University of Wisconsin
Planting a School Rain Garden
Finally, the day has arrived for introducing plants into the rain garden. If you have been following the entire unit, this will serve as a helpful guide for planting day. If you have not been using the previous lessons in this unit with...
University of Wisconsin
Rain Garden Maintenance
Maintaining a garden is an ongoing responsibility. This resource follows a series of activities in a unit that resulted in the planting of a rain garden. What you will find here are general instructions for watering, weeding, pruning,...
BrainPOP
Migration Activities for Kids
For as long as there has been life on earth, animals, including humans, have used migration as a means of survival. This collection of activities supports young scientists as they learn about this behavioral adaptation, encouraging them...
Zebrafish in the Classroom
Mini‐Experiment with GloFish: Learning the Scientific Methods
If you need a way to reinforce the scientific method in your elementary classroom, use a science experiment about GloFish. The resource includes several pages of worksheets that guide learners through making a hypothesis, testing their...
Curated OER
The Five Senses
Teaching little ones about their five senses is always a fun experience. Accent your classroom with a fun image that shows real pictures of real kids hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching.
DePaul University
Breaking the Food Chain
Throughout history, the growth of big cities has resulted in the destruction of ecosystems. In the case of Chicago, IL, a grassland that was once home to bison, deer, wolves, and foxes quickly became a booming city of over three million...
Curated OER
Megabeasts
Create larger-than-life insects for the classroom. Bugs are usually pretty small, but during the Jurassic period they were huge. Kids use diagramming and scale conversion to enlarge a modern day insect so that it is as big as its ancient...
Curated OER
Piece by Piece
Put an insect together piece by piece with a fun and artistic puzzle project. To increase small group collaboration, learners use photos of insects cut into one-inch squares to create an enlarged puzzle version of the image. Extension...
University of Wisconsin
A Rain Garden Year
Pupils become plants in an interpretive play that depicts what happens throughout the seasons in a rain garden. As you narrate, students bloom, flower, and go to seed accordingly. The lesson is first in a series of lessons written for...
DePaul University
The Working Tools of Insects
The animal kingdom is full of interesting organisms that have unique ways of surviving. Children read about different insects that have special tools for building homes and protecting themselves. When finished, learners identify the main...
Curated OER
Bee Pollen Popular
The world would be a much different place without the help of pollinators. Read about the important role bats, hummingbirds, and various insects play in plant reproduction, exploring the interdependence of living things in an ecosystem....
Random House
Recipe for an Ecosystem
Creating an ecosystem is as simple as baking a cake. Well, maybe not, but using a recipe analogy helps learners realize that ecosystems consist of different components that come together in unique ways. Offer this instructional activity...
Curated OER
Plants Scavenger Hunt Activity
The hunt is on! Provide young botanists with a list of eighteen plant-related questions and let them loose as they search for answers on corresponding fact cards. Perform this activity in the classroom or use it as an opportunity to take...
Baylor College
Servings and Choices
An important part of balancing caloric intake to energy expenditure is knowing how many Calories you are consuming. In the fifth of a seven-activity series on food and energy, learners estimate their daily caloric intake, then use a...
Baylor College
Making Copies of an HIV Particle
In the second of five lessons about HIV, discover the mechanisms that allow the HIV virus to replicate. Using the models that they created the day before, learners examine the parts of the virus particle. The lesson plan does not say...
Baylor College
Safe Food Preparation
Who doesn't love ice cream? Make this delicious dessert with your class while learning about food preparation in the tenth instructional activity of this series. Teach about the importance of cleanliness and proper cooking techniques in...
Baylor College
Digestion
Digestion is an amazing and complicated process that provides humans with the energy they need to survive. Lesson six in this series on the science of food uses sliced turkey and a meat tenderizer to demonstrate how enzymes help break...
PBS
The Caterpillar or Larva
The larval stage of the butterfly life cycle is quite exciting. Start a discussion about the specially designed body parts unique to caterpillars. After examining images of caterpillars, learners use plastic soda bottles, string, and...
PBS
The Egg
The first stage in the butterfly's life cycle is the egg. Young entomologists discuss why different butterflies lay different eggs and what their eggs look like. Then they use the handouts to make a replica of one type of butterfly egg...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Vertebrates
Your back will be covered when you use this presentation to introduce beginning biologists to phylum chordata, the vertebrates. Five classes are defined: fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals throughout the eight vibrant slides....
Curated OER
Puffin Patrol
Bird diversity and the majestic puffin are the topics of today's activity. Children discuss and look at images of puffins, and then they use felt to put a puffin body together. After that they talk about what and how puffins eat. They...
ARKive
An Introduction to Endangered Species
Playing games is a wonderful way to practice skills, start a discussion, or build memory. First, the class discusses extinction and conservation, and then they play a game of bingo. The game cards are printable and include images of...
ARKive
Butterflies and Blooms
The Northwoods of Wisconsin are lovely in the summer,and they are also home to many flower and butterfly species. Investigate the ways in which seasonal flowers and butterflies are interdependent on each other for survival with a fun...
Polar Trec
Recess at 25 Below
Is there any difference between the ways a child from the polar region gets ready for recess, and the way a child from a tropical region gets ready for recess? Youngsters use a checklist to dress their Arctic Barbie and Polar Bob dolls...