Curated OER
Create a New Animal
Students understand what physical adaptations are and how they help an animal to survive. In this adaptations lesson, students research four animals and then make an original animal that has adaptations to make them survive.
Curated OER
Education: Passing Enough Knowledge to Survive to the Next Generation
Students compare and contrast the knowledge requirements for human and animal children. They identify the consequences of an animal if it is unprepared for the given environment. They discover the importance of education as well.
Curated OER
My Favorite Animal and Me
Students research their favorite animal. They create their own fact book to share about their animal and their habitat.
Curated OER
Kids for Conservation: Animal Unit
Students discuss animal needs and characteristics. In this animal mini-unit, students complete three activities studying different animals, their needs, how they have evolved, and how to protect them.
Curated OER
Endangered Species - Can We Help Them Survive?
Learners, in groups, select an animal that has been identified as endangered and then identify its characteristics. They discuss why the animal has become endangered, evaluate adaptations for its survival and include an illustration.
Curated OER
Survival Under a Rock
Young scholars investigate ways that animals adapt to their environments through hands-on activities using isopods and an interactive video.
Curated OER
Animal Adaptations
Tenth graders participate in an arthropod scavenger hunt. In groups of two, they identify and collect two specimens of arthropods in the school area, and create a table of all the specimens and what class they belong to.
Curated OER
Adapting to Animal Behavior for Survival
Second graders explore animal behaviors and adaptations by researching several different animals and their habitats.
Curated OER
Dining Out With Fishes and Birds of the Hudson
The class will make observations to determine how environment has shaped the way particular birds and fish eat. They will view a series of photographs, read two short articles, and then consider how food availability has determined how...
Curated OER
World of the Pond
Field trip! The class will review what they know about organisms that dwell in freshwater ponds, then trek down to the old water hole to collect specimens for examination. This includes several web links, useful tips, and an excellent...
Polar Trec
Family Polar Fun Day
Family fun days are great for connecting home and school life, building strong parent/teacher relationships, and engaging students in a fun and social way. Here are several activity ideas to help you and your class run your own Family...
Indian Land Tenure Foundation
Gifts from Land and Water
With a series of fun hands-on simulations, young children can learn about conservation and natural resources. Your learners become land detectives, discussing and investigating the gifts that the land and water provide them. They then...
ARKive
Penguin Diversity – Mask Making
Penguins are very diverse and well-adapted birds; they live on islands, in warm and cold climates. Little ones examine penguin diversity and discuss the highly functional adaptive traits that have helped them survive in some of the...
Smithsonian Institution
Trait Tracker
Help mice beat the odds with an exciting activity about traits. Biologists discover the role of diet and other factors on animal traits by participating in a simulation activity. Teams collect and evaluate data to understand how certain...
Virginia Department of Education
Biomes of the World
Incorporate knowledge about biomes and ecosystems in multiple ways while encouraging creativity. Emerging ecologists collaborate and perform research to complete a graphic organizer about various biomes of the world. They conclude the...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
American Indians and their Environment
People could take a page in ingenuity and survival from the Powhatans. Deer skins became clothes, and the members of the Native American group farmed the rich Virginia soil and hunted in its forests for food. Using images of artifacts...
Channel Islands Film
Natural Resources, and Human Uses of Plants and Animals
As part of their study of the restoration projects on Santa Cruz Island, class members demonstrate their understanding of the connections among plant life, animals, and the actions of humans by crafting a model that reveals these...
Curated OER
Talking Duck
Students study how animals communicate through their senses and signals. They investigate how animals survive using their communication skills and create a commercial based on the research.
Curated OER
Wild Dog Urine
Students investigate biology by researching wild animals. In this animal extinction lesson, students research African wild dogs and discuss the impact of the environment on their survival. Students read and analyze an article titled...
Curated OER
Responses to Changes in the Environment
Fourth graders study ecosystems, and see how plants and animals must adapt to changes in their environment in order to survive. Pictures of the snow shoe hare in the winter and summer are shown. Learners determine that the change in...
Curated OER
Life in the Rainforest
Third graders explore and study about a variety of life found within a rain forest. They choose three different animals to research from the tropical rain forest and identify one physical characteristic that helps each animal survive in...
Curated OER
Winter Survival
Students examine what animals need in order to survive. In this investigative lesson students play a "role" of an animal in winter.
Curated OER
Saving Big Cats from Extinction
Students explore extinction. In this biology and environmental science activity, students define extinction, identify what living things need to survive, and create a persuasive poster about "saving the big cats" using a desktop...
Baylor College
Needs of Living Things: Post-Assessment
Assess your class's knowledge of the needs of living things with the final instructional activity in a series. Given a large piece of paper and coloring utensils, young scientists draw a picture of themselves and a plant or animal of...