Curated OER
A PLAY ON WORDS
After making predictions about Janell Cannon's story Verdi, middle schoolers read through the book and make a new list of descriptions, personality traits, etc. They select an animal and write a narrative story about the animal, paying...
Curated OER
Story Totems
Students write and illustrate a story to describe the habitat and life cycle of a selected animal. They write and publish their story, and create a picture of the animal on a wooden board.
Curated OER
The Sorcerer's Apprentice: 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons
Upper graders view the animated short, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and analyze how the music score was chosen to express the scene. They create an animation as they listen to a classical recording to experience the connection between...
Curated OER
2nd Grade - Act. 25: Creature Creation
Create a creature using some of the characteristics of a real animal. Second graders will read a book from the "Froggy," series by Johnathan London to learn about the characteristics of frogs. After discussing and recording various...
University of Arizona
Fusing Firecrackers with Narrative
Improve your youngsters' descriptive writing. They study an object and write about what they see as a warm-up, then they read an excerpt from Paul Guest's memoir, One More Theory about Happiness. The next part of the activity prompts...
Curated OER
Show Not Tell
Middle schoolers learn to show, not tell, in their narrative writing. A slide show takes them through the process of choosing strong, descriptive words, and then provides writing prompts for them to use as practice. The first two pages...
Berkshire Museum
Camouflage!: Collecting Data and Concealing Color
Help young scholars see the important role camouflage plays in the survival of animals with a fun science lesson. Starting with an outdoor activity, children take on the role of hungry birds as they search for worms represented by...
Curated OER
"Snapshot" Exercises & Sensory Detail Word Bank
Read a sample of creative descriptive writing to your science class. Discuss how writing can be used to record and communicate observations that scientists make. Reading selections and thought-provoking questions are suggested. Also...
Project Noah
Writing Goes Wild
Young scientists develop their observation and writing skills as they craft and then post a detailed description of a plant or animal they have spotted and photographed.
US Environmental Protection Agency
Carbon Through the Seasons
Meteorologists view an animated video by the Environmental Protection Agency to learn how the carbon cycle works, and then move into groups to analyze and graph actual data of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration from Hawaii's...
Curated OER
Desert Animal Research
Second graders research a desert animal and create a 5 card HyperStudio stack including description, habitat, diet and an interesting fact.
Curated OER
Animal Riddles
Students research an animal using online research .They create a multimedia riddle using the information and share it with the class.
Curated OER
Animal Growth Journal
Students observe an animal growth/sponge capsule over time. They record their observations in a journal. They discuss their findings and try to find other animals in different stages of development.
Curated OER
Creating My Personal Animal ABC Book
Students conduct Internet research on various animals. They write and create an Animal ABC book, including pictures of each animal, and each animal's phyla and class, to present to a young child.
Curated OER
Animal Hide and Seek
Students read about animal camouflage. In this animal adaptation lesson, students read short texts about ways in which animals hide or transform to escape their prey. Students explore animal classifications and determine ways to hide in...
Curated OER
Animal Explorations
Students discover compassion for animals. In this animal lesson, students go to a local animal welfare organization and help out. They reflect on compassion and how to make changes in the lives of animals.
Curated OER
Animal Parenting
Students analyze parenting instincts. In this parenting instincts lesson, students view a drawing of animal they studies and describe what they learned about the animal. Students teach the class about their animal and the class creates a...
Curated OER
Real People, Real Farms: Case Studies of Animal Agriculture
Students explore sustainable animal production. In this agriculture lesson, students examine how animal production is managed in the US and world. They apply this knowledge to real life situations by evaluating the sustainability of a...
Curated OER
Comparing Three Animal Brains
In this animal brain activity, students view images of a human brain, toad brain, and shark brain along with descriptions of each. They answer 3 short answer questions.
Curated OER
Animal Coverings
Students categorize animals by their coverings. They list descriptive words, explore a science center with actual animal coverings, match pictures of animals with coverings, and categorize pictures of animals by their coverings on a...
Curated OER
What is an Animal?
In this animal worksheet, students review various characteristics that are associated with animals including body plan and skeletal structure. This worksheet has 11 fill in the blank questions.
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Constructing a Cell
Third graders, in groups, make a model of a plant or animal cells and represent each of the organelles in the cell.
Curated OER
Sharing Our Knowledge
Students evaluate their participation in an animal welfare service project. In this animal welfare activity, students reflect upon their experience by using their feelings and descriptions in their writing. Students share their experiences.