Wild BC
Climate Change Bingo
Here is a 20-box bingo card to use when exploring ways that humans impact the environment. Various environmentally aware activities are listed in the boxes, and learners circulate the room to find someone who practices the different...
American Chemical Society
From Gas to Liquid to Solid
From gas to liquid condensation to solid frost, water undergoes phase changes before students' eyes! Using ice, salt, water, and a metal can, they set up an investigation that can be used in a physical science setting, or as part of a...
American Chemical Society
Exploring Moisture on the Outside of a Cold Cup: For Dry Environments
If the area you live in is arid, or the preceding experiment in this unit didn't yield obvious results, use this one in place of it to help reveal where condensation comes from. The mini unit that this is part of a comprehensive...
American Chemical Society
Condensation
It's time to break the ice! If you are doing all of the lessons in the unit, children have already seen that increasing heat increases the rate of evaporation, but is the opposite true? Does decreasing temperature cause more condensation...
American Chemical Society
Evaporation
This is one in several lessons that explore the relationship between temperature and phase changes of water. After some discussion, elementary physical scientists place wet paper toweling on a hot and a room-temperature water bag and...
Exploratorium
Blue Sky
Use a container full of water as a prism and show that as light is bent, the individual colors from different wavelengths become visible. This explains why the sky appears to be blue midday, and why as the sun nears the horizon, it looks...
Berkshire Museum
Where’s the Water?: Acting Out Science Cycles
Young scientists transform themselves into rivers, oceans, clouds, and drops of water in order to explore the water cycle. After assigning and explaining to students their different roles in the activity, the teacher reads aloud a...
Curated OER
Clouds
Incorporate art and poetry into an early elementary science lesson about cloud formation. With fun and engaging activities that follow a natural learning progression, youngsters will develop key vocabulary and conceptual understanding...
University of Wisconsin
Measuring Slope for Rain Gardens
The slope of the land is an important feature when considering the erosion that will occur. In this resource, which is part of a rain garden unit, learners calculate the slope of the proposed garden site. Even if you are not planning a...
Curated OER
My Weather Station
A printable weather station that will blow you away, this includes tools that little meteorologists can use to display their observations of daily weather conditions. There is a gauge where they can slide a pointer to show the...
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
The Case of the Mysterious Renters
Upper-elementary kids examine the water usage in their own home, then use that data to solve a case in which a landlady is trying to determine how many people are living in an apartment being rented. Combine math, scientific method, and...
McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center
Global Warming in a Jar
This well-organized lab activity introduces earth science pupils to the greenhouse effect. They will set up two experiments to monitor temperatures in an open jar, a closed jar, and a closed jar containing water. Ideally, you would have...
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Conservation: Water
Here is a fantastic experiment-based lesson plan on water conservation, waste, and filtration. The lesson plan is well-developed and provides background information, discussion leads, and six scripted lab activities anyone can do. The...
Curated OER
Water in the Geosphere
Through a PowerPoint presentation and the embedded animation and video, earth science enthusiasts find out about the moisture in the soil beneath our feet. In the animation, follow a water molecule on its path through the water cycle. As...
Scholastic
Science Method Printables
Six color posters are included, one for each step of the scientific method. Each step in the process is named, and three points to remember or questions to ask are also included to stimulate thinking.
NASA
Rain Gauge Activity
Complete teacher narrative and presentation slides for teaching about Earth's water make up the bulk of this lesson. Embedded within the slide show, you will find videos about the water cycle, keeping track of the limited supply of fresh...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Air Pressure & Wind
Blow your class away with a gust of humor as they watch this video about air pressure and wind. Along the way, they find that the density of air (as determined by temperature, altitude, and water vapor content) leads to air pressure...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Tides
The tide will turn in your earth science or oceanography unit when viewers see this clip. They learn that tides are caused by the gravitational pull of our moon, and are even impacted by the gravity of the sun. High, low, neap, and...
Scholastic
Study Jams! The Nitrogen Cycle
Expose your class to the steps of the nitrogen cycle with this short clip. Colorful computer imagery and animation explain how nitrogen travels from the atmosphere as a gas into plants and soil, where bacteria convert it into nitrates....
Scholastic
Study Jams! Weather Instruments
Concise, yet complete, this set of seven slides describes with photos and text the different basic instruments for measuring weather factors. After viewing, young meteorologists will be able to talk about how to measure humidity, wind...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Clouds & Precipitation
Pretty pictures of water droplets, clouds, and snow-covered mountains are the backdrop for information about clouds and precipitation. With 10 slides in all, viewers see how and where clouds form as well as what forms of water can fall...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Weather & Climate
Introducing your class to weather concepts is a breeze with this fresh film! It differentiates between weather and climate, describes the factors that affect weather (temperature, air pressure and humidity), and displays Earth's climate...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Severe Storms
Tornadoes and hurricanes and blizzards, oh my! Severe storms are always occurring somewhere on the planet. By reading through these slides, learners discover the characteristics of each type. Have them do this as homework and then take...
Scholastic
Study Jams! The Carbon Cycle
Take a ride on the carbon cycle by watching this animated featurette. Those who do will learn about the element carbon, how it cycles through the atmosphere and biosphere, and how it contributes to Earth's temperature. This video comes...