Cell Respiration
Fifth graders participate in scientific inquires regarding the concepts of photosynthesis and cell respiration. In this photosynthesis and cell respiration lesson, 5th graders describe the process of photosynthesis with relation to...
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Crickets on the Hearth
Learners investigate how crickets behave in cold temperatures. In this life science lesson, students explain the beneficial and harmful effect of pests. They research ways to properly manage them.
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The Compost Bucket
Students recognize that plants and soils have a close relationship. They view a photo essay on the common practice and natural process of composting. Afterwards, they observe the process of plant decay over the course of several days.
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Finding, Gathering, Saving Seeds
Students understand the importance of saving seeds. For this saving seeds lesson, students dry out seeds for later use planting. Students recognize that one plant may have many seeds.
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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...
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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.
Biology Junction
Introduction to Plants
In this biology lesson, students identify the different types and parts of the plant. They complete a crossword puzzle with 37 questions about plants.
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Biodiversity in Illinois-Pond Habitats
Second graders construct a pond habitat in the classroom using a small swimming pool partially filled with water, real cattails, a tree log adjoining, and plastic animal life appropriate to a pond setting. They examine the frog in detail...
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How do plant & animal cells make and use energy?
Learners show the relationship between the need for plants to undergo photosynthesis in order to generate oxygen. They see the flaws associated with this thinking because of the lack of CO2 and H2O and lack of sufficient gravity in order...
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Butterfly
Students use a purchased kit to explore the characteristics and life cycles of several butterflies including the Monarch, Western Swallowtail, Red Admiral and Painted Lady. They create a plaster casting of each species for study and...