Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
Mini-Ponds
For this mini pond worksheet, students create a mini-pond ecosystem with soil, water, and plant life. Students let their ecosystem sit for a day and they observe a sample the next day. Students identify all the pond water microorganisms...
Science Matters
Crawly Composters
Get your hands dirty with an interactive lesson plan that showcases the process of decomposing and returning nutrients back into the soil. After building a compost pile, pupils regularly observe the...
Curated OER
FBI
Fourth graders experiment with compost. In this Science instructional activity, 4th graders begin a worm compost as well as an outdoor compost. Students discuss decomposition.
Curated OER
Producers and Energy Transfer
Fifth graders discuss the relationship between producers, consumers, and decomposers as they look at the energy pyramid. While working in small groups, they create an ecosystem that includes all or some of the given categories, and they...
Curated OER
Climate and Temperature
Students explore what the soil temperature would be on the north and south sides of a building. In this temperature lesson, students hypothesize what the results will be using a thermometer and then after a week see what the...
Curated OER
Composting
Using 2-liter bottles, junior ecologists create composting tubes in which they place nitrogen-rich and carbon-rich materials. They observe what changes occur over two weeks' time. Provide more specific direction to your class as to what...
Curated OER
Build an Indoor Compost Bin
Students write an essay to describe the contents of a compost bin. In this composting lesson, students create a compost bin. Students examine soil for its contents and explains in an essay the impact of the soil on the environment.
California Academy of Science
Composting: A Scientific Investigation: California Academy of Sciences
Garbage, recycle, compost: Does it really matter where we put our trash once we are done? By making detailed observations over seven weeks, kids will see which materials break down naturally to become a healthy part of the soil, and...
Curated OER
The Nitrogen Cycle
The nitrogen cycle is the focus of a well-designed science activity. In it, learners see that plants and animals produce waste products and decompose after death. Many of the waste products include nitrogen which is absobed by other...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Good Litter, Bad Litter
Which ones can be thrown on the ground? Discover the difference between natural litter and unhealthy trash, helping scholars by using several examples. Use the information here to give them a basic background, but also encourage prior...
Curated OER
Land Quality Issues
In this unit of lessons, students examine land quality issues. They discover food chains and practice reading them. They also examine the erosion of soil and how it affects the environment.
Curated OER
Food Webs
Young scholars research rainforest animals and use that information to make a flow chart to show the order in which energy is transferred through several organisms. They label the producers, consumers, and decomposers in their chart.
Curated OER
Ecosystem Energizers
Fourth graders see how the flow of energy through an ecosystem made up of producers, consumers, and decomposers carries out the processes of life and that some energy dissipates as heat and is not recycled.
Curated OER
Organic and Inorganic Waste
Students conduct a scientific investigation about organic or inorganic waste. In this organic or inorganic waste lesson, students create a compost heap to determine the difference between inorganic and organic waste. Students...
Forest Foundation
The Nature of Trees
Young botanists examine the different parts of tress and then draw parallels between the functions of these parts and the function of parts of the human body.
Nuffield Foundation
Microbes Ate My Homework
Now you have a new excuse not to do your homework. A long-term experiment has learners explore cellulose-digesting enzymes. They simulate how paper breaks down in a compost bin. There's no need to blame your dog for eating your homework...
Curated OER
Home Sweet Home
Students examine the animals that live in trees. They identify their sounds, footprints and droppings. They draw pictures of the animals as well.
Curated OER
Red Wigglers
Students are introduced to the benefits of using Red Wiggler worms to produce compost. They identify the requirements for the worms and the methods to follow in order to produce compost. They draw a picture of a functioning worm bin.
Curated OER
Producers and Consumers
Students make lists of producers and consumers and act as consumers that eat producers in a garden. In this producers and consumers lesson plan, students demonstrate a food chain by using a piece of yarn to connect all of them together.
Curated OER
Rainforest Food Chain
Learners investigate a rainforest food chain. In this ecology lesson, students are shown pictures of plants and list what animals might eat the plants. Learners continue to think of what other animals might eat those animals. Students...
Curated OER
De-composers - Terrarium
Learners explore the environment by building a mock ecosystem. In this rainforest analysis lesson, students define many environmental and rainforest related vocabulary terms and discuss the current status of our planet's rainforests....
Curated OER
Vocabulary: Kansas Prairies
Students explore the ecosystem by reviewing scientific vocabulary terms. In this environmental awareness lesson, students identify the differences between abiotic and biotic factors and their relationship to the Earth. Students define...
Curated OER
Food Webs
Learners recognize interdependence in a food web by using yarn and notecards to create a food web and discussing what would happen if one of the organisms from a certain trophic level is removed.