Lesson Plan
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Living-Nonliving

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students determine that environments have living and nonliving parts. They discuss what makes something a living thing and something a nonliving thing. They make a chart and list characteristics of living things and nonliving things.
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The Web of Life

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students demonstrate the interrelationships of animals and plants. For this ecology lesson, students discuss the things plants and animals need for survival and study the glacier food chain. Students simulate the web of life by using a...
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Forest Life- Wood Bug Study

For Teachers K - 7th
Examine wood bugs and their habitat. Learners gather wood bugs and examine their bodies. Then discuss their body parts and how they help them survive. They also predict where they think wood bugs live to then graph the class results.
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Urban Life: What Lives in Our Schoolyard?

For Teachers K - 7th
Students research living organisms by exploring their school grounds. In this microscopic observation lesson, students gather materials, insects, and objects from their playground and schoolyard and bring them into class. Students...
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Sorting Things Out

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Written to examine seeds that grow in Kansas, you can adapt this lesson to anywhere you live. Learners sort a mixture of five different seeds to by any characteristic of their choice. When your budding scientists are exploring the life...
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Oceans in Motion

For Teachers K - 3rd
This simple lesson introduces children to basic marine life as well as to show them the necessity of protecting aquatic environments. Some famous marine life animals are introduced via vocabulary words, then children cut out pictures of...
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What Does Life Look Like Under a Microscope?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students discover cells make up all living things. In this life science lesson, students investigate living organisms and the cells that create them. Finally the students create a testable question, conduct an investigation, and draw...
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Science Fiction Stories

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Learners write a story. In this genre lesson, students read a science fiction story and discuss its characteristics. Learners brainstorm a list of things that if scientifically changed would alter the way we live our lives. Students...
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Pet Perspective

For Teachers K - 12th
Discuss point of view through a familiar medium: your pet! Learners write a story from the perspective of their own or the class pet. Prompts such as "My Family" (or "My Class"), "My Day," and "A Day in the Life of a _________" help...
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What is Life?

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students investigate the characteristics of living things. In this life science lesson, students examine several living and non-living specimens. Students determine which things are living and non-living.
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Living vs. Nonliving

For Teachers K - 5th
Students explore the characteristics that distinguish living things from nonliving things. Students examine video clips and still photographs to gather evidence and develop criteria to decide if something is living or nonliving.
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Wonderful Whales

For Teachers Pre-K - 3rd
Primary marine biologists consider the largest living animals on Earth, the whales. Introduce them to general anatomy, unique adaptations, and behaviors. Teach them to sing a song that will help them remember some of these facts....
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Ocean Life Mural

For Teachers K - 5th
Students conduct Internet research on ocean life, view pictures of sea life, and create a class ocean life mural.
Lesson Plan
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The Game of Life

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students describe what it means for a marine animal or fish to be threatened or endangered after playing game simulating extinction.
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Local River Life

For Teachers K - 12th
Learners identify rivers in their county, state, or province, and research various kinds of animals and plants living in or near the rivers. They write short summaries about the animals and plant life, draw pictures, and compile...
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The Spider's Life Cycle

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students see that spiders have a life cycle, and reproduce by laying many eggs. We can count by ones, twos, fives, or as many as we want. They make two lists of animals on a chart.
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Exploring Marine Objects

For Teachers 1st - 7th
Students identify the sources of water on Earth. In this life science lesson, students list the different plants and animals that live in the ocean. They explore marine objects in the lab and draw them.
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Is There Room for Everybody?

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders examine the capacity of animals able to live in one habitat. In this habitat lesson plan, 3rd graders play a game that shows the food chain and the interactions between animals in an area. Students discover that food is a...
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Disguise for the Eyes

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Young scientists discover how many, many animals use color as a way of helping them to survive in the wild. They understand how animals use color in their everyday lives. Pupils engage in hands-on activities, watch videos, access...
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Life in a Log

For Teachers K - 3rd
Young scholars identify insects living in rotting logs. In this decomposition lesson, students observe pieces of a rotting log, they look at the insects that have inhabited the log and create a chart that shows their findings.
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Ocean Pollution & its Effect on Aquatic Animals

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Young scholars consider the concept of ocean pollution. In this ocean lesson, students participate in a hands-on demonstration in order to replicate an oil spill and its effects on marine life.
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Aquatic Ecosystems

For Teachers K - 7th
Students study the diversity of marine life and their habitats.  For this aquatic ecosystems lesson students complete a lab activity and experiment. 
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Penguins Around the World

For Teachers K - 5th
Students investigate penguins. In this Science lesson, students compare and contrast penguins to flying birds. Students use a Venn diagram to illustrate the differences and similarities of penguins and flying birds.
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Life on the Surface of the Earth

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students discover that life occurs on or near the surface of the Earth in land, air, and water. They read the literature selection, 'Whose Forest Is It?' and discuss with students that there are examples of of many living things that...