Curated OER
Planetary Place Value
Third graders explore place value to the ten thousands place. This incredibly thorough, 24-page lesson has learners construct, order, and compare numbers to 9,999. This three-day lesson includes reteaching and extension activities...
Association of American Geographers
Project GeoSTART
Investigate the fascinating, yet terrifying phenomenon of hurricanes from the safety of your classroom using this earth science unit. Focusing on developing young scientists' spacial thinking skills, these lessons engage...
Space Awareness
Measure the Solar Diameter
Scientists could measure the diameter of the sun before they knew its distance. Scholars construct a simple mirror box to measure the diameter for themselves. They compare this measurement with the official size, listed in a...
Messenger Education
Can You Hear Me Now?—Communicating with Spacecraft
Radio signals transmitted to Pluto take five hours to reach their destination! In these two activities, young scientists explore data communication in space. In activity one, pupils learn how data is gathered and sent back to Earth....
Curated OER
Erosion
Students design and conduct an open-ended investigation using a variety of earth materials to answer a questions posed by the teacher: How does the erosion of sand compare with the erosion of gravel? After producing evidence that...
Curated OER
Finding Magnetic Fields of Earth
Fifth graders, in groups, create paper bag "globes", complete with magnetic poles. They use compasses to determine and label various locations (N. and S. Poles, Prime Meridian, Equator, etc.) and finish it by drawing in the continents...
Curated OER
Water--Where Has It Gone?: Earth Day
Students explore the concept of philanthropy. In this environmental stewardship lesson, students consider the plight of water as they consider water use and distribution. Students listen to an excerpt from The Well and consider...
Curated OER
What on Earth is in the Earth?
Students explore the physical properties of sand, soil, and rocks and sort, classify, compare, and contrast the materials found in the soil. The differences between the living and non-living parts of the soil is discussed.
Core Knowledge Foundation
Weather or Not, Seasons Change
Embark on a year long investigation of the seasons with this 10-lesson earth science unit. After being introduced to different types of weather and the tools used to measure it, young scientists perform fun hands-on activities that...
Curated OER
Density of Rocks
Given a variety of rocks, junior geologists calculate densities and correlate them to Earth's layers. As a simulation of continental crust, they experiment with how materials of differing density float in water. Finally, they...
University of Kansas
Newspaper in the Classroom
Newspapers aren't only for reading—they're for learning skills, too! A journalism unit provides three lessons each for primary, intermediate, and secondary grades. Lessons include objectives, materials, vocabulary, and procedure, and...
Curated OER
Planet Earth: Almost 6 Billion Served
Learners investigate the global population explosion, by comparing India's and China's population control efforts and results. They interpret the UN's Human Development Report, and conduct research on another highly-populated country.
Curated OER
Weather, Sea Level Rise and Climate Change
Students differentiate weather and climate. For this earth science lesson, students compare weather and climate in different regions of the world. They interpret weather graphs and compare isotherm lines of northern and southern hemisphere.
Curated OER
Weather and Climate
It's hot today, but is that the weather or the climate? This colorful presentation isolates both concepts to allow for better understanding by covering the positioning of the planet, making comparisons of land versus water, and looking...
Centers for Ocean Sciences
Ocean and Great Lakes Literacy: Principle 1
Is your current lesson plan for salt and freshwater literacy leaving you high and dry? If so, dive into part one of a seven-part series that explores the physical features of Earth's salt and freshwater sources. Junior hydrologists...
NASA
Rain Gauge Activity
Complete teacher narrative and presentation slides for teaching about Earth's water make up the bulk of this instructional activity. Embedded within the slide show, you will find videos about the water cycle, keeping track of the limited...
NASA
Stellar Fingerprints and Doppler Red Shifts
Young scientists observe the spectra of elements and compare that to the Doppler effect. Hook scholars from the beginning all the way to the extension activities in this 5E-format lesson.
Curated OER
Characteristics of Materials
Students describe and compare common properties of various classroom materials. In this science/matter lesson, students observe common classroom items and the materials they are made of to complete a list of common properties.
Curated OER
Comparing and Ordering Integers
Students compare and order integers on an umber line. In this algebra lesson plan, students differentiate between positive and negative numbers. They plot point in the correct order on a number line.
Curated OER
The Planet Mars
Fifth graders gain knowledge about Mars and Earth. In this compare and contrast lesson, 5th graders use visual representations of the solar system to observe the characteristics of the planets. Students read fiction and nonfiction...
Curated OER
Roman Archy
Third graders use Google Earth to examine Roman architecture. In this ancient Rome lesson, 3rd graders visit the noted URLs to look at examples of Roman architecture. Students work in teams to examine data about the structures.
Curated OER
Apples and Apple Activities
Learners investigate apples. In this reading comprehension instructional activity, students read a book about apples then compare and contrast, make graphs, distinguish between fact and fiction and work in groups. Learners...
Curated OER
Sizing Up the Supersize Croc
Students examine and compare traits of humans and crocodiles. In this crocodile lesson plan students use a ratio to estimate the height of a person and compare that to a crocodile.
Curated OER
Regolith Formation
Students study what regolith is and how it contrasts with weathering on Earth. In this weathering lesson students divide into groups, hypothesize and confirm their guesses.