Columbus City Schools
Get Your Organisms Organized
From large to small, show your class how to organize them all! Included within the guide is everything you need to take their knowledge of classification from the cellular to the species level. The worksheets focus on building vocabulary...
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A Study of Vertebrates
Fourth graders investigate the characteristics of each vertebrate group. They take notes in a science journal, and in small groups create a HyperStudio slideshow presentation to present information about a specific vertebrate group.
American Museum of Natural History
The Tree of Life
Groups of species can have more in common than meets the eye. An interactive cladogram shows some of the connections between important groups of species. Learners click on sections of the diagram to learn more about the connections or on...
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4th Grade Life Science Unit: Animals
Fourth graders classify animals. In this animal kingdom lesson, 4th graders research animal habitats and behaviors. Students connect to a zoologist via SKYPE and learn about animal classification. Students blog about preserving animal...
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Researching Vertebrates
Fifth graders research and present a paper about vertebrates. In this research and writing lesson, 5th graders research information about vertebrates which they include in a paper and presentation. They determine how to present relevant...
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Vertebrate Dioramas
Young scholars describe the development of their chosen form of vertebrate life from the past to the present in a four to six page paper. They explain the use of a phylogenetic tree, and use this to exemplify an organism's evolutionary...
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Through the Eyes of an Owl
Students describe vertebrates in terms of observable body parts and characteristics and describe life cycles of familiar organisms. They identify familiar organisms as part of a food chain or food web and describe their feeding...
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Design a Deep- Sea Vertebrate or Invertebrate
Learners design a deep-sea animal. In this research based lesson, students research and design a vertebrate or invertebrate that lives in a methane hydrate habitat. They compile a class chart of the adaptations animals have in this...
Teach Engineering
Live Like an Animal
When your parents say that your room's a pig sty, tell them about biomimicry. The sixth installment of a nine-part Life Science unit has scholars research the shelters used by animals in the natural world, like turtle shells. Using the...
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Have a Backone
Students create a visual organizer that describes different groups of vertebrates in this pre-writing activity. They view and discuss a video on descriptive writing and then form small groups to research vertebrate classes using the...
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What's the Difference?
Students analyze the similarities in different species. This activity is part of a multi-segmented unit on the diversity of life. In this segment, students classify shoes to mimic the scientific categories of the classification system.
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Diversity of Life
Learners explore the diversity of life forms and the role that interdependency plays in our world through a mult-segmented unit. This segment introduces the unit.
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Dinosaur Time Capsule
Third graders research prehistoric life using educational software. They design a prehistoric life while showing the use of appropriate scale and names for the prehistoric life. They follow an internet link to participate in a virtual...
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Experimentation with Teratogens on Zebrafish
Students compare mitosis and meiosis with regard to chromosome number in parent cells versus daughter cells, types of cells produced, total number of cells produced, and the number of divisions. In groups, identify and differentiate the...
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The Froggy Page
Learners investigate the cycle of life by observing tadpoles. In this biology lesson plan, students utilize the Internet to read stories, observe pictures, and listen to sounds of frogs. Learners create a poster board collage using...
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Raising Trout
Learners investigate the life cycles of fish as they observe a trout's life in class. In this fish life instructional activity, students create a proper habitat in a fish tank for the trout eggs to spawn and thrive for several weeks....
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Can You Find...on the "Progression of Life" Poster?
Students examine and analyze a poster that presents various types of animals throughout the ages. They determine biological classification with fossils and earth history in a game.
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What Lives In A Shell?
Second graders study the readily observable characteristics of marine invertebrates, 2nd graders research the invertebrates and complete worksheets in this series of lessons.
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Spineless - YES... Helpless - NO!
Students distinguish between invertebrate and vertebrate organisms while examining the zoological classes of a number of invertebrates. They illustrate a food web of these organisms and investigate the impact of humans on the oceanic...
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Write a Description
Finding the central idea is the focus of this lesson. Middle schoolers write descriptions of different animals using details and descriptive language. They watch a video of kids using descriptive language, and then use showing language...
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Classification of Animals
First graders investigate the characteristics of vertebrates. They classify each as mammal, fish, bird, and reptiles. Students explore the differences between various types of animals and classify each.
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Classy
Students explore the classification system in this seven lessons unit. The diversity of life forms and their characteristics are examined using a microscope. Kingdoms, classes, and families are investigated.
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Classify That!
Students get acquainted with diverse forms of life by using modern biological classification systems to group animals that are related. They explore basic scientific groupings like genus, species, mammals, fish, birds, amphibians, and...
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Animal Diversity
Students explore biology by completing science worksheets in class. In this animal anatomy instructional activity, students read the book The Adventures of Marco and Polo and identify the animals mentioned in it. Students examine a real...