Activity
Teachit

Life Cycle of a Penguin

For Teachers Pre-K - 4th
Celebrate the circle of life with this fun hands-on activity. After cutting out, gluing together, and assembling this visual model, students are able to spin through and observe the life cycle of penguins.
Lesson Plan
Berkshire Museum

The Three Life-Giving Sisters: Plant Cultivation and Mohican Innovation

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
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...
Interactive
Scholastic

Study Jams! The Senses: Tasting

For Students 4th - 8th
Mmmmmmm, here is a tasty little slide show to use when introducing upper-elementary learners to the sense of taste. Photographs and detailed computer images accompany explanatory text about how the taste buds and the nose send signals to...
Lesson Plan
California Academy of Science

A Day in the Life of a San Francisco Native Animal

For Teachers 4th - 5th Standards
Before Google, before Sillicon Valley, before the Gold Rush, the San Francisco landscape was a biome filled with grizzly bears, mule deer, tule elk, coyotes, gray fox, gophers, and moles. To explore the early days of yesteryear, kids...
Interactive3:32
Scholastic

Study Jams! The Kingdoms of Life

For Students 4th - 7th Standards
Life science learners discuss the characteristics of five kingdoms of life: animals, plants, fungi, protists, and bacteria in this video. Viewers find out from the dialogue that scientists group organisms according to similarities. This...
Lesson Plan
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Teachers' Guide to Using A Day In the Life of a Drop

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Hydrology hopefuls learn about their local watershed. Through discussion and online interactives, they see that their habits affect the water supply. The instructional activity concludes with a pledge to filter out bad water usage...
Interactive3:41
Scholastic

Study Jams! The Universe

For Students 4th - 8th
Take your kids on a trip through the universe as they explore galaxies, solar systems, stars, and more. Watch the short video, then have learners show their knowledge with the included quiz. Supplement the video by having teams build a...
Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Teaching the Life Cycle of a Butterfly Using the Kinesthetic Approach to Learning

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
The power of movement and silence is learned as small groups create a drama showcasing the life cycle of a butterfly.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Life Cycle of Trees

For Teachers 2nd - 8th Standards
Turn your young scholars 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...
Lesson Plan
National Wildlife Federation

Butterfly Life Cycle

For Teachers K - 4th
Caterpillars and butterflies each have their own unique challenges. While studying the life cycle of butterflies, learners focus on the threats to each stage. While some threats will be the same, each stage has its own unique...
Activity
Newspaper Association of America

Cereal Bowl Science and Other Investigations with the Newspaper

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
What do cereal, fog, and space shuttles have to do with newspapers? A collection of science investigations encourage critical thinking using connections to the various parts of the newspaper. Activities range from building origami seed...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Vocabulary 2c - Life Science: From Parents to Young

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
This life science vocabulary list and definitions will be useful when teaching a parent and offspring unit. Some nice ideas are included in the plan about the word origins, word structure and definition testing methods. There is also a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Life Science: Living Things

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Have your class build their vocabulary bank by studying life science terms. Basic terms like organism, cell, unicellular, and vertebrate are included on the definition sheet provided. Demonstrate how to identify different life science...
Interactive
US Geological Survey

The Water Cycle for Schools: Intermediate Ages

For Students 3rd - 5th
Water can travel from the highest mountain tops to the largest oceans. Using an interactive, young scientists trace the movement using an interactive online resource. They follow the water cycle by reading pop-up explanations on a...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Science Crossword Puzzles: Life Science

For Students 4th - 7th
Review some simple life science terms using this short and simple crossword puzzle. Young scientists find 6 terms about photosynthesis and other life science topics using provided clues and then plug them into a crossword.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Life Science: Plant Life Cycles

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Practice defining words that have to do with plant life cycles.  The list included here is mainly for structural units, but could be used to review their relevance and the process of the life cycle.
Lesson Plan
California Academy of Science

Kinesthetic Astronomy: The Meaning of a Year

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
How many times have you traveled around the sun? Aspiring astronomers grasp what a year is and they differentiate between orbit and rotation by walking around the sun right within your classroom. Place a lamp in the center of the room to...
Lesson Plan
Space Awareness

The Intertropical Convergence Zone

For Teachers 3rd - 11th Standards
Young scientists know it is hotter along the equator, but why is it also rainier? Through the process of completing two experiments and a worksheet, scholars discover the answer is the intertropical convergence zone. First, they...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Whale of Importance to the Arctic People

For Teachers 1st - 6th
The bowhead whale of the Arctic region is of great importance to the people that live there. Your class will brainstorm all they know about this wonderful whale and create an informational video, which they will share with the children...
Lesson Plan
Space Awareness

Investigating the Atmosphere - Air Takes Up Space

For Students 1st - 5th
How do you know there is air? Can you see it, smell it, feel it? To begin the investigation, learners watch a video and discuss what they know about air and the atmosphere. Then, they participate in five different hands-on, inquiry-based...
Lesson Plan
National Wildlife Federation

Call of the Wild: Grades K-4

For Teachers K - 4th
The sound a frog makes lets people know what it's up to. A two-part lesson begins by discussing the life cycle of a frog and the individual stages with drawings. The second part has learners listen to the frogs' different sounds and what...
Lesson Plan
Space Awareness

History of the Universe

For Students 3rd - 5th
Your pupils may believe that you and their parents are the oldest things in the universe, but surprise! There are elements of the universe that are even older. Elementary scientists create a class timeline to demonstrate the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Water Cycle

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Your class sets up a mini water cycle model to examine the process. Then they watch an animation, following a water molecule through the cycle. A well-developed lab sheet guides learners through the lesson and a PowerPoint presentation...
PPT
Curated OER

The Influence of Human Activity on the Environment

For Teachers 4th - 8th
The surge in human population in the last 2,000 years, due in large part to better health care, has brought a surge in the demand for resources and in pollution. The graphics, photographs, and real-life examples in a thought-provoking...