NOAA
El Niño
El Nino, La Nina ... and the Santa Maria? The 11th installment of a 23-part NOAA Enrichment in Marine sciences and Oceanography (NEMO) program explains the mechanism of El Nino/Southern Oscillation. Pupils use previous data to determine...
Curated OER
Seasons and Cloud Cover, Are They Related?
Students use NASA satellite data to see cloud cover over Africa. In this seasons instructional activity students access data and import it into Excel.
Curated OER
Microclimates of Our School
Learners read the story "Weslandia" by Paul Fleischman, define the term microclimate, gather and record data in various places on school grounds to establish the presence of difference microclimates, analyze and compare microclimates,...
California Academy of Science
A Day inthe Life of a San Francisco Native Animal
Although the lesson is specifically about the San Francisco Bay area, it's good enough to be adapted to any local region. Children research what the landscape in San Francisco was like prior to settlement, they consider the types of...
California Academy of Science
A Day in the Life of a San Francisco Native Animal
Before Google, before Sillicon Valley, before the Gold Rush, the San Francisco landscape was a biome filled with grizzly bears, mule deer, tule elk, coyotes, gray fox, gophers, and moles. To explore the early days of yesteryear, kids...
Rainforest Alliance
Forests of Guatemala
With 90 percent of its land area covered in forests, Suriname, a country in South America, contains the largest percentage of forests throughout the world. Here is an activity that brings classmates together to learn about the...
Curated OER
Birds and Migration
Students actively simulate bird migration. In this animal migration lesson, students participate in an activity that simulates the migration of birds. The teacher discusses with the class the hazards and difficulties birds face during...
Curated OER
World Meteorological Day
In this World Meteorological Day instructional activity, students read or listen to a passage, then match phrases, fill in the blanks, choose the correct word, unscramble words and sentences, put sentences in order, write discussion...
Curated OER
Acid and Rain and Its Effects
Students work in groups for up to three weeks to investigate the possibility of acid rain in your area and to investigate the damage that acid rain can do to buildings, monuments, and plants. Each group prepares a report to local...
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
Fantasy / Art Maps
Ninth graders analyze a fantasy art map by Jeremy Anderson, paying careful attention to the way the topographic features of the land are represented. They create a similar map of Sacramento that includes topographical features as well as...
Curated OER
Create Your Own Fog
Students conduct an experiment. In this science lesson plan, students create their own fog. Students observe the results.
Curated OER
Create Your Own Lightning
Students conduct an experiment. In this lightning lesson plan, students use a blanket and a dark room to simulate lightning.
Curated OER
Guetemala's Changing Forest
Eighth graders compare their local ecological zone to the tropical rainforest. In this natural ecology lesson, 8th graders complete an activity about the differences in ecological zones. They compare their biome to the Guatemalan...
Curated OER
A Day in the Life of a San Francisco Native Animal
Learners write from an animal's perspective. In this writing lesson plan students explore the landscape of San Francisco prior to the arrival of the explorers. Learners research animals indigenous to the area.
Curated OER
Solar Cycle
Learners explore the solar cycle through a series of experiments. In this space science activity, students construct and evaluate solar cycle graphs. They explain how this phenomenon affects the Earth.
Curated OER
50 States: New England States
Students discover where certain states are located and what the look like. They look for their information on a web site. Each student is assigned a state which they must research then present to the entire class.
Curated OER
Geography of the Study of the Spanish-speaking People of Texas
Young scholars identify the physical features, demographic characteristics, and history of the four Texas towns featured in Russell Lee's photo essay, "The Spanish-Speaking People of Texas." They conduct Internet research, and create a...
Curated OER
Animals, Soil, Trees
Fourth graders describe the various kinds of soils and how plants and animals are affected by them. They describe the baic needs of plants, scoring at least a 3 or 4 on a 4-point rubic. Students are able to predict and/or infer what...
Curated OER
Forest Succession
Students research environmental change and why forests cannot stay the same for long. In this environmental growth instructional activity, students discuss the life cycle of a tree and examine tree cookies to discover the age of these...
Curated OER
Making Sense of Unusual Findings
Students work on the development of observation skills and seeing how they can be used in different contexts. The lesson is good for helping the beginner and novice, along with encouraging and reminding the expert observer of right...
Curated OER
Japan and Art
Students discuss the art of Japan as it relates to Japanese culture and geography and then create individual postcards reflecting the information learned from the instructional activity. This instructional activity includes possible...
Curated OER
Trees: Are They Thriving or Surviving?
In this trees survival lesson plan, 8th graders discuss what trees need to grow, brainstorm things that could adversely affect tree growth, and compare characteristics of thriving trees vs. surviving trees. Students learn about the trees...
Curated OER
What is Drought?
Learners explore and conduct an experiment on the effects of drought on the environment. They define what drought is and the impact that a shortage of rainfall can have on agriculture, municipal water supplies, tourism, recreation, etc.