Curated OER
Guidebook
Students create a guidebook page about a plant on the school grounds. In this life and plant science lesson, students identify plants around the school, then research the plant and write a narrative about it. Students publish the book...
Curated OER
Who Am I?
For this science worksheet, 5th graders will identify 16 different plants. Students will focus on the pictures provided and label each plant by name.
Curated OER
Plant Science Activities
Students complete several plant life activities. In this botany lesson, students practice painting images that resemble plants they are familiar with as well as planting seeds outside of class. Students participate in a dramatic...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Preparing for Project BudBurst
Male deer growing antlers to begin the breeding season is an example of a phenological event. First in a four-part series is an activity requiring individuals to collect phenological data on their campus. Classes discuss phenology, the...
Curated OER
Invasive Aquatic Plant Identification
Students observe aquatic plants and animals and identify their systems. In this plants and animals lesson plan, students compare systems of organisms and orally express how plants and animals rely on each other.
Curated OER
Ecology of The Sonoran Desert Soil Crusts: Biology, Geology
This lesson is designed after research done on the ecology of soil lichen in the Tucson Basin area during the summers of 1997 and 1998. Its purpose is to guide students into adopting the problem solving thinking of ecologists. The lesson...
Curated OER
Science: Fossil of a Carbonized Plant
Learners classify leaves by shape and margins and use them to create models of plant fossils. By using paper over a leaf, they simulate fossilization of organisms onto sedimentary rocks. Following instructions on worksheets, students...
Curated OER
Tree Identification - Up Close And Personal
Fourth graders go to an outdoor area and are assigned a specific native plant to observe. They read about and answer questions about their tree. They draw the tree. Finally, 4th graders teach the rest of the class about their tree.
Curated OER
Parts of the Plant and Their Functions
Delving into this slideshow will help the students understand the composition of plants and their structures. Each slide identifies certain structures and explores how they support the plant's survival along with assisting our...
Curated OER
Plant Identification: New Jersey vs. Ecuador
Sixth graders discover the different plants that grow in different climates through specimen collections. In this botany lesson, 6th graders examine plants from both New Jersey and Ecuador and discuss what conditions could create...
Curated OER
Ecology
Students explore, experience and experiment identifying the human impact on the environment of vegetative differences within the same biome. They assess what causes deserts, rain forests, savannahs, tundras and saguaros and how these...
Curated OER
Native Plant Species Web Quest
Students visit USDA Plants Database Web site at
http://plants.usda.gov/ to identify native species of the Southern
Appalachian Region. They name and describe each species in general
terms in their field notebooks for the purpose of plant...
Curated OER
Indoor Gardening
Young scholars determine how a plant grows best. In this botany lesson, students observe variables that affect plant growth. Young scholars explore how to grow and maintain a plant. Students make observations of their plant as it grows.
Curated OER
Wetland Plant Detectives
Sixth graders identify plants in the wetlands. In this plant detectives lesson, 6th graders complete a scavenger hunt on a local reserve, record observations, and respond in their journals.
Curated OER
The Great Pollinators
Students discover the reproductive parts of a plant. In this biology lesson, students identify and categorize several different plants they dissect in class. Students record their information using a data chart.
Curated OER
Word Search: Common Seashore Plants
In this science worksheet, learners find the names of 15 plant species common to the seashore in a word search puzzle. The word bank has detailed color drawings of each plant.
Nuffield Foundation
Biodiversity in Your Backyard!
Take your enthusiastic ecologists outdoors to explore the biodiversity right in their own schoolyard! In preparing for this activity, it may be worthwhile to research websites with local flora to help in the plant identification...
Curated OER
HFS-What do we have growing on the school grounds?
Students observe school grounds and take pictures of plants, trees, and bushes for identification. In this plant life lesson, students identify plants with the help of guides and resources.
Chicago Botanic Garden
Impacts of Climate on Forest Succession
Part two in a series of four explores the effects of climate on succession or the changing of plant species in a forest. Groups review how to identify trees and then spend a day in the field collecting extensive data on trees to...
Alabama Wildlife Federation
Leaf Creatures
The structure of a leaf reveals a lot about the plant it comes from. Young scholars collect and prepare leaves for comparison. After pressing the leaves, they identify the different parts and then use the leaves to complete an art project.
Curated OER
Arizona Plant Booklet: An Introduction to Arizona Plants & Cacti
Learners explore variety of plants & cacti in their Arizona community by collecting samples and taking photographs. Can be adapted to other areas.
Cornell University
Weed IPM
Go on a weed hunt! Scholars gain insight into the characteristics of plants and examine the outdoor environment in order to identify five different types of weeds. Learners then show what they know with a one-page reflection.
Institute for Applied Ecology
From Salmonberry to Sagebrush - Exploring Oregon’s Native Plants
Take a deep dive into Oregon's ecosystems, plants, and changes from the past to the future. Many hands-on activities in an environmental science unit delight scholars, including creating a field guide for a local park. The in-depth study...
Alabama Wildlife Federation
Pasta Butterfly
From an egg to an adult and the stages in between, the butterfly leads a very active life. A hands-on activity has learners act out the different life cycle stages of the butterfly before venturing on an identification expedition. During...