American Museum of Natural History
Mammal Flipbooks
Scholars follow eight steps to create a flipbook and discover key facts about mammals' locomotion.
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The Great Pond Safari
Students study pond life by visiting a pond and completing an associated worksheet. They play an online game based on the pond learning experience.
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Fish Banners
An art instructional activity involving fish can accent a wide variety of subjects. Here are the steps needed to create a fish banner with paint, shapes, cardboard, and paper. This would be a nice way to start or finish a unit on fish or...
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A Home for a Cricket
First graders build a habitat for crickets after studying animal survival needs. They care for and observe the crickets in the classroom habitat.
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Adaptation and Diversity on Sheffield Island
Written for an exploration of shoreline ecosystems on Sheffield Island, this gives ecology or marine biology buffs a hands-on experience. Using GPS or visual triangulation techniques, they lay transect lines on a high and a low energy...
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Habitat Lap Sit
Fourth graders physically form a circle that shows the interconnectedness of the components of a habitat. They form circles and role play the parts of habitats.
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Beyond the Tap
Students explain the basic properties of a watershed including how water flows from higher to lower elevations and how watersheds are interconnected. They comprehend how the placement of buildings, roads, and parking lots can be...
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Our Schoolsyard is Full of Biology
Students study the habitats found in their schoolyard. They apply firsthand, what they have learned in the classroom to something familiar to them. Students look at biotic, abiotic habitats. Small groups will present their findings to...
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The Magic School Bus Gets Swamped
Students participate in an experiment that shows them how wetlands filter dirty water. They work in groups to accomplish this experiement with the help of supervisors. A bulletin board can be created to show the plants and animals that...
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Pawing Around
Students identify common wildlife by investigating their footprints. They examine where and how to look for signs of animal activity. They create casts of animal tracks and gather information about the animal from the location it was found.
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Wolf Habitat
Students identify their own basic needs for food, water, shelter and space in a suitable arrangement. They generalize that wolves and people have similar basic needs.
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Endangered Spaces = Endangered Species!
Sixth graders discuss the crowding, loss of personal space, loss of home, loss of food, etc. that might occur at a developmental site. They witness, through an in-class demonstration, what happens when land is taken for development. They...
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Helping Plants Grow Well
Students explain the effect of water, temperature and light on plant growth.
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Martian Earth Tours
Students study a variety of global wetland habitats, their similarities and differences. They examine the variety of life that such wetlands support and determine that many animals and plants are adapted to life in wetlands, that...
Aquarium of the Pacific
Ecosystem Comparison
Fifth graders examine plants and animals in two ecosystems and compare them. In this ecosystem survival lesson, 5th graders compare and contrast a coral reef and kelp forest ecosystem. Students investigate the abiotic and biotic factors...
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Pond Life
Learners recognize the habitats of animals that live near or in a pond. In this pond lesson, students examine pond water and look for pond organisms. Learners observe organisms with a loupe and complete a worksheet.
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How about a Little Give and Take?
Students design a closed system to test the relationships between plants and animals. They monitor abiotic fluctuations within this living system by using a chemical test kit. They observe how living organisms respond to fluctuations in...
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Beach Life: Spanish Banks Field Trip
Students discover beach life. In this beach life lesson, students visit a beach to find plant and animal species that live there. They discuss the life cycle and needs of some of these animals through a variety of activities.
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Dynamic Wetlands
Students construct and observe a model of two different types of wetlands. In this wetlands lesson, students create a model of a wetland with constant drainage and a wetland that maintains a well-saturated soil. Students observe and...
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Carrying Capacity of Ecosystems
Students define population and carrying. In this algebra lesson, students explore exponential growth and decay based on animals and things that grow or decrease exponentially. They graph their findings and discuss their results as they...
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Making a Terrarium
Students construct and maintain model of natural habitat, suggest improvements to the model of the natural habitat to make it more realistic and habitable, and demonstrate careful observation and recording of how animals survive in their...
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Pea Soup Ponds
Young scholars perform an experiment where they learn how water can be polluted by algal bloom. They grow algae with different concentrations of fertilizers or nutrients and analyze their results.
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Cranimals in 3D
Students design their own mix and match animals, using lesson framework that emphasizes transformation, explore differences between clay and model magic, experiment with clay, and shape their animals into 3D sculptures.
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Renewable and Non-renewable Resources
Students play Lobster Bingo on a provided worksheet. This game demonstrates how human activities and natral events affect lobsters by impacting their food, clean water, and shelter of the reef.