Curated OER
Life Cycles in Action - Flip Book
Students create a flip book to depict animal and plant life cycles. In this life cycle instructional activity, students discuss life cycles. Students receive a plant or animal and pictures of its life cycle. Students color the pictures...
Curated OER
Marine Habitats of Galveston Island
Four lessons introduce elementary ecologists to salt marsh and sandy beach habitats. In the first lesson, they place shells and other materials in vinegar to determine if they contain calcium carbonate. In the second lesson, they read a...
Curated OER
Week 8 - Sea Life
Using a magnifier, mini marine biologists examine the barbules of a bird feather. They swirl the it into a mixture of oil and water and then re-examine the feather. After the activity, discuss how the oily feathers pose a problem to sea...
Science Matters
Island Fox Outreach
Off the coast of California lives a wild animal called the Island Fox. Experts discuss the importance of the Island Fox to the Channel Islands and the balance the fox creates within its ecosystem. The lesson concludes with a reading of...
Curated OER
Octopus Lesson Plan
Children explore the life of an octopus. They listen to a story, answer prediction questions and share their prior knowledge of animals. Young scholars observe the defense mechanism of the octopus. They create an imaginary defense...
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Teachers' Guide to Using A Day In the Life of a Drop
Hydrology hopefuls learn about their local watershed. Through discussion and online interactives, they see that their habits affect the water supply. The activity concludes with a pledge to filter out bad water usage habits. It makes a...
Curated OER
Animals and Plants of BC's Rocky Shore: lesson 3
Learners create a mural of the food chain of the animals and plants of BC's rocky shore. In this food chain lesson plan, students also play a food chain matching game.
Curated OER
Hatching Chickens
Students observe and care for eggs and chickens. In this life cycles lesson, students recall facts about chickens and how they hatch. Students read the article Hatching Eggs in the Classroom and observe the life cycle of the chicken in a...
Curated OER
Living or Non-Living
Students examine living and non-living things. In this life science instructional activity, students are given a group of objects and discuss if they are living or non-living. Students identify and list characteristics of living things.
Curated OER
Tamar Burris
Students explore genetics. In this life cycle lesson, students consider the meaning of "genes" and "heredity" as they watch a video about the topics. Students then research their own genetic make-up as they interview family members....
Curated OER
Stream Study
Students study the characteristics of a stream habitat. In this life science lesson, students use sieves, nets, and jars to collect aquatic organisms. Students also measure the temperature of the stream and calculate the speed of the...
Curated OER
The Marvels of Mud
Young scientists roll up their sleeves and get a little dirty in this three-day earth science investigation. Following the scientific method, children monitor the growth of algae in pond water samples in order to determine the role that...
Science Matters
Crawly Composters
Get your hands dirty with an interactive lesson that showcases the process of decomposing and returning nutrients back into the soil. After building a compost pile, pupils regularly observe the ways worms help with changes to the soil...
Curated OER
Butterfly Snack Shack
Students research butterflies and their life cycle, record facts about butterflies such as what they eat, where they rest, and how long they live, gather information about how to attract butterflies to their yards and gardens, and create...
Curated OER
Leaf-Motif Frame
Students research leaves and their life cycle as well as their importance to the environment. After discussing photosynthesis, habitats, and nutrients for the soil, students collect and identify fallen leaves. Students use their...
Curated OER
Nature's Perfect Recycler
What a great way to start a recycling lesson! Introduce your students to the dung beetle! They will get a kick out of "nature's perfect recycler," when they learn about the scarab beetle's way of life: eating dung and rotting...
Alabama Wildlife Federation
Life in a Pond
What living things call an aquatic habitat home? Young learners consider the question after they discuss the characteristics of a typical pond habitat. They identify an animal and then determine if a pond would have all the components to...
Curated OER
Studying our Senses
Who would not want an opportunity to taste jellybeans in class? During this investigation, life science learners hold their noses as they take a taste test and find that our perception of flavor is connected with our sense of smell. In...
Curated OER
Life Science- Useful Waste
Fourth graders explore the topic of waste and recycling. In this useful waste instructional activity, 4th graders classify objects and sort them into most usable and least usable categories. Students complete an activity sheet and have a...
Curated OER
A Rat's Life
Here is a two-page instructional activity on rats and mice. Learners answer nine true/false questions about rats and mice, then compose answers to seven short-answer questions about these two rodents. Finally, they must compose a...
Michigan Sea Grant
Great Lakes, Great Careers
Pupils play a question-asking game to investigate careers relating to marine and aquatic science, then conduct research to further investigate the career of their choice—examples range from marine veterinarian to underwater...
Curated OER
Teaching Science to English Language Learners
Use these hands on lesson plans to make science more accessible for English Language Learners in your classroom.
Curated OER
Indianapolis 500 Unit-Science
Fourth graders access prior knowledge of simple machines to build a car. In this car design lesson, 4th graders create and race their cars. Students evaluate what was good and bad about their designs. Each car will incorporate a simple...
