Curated OER
What is an Earthworm Like?
Second graders study earthworms. In this science lesson, 2nd graders observe an earthworm using a magnifying lens, draw pictures of the earthworm, and record their observations.
Baylor College
Animals' Needs
Explore the wonderful world of earthworms as your class learns about the requirements of animal life. After building soda bottle terrariums, students observe worms over the course of a couple weeks, building an understanding that all...
National Park Service
Reduce Our Carbon Footprint, Let’s Compost!
Roll up your sleeves and get a little dirty with this elementary and middle school compost lesson plan. All you need is a large plastic container, a couple old newspapers, some organic waste, and a few hundred worms and you're ready...
Curated OER
Making a Mini Worm Habitat
Third graders create an earthworm habitat. In this worms lesson, 3rd graders construct a KWL chart about earthworms and research their habitat. Students create a mini habitat for their earthworms by using gravel, sand, cloth, and soil.
Desert Museum
Daisy Ecology
Here's a fine activity that combines poetry with life sciences. Learners carefully listen to a poem that's all about a food chain. As the poem is read, learners name the producer, the herbivore, the carnivore, and the omnivore. Lots of...
Curated OER
Earthworm Dissection
Students identify the external features of the earthworm. They view a video about different features of an earthworm. They research information about annelids on the Internet. They compare and contrast the earthworm with another annelid.
Curated OER
National Worm Survey
Students participate in the National Worm Survey. For this National Worm Survey lesson, students generate data on earthworms. Students submit their data to the online database Worm Watch.
Curated OER
Worms Attack
Fourth graders observe earthworms and record their observations. They test to find how earthworms react to touch and moisture. After their study of earthworms, they do a creative writing activity in which they tell about life from the...
University of Kentucky
The Great Spider Debate
Poor, misunderstood spiders! They are feared, disrespected, and detested by many people, yet they do so many positive things. A great addition to any insect unit, learn about some of the more common spiders, while hopefully dispelling...
NOAA
What's New?
Biodiversity in some areas is more diverse than one might think. Using a two-day lesson, pupils consider the biodiversity of the Hudson Canyon and the characteristics of one organism. They begin with an analysis of the common earthworm...
Curated OER
Measuring Up on the Mayflower
Second graders use a meter tape to compare the length of the Mayflower to a basketball court and make homemade butter for crackers. Afterward, all students sit inside the makeshift Mayflower's dimensions and enjoy their Pilgrim butter.
Curated OER
Case of the Missing Pumpkin
Students explore the process of decomposition. In this science lesson, students carve a pumpkin and observe as it decomposes. Students compare the changes to an uncarved pumpkin. Students write about the disappearing pumpkin.
Curated OER
Animal Behavior
Young scholars investigate stimulus-response behavior, learned behavior in animals and innate behavior in animals. In this animal behavior lesson plan, students answer questions about their reactions to a toy cap gun that is fired off in...
Nuffield Foundation
Observing Water Moving Through Plants
We know plants assist in the water cycle, but how do plants get water from the ground into the air? Through a series of demonstrations or labs, scholars observe the movement of water through plants. They microscopically view the cells...
Curated OER
Science: Where the Worms Live
Learners build mine-earthworm habitats to discover their niche in them. They make predictions about what the niche looks like in a week and draw a picture of it. Students notice the tunnels in the soil and how the sand and dirt are now...
Curated OER
Quiz: Invertebrates
In this science worksheet, 3rd graders will focus on invertebrates. Students will respond to eight true/false questions about these animals.
Curated OER
The Great Spider Debate
Students study about the survival and hunting strategies of several different kinds of spiders. They also be introduced to scientific classification of spiders and write a brief report about one of the spider families they observe.
Curated OER
Unlikely Diary keepers Using Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
Put your class in the shoes of someone - or something - else with this lesson, which encourages writers to keep a diary from the perspective of a living creature or an abstraction. Use Doreen Cronin's Diary of a Worm and the Six Trait...
Curated OER
Case of the Missing Pumpkin
Scientists define and discuss decomposition, and watch pumpkins decompose and return to soil in classroom experiment. They record the date the experiment began, chart changes in pumpkins on a calendar, count how many days it takes...
Nuffield Foundation
Microscale Investigations of Catalase Activity in Plant Extracts
Use indirect measurements to monitor metabolic activity in plant cells. Scholars understand that cells with a higher metabolic rate have a higher concentration of catalase enzyme. They use this information to compare metabolic rates of...
Curated OER
Food Web
Learners identify producers and consumers, including scavengers and decomposers, and discuss role each plays in food web. They then make diagram of possible food chain that might include skull pictured on Montana's quarter, and...
Curated OER
Food Chains
Fourth graders study food chains, producers, consumers, and decomposers. They play a food chain game and create food chain mobiles or posters. They take a nature hike around the school and observe various parts of a food chain.
Curated OER
Classification of Intertidal Organisma
Students categorize animals. In this animal classification lesson, students group animals by their characteristics. Students break into groups and work together to classify the animals. Students fill out a graphic organizer with their...
Curated OER
Under Our Feet
Students investigate the forest ecosystem to learn of the living and non-living elements of the soil. For this ecosystem lesson, students examine soil for twigs, moss, fungi, leaves, roots and other matter. Students...