Berkshire Museum
The Three Life-Giving Sisters: Plant Cultivation and Mohican Innovation
Children gain first-hand experience with Native American agriculture while investigating the life cycle of plants with this engaging experiment. Focusing on what the natives called the Three Sisters - corn, beans, and squash - young...
Baylor College
Plant or Animal?
Teach your class about the necessities of life using the book Tillena Lou's Day in the Sun. After a teacher-read-aloud, students make puppets depicting different plants and animals from the story and illustrating the habitat in which...
Baylor College
Needs of Plants
What better way to learn about plant life than by creating a class garden? Young botanists start with a brief discussion about radishes before planting seeds and watching them grow. To determine the importance of water, sunlight, and...
Illustrative Mathematics
Growing Bean Plants
Plant growth experiments offer rich, cross-curricular learning opportunities that can really excite and engage young learners. In this series, children work in pairs planting, measuring, and comparing the height of bean plants in order...
Curated OER
The Cell as a System
Students review cell structures and investigate how the components of a cell operate as a system. They compare a plant and animal cell and then make a model of a cell. Students begin to understand the cell as a system by exploring a...
Curated OER
Plant Lifecycles
Students examine the life cycle of plants. In this plants lesson plan, students identify the various stages of plants and their parts. Students compare the life cycle of a plant with that of an animal. Activities suggested can be...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Plant Phenology Data Analysis
Scientists monitor seasonal changes in plants to better understand their responses to climate change, in turn allowing them to make predictions regarding the future. The last activity in the series of six has scholars analyze BudBurst...
Curated OER
Exploring Texture In the Garden
Students explore the garden environment. In this garden environment lesson, students investigate the needs and parts of a plant. Students discover the differences between fruits and vegetables while creating their own garden.
Curated OER
Gifts from the Sea
Students investigate parts of the ocean. In this seaweed lesson, students identify foods that contain seaweed, parts of seaweed, and how the ocean affects our lives. As a class students brainstorm ways we rely on the ocean and compare...
Curated OER
Growing a Lawn
Learners research plant growth. In this plant growth lesson, students explore the needs of plants. Learners compare and contrast grass and broadleaf plants and grow a miniature lawn in a cup of soil. Resources are provided.
Agriculture in the Classroom
Seed Match
Using this resource, your team of green thumbs discuss why plants are a part of a healthy diet and the different ways they are used in daily life. They then observe the characteristics of different seed as they attempt to match them with...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Plant Phenology Data Analysis
Beginning in 1851, Thoreau recorded the dates of the first spring blooms in Concord, and this data is helping scientists analyze climate change! The culminating instructional activity in the series of four has pupils graph and analyze...
Curated OER
The Effect of Tides & Elevation on Wetland Plant Communities
Students comprehend how tides can impact shoreline plant communities through the study of a freshwater tidal marsh. They use actual tidal data to show that tidal ranges differ among geographic locations, even those relatively close...
Curated OER
What Is It?
Play the game of Tag and differentiate between plants and animals. Explore the characteristics of plants. Identify the major parts of plants (e.g., seeds, stem, pistil) and describe their basic functions. Compare the requirements of some...
Curated OER
Photosynthesis
Fifth graders work in small groups to brainstorm responses to a problem related to some disaster that wipes out half or all plant life on earth. Groups complete a graphic organizer to compare and contrast their ideas. Students select...
August House
Go to Sleep, Gecko
Use this multidisciplinary lesson to delve into these subjects: English language arts, math, science, drama, and character education. After reading, discussing, and making interpretations about Go To Sleep, Gecko!: A Balinese Folktale by...
Curated OER
Our Friends the Trees
Students explore trees and learn about their importance to the environment. In this tree study lesson, students work in groups to complete a tree survey, a map for the survey, and several worksheets about the tree topics. students make a...
Curated OER
The Making of Steel
Students begin to explain the process, and gain an appreciation, of the enormity of a steel facility and the influence it had on the building of the city to run the steel plant. They access websites imbedded in this plan to view the...
Curated OER
Wappo Indian Baskets
Third graders research the basket-making skills of the Wappo tribe and their other uses of plants. They compare Wappo designs and plant use with those of other tribes. They explore their neighborhoods for plants to make baskets.
Curated OER
Estuarine Habitats
Sixth graders study the important habitats, flora, fauna, and physical factors of coastal habitats. They compare the aquatic habitats to terrestrial habitats by researching and completing tables with the information.
Curated OER
Graze Like a Cow
Students explore how a cow digests the grass they eat. In this science/math lesson, students compare the quality of forage. Additionally, students determine the effects of rangeland health on the production.
Curated OER
Fish and Flowers
Students read and discuss a research article that explains the unlikely link between increased fish populations and increased plant pollination. They answer reading guide questions to discover this ecological relationship.
Education Outside
Seed Saving
After a discussion of the factors that affect seed germination, class groups harvest and preserve seeds from the school garden.
California Academy of Science
Sustainable Water Solutions: Weighing the Pros and Cons
Switching indoor water fixtures to low flow reduces water usage by more than 45 percent. This and other solutions to reduce water usage have both pros and cons. Scholars view videos of different solutions, discuss them in small groups,...