Map the classroom with your kids to help them understand how maps work and how to read them. The lesson plan starts off with a story about animals living and moving around the globe, and then kids create maps of their classroom to show...

Students use video and Internet components, to gain an understanding of non-native invasive plants and animals and the ecological and monetary problems they cause.

Young scholars use web sites to find information. In this geography lesson, students brainstorm a list of places in their community, talk about the way zoos are organized and explore the uniqueness of the fifty states in the United...

Students explore the rain forest and where they are located. Students examine why the rain forests are important and what is happening to them. They investigate the water cycle and life cycle of a frog. Students build a rain forest in...

Fifth graders visit the playground to look for signs of life. They search for insects, birds, animal tracks, feathers, nests, trees, soil, etc. They then compose a class list that shows all findings in the schoolyard and post it in the...

Introduce your class to various reptiles and amphibians. They will meet and identify a representative from each of the four major reptile families, then learn about and discuss reptile characteristics. Next, they will identify and...

Fifth graders identify the changing seasons with how they affect animal and human behavior. They explain what migration is and why many birds migrate south for the winter. They then trace the coffee sold in their neighborhood and in...

Third graders practice using classification techniques to identify local trees.  For this plant life instructional activity, 3rd graders discuss how trees differ from other plants and what characteristics are unique to trees alone....

Students compare and contrast domesticated animals and wild animals. They identify plants and animals that have adapted to different habitats. They discover it is everyone's responsibility to protect the environment.

Second graders study which animal hibernate and which migrate. They observe the weather conditions related to each and complete the associated worksheets and web activity.

Students explore the changes in animal habitats. In this ecosystem instructional activity, students use the Internet to explore the changes in the environment since the 1700's. Students complete a Venn diagram to compare the differences...

Students collect and microscopically examine seeds from the school yard and neighborhood. In small groups, they draw and discuss the shapes of the seeds to determine each plant's method of dispersal. they also test two types of seeds...

Students study the safety message "Stay Back from tracks and trains!" students count animals and train cars, and repeat The Circus Train poem

Third graders discss water pollution and its affects on animals. They watch a demonstration using a plastic fish in a fish bowl in which various types of water pollution are illustrated.

Fourth graders explore the environment by researching animal characteristics. In this habitat identification lesson, 4th graders utilize paper and crayons to illustrate their own habitats or homes and discuss what it contains that is...

Students find the similarities of dinosaurs and the animals of today. In this dinosaurs lesson, students understand why dinosaurs have become extinct. Students research and create dinosaur dioramas and finger puppets.

Second graders locate the United States, Indiana, their community, and their neighborhood community on a map, and a world globe 4 out of 5 times correctly. They then discuss what they have learned in the lesson.

Students identify the African Plains and the plants and animals that are found on the plain, which are of a benefit to humans. They listen to the story and actively participate in a choral reading of Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain.

In this identifying trees worksheet, students learn to identify 8 winter trees by their shapes. Students cut out flashcards with the name of the tree and its shape in silhouette.

Students learn most urban mammals are nocturnal and are difficult to observe. One of the simplest ways to determine the kinds of animals living in your neighborhod is to track them down.

Young scholars investigate different insects in their backyard. In this insect lesson, students read the book Are You and Ant? and apply the reading to their backyards. Young scholars create a list of animals that begin with the the...

Middle schoolers replicate some of the trailblazing methods of Lewis and Clark on a fifteen-minute "writing journey" through the school or neighborhood.

Students examine genre painting. They explore the Illinois State Museum website, identify how genre paintings were composed, analyze the activities of an Illinois farm in the 1850s, and create a genre painting of current everyday...

Students honor an adopted tree with artwork. In this adopted tree lesson, students find a tree in their neighborhood. They follow the tree throughout the year, keep notes, draw sketches, take photos and rubbings. They make artwork...