Purdue University
Animal Diversity and Tracking
What exactly are those glowing eyes in the night? Learners run an experiment to attract local wildlife and then document the number of visitors by identifying their tracks. They then analyze the data to draw conclusions about the types...
K20 LEARN
Memory Haiku: The Great Gatsby and the Sense of Smell
Scholars learn how smells evoke early childhood memories and apply that knowledge to a character from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. After finding a passage from the novel that references smells, they craft a haiku and a...
Curated OER
Mother's Day Sachets
Students make a Mother's Day gift. In this art lesson, students cut the lace into a 4 by 4 square and the ribbon to make a bow. Students grate the soap and put it in the middle of the lace pulling all of the corners together and tieing a...
Curated OER
Migrating Monarchs and Trekking Timber wolves on the Internet
Students learn and observe the life cycle of a monarch butterfly. They explore how wolves maintain complex social structure through scent, communications, and postures.
Curated OER
CSI, Second Grade Style
Second graders conduct a classroom investigation. In this investigative lesson, 2nd graders spend their time observing, measuring, and collecting data. They simulate a forensic science lab by conducting a fingerprint, scent, footprint,...
Curated OER
Know Your Nose: Learning About the Sense of Smell
Students explore their senses of smell. In this sense of smell lesson, students read The Popcorn Dragon and research the sense of smell on a designated website. Students identify scents and play an Internet game based on the sense of smell.
Curated OER
What's That Smell?
Learners experiment with different scents (vanilla, peppermint, perfumes etc.) to explore their sense of smell.
Curated OER
Observing and Discovering Using Our Senses
Third graders decide if it is possible to identify something using only the senses of taste, smell and hearing. They listen to a CD of animal sounds with their eyes closed and attempt to identify the animal. Next, they smell an air...
Curated OER
Winter Wonderland Activities
Ideas to help keep the motivational fire in your classroom burning.
Desert Discoveries
Nocturnal Navigators
Young biologists take a look at some of the unique ways that nocturnal animals survive in the dark. After reading a terrific student handout which is embedded in the plan, learners work together to answer questions about what they have...
Curated OER
A Rat's Life
Here is a two-page learning exercise on rats and mice. Learners answer nine true/false questions about rats and mice, then compose answers to seven short-answer questions about these two rodents. Finally, they must compose a fictional...
Curated OER
Baby Elephant Orphans Get New Home, Families
Students react to a series of statements about elephants, then read a news article about how workers at an elephant orphanage are working to return the animals to the wild. In the animal studies and current events lesson, the teacher...
Curated OER
The Human Body
Explore the human body through hands-on activities. Young learners will trace their bodies and place cut out body organs in the proper place, print patterns using cut fruit, sing songs about good nutrition, and use their five senses...
Novelinks
The Giver: Guided Imagery
Guide your class through the imagery of Lois Lowry's The Giver with a peaceful meditative experience. After you create a serene environment in your class, read through a provided script in which kids sift through their favorite memories...
Center for Learning in Action
Gases
Explore the properties of gases through one activity and two investigations in which super scientists observe the changes gas makes when encountering different conditions.
Curated OER
Summer Body Activity: A Nose Workout
Students have sensory experiences with the sweet smell of discovery. In this early childhood science lesson, students use their sense of smell as they create and compare their very own fragrance essences with a variety of provided...
Curated OER
Homophone Search
Homophones take center stage in this engaging, interactive slide show. Students see that homophones are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. They consider 20 slides which have sentences with...
Curated OER
Jelly Bean Math Activities
Using jelly beans as math manipulatives can be a tasty way to introduce and reinforce math concepts. Regardless of the time of year, candy can be used to excite learners and facilitate a wide variety of mathematical concepts.
Curated OER
Build Your Own Insect Trap
Young scholars ask testable questions. They explain the relationship between insect behavior and insect trapping techniques. Students design their own insect traps to collect a new unknown insect, in the same way that entomologists...
Curated OER
Spelling Race
Learners of all ages can practice their spelling abilities by participating in a fun group game. They utilize a pile of letters written on paper to "build" a word instructed by the teacher. The fastest pair of spellers wins a point!...
Curated OER
Nature Art
In this nature art lesson, students take a nature walk and collect items with different sizes, textures and colors. Students use the items they collect to make a collage.
Agriculture in the Classroom
Seed Match
Using this resource, your team of green thumbs discuss why plants are a part of a healthy diet and the different ways they are used in daily life. They then observe the characteristics of different seed as they attempt to match them with...
Curated OER
What Are Homophones?
A fun activity for homework, a warm-up, or a substitute day! Learners choose the correct word out of a set of homophones, such as made/maid and pale/pail, based on context clues in each sentence. There are twenty-two questions in all....
Curated OER
Antonyms 5: Level 10
Ensure that your class's vocabulary development doesn't become stagnant with this antonym practice! Learners review 10 vocabulary words, identify the antonym of each, and check their answers on the detailed guide provided. Example words...