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Marble Grab Bag: Certainly? Maybe? Impossible?
Second graders use a hands-on activity and a data chart to explain the certainty, probability, or impossibility of drawing a particular color of marble from a bag. This lesson plan comes with an excellent website, and many good...
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Barter and Trade
Young scholars explore the concepts of bartering and trading. In this algebra lesson, students barter with each other for different items. They use special cards to designate ownership of an item as they explore the complexity of bartering.
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Apples Aplenty
Students identify a variety of apples. In this agriculture lesson, students examine various types of apples and sort them according to attributes. Students describe the apple and create a word web. As an extension activity, students...
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Using Plant Pigments as Natural Dyes
Students create friendship bracelets and quilt squares. In this plant lesson student dye their own string and cotton material with plant pigments. Students use the naturally dyed materials to create the friendship bracelets and quilt...
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Weathering Rocks
Fourth graders investigate what natural events cause rocks to break apart and differentiate between erosion and weathering. They conduct an experiment with plaster of paris to observe why some rocks are hard and others break, and...
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Teaching fractions & ratios with M&Ms
Students collect data using M&Ms, fill in charts, and write ratios and fractions for each color M&M.
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Let There Be Light
Students plant seeds and learn about photosynthesis. In this photosynthesis lesson, students plant watercress seeds, cut a design into cardboard and cover the seedlings with the cardboard. Students observe as the seeds in the sunlight...
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Square Foot Garden
Students plant a garden and keep track of it. In this geometrical garden instructional activity, students collect data from their garden twice a week. They graph their finding and figure out how many square feet of growing space each...
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Let There Be Light
Students explore the relationship between light and color. They explore the NineColours computer program, blend colors, create a slideshow of hues of colors, and conduct an experiment using a flashlight and colored cellophane.
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Micro-Ecosystems
Students create a sustainable, self-contained ecosystem in a ten-gallon aquarium.
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Aloha Symmetry
Young scholars create handcrafted paper Hawaiian quilt squares. They do this to show the concept of symmetry across two lines of reflection.
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Food Security/Insecurity
Students gain awareness of global patterns of food distribution. They are introduced to the concepts of food security and food insecurity. Pupils investigate the nutritional status of others around the world using information from the...
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M & M Lab
Students investigate how selection occurs in a random population. The concept is that selection affects evolution.They demonstrate how selection occurs and will analyze shifts in the populations. They design their conclusions with M...
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Measuring Inches
First graders measure the length of pipe cleaners to form worms using rulers to focus on inches. They record their results and graph the measurement of each pipe cleaner. They measure their pipe cleaner "worms" in various colors and...
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Cloud and Weather Patterns
Fourth graders examine how weather patterns generally move from west to east across the United States, and how clouds are formed and are related to the water cycle. They view and discuss a PowerPoint presentation of the types of clouds,...
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Cold As Ice
Fourth graders investigate how glaciers cause the weathering of landforms. They observe a brick that has been placed on a frozen slab of ice, and discuss the results, comparing them to the movements of a glacier. In small groups, they...
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Water Cycle in a Box
Fourth graders investigate how the water cycle is vital for all living things to survive on Earth. They observe the teacher set up a simulation of the water cycle using a Plastic Earth Simulator, desk lamp, and water, and make...
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Naming the Clouds
Fourth graders examine how water condenses into clouds and identify the different types of clouds using the same system devised over 200 years ago. They listen to a book about clouds, and create a Cloud Key. Next, they record their...
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Freezing Cracks
Fourth graders examine how weather events cause weathering of the Earth's surface and how freezing water creates cracks and broken rocks over time. They observe what happens when a jar full of water is frozen overnight, and record their...
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Smooth It Out
Fourth graders describe how weather events such as hard rains and floods cause weathering of the Earth's surface and rocks. They distinguish between erosion and weathering, and comprehend that water and friction show similar results in...
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Change It
Fourth graders expand their knowledge about how the physical properties of a substances can be changed. They are given multiple opportunities, using first-hand experiences and familiar objects in different contexts, to identify...
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Weather: Piecing It All Together
Fourth graders collect, record, and analyze data using simple weather instruments and a variety of weather resources to investigate weather. They observe the teacher demonstrate how a rain gauge functions, record the weather for five...
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Salt Marsh in a Pan
Students create a model of a salt marsh to discover the impact of pollution and human activities on water-based habitats including bays and the ocean. They recognize the relationship between natural and developed areas. Students impact...
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Birds on the Move
Students observe the migrational path of the Swainson's Hawk from northern Minnesota to the southern portion of South America. They study the migratory path of the hawk and observe how the vegetation in a particular region of the earth...