Curated OER
Day and Night
Expand your third graders' universe with a science activity about Earth's rotation. They read a short explanation about the direction of sunlight, then draw an arrow to indicate which way the sun is pointed at an illustration of the...
Curated OER
Can You See the Light?
Third and fourth graders use this worksheet to help them draw their own version of a fully functioning circuit. They see the battery, the light bulb, and two wires with clips. They must draw the complete circuit, using these elements, on...
Curated OER
Distinguishing Between Flowers
A branching key is a great way to classify different types of animals and plants! Fifth graders answer several yes/no answers about three different plants. They then create their own key to differentiate between an iris, a rose, and a...
Curated OER
No Shadow of Doubt
Fifth graders must use a pencil to draw in the shadows they think will be formed by a house, a greenhouse, and a tree. The sun is behind each of these objects, and an open field is in front of them. That's where pupils draw their...
Curated OER
Flower Power
Determine which plants are flowering plants with a helpful lab sheet. Kids first observe illustrations of different plants, such as a carnation and a fern, then decide which plants produce flowers, spores, or cones. Use magazine pictures...
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It's Freezing!
Here is a good instructional activity for 5th grade scientists. In it, they look at a bar graph that shows the freezing point for a variety of liquids. Then, they are given a scenario of a certain liquid melting and freezing, and must...
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Good Vibrations
Third and fourth graders should enjoy this easy-to-implement activity involving a straw, and bottles filled with water. Learners manipulate the end of a straw in a way that results in a sound being made when it's blown. There is also an...
Curated OER
How Does Water Cool?
How fast does water cool? First fifth graders will draw a line on a graph that predicts how fast they think water can cool from boiling. Then they plot the actual data on the same graph to see if their estimate was correct.
Curated OER
Whose Home Is This?
After reading a short and informative paragraph on animals and their environments, learners look at pictures of four animals, and write a short description of how each one has adapted to its environment. A suggested activity is that each...
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How hard is it?
Inquiry is probably one of the most fun ways kids learn. They will test the hardness of 10 different minerals in order to classify them. They rate each of the minerals from most to least hard. Note: Having real minerals for this...
Curated OER
Name That Leaf
Take a walk through nature with a science experiment about leaves. Third graders use a branching diagram to group attributes of certain kinds of leaves, such as oak, pine, and chestnut. For extra practice, they can collect leaves and...
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Plant Groups
Compare different types of leaves in a science exploration. First, third graders identify common characteristics of various plants, such as daisies, fir needles, and cypress leaves. They then determine if the plants in each group are...
Curated OER
Candide: A Herber Readiness Activity
“Everything will end up okay if you believe hard enough.” “People create their own luck, good or bad.” Prior to reading Candide, class members respond to an anticipation guide that focuses on the issues of optimism, prejudice, and...
Curated OER
Phineas Gage: “Medicine: Then and Now” Pre-Reading Activity
What did medicine look like a hundred years ago? Two hundred years ago? Invite small groups to conduct research on the history of a chosen medical advancement before reading Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science....
Curated OER
Regarding the Fountain: A KWHL Strategy
A KWHL strategy prepares young readers for the different type of writing found in Kate Klise's story of the Dry Creek Middle School drinking fountain. Step-by-step directions, student and teacher copies of the KWHL template, and...
University of Utah
Rational and Irrational Numbers
Conquer any irrational fears you might have of irrational numbers. As class members investigate how to represent numbers geometrically, they learn about rational and irrational numbers, including approximating and ordering rational...