Core Knowledge Foundation
Animals and Habitats Tell It Again!™ Read-Aloud Anthology
A read-aloud anthology explores various habitats and the animals that inhabit them, from the Artic to the desert, the forest, and bodies of water. First graders listen to and discuss texts and complete word work. Each lesson offers...
National Geographic
Animal Habitats
Explore animal habitats and reinforce speaking, listening, reading comprehension, and writing skills with a unit that focuses on the Arctic, desert, ocean, prairie, and rainforest. Enthusiastic scientists read informational text to...
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 activity and science experiment. After kids listen to a presentation about adaptation, they...
Curated OER
Learning About Animal Shelters for Earth Day
Students explore habitats. in this ecology and animal habitat lesson, students listen to the book A House is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman. Students discuss the basic needs of animals and go on a nature walk to observe animal...
Foundation for Water & Energy Education
How Can a Dam Affect a River? Activity A
Written for Washington state students in life science, this lesson provides an opportunity to examine the residents of local freshwater habitats. You or the class collects a water sample, and learners try to examine what organisms live...
NASA
Engineering Design for Human Exploration
What would it take to live on the lunar surface? Small groups build model rockets in order to simulate launching a habitat into space and rebuilding it. Divide the class into groups to design and build a model of a lunar habitat. The...
NOAA
I Can't Breathe!
The Gulf of Mexico dead zone, an area of low oxygen that kills marine life, costs the United States $82 million every year. Young scientists research anoxic ocean environments then come up with a hypothesis for the cause of the Gulf of...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Lesson 6: Biomes and Landscapes
Aside from the amazing animals in Gorongosa National Park, what else is there to discover? The sixth installment in an eight-part themed series contains an interactive map where scholars can learn more about the geographic features of...
Curated OER
Ocean Habitats
Students examine the water samples from a demonstration and discuss the difference between fresh and salt water. They draw different animals that live near or in the ocean and how humans can harm the ocean habitat. They draw pictures of...
Michigan State University
Bug Lyphe!
Introduce ecology classes to biodiversity and interdependence in ecosystems with a PowerPoint presentation. Then, they get up-close and personal with the invertebrate world by collecting insects, classifying them, and graphing their...
Curated OER
Force of Habitat
Plants and animals of the desert are the subject of this lesson. While the activities involve an exploration involving Nevada, this resource could be altered for use with any area. This detailed lesson includes a list of books that could...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Day the Mesozoic Died
While this is not the traditional, step-by-step lesson plan, it is chock-full of material that you can easily incorporate into your earth history unit. Its main purpose is to serve as a guide to using a three-part film, The Day the...
Curated OER
Farmers - Caretakers of the Land
Learners explore resource management, specifically farming. After reviewing vocabulary words, groups of students explore what is conserved by each practice. They compare and contrast responses. Learners describe farming procedures which...
Curated OER
Biggest Trees in the United States
Students use the Internet (or printed sources) to locate information. They fill in missing information on a graphic organizer (chart) and use the data to answer questions. The research skills help students to develop higher order...
Curated OER
Animals and Plants of BC's Rocky Shore
Students fill out a fact sheet and look at diagrams of BC's shore and the animals that live there. In this habitat lesson plan, students discuss the plants and animals and the different zones they live in.
American Museum of Natural History
Going, Going...Gone?
Young environmentalists consider how scientists are attempting to save endangered species. They read about what causes extinction and steps to take to minimize the threats.
Curated OER
Writing about animals
Students draw pictures of land animals in their habitats. In this animals in their habitats lesson plan, students read a book about animals and draw in their journals.
Curated OER
4th Grade Life Science Unit: Animals
Fourth graders classify animals. In this animal kingdom instructional activity, 4th graders research animal habitats and behaviors. Students connect to a zoologist via SKYPE and learn about animal classification. Students blog about...
Curated OER
Life in the Crystal Palace
Marine biologists research sea ice communities. Assign some groups to construct paper models of sea ice communities in winter, and some to construct models of them in summer. The instructional activity is simplistic, but the Internet...
ReadWriteThink
Webcams in the Classroom: Animal Inquiry and Observation
Boost observational skills with an inquiry-based instructional activity that takes scholars on a virtual field trip. With help from webcams, learners observe animals in a zoo or aquarium. Observations go into a journal and a discussion...
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
Coral Reefs
Students research coral reefs and identify their benefits to humans, threats to the reef, how to reduce and eliminate threats, and more. In this coral reef lesson plan, students research the reefs, and take a field trip to an aquarium.
Curated OER
Exploration of 'pill bugs'
Fifth graders define words. They create a dichotomous key. After carefully examining pill bugs, 5th graders record observations. They compare and contrast habitats of pillbugs.
Curated OER
Here Comes Winter!
Students investigate winter behaviors in animals. They describe winter and write about the characteristics of the season by drawing and labeling a winter picture. Students then conduct research on a chosen animal and create a chart. ...