Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduction to the Day and Night Sky

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Students explore space science by participating in a sky observation activity. In this astronomy activity, students define a list of astronomy vocabulary terms and examine star charts of the four seasons. Students gather with their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Why Do We Have Day And Night?

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders demonstrate knowledge and appropriate use of hardware components, software programs, and their connections. After a lecture/demo, student groups utilize raisins and apples to demonstrate day and night. They put togethre a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Why Do We Have Night?

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students engage in a fun, creative way to discover how the Earth moves. This lesson helps students explain why there is day and night. It can also create curiosity to further study the solar system and eclipses!
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Day and Night in the Desert

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Students illustrate scenes showing day and nighttime activities in the desert. They include plant and animal life including predators and prey.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring the Night Sky: Summer

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explain how moon phases occur. They describe and explain at least two common misconceptions that people have about the moon. Students explain what a star is. They explain 3 ways that the night sky has been used throughout history.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Modeling Day and Night

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Young scholars complete a science experiment to study the role of night and day on sleep patterns. In this sleep patterns lesson plan, students brainstorm about night and day and the causes for the rotations on Earth. Young scholars work...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Animals Active at Night

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students identify animals that are active at night and the reasons why. They examine the features needed to be a nocturnal animal. They create a representation of one of the animals.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Starry, Starry Night

For Teachers K
Students, using construction paper, and an empty black film canster with no lid, create their own night sky full of stars that can be seen in the middle of the day.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Starry Night Time and Day Time

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders complete a unit of lessons on the solar system. They complete various art projects inspired by Van Gogh's 'Starry Night,' create a moon phases book, create a moon phase wind chime, develop a timeline of space exploration,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Day in the life of...

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students read about and study insects--their distinguishing characteristics, habitats, camouflage methods, defense mechanisms, etc. They draw pictures and write a story from the viewpoint of an insect and share their pictures and stories...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Spring Time Trees/Flowers

For Teachers 5th
Plan ahead! Integrate science and language arts! Schedule your reading of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe to coincide with the arrival of spring. As pupils read Chapter 11 of the Lewis classic, they are assigned one of...
Lesson Plan
National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science

Mask of the Black God

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Finally, an astronomy lesson for the high schooler! Explorers are able to read star maps for finding objects in the night sky by determining celestial coordinates. In particular, they locate the Pleiades and read about a Navajo legend...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Water Works Wonders

For Teachers K - 1st
Students examine where water is found in the world, how we use it, and the various forms it takes. They observe the refraction of light through a prism, record the day and night sky over a week's time, and create a topographic model of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Children's Health on the Decline

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Demonstrate the importance of children's health with this cross-curricular lesson, which includes elements from health and science as well as expository writing. Middle schoolers develop realistic and obtainable one week health and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Science Show

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students create a physics science show. In this science show activity, students research, design, and complete a physics activity to share during a science show for younger students.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

My! What a Sky!

For Teachers 1st
First graders read "Goodnight Moon" or "Day And Night" and discuss what they see in day and night skies. They read and sing lyrics to the "Day and Night" song. They identify objects in the sky as day or night objects. They illustrate day...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Solar System

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students describe the different bodies that make up our solar system, explain the place of our solar system within the Milky Way Galaxy and the universe, explain day and night and the Earth's movement, and describe the relationship...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Where Do I Go At Night?

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students describe the requirements of daytime and nightime animals for survival. They identify any behaviors that assist in the animal surviving. They create a representation for the class to view.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Earth's Movement in Space

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Young scholars explain how the Earth's tilt and rotation causes night and day. For this earth science lesson, students determine how seasonal changes are caused by Earth's revolution. They play a jeopardy team game at the end of the unit...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Summer Sky Tour

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Young scholars explore space science by participating in a constellation identification activity. In this astronomy lesson, students view star charts based on the different seasons and define a list of astronomy related terms. Young...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Picture an Astronomer

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students create a drawing of what an astronomer looks like. They explore their own assumptions of those who work in the sciences.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using the Synoptic Code for the Prediction of Water

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students construct a thermoscreen for the experiment. For this earth science lesson, students make observations and interpret them using synoptic codes. They predict the weather based on gathered information.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Agriculture is a Cycle

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Young scholars explore cycles in nature. In this cross curriculum agriculture lesson, students define "cycle" and research weather and planting folklore. Young scholars make a bracelet in which individual colored beads represent the many...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Hot Air

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers conduct an experiment to determine how hot air affect the path of laser. In this physics lesson plan, students explain why stars appear to twinkle at night. They discuss how light travels from space to Earth.