Scholastic
Study Jams! Aquatic Ecosystems
Mia's friends are fish-sitting while she is away on vacation. Zoe divulges to Sam that different animals need different habitats, and that there are both freshwater and saltwater ecosystems. Examples of the kinds of organisms found in...
Curated OER
Whose Home Is This?
After reading a short and informative paragraph on animals and their environments, learners look at pictures of four animals, and write a short description of how each one has adapted to its environment. A suggested activity is that each...
Curated OER
Plankton in the Air
Here is a lab activity adequate for use with any full lesson on environmental factors that shape animal adaptations or marine animal characteristics. Pupils will discuss the role plankton plays in the environment and filter-feeding...
Curated OER
Creating a Pond Habitat
Students create a pond habitat inside and outside their classroom. In this pond lesson plan, students create a habitat with animals, water, and plants in order to create a proper pond habitat.
ARKive
Adaptations to Arid Habitats
How do plants and animals survive in habitats with very little water? Explore arid ecosystems and the way their inhabitants have adapted with a lesson and science experiment. After kids listen to a presentation about adaptation, they...
American Museum of Natural History
Welcome to the Dzanga-Sangha
One ecosystem is home to numerous habitats—how diverse are they? Pupils interact with an online lesson to explore three habitats in a rain forest ecosystem. They discover connections between species and how they depend on each other for...
Curated OER
Is There Room for Everybody?
Third graders examine the capacity of animals able to live in one habitat. In this habitat lesson, 3rd graders play a game that shows the food chain and the interactions between animals in an area. Students discover that food is a major...
Curated OER
What's Dancing in the Water?
Students learn about watershed, as well as the different forms and uses of water. In this water forms lesson, students brainstorm water sources and uses. Students read the book Water Dance and discuss water examples. Students complete a...
Curated OER
Animals Finding Rice Paddies
Fourth graders examine the animals who live in rice paddies and create a chart. For this rice lesson, 4th graders link the types of animals living in each ecosystem with a bar graph. Students use colored bars to show animals that live...
Curated OER
Who Takes Care of the Maya Forest Corridor?
First graders study the animals in the Maya Forest Reserve. In this conservation lesson plan, 1st graders create a graph to compare the environment of animals to their own. They design a 3D model of these two environments.
Alabama Wildlife Federation
Wildlife Habitat Checklist
Take a walk on the wild side with a project about animal habitats. After kids observe a chosen animal in its home, they describe the animal's food and water sources, shelter, and how it raises its young. They then write a short fictional...
Rainforest Alliance
How Do Jaguars and Howler Monkeys in Belize Depend on Us?
How does weather play a role in the lives of land and sea creatures? Find out with a lesson focused on habitats and the ways animals from different homes are connected. Here, learners explore how the life of a jaguar and howler monkey...
Project WET Foundation
Investigate Fresh Water
It's all about freshwater in this water interactive! Users navigate through freshwater habitats such as lakes, rivers, and wetlands, taking note of the animals that live there. They also look at a desert habitat for comparison. Learners...
ARKive
Adaptations for Movement
What animals are best suited for moving around a rainforest, or a desert? Design your own animal species based on a particular habitat, focusing on the characteristics it will need for optimal movement. Great as a group lesson or...
PreKinders
Colors of Nature
The colors of nature are the most beautiful and vivid colors in the world. Show kids the ways that colors are striking and changing throughout different habitats with a set of images that feature two animals or plants for each color.
NOAA
Deep-Sea Ecosystems – Life is Weird!
A pool of brine in the deep sea can be up to four times as salty as the surrounding sea water. The deep sea ecosystem relies on chemosynthesis and the organisms that live there are often strange to us. The lesson focuses on researching...
Curated OER
Habitats
First graders investigate animal habitats. In this habitats lesson, 1st graders visit the woods to identify examples of food, water, and shelter that animals use to survive. Students complete a worksheet.
Curated OER
Animal Habitats Cut and Paste
In this animal homes worksheet, students cut out 6 pictures of animals and paste them under the appropriate habitat: water or land.
Curated OER
Can You Swim in Chocolate Water?
Third graders discss water pollution and its affects on animals. They watch a demonstration using a plastic fish in a fish bowl in which various types of water pollution are illustrated.
Curated OER
What Animals Need to Live
Fourth graders read "Habitat: What Animals Need to Live" then create a Venn diagram for herbivore, omnivore, and carnivore. For this animal survival lesson, 4th graders determine where different animals need to live depending on what...
Curated OER
Which Animal Lives Where?
Use this instructional activity in your classroom for a quick and easy way to review animal habitats. Young children use magazine clippings, pictures provided, or other resources to create a collage depicting an animal habitat. This is a...
PBS
Reading Adventure Pack: Oceans
Flotsam by David Wiesner and The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole, illustrated by Bruce Degen, begin a reading adventure pack focusing on oceans. With story listening and thoughtful discussion, scholars complete several...
Curated OER
"Habitats"
Students complete a unit of lessons on animals and animal conservation. They observe a square meter of ground outside the school, set up a model environment, analyze an owl pellet, grow bread mold, and explore various websites.
Curated OER
Habitat Basics
First graders get out and explore two different habitats to examine how each one meets the needs of the plants and animals that dwell there. They discuss what they've learned about animal habitats as they explore the outdoor environment....