National Park Service
Aspect, Treeline, and Climate
Head to the treeline and beyond to examine how this feature of the landscape affects weather and climate, which gives scientists clues about its health. Class members' observations of photographs provide the data that drives the...
Curated OER
Wildlife Burrows
Burrowing animals are busy! Get your middle school ecologists busy as well by having them create a scale model of a burrowing population. They also design a PowerPoint or poster to explain their models.
Curated OER
Climate Change Challenge
Students participate in a demonstration in which they role-play polar bears and habitat components to demonstrate the impacts of climate change on the Arctic Ocean ecosystem.
Curated OER
Blue Planet: Frozen Seas
Students study the animals from the Arctic and how they have adapted. In this ocean lesson students create a poster about their given animal and present it to the class.
Curated OER
Predator Protector Game
Students take on the role of an Ocean Adventures expedition volunteer member and are charged with protecting three species of sharks from danger in order to defend the balance of nature in the ecosystem. They play an online game which...
Curated OER
Animals of the Cold
Students access the Internet to research information about animals found in the coldest parts of the world. They gather data for collaborative exchange and research answers to teacher designed questions. They create original works of art...
Curated OER
Tracking Narwhals in Greenland The Ocean Unicorn
Students study the ecology, habitats, geographic range and feeding habits of narwhals. They determine at least three reasons for the decline in the narwhal populations and complete the accompanying worksheets.
Curated OER
Polar Biomes
Second graders research the animals, climate, and plant life in both of the Polar regions. They explore a variety of websites and complete a WebQuest. Students complete a chart, view a PowerPoint presentation, and answer true/false...
Curated OER
Birth, Growth and... Reproduction!
Students research the Arctic Hare and chart relevant information under month headings. They compare the information about the Arctic hare to other Arctic mammals.
Curated OER
Polar Bears in Captivity
For this polar bears worksheet, learners answer short answer questions about how polar bear's needs are met at the zoo. Students complete 6 questions.
Curated OER
Polar Pals: Polar Bears & Penguins
First graders complete a variety of activities about polar bears and penguins including the "Blubber Mitten" experiment. They culminate the unit by creating a visual representation comparing and contrasting the two animals.
Curated OER
Which Bear?
Students study bears. In this science lesson, students compare black, grizzly and polar bears. Students measure the bear tracks and compare the bear habitats and diet.
National Wildlife Federation
I Speak for the Polar Bears!
Climate change and weather extremes impact every species, but this lesson focuses on how these changes effect polar bears. After learning about the animal, scholars create maps of snow-ice coverage and examine the yearly variability and...
Prince William Network
The Incredible Journey
Divide your school gym into breeding grounds and non-breeding grounds so that your zoologists can play a game simulating the seasonal migration of shorebirds. Players pick one of the included game cards and follow its directions, which...
Curated OER
Whose Home Is This?
After reading a short and informative paragraph on animals and their environments, learners look at pictures of four animals, and write a short description of how each one has adapted to its environment. A suggested activity is that each...
Curated OER
Bering Sea Buffet - A Foodweb Activity
Life in the Bering Sea, food webs, and the ocean ecosystem are introduced with a map activity. The lesson starts as kids explore maps and images of the Bering Sea, then it kicks into high gear as they start to discuss the types of...
Prince William Network
Migration Math Madness
A great way to incorporate math into life science, this instructional activity has learners measure migratory routes on a map and calculate the actual distance that shorebirds on the routes would cover. Learners compute the distance...
Polar Bears International
Taking Action!
Motivate young scientists to stand up and take action with this environmental science instructional activity. To begin, the class works in small groups brainstorming actions that support the conservation of the earth before creating and...
American Museum of Natural History
North American Mammals Coloring Book
Seven pages offer scholars the opportunity to learn about North American mammals and boost their coloring skills. Animals include brown bears, beavers, jackrabbits, wolves, jaguar, and Dall sheep
Curated OER
Land Habitats: Grade 3 Science
Build your students scientific vocabulary with this slide show on land habitats. Each slide provides a vocabulary word, image, and definition of a term common to habitats and the environment. Great for science class or as comprehensible...
Curated OER
Puffin Patrol
Bird diversity and the majestic puffin are the topics of today's lesson. Children discuss and look at images of puffins, and then they use felt to put a puffin body together. After that they talk about what and how puffins eat. They get...
Curated OER
Animal Adaptations
Students use items from boxes to dress up classmates as animals adapted to a given environment.
Curated OER
Blending Butterflies
Students create camouflage butterflies. In this camouflage lesson plan, students read about the different types of camouflage. Each student in the class chooses a spot in the classroom and creates a camouflaged butterfly. They hang up...
Curated OER
Endangered Species Animal Masks
Students research endangered animals. In this animal science lesson, students visit suggested websites to learn more about endangered animals and create animal masks. Students need glue, cardstock, string and feathers to construct the...