Middle schoolers build a friendly environment for future students by creating a PowerPoint presentation.  In this middle school introduction lesson, middle schoolers utilize a camera to record important moments throughout the school...

Second graders will track the weather patterns throughout the school year. This project spans the school year and takes five minutes per day or less. Measuring, data collection, and predictions are all explored throughout this relevant...

Jump back into expository writing and analysis at the start of a new school year! Start with a review of an authors' stylistic choices in diction, syntax, treatment of subject matter, and figurative language. Writers choose a text to...

Small groups place sand and ice in a covered box, place the box in the sunlight, then observe as evaporation, condensation, and precipitation occur. These models serve as miniature water cycles and demonstrations of the three phases of...

As a lesson on scientific observation, have your class investigate the features of a penny and a nickel. Working in pairs, they practice writing detailed descriptions using their senses and a ruler to gather information. This is an...

Kick off the school year with some math fun! New classmates share information about themselves by using graphs and interpreting data. The goal is to use a general graph shape, such as linear or exponential, and create labels for the axes...

Elementary schoolers learn about young John F. Kennedy. After a teacher-led discussion about his high school years, pupils examine a photograph of Kennedy and four of his friends taken on the grounds of the Choate School in Connecticut....

Seventh graders create a classroom timeline of important world events. This lesson is meant to be used during the entire school year. As the school year goes along, events are added to the timeline as chosen by the class. The events are...

Fifth graders record any earthquake activity throughout the school year on various maps. In groups, they identify a map locating the points given to them by their teacher. To end the instructional activity, they add the date, strength...

Help young scientists connect with nature and learn about trees with a fun life science lesson. Heading out into the school yard, children choose a tree to adopt, taking measurements, writing descriptions, and drawing sketches of it in...

Students read a multicultural book called "This Is the Way We Go to School" by Edith Baer and Steve Bjorhman. They become culturally aware of the different nationalities around the world and different ways that they may do things on a...

Students devise a system for watering classroom plants during school year and summer breaks. In this watering system lesson, students work in teams to investigate water needs of plants and develop systems that will keep the plants...

A great year-round activity that shows young mathematicians how the math skills they are learning are actually used in the real world. This exercise also helps learners begin to distinguish the difference between weather and climate. As...

Young scientists explore the world of entomology. They focus on the life cycle of butterflies and moths. They utilize the entire school year in order to see how butterfly eggs turn into the chrysallis, then into a butterfly, who then...

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...

This particular lesson was written by the National Earth Science Teachers Association, but density is a concept that you can teach at the beginning of the school year in your life, physical, or earth science classes. It would be fun to...

If you are looking for how to introduce elementary environmentalists to the process of composting, here is a comprehensive outline for making it happen. The plan is to set this up at the beginning of a school year in order to observe the...

Students observe and count bird sightings around their schoolyard throughout the school year.

Students trap, collect and identify arthropods in a newly created desert tortoise preserve area over a period of one school year. They determine the rate at which various arthropods take up residence in the newly landscaped area. Data is...

A scenario and background information are provided for two different open-ended experiments that experienced chemistry classes can perform toward the end of the school year. In the first, they design a method for testing flakes of paint...

Fourth graders measure the change in the size of their shadow over time. They visit a fixed structure and record the date, the time, and the measurement of the length of their shadow. They do this over the course of the school year. They...

Students survey what composting is. They observe the benefits of composting over the course of the school year by making your own composters and gardens. Group members compare two different compost piles, make conclusions about...

Students research about the process of composting. Students apply their research by creating a compost pile at school that will be maintained once or twice a month for the remainder of the school year.

What can shadows tell us about the changing season? Over several months, astronomy learners record length and position of an outdoor object's shadow, such as a flagpole. They apply the data to a growing hypothesis and note the...