Curated OER
Food Chains
Learners take a look at the relationship between organisms in food chains, food webs, and energy pyramids. After an opening demonstration by the teacher, pupils are split up into groups. Each one is assigned an environment such as:...
Curated OER
What Contains Carbon?
Students explore elements by analyzing everyday objects and materials in class. In this carbon lesson, students define several vocabulary terms such as carbon dioxide, hydrocarbon, and carbonate. Students view a group of items,...
Curated OER
Everything in Its Place: Science Classification
Students investigate the system of classification for living things through the sixteen lessons of this unit. The five kingdoms of monerans, protists, fungi, plants, and animals form the basis of several experiments as the similarities...
Curated OER
Survivor!
Students, in groups, create a project to display examples and non-examples of basic needs. They answer what is needed for basic survival of all living things.
Curated OER
Oceanography
Fifth graders use scientific skills and processes to recognize how living things depend on one another and on the environment for survival and that the human use of natural resources impacts the environment. They research how Earth's...
Curated OER
Extinction
Students peruse illustrations of living things and extinct life forms, which they compare and categorize as living or extinct.
Curated OER
Organizing Life
For this classification worksheet, learners will review vocabulary words associated with the organization of living things which includes kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. This worksheet has 5 fill in the blank...
Curated OER
Mini-Ecosystems
Third graders identify the living and non living things in a book read aloud and discuss the interactions represented in the book. Then, they research and include a list of food that each animal needs in an ecosystem. Finally, 3rd...
Curated OER
Cells, Building Blocks of Life
Fourth graders, in groups, explore cells, the basic unit of all living things.
Curated OER
What did T. rex taste like?
Students examine the three domains of life and explain that all living things share a common ancestor. In this paleontology instructional activity students are introduced to the process of illustrating evolutionary relationships.
Curated OER
Terraqua Column
Sixth graders create a TerrAqua column. In this ecosystems lesson, 6th graders build a TerrAqua column to conduct investigations on how living things impact the ecosystem.
Curated OER
Animal Coverings and Homes
First graders research what kind of coverings living organisms have, and where those organisms live before they can understand how to group them. The following activities will precede the "animal groups" centers, and therefore allow them...
Curated OER
Number Scouts
What makes up a community? People, of couse. Then there are the other living things, such as plants and animals. There are also buildings, streets, schools, businesses, and vehicles. This activity makes students aware of one othe...
Curated OER
Biodiversity
Students complete activities to study the importance of biodiversity. In this biodiversity lesson plan, students find images to categorize into organism groups and illustrate their interconnections. Students use measurement tools to...
Curated OER
A Tree is an Ecosystem
Young scholars make observations about trees. In this ecosystem lesson, students observe and record all living and non living things they find under a tree, look for birds nests, evidence of woodpeckers and take samples such as leafs,...
Curated OER
Plants and Animals
Seventh graders discover the interconnectedness of plants and animals in ecosystems. In groups, they create a food web and discuss the problems when one link of the chain is broken. To end the lesson, they set up a balanced environment...
Curated OER
Fun On The Farm
Students experiment with a variety of resources to study about sounds and their sources (weather, animal, and transportation). They compare size, structure, and basic needs of living things. Each student studies about farm animals,...
Huntington Library
Religion & Spirituality - Exploring the California Missions
The California missions were built with the hope of converting the local Native Americans to Catholicism, but exactly how different were their beliefs to begin with? Through analysis of a series of primary source documents, young...
Curated OER
Classifying Critters
In this classifying critters worksheet, students read a 1 page article on classifying living organisms and then answer 10 true or false, short answer, multiple choice or fill in the blank questions.
Curated OER
Exploring National Marine Sanctuaries
Students conduct Internet research of the living organisms in national marine sanctuaries, and the resources protected in the sanctuaries. Students gather information about each of the sanctuaries and make an oral presentation and poster...
Curated OER
Ecology - Biodiversity Lab
Studnents examine the degree of biodiversity that exists in one's everyday environment, in order to develop an understanding of how scientists classify organisms and to explain why biodiversity is important for living things.
Kenan Fellows
Use of Dichotomous Keys to Identify Stream Organisms
What kind of organisms are living in the stream? After an explanation on how to use a dichotomous key, groups of three to four use the keys to identify macroinvertebrates from a local freshwater stream. Using the the concept of Stream...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Leaf Litter Ecology Lab
Some organisms spend their entire lives in leaf litter. The third in a series of six is a great lesson exploring the community of leaf litter. Groups gather and then spread leaf litter over white paper and remove leaves/twigs while...
Cornell University
Extracting DNA
Uncover the basics of DNA structure through exploration activities. Collaborative groups build DNA models and recreate the process of replication. Then, using plant cells such as peas or strawberries, they extract a DNA sample.