Lesson Plan
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Agriculture is a Cycle

For Teachers 1st - 5th Standards
What do a bicycle and the life cycle have in common? Cover this and more with the series of cross-curricular activities included in this plan. Learners do everything from making bracelets that represent the life cycle to checking out the...
Lesson Plan
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Milkweed Plants

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders view milkweed plants (or pictures). The describe the plant and discuss ways some butterflies use it as a food source. Students view four pictures of different phases of a milkweed plant's life cycle. They discuss the...
Lesson Plan
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Gardening for Beauty, Food, and Enjoyment

For Teachers 1st
First graders create their own garden. In this plant lesson plan, 1st graders discover the essential elements for a plant to grow. They planted their own garden and read the amount of space needed and the sunlight preferred for each...
Lesson Plan
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Interdependence and Adaptation

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students construct a food web to identify producer, consumer, herbivore, carnivore and predator. They complete an online activity collecting plants and animals and arranging them in the web. They describe the interdependence between...
Lesson Plan
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Science Unit Lesson Five

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders review how and which plants operate in terrariums. In groups, they follow instructions to make their own terrarium and place different types of plants in it. To end the activity, they review the steps in the water cycle and...
Lesson Plan
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Water Filtration

For Teachers 6th - 8th
As an example of nature's water filtering system, young ecologists conduct an experiment in the lab. They construct a funnel out of a plastic bottle, fill it with specified layers of materials that simulate layers of soil, then run muddy...
Lesson Plan
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The Radish Experiment

For Teachers 1st
First graders grow radishes. In this Science lesson, 1st graders observe the growth of radishes in both the light and dark. Students discuss what plants need to live.
Lesson Plan
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Pumpkin Patch

For Teachers K - 2nd
Learners create a pumpkin art project that outlines the life cycle of a pumpkin in order to learn the growth process of this particular vegetable. In this pumpkin art lesson, students first review the life cycle of a pumpkin as a class,...
Lesson Plan
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Rosa Parks Community Garden

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students explore gardening and nutrition in the Rosa Parks Community Garden. They work in stations to discuss food choices, the life cycles of plants, and mini-composting. After starting in one station, they rotate to try each activity.
Lesson Plan
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Plants and Animals of Great Bay Animals and Plants of the Estuary

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Students participate in a webquest about the plants and animals that inhabit an estuary. They role play as environmentalists researching this habitat and present the results of their research in a creative way.
Lesson Plan
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Patty's Pumpkin Patch

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Learners explore Halloween by examining pumpkins in class. In this pumpkin observation lesson, students discuss the method in which pumpkins are grown and the time line it takes a pumpkin to grow from a seed. Learners read a pumpkin poem...
Lesson Plan
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Enrichment Activities - "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH"

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders read the novel "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH." They discuss the various characters in the book, and the different types of conflict that take place within the book. They also research owls and rats to make comparisons...
Lesson Plan
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Raising Plants

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Students investigate the life cycle of plants by growing their own in class.  In this botany lesson, students practice using plant vocabulary while they grow their own Wisconsin Fast Plants.  Students collaboratively build a...
Lesson Plan
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Plant Transpiration

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students conduct various experiments to investigate plant transpiration. In this biology lesson, students explain how this process helps maintain the hydrologic cycle. They measure the rate of water loss in plants using a potometer.
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Life Underground

For Teachers 1st
First graders build a terrarium in order to observe animal and plant life dynamics. In this biology lesson, 1st graders compare how organisms survive in different environments. They write their observations and analysis in their journal.
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Water Supply

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders complete three activities. In this water supply lesson, 4th graders learn that water can exist in different forms and watch a demonstration of each form. Students explore the water cycle and make a water cycle using the...
Lesson Plan
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Web of Life

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students construct a web of life. In this ecosystem activity students are introduced to ecosystems and life cycles. Insects are the main focus.
Lesson Plan
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Let's Make a Compost Cake

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students create a compost cake. For this gardening and decomposition science lesson, students review and describe the "nutrient cycle." Students create a compost pile, measure and record the dimensions and temperature of the pile, and...
Lesson Plan
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Fall Lesson Plans

For Teachers Pre-K
Students participate in various fall activities. In this fall instructional activity, students take a trip to a farmers market and purchase the ingredients needed for vegetable soup. Students paint fall scenes and create a fall story....
Lesson Plan
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Bacteria: Friend or Foe?

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students examine a variety of environmental and industrial roles of bacteria. explore where bacteria can be found and distinguish bacteria from other organisms.
Lesson Plan
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Earth, Sun, and Moon

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students participate in a demonstration and complete an online activity that illustrates the earth orbits the sun once a year, and that the moon takes approximately 28 days to orbit the earth.
Lesson Plan
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Carbon Dioxide

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students conduct a series of experiments to explore carbon dioxide properties. In this chemistry lesson, students explain the production and uses of this gas. They measure its amount in soda and waste product of yeast.
Lesson Plan
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The Water Cycle: Transpiration

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students identify and describe the stages in the water cycle. Using plants, they determine if they play a role in the cycle and measure the water the plants give off. They complete an experiment to determine if deciduous or coniferous...
Lesson Plan
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The Plant Growth Cycle

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students explain the stages of the plant growth cycle, and create a slide show to chart the stages of growth.