Curated OER
Introduce Vocabulary: The Keeping Quilt
Students consider tier two vocabulary words. In this vocabulary instructional activity, students investigate the meaning of new vocabulary words found while reading The Keeping Quilt. Students record their new vocabulary words using a...
Curated OER
Those Busy, Buzz'n Worker Bees
Students research information on worker bees. In this insect instructional activity, students review the body parts of insects and how bees find flowers. They discuss compound and simple eyes and the life cycle of a worker bee.
Curated OER
Homes of the World: Ceramic Lesson
Kids consider the various dwellings humans inhabit all over the world. They choose a home from anywhere in the world. Then they research the type of materials, designs, and structures need to build that type of home. The project ends...
California Academy of Science
Plants: Hanging Tough
Learning about the rainforest can be more fun than you think. The class discusses vocabulary-in-context as they cut cardboard boxes, destined to become part of a rainforest model. Small groups of children color, cut, and construct...
Curated OER
The Green Truck Garden Giveaway
Students read "The Green Truck Garden Giveaway" and explore the hobby of gardening. After observing illustrations in the book, students predict possible events in the story. They discuss gardening and write a story about a community...
Curated OER
Build a 3-d Plant Model
Third graders construct a three-dimensional model of a flowering plant. They examine the major plant parts and their basic functions. They demonstrate an understanding of the similarities and differences in the physical...
Curated OER
Raising Plants
Students investigate the life cycle of plants by growing their own in class. In this botany lesson, students practice using plant vocabulary while they grow their own Wisconsin Fast Plants. Students collaboratively build a light box...
Curated OER
Buzzy, Buzzy Bee
Students simulate honeybees pollinating flowers. In this pollination instructional activity, students role-play the process of pollination over the course of several seasons. Students graph results and share their graphs with the class.
Curated OER
It's Challenging Being Green!
Students influence the plant life cycle as they take care of plants.In this caring for plants lesson, students understand the parts of the plant and their functions in keeping it alive. Students participate in experiments with plants and...
Tech Museum of Innovation
Seed Dispersal
Engineering challenges are not just man-made ... nature has its own set of them. A hands-on STEM activity has groups designing a seed dispersal system. Each group can only use one sheet of paper — a tough task!
Curated OER
Earth's Heavenly Treasures: Hummingbirds
Young ornithologists watch an informative video and use the Internet to gather data about the life, size, habitat, and migration of hummingbirds. The interdisciplinary lesson includes activities that target art, science, math, and...
Curated OER
Yum Yum: Making Vegetable Soup
Students investigate agriculture by reading a book. In this plant life lesson, students read the book Growing Vegetable Soup by Louis Ehlert, and examine the ingredients used in the book's soup. Students create an experimental,...
Curated OER
Conservation in Small Spaces: Plant-Insect Interactions
Students explore ways that plants and insects impact each other, identify how different types of mouthparts allow insects to use plants in different ways, and design an insect and a plant to demonstrate mutualism.
Curated OER
Busy Bees
Students explore the pollination cycle. In this pollination lesson, students investigate the process of pollination. Students illustrate the pollination cycle of bees on paper plates.
Agriculture in the Classroom
Pumpkins... Not Just For Halloween
Celebrate fall with four pumpkin themed hands-on activities! After learning about pumpkins, scholars complete two activity sheets that reinforce estimation and word problems. They then plant pumpkin seeds and bake a pie in a bag.
Curated OER
Feelin' Buggy
Students discuss five senses, compare and contrast human and insect senses, use adjectives to describe things they touch, smell, and see, and write stories in first person describing what it would be like to be size of insect.
California Academy of Science
Carbon Cycle Role Play
Anytime you make concepts clear with role playing or hands-on experience, it's a win for the whole class. Ping-Pong balls are used to represent carbon in a carbon cycle role-play activity. In small groups, children first discuss what...
Curated OER
This I Can Do: The Drive
Students read The Garden of Happiness and discuss the importance of the common good in a community. In this common good lesson, students understand how overcoming diversity and working together for a neighborhood drive. Students create a...
Curated OER
America's Rain Forests Can It Be Real?
Students examine the attributes of unusual plants and animals before determining how they are adapted to specific habitat. They complete an associated worksheet. They make posters with information that they find during research sessions.
Curated OER
CONNECTIONS
Students study the interdependence of an ecosystem that allows it to sustain itself. They examine the Western lowland gorillas for an example.
Curated OER
Weather / Seasons
Third graders hear and use the terms: el verano, la primavera, el invierno y el oto¿¿o. They review particular months in Spanish. Students explore the difference in connections between months and seasons in northern and southern...