National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network
Shrink Me!
The incredibly shrinking meter—decimeters to centimeters, to millimeters, and now to nanometers! Learners may have a difficult time visualizing particles on a nanoscale. Help them see a little clearer using a well-designed lesson...
National Security Agency
Place Value - Butterflies Floating Place to Place
Learn about butterflies and place value in a series of interdisciplinary lessons! With several worksheets that reference butterfly facts in word problems, kids can practice science and math in one activity. Additional worksheets are...
Baylor College
Pre-Assessment: Earth's Energy Sources
A ten-question, multiple-choice quiz assesses what your elementary earth scientists know about the atmosphere both before and after a unique unit on global atmospheric change. Make sure to check out the activities and lesson plans...
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...
Berkshire Museum
Backyard Rocks
You don't have to travel far to learn about rocks, just step outside, pick up a stone, and begin investigating. After taking a class walk around the school grounds collecting rocks, young scientists practice their skills of observation...
Monterey Bay Aquarium
What's in a Name?
Combine art and word analysis in a lesson about genus and species. Elementary children sleuth out the meaning of scientific names for a number of shark species using a prefix and suffix definition chart. They then draw an image of the...
BBC
Light and Shadows
Light is such an amazing thing! Elementary schoolers explore the wonderful world of light and shadow. The lesson plan is meant to be carried out on a whiteboard. Objects are placed in front of a light source, and learners must predict...
Curated OER
Conservation in Small Places - Composting
A fabulous lesson introduces the art of composting to your gardeners. In it, youngsters learn about the composting process and how it actually works. They discuss the environmental benefits of composting, and use the "lasagna" method...
Curated OER
Earth in the Solar System
A three-week unit designed to be completed in an elementary level, dual-language immersion classroom, this resource includes several lessons intended to introduce young learners to the solar system, the Earth and how the Earth compares...
National Security Agency
Going Green with Graphs
In this unit designed for second graders, youngsters are introduced to conducting surveys and creating tally charts based on the data they gather. Students then construct bar graphs, and observe the relationships between the two...
Curated OER
The Five Classes of Vertebrates
What a terrific lesson plan! Learners discuss the animal kingdom, and classify them as vertebrates and invertebrates. They also identify them as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. There is even a taxonomic breakdown of...
Curated OER
My Habitat
Young scholars explore the environment they live in. In this habitats lesson, students define habitat and create a web in kidspiration. Young scholars take a walk outside and record what they see and hear and may take pictures as well....
Curated OER
Sand Travels
Students examine how sand is formed by erosion and that it can be moved by streams, rivers, and ocean currents in this unit of lessons. They study waves and currents, and structures that change how sand moves by creating story charts,...
National Gardening Association
The Water Cycle
Use this as a pop quiz when covering the water cycle with your elementary earth scientists. There are five blanks to fill in, including the three main steps (evaporation, condensation, and precipitation), and also transpiration and...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Power of Graphene
To prepare for the activity, STEM classes read about nanotechnology and the amazing properties of graphene. They collect a graphene sample from pencils, and then connect them into simple circuits to determine whether it makes a better...
Curated OER
Hatching Chickens
Students observe chickens hatching in a classroom incubation environment In this egg-hatching lesson plan, students make observations of the hatching process and later care for the hatched chickens.
Curated OER
Singing for the Animals
Learners examine the correct attitudes and poster for a concert. In this "Singing for Animals" lesson, students created charts to diagram information about the homeless animals they were singing for. Learners used correct diction and...
Curated OER
Sailing, Sailing
In this sailing lesson, youngsters read The Wreck of the Zephyr, and attempt to predict the outcome of the story. They draw a picture of a sailboat, identify its characteristics, and write their own fictional sailing story.
Curated OER
Where Are the Dinosaurs?
Young scholars explore the concept of extinction by studying dinosaurs. In this extinction lesson, students watch dinosaur video clips or complete a puppet finger play about dinosaurs. Young scholars may then complete a dinosaur diorama...
Curated OER
Puffin Patrol
Bird diversity and the majestic puffin are the topics of today's lesson. 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 get...
Curated OER
Folktales and Ecology: Animals and Humans in Cooperation and Conflict
Story elements such as conflict, character analysis, resolution, and moral are discussed and charted as elementary children read folktales involving animals. An element of science is also introduced as learners discover what a keystone...
Curated OER
The Solar System
Are you starting a unit on the solar system? You can use this PowerPoint for a great introductory lesson. These 13 slides include basic facts about the planets in our solar system. Tip: Peruse the Internet and add some real photos...
Curated OER
Introducing Recycling
Students study environmental issues of excess garbage and learn about recycling. For this recycling lesson, students discuss recycling and read a story about too much garbage. Students write a persuasive essay about the importance of...
Curated OER
Capturing Light: The Science of Photography
Students create their own cameras to understand how artists use light to capture an image in a photograph. In this light lesson plan, students use tape, wax paper, rubber bands, and more to create their cameras.