National Park Service
Living & Non-Living Interactions
What better way to learn about ecosystems than by getting outside and observing them first hand? Accompanying a field trip to a local park or outdoor space, this series of collaborative activities engages children in...
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All About Seeds!
How do fruits relate to flowers and seeds? Identify the seeds and their purpose with a coloring activity for kindergartners. Once they color the seeds of apples, bananas, and peas (among others), kids get hands-on experience with bean...
American Museum of Natural History
Being a Paleontologist: Mark Norell
Get to know paleontologist Mark Norell with a 19 question interview. Written questions, answers, and photographs with descriptions sit among bright and cheery graphics
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Classifying Life
For this classifying life worksheet, students review the 5 kingdoms of organisms by completing 10 matching and 7 fill in the blank questions.
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Animal Diversity
Students examine plants and animals for their similarties and differences. They are read stories and note how the animals in the stories do not have the qualities that real animals have. They complete a worksheet to end the lesson.
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School Site Ecosystem
Fourth graders are introduced to the concept of ecosystem; specifically, the interrelationships among plants and animals within an ecosystem, and their relationships to the environment in which they live and interact.
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Classified Information - Part 1: Shapes
Third graders investigate how and why scientists use classification. They discuss classification strategies using animals, and as a class fill in a flowchart with their responses. Next, in small groups they cut out a variety of shapes...
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Animal Tracks Program
Entice your learners with this lesson plan on animal footprints. After reading the story Footprints in the Snow by Cynthia Benjamin, they use photos to identify animals and their footprints. Then they participate in an activity to...
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Classification 2: A Touch of Class
Learners examine how many kinds of living things (e.g. plants and animals) can be sorted into groups in many ways using various features to decide which things belong to which group and that classification schemes vary with purpose.
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Everything in Its Place: Science Classification
Students investigate the system of classification for living things through the sixteen lessons of this unit. The five kingdoms of monerans, protists, fungi, plants, and animals form the basis of several experiments as the similarities...
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Do Medicines Grow on Trees and Plants?
Students study the importance of preserving rainforest. They investigate the uses of rainforest plants for medicinal uses by participating in rainforest immersion activities.
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Minerals and the Products of Mining
Middle schoolers plot where minerals come from and have an awareness of how mineral use makes the world interdependent. They examine how to identify some sort of mineral products they use each day.
Cornell University
Classification
Explore the scientific method of classification. An interactive activity asks learners to create a classification system for a group of objects and develop a flow chart to communicate their systems. In addition, individuals use a...
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Soil Stories
Tenth graders collect and analyze soil samples and extrapolate the characteristics needed to support different types of plant life. They research different types of prairie soil and how it supports plant and animal life.
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Variation
Students participate in an online lesson to reinforce the similarities and differences in plants and animals. They classify living things according to observable characteristics.
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Classify That!
Students get acquainted with diverse forms of life by using modern biological classification systems to group animals that are related. They explore basic scientific groupings like genus, species, mammals, fish, birds, amphibians, and...
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Ocean Life Zones
In this ocean instructional activity, students answer questions about ocean life, the plants and animals of the ocean and their classification, the major life zones of the ocean and questions about an animal of their choice that lives in...
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Living vs. Non-Living Things
Fourth graders describe the characteristics that determine if something is living, dead, or non-living. They determine the difference between living and non-living things. Students determine if an object is living or non-living and...
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Animal Diversity
Young scholars explore biology by completing science worksheets in class. In this animal anatomy instructional activity, students read the book The Adventures of Marco and Polo and identify the animals mentioned in it. Young scholars...
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Critters in Your Own Backyard
Learners identify various animals and their habitats, as well as their specific traits In this animal habitat lesson, students list animals they've seen in their backyard. Learners select one animal and do research. Students then answer...
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Classification
Students work in groups of 4-6 for the experiment/activity part of this exercise. They classify ten animals using the information on the picture to group the animals. Students develop descriptions, explanations, predictions, and models...
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Where are the Dinosaurs?
Students understand what it means when an animal is extinct. In this dinosaur lesson, students create dinosaur dioramas showing their habitat and what in their environment might make them become extinct. students pay particular attention...
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Adaptations
Sixth graders identify plant adaptations. In this adaptations lesson, 6th graders use digital cameras to photograph plants found on their campus. Students describe the adaptations for each plant.
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"Garden Springs Gardeners"
First graders ponder the question of how plants help their lives. They observe and compare properties of several different plants. Differentiate between living organisms and nonliving objects.