Curated OER
Habitats: Cactus Hotel
A reading of Brenda Z. Guiberson’s, Cactus Hotel, launches a study of animal habitats. Working with parent volunteers or teacher aides, groups travel outside the classroom to select a habitat, take digital pictures, and incorporate the...
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Desert Plant Detectives
Students examine and categorize plants in their own schoolyard desert garden and then observe other plant areas of their schoolyard.
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Deserts: How Do You Define One?
Second graders identify what constitutes as a desert by reading a habitat checklist. In this environment lesson, 2nd graders read a nature website to discover facts about the desert and where they are located. Students utilize art...
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Introducing Habitats and Biodiversity
Students identify habitats in Arizona. Theys define and illustrate a food web, and explain the importance fo biodiversity.
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Timeline for Bird and Plant Research
Learners research and observe birds and plants in selected habitat areas.
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Happy Habitats
Students explore different habitats. In this habitat lesson, students investigate four different habitats through participating in a WebQuest. Students create an animal web using Kidspiration or a video documentary upon completing the...
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Taking Count of Biodiversity
Here is a well-designed lesson on biodiversity that should intrigue your charges. In it, pupils compare a natural desert area to a school field to see how habitat destruction affects species diversity. Groups set up transects and collect...
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Habitats
Students examine how different living things interact with their environment. As a class, they discuss the characteristics of a habitat and write the list on the board. In groups, they focus on one habitat and create a mural of the...
Aquarium of the Pacific
Ecosystem Comparison
Fifth graders examine plants and animals in two ecosystems and compare them. In this ecosystem survival lesson, 5th graders compare and contrast a coral reef and kelp forest ecosystem. Students investigate the abiotic and biotic factors...
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Desert Tortoise Adaptations
Students observe the Desert Tortoise in its natural surroundings. In this adaptations lesson, students study and take pictures of an animal in its habitat, then design a PowerPoint which addresses adaptations, biodiversity, and threats...
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Don't Call Me A Pig
First graders explore wildlife and habitats in the Arizona desert. Throughout a classroom discussion, 1st graders observe pictures of the desert and animals that live there. As they go on a nature walk around the school, students...
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What's That? A Habitat!
Students identify and define what oceans, deserts, woodlands, and cold places are. Then they identify animals that live in different habitats by playing a hands-on sorting activity. Students also research various web sites as instructed...
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Design-A-Weed
Students create a "super weed" that prospers in teh harsh conditions on plant Weediv. They comprehend how weed adaptations give the plants an advantage over native plants. Students define the term adaptation. They give three examples...
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Mini-Ecosystems
Third graders identify the living and non living things in a book read aloud and discuss the interactions represented in the book. Then, they research and include a list of food that each animal needs in an ecosystem. Finally, 3rd...
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"Habitats"
Young scholars complete a unit of lessons on animals and animal conservation. They observe a square meter of ground outside the school, set up a model environment, analyze an owl pellet, grow bread mold, and explore various websites.
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Yummy Plant Parts
Students examine plant parts. In this botany instructional activity, students examine various edible plants and how their adaptations help them to grow. They observe stems, leaves, roots and flowers of plants and discuss the relationship...
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How to Grow a Cactus Indoors
Students plant a cacti. In this desert plants lesson, students identify the needs of a plant and meet those needs by planting and caring for cactus.
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Insect Collection
Middle schoolers investigate about various biological aspects of life, while examining desert insect species. They see the diverse range of species that live in the desert, despite the apparent lack of life in the desert. students...
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Terrestrial Communities
Students watch a video about different terrestrial communities. They conduct an experiment with sponges conserving water. They research desert characteristics comparing them with other biomes.
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Science: Her-bariums Galore!
Students collect and identify plant species and construct herbariums both at school and at home. By gathering data from both locales, they draw conclusions and make predictions about plant diversity. Upon completion of the exercises,...
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 learning about the...
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Salinity Of Soil
Fourth graders investigate the contents of various types of soil to determine the differences in salinity levels. They conduct an experiment of observing the plants in the different soils. Students then determine survival rates by...
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Learning From Leaves: From Observation to Inference
Students examine the adaptation of plants to their environments. They analyze and observe the structure, shape, and internal structure of various leaves, and make inferences about the structures.
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Making a Terrarium
Students construct and maintain model of natural habitat, suggest improvements to the model of the natural habitat to make it more realistic and habitable, and demonstrate careful observation and recording of how animals survive in their...