Berkshire Museum
The Three Life-Giving Sisters: Plant Cultivation and Mohican Innovation
Children gain first-hand experience with Native American agriculture while investigating the life cycle of plants with this engaging experiment. Focusing on what the natives called the Three Sisters - corn, beans, and squash - young...
National Park Service
Living & Non-Living Interactions
What better way to learn about ecosystems than by getting outside and observing them first hand? Accompanying a field trip to a local park or outdoor space, this series of collaborative activities engages children in...
Baylor College
Fuel for Living Things
During a three-part lesson, learners make a cabbage juice pH indicator and use it to analyze the waste products of yeast after feeding them with sugar. The intent is to demonstrate how living organisms produce carbon dioxide, which is...
Curated OER
The Web of Life
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...
Curated OER
Long Island Beach Life
Have your class learn about marine life through this resource. This comprehensive lesson has learners discuss marine life, learn key vocabulary, discuss environmental concerns, and play games related to migration and predator/prey...
Curated OER
Living-Nonliving
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.
Baylor College
Needs of Living Things: Pre-Assessment
Determine your class's prior knowledge about the necessities of life with this pre-assessment for a unit on living things. Learners draw pictures of themselves with all the things they need to live, grow, and survive. These drawings will...
Baylor College
Needs of Living Things: Post-Assessment
Assess your class's knowledge of the needs of living things with the final lesson plan in a series. Given a large piece of paper and coloring utensils, young scientists draw a picture of themselves and a plant or animal of their...
Curated OER
Life Cycle of Trees
Turn your students into young tree-tectives with this fun science investigation into the life of trees. To begin, a class volunteer gets dressed up in a tree costume as the different parts of trees are introduced. Then, the class...
Curated OER
Mealworms
Crawl into the world of the darkling beetle with this scientific investigation. Watch as the insects move through the larval, pupal, and adult stages of life, recording observations along the way. Discuss the necessities of life as young...
Alabama Wildlife Federation
Life in a Pond
What living things call an aquatic habitat home? Young learners consider the question after they discuss the characteristics of a typical pond habitat. They identify an animal and then determine if a pond would have all the components to...
Curated OER
Urban Life: What Lives in Our Schoolyard?
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...
Curated OER
Forest Life- Wood Bug Study
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.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Nature's Life Cycle
Become a member of the Pollution Patrol and stand up to litter! After discussing the life cycle of seeds and discussing how plants figure into the food chain, young conservationists engage in several activities involving podcasts,...
Curated OER
The Koala Life Cycle
Young scholars ask and answer questions about the koala life cycle while visiting the zoo. In this koala lesson plan, students review mammal characteristics, read books about koalas, and answer questions about koalas while at the zoo.
Curated OER
Plants and Ecosystems
The relationships within and between ecosystems can be explored. after examining an area for living and non-living things students complete the same examination in the forest ecosystem. Students identify abiotic and biotic elements in an...
Curated OER
Endangered Marine Turtles
Students work in groups and experience what it is like to be a hatchling marine turtle by playing a board game. In this endangered marine turtles lesson, students research the threats to marine turtle hatchlings. Students then...
Curated OER
Investigate Science Using Crayfish
Young scientists discover the importance of scientific investigation by observing live crayfish. They carefully observe the patterns of crayfish in different environments. Then they discuss their conclusions and define what all living...
Sea World
Seaworld Science Activity
A fun collection of activities about marine life would be a great addition to your elementary science unit. From cute penguins to scary sharks, the unit features crafts, experiments, and basic research projects that will teach your...
Curated OER
Invisible Life
By setting up an aquarium in the classroom, learners are able to describe some macroscopic and microscopic organisms that are found inside. This well-designed, and educationally rich lesson requires pupils to use microscopes to view...
Curated OER
Life on Mars
Students research the feasibility of life on Mars and debate what it would need in order to sustain life. They work in teams to predict, research, infer, and explain their theory using models they build.
Desert Discovery
Life Cycle of the Saguaro
Third graders make books which illustrate the growth and development of a saguaro cactus from its beginnings as a seed all the way through its death. They trace the life cycle of the saguaro, identify each of the stages in its life,...
Baylor College
Energy for Life (Energy from Food)
Energy comes in many forms, but how do living things get the energy they need to survive and thrive? In a simple, controlled experiment with yeast, water, and sugar, groups make observations about how yeast reacts with water alone, then...
Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE)
Fish Morphology
Life comes in all different shapes and sizes, and fish are no exception. Here, young scientists create fish prints as they learn how specific characteristics allow different species to survive in their particular habitats.