Nuffield Foundation
Extracting DNA from Living Things
Help! Someone's trying to take my DNA! An interesting lab experiment has scholars use basic materials to extract DNA. By applying ethanol, cold water, and a protease enzyme, like pineapple juice, they pull strands of DNA from peas,...
City and County of San Francisco
I Want It! I Need It!
Discuss wants and needs with your elementary ecologists and get them to consider what would happen to our natural resources if we all got everything that we want. Learners play a card sorting game and take an ecological footprint quiz on...
Curated OER
What is Soil?
Students study living and non-living materials that are found in soil. They study the things required by plants and animals to remain healthy. They design a collage of sand, stones, leaves and other natural items.
Michigan State University
Inspecting The School
Keep your eyes peeled for pests! Here, scholars inspect their campus for signs of living things such as insects and rodents. Upon observation, class members record their findings and present the information to their peers.
American Museum of Natural History
What do you know about Biodiversity?
What do your classes know about biodiversity? A 10-question online quiz asks questions related to biodiversity and species groups. As learners answer questions, they click on links to additional information. The lesson could be an option...
Curated OER
Fossils 2: Uncovering the Facts
Students determine what types of information can be determined by looking at fossils. In this fossil lesson, students examine facts about and images of the Tyrannosaurus Rex at an assigned web site. They apply their knowledge to develop...
Curated OER
"Do You Need It or Just Want It?"
Students distinguish between "wants" and "needs." Students make a short list of each. They review The Berenstain Bears Count Their Blessings book and discuss what blessings are. Students then rewrite their list of wants and needs.
Curated OER
Who Needs My Help?
Students think about helping others. In this citizenship instructional activity, students think of people in their lives who could use their help. Students illustrate the things they do to help others.
Curated OER
Planting Seeds Around the World
First graders discuss the book The Lorax and research what living things need. In this environmental instructional activity, 1st graders investigate how humans affect the growth of plants. Students conduct an experiment with sunflowers.
Curated OER
The Internet of Things: IoT
How has the Internet of Things affected our lives? Scholars examine the massive influence of mobile devices in this analysis lesson, which begins with a seven-minute documentary clip. They also read a New York Times article (linked)...
Curated OER
The Characteristics of Living Things
Eighth graders explore the characteristics of living things. In this living things lesson plan, 8th graders review as a class the cell theory and the characteristics of living things. They answer questions about how to determine if...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Nature's Life Cycle
Become a member of the Pollution Patrol and stand up to litter! After discussing the life cycle of seeds and discussing how plants figure into the food chain, young conservationists engage in several activities involving podcasts,...
Curated OER
Student Designed Investigations: Observations
Students choose an organism and create an experiment with that organism. In this observation instructional activity, students expose a living thing to something from its environment and record their observations. Students must have some...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Classification
Learners examine why scientists classify living organisms. They list and classify items they buy at the grocery store, sort and classify leaves, explore various websites, and write a biography of Carolus Linnaeus.
Curated OER
The Web of Life
Students demonstrate the interrelationships of animals and plants. In this ecology lesson, students discuss the things plants and animals need for survival and study the glacier food chain. Students simulate the web of life by using a...
Curated OER
Living and Non-Living
Fourth graders are divided into small groups and collect 4 objects from the playground. They take 5 to 10 minutes to classify their groups and discuss their findings including the terms "living" and "non-living". As a class they discuss...
Curated OER
Living and Non-Living
Students discover the basic needs of life. In this science lesson plan, students explore how all living things need air, water, food and shelter
Curated OER
The Living Environment
Students explore the cycles of an ecosystem. In this environmental science lesson, students work in groups to research the nitrogen cycle, the water cycle, or the oxygen-carbon dioxide cycle. Students prepare a PowerPoint or other...
Michigan State University
Preferred Destinations
Pests vacation, too! Here, scholars create travel brochures or posters that inform others about a habitat in which a pest lives. Travel information to be included contains everything from pictures to resort names to slogans down to the...
National Wildlife Federation
What's Your Habitat?
How are third graders like rabbits? They both live in habitats and require food, water, and shelter to survive! An educational science lesson encourages your learners to think about their own habitats and survival needs, before comparing...
University of California
You Are What You Eat: Testing for Organic Compounds in Foods
We have all heard that we are what you eat, but what are we eating? An informative lesson opens with a discussion of the foods pupils have recently eaten. Then, young scientists perform four experiments on seven different foods to...
Curated OER
Student Handout - Words I Can Use
Sometimes people with special needs find it hard to be understood. And, sometimes people with special need find it hard to understand others. Prepare your class for life in the workplace by discussing what they can say and do when there...
Curated OER
It's Alive
Students identify the differences between a nonliving and living thing. They describe what is needed for any living thing to survive. They create one page for the class book identifying why the object is a living thing.
Curated OER
Living and Nonliving
Students use their senses to record and collect data. In How Do I Classify Things in My World?, students practice classifying objects as living or nonliving. In Is it Real Or Pretend?, students group objects as real or pretend. In What...