Curated OER
Mealworms
Crawl into the world of the darkling beetle with this scientific investigation. Watch as the insects move through the larval, pupal, and adult stages of life, recording observations along the way. Discuss the necessities of life as young...
Curated OER
“THE LORAX” by Dr. Seuss
Few children's books convey the message of conservation as well as Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. Read the story aloud, emphasizing the interconnectedness of plants and animals in an ecosystem and discussing different ways people can help the...
California Academy of Science
Notice and Wonder
Pint-sized zoologists practice the art of observation. They take notes, pictures or written, as they observe an animal for a period of time. This can be done at the zoo, with a visiting classroom animal, or perhaps at the humane society....
Curated OER
Exploring Owls
What can young scientists discover from dissecting an owl pellet? Explore the owl food chain, beginning with an introduction to these predatory birds. Suggested strategies here include creating a podcast and purchasing a poster, however...
US Apple Association
Apples: A Class Act! (Grades Pre-K–3)
Discover the nutritional wonders of apples and get to know Johnny Appleseed with a plethora of learning experiences that cover subjects math, history, English language arts, health, and arts and crafts. Activities include an apple...
Teacher Created Resources
Problem and Solution: By Jove, I Think You've Got It
Through grand conversation, help scholars identify issues that harm the Earth and find solutions on how to solve them. After voting—on what your class deems the most important problem—stretch writing muscles with a problem-solution essay...
Curated OER
Butterfly Life Cycle
Focused little scientists will flitter their arms back and forth across the room with excitement as they learn the life cycle of a butterfly and how living things grow and change over time.
Wordpress
Access (1st Year) Pen Pal Format
Help young writers make a good first impression on their pen pals with this personal letter template. Including sentence frames and word banks, this resource supports children as they learn to write personal descriptions using complete...
Baylor College
Safe Food Preparation
Who doesn't love ice cream? Make this delicious dessert with your class while learning about food preparation in the tenth lesson of this series. Teach about the importance of cleanliness and proper cooking techniques in order to avoid...
Curated OER
Oklahoma's Berry Best
Ask your learners to complete activities related to Oklahoma's agriculture, berries in particular. The lesson is cross-curricular and has class members investigate an article about berries, write an acrostic poem, and discuss new...
Scholastic
Thanksgiving Lessons Grades PreK-2
A quintessential resource for teaching an elementary unit on the first Thanksgiving addresses a variety of skills, including informational reading, critical thinking, comparing and contrasting facts, technology tools, and historical...
Curated OER
Pumpkins By the Pound
Use pumpkins of various sizes to experiment with weight and perimeter. First the class lifts the pumpkins one by one, estimating each pumpkin's weight. They arrange the pumpkins from lightest to heaviest, and then string weigh each one...
Curated OER
A Hidden Beauty
Expose the beautiful mystery of bulbs as young botanists learn all about these fascinating plants. They glean information from a short text before observing actual bulbs (consider an onion), and comparing their findings with predictions....
Curated OER
Garden Grid
Basically, your class reads about different garden plants from an included handout and seed packets that you provide, and then uses a grid to plan out where to place the plants. They can practice counting with the seeds, grouping,...
Curated OER
Mighty Earth Movers
Note that although the publisher lists almost all of the Common Core standards for both math and language arts, you will most likely want to take the general topic and choose which area to focus on. Regarding math, pupils measure worms...
![Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Introduction to the Nature Journal [Pdf] Unit Plan](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Introduction to the Nature Journal [Pdf] Unit Plan")
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Introduction to the Nature Journal [Pdf]
Smithsonian in the Classroom presents "Introduction to the Nature Journal." Teachers can download this comprehensive teaching package in which students will practice and develop their skills of writing observations and making hypotheses....
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Writing Across the Curriculum
Designed by groups of Nevada teachers, this collection of modules and lesson plans is continually growing. Find suggestions for incorporating good writing practices in non-language arts areas of the curriculum from history to science.
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Writing Fix Homepage
Have you ever needed someone to help you out with your writing? This site offers help to students and teachers. The lessons and resources are organized based on the 6 Writing Traits model. An especially interesting feature of the site is...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Reasons to Write
This video segment from Between the Lions features a motivating, kid-friendly song that celebrates the reasons to write in everyday life.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Come Along Daisy
Students will engage in discussions about story details and write an informational piece about the events in the story "Come Along Daisy".
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Let's Write About the American Flag
Students will brainstorm adjectives to describe the American Flag and will write two descriptive sentences for homework. Students will also create star art to accompany their writing to show the relationship between words and pictures...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Revise and Revisit: Butterflies
Students will take a previously created paragraph and edit it to make it better by adding details, definitions, a topic sentence, or a closure to an informational paragraph. Resources include a PowerPoint presentation and pictures and...
Utah Education Network
Uen: Grade 1 on Demand Opinion Writing Samples
This collection of opinion essays prompted first graders to write about a "best pet." From the Vermont Writing Collaborative, with Student Achievement Partners and CCSSO, these written pieces are part of the In-Common: Effective Writing...
Other
Grade 1 Informative Writing Lessons
Authored by the Tsehai Russell and Della Wright, CLR fellows, this resource provides a 5-day unit of informative writing lessons. Focus lessons related to facts and opinions and paragraph writing. This series is supported by the Academic...