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Minnesota Department of Natural Resoures
Getting to Know Trees
Celebrate the beauty of trees with a packet full of activities designed to help kindergarteners get to know about their leafy nature friends. Covering a variety of subjects, scholars go on a nature hike, read Shel Silverstein's The...
Curated OER
The Giving Tree
Students explore wants and needs. In this ecology and economics lesson, students listen to the story The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein and compile a class list of what the boy got from the tree. Students categorize these items as...
Curated OER
Introduction to Trees and Wood
Students examine samples from various types of trees. For this trees and wood lesson, students review The Giving Tree and complete a KWL chart on trees. Students brainstorm what we get from trees and view wood samples with...
Curated OER
Tree Seedling Planting- My Relationship and Responsibility to our Forests
In this trees lesson, 4th graders read the book, A Tree is Growing and complete a KWL chart on how trees grow and how they are used. Students research the symbiotic relationship of humans and trees, create tree collages, plant a...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Using DNA to Explore Lizard Phylogeny
In a fun and interactive two-day lesson, learners sort anole lizard pictures by appearance. Next, they watch a video about the anoles and re-sort based on the information in the video. In addition to physical characteristics, budding...
Rainforest Alliance
Growing a Rainforest in Our Classroom
Give your classroom decor a boost with a rainforest themed mural highlighting what class members learned through their five senses—taste, touch, see, smell, and hear. Scholars create a rainforest filled with trees and animals using their...
Curated OER
Ways We Use Trees
Students use the Internet to find the ways we use trees. In this tree activity, students make a list of the uses of trees and find magazine pictures that show these uses to make a collage. They read The Giving Tree by Shel...
Curated OER
My Giving Tree
Middle schoolers identify native and invasive trees. In this ecology lesson, students survey trees in their schoolyard and identify the species. Middle schoolers adopt a native tree sprout and record the growth in a journal.
Curated OER
Recycling
Students read or listen to a story, and discuss how it relates to them. In this personal event writing activity, students write about recycling. Students read "The Giving Tree" a Shel Silverstein poem and discuss the poem's meaning....
Curated OER
Talking Trees: Earth Day
Students complete a tree poster activity to learn about Earth Day, stewardship, and the environment. In this environmental stewardship lesson, students read The Story of the Tree and discuss stewardship with trees. Students act out tree...
Curated OER
Build A Tree
Students study the different parts of a tree and the significance of each part. In this build a tree lesson, students use role-playing theater to reinforce what they are learning. Students use their imagination to become tree parts...
Curated OER
Where'd You Get Those Genes?
Really a unit, this resource exposes middle schoolers to genetics at their level. They read interviews and biographies, trace a family tree, play games that simulate inheritance concepts, and more! Teacher's procedures, student...
Children's Theatre of Cincinnati
A Charlie Brown Christmas Study Guide
Bring A Charlie Brown Christmas to social studies, language arts, math, science, and art class! Learners ponder the meaning of Christmas trees, write about Christmas during the original release of the television special,...
Curated OER
Sustainability and Extinction
Galapagos Penguins are the only penguins on earth that live north of the equator (in the wild). In this last lesson plan a discussion on how the Galapagos islands developed their populations and diversity sparks the introduction. Two...
Curated OER
Tree-mendous Trees
Students become aware of the importance of trees in the natural world. Students are shown 2 filmstrips - Special Things About Trees and Tree Magic. Students plants seeds. They, students predict the growing chart of tree growth. Students...
Curated OER
Impervious Surfaces
Students explore the concept of philanthropy. In this environmental stewardship lesson, students compose personal mission statements that express their personal beliefs about their responsibility to the environment.
Curated OER
Lee & Low Books: Giving Thanks Teacher's Guide
Fourth graders participate in reading comprehension activities associated from a teacher's guide. In this reading comprehension lesson plan, 4th graders read Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message by Chief Jake Swamp and...
Royal Society of Chemistry
Aspirin—The Wonder of Medicine
What do aspirin and the willow tree have in common? Scholars of chemical synthesis engage in a fascinating reaction to make their own aspirin samples. The lab uses thin layer chromatography analysis, includes stoichiometric calculations,...
Curated OER
Lesson 4: Fire, Rock, and Water
You can demonstrate the destructive force of volcanic mudflows to your early earth scientists using this lesson plan. Messy, but memorable, the two demonstrations require some preparation. Use one or both! Included is a link to activity...
Curated OER
Volcanoes!: Forecasting the Path of Mudflows
Students construct a mockup of a volcano by crumbling up newspapers and piling them into the shape of a volcano. They place a tarp over the newspapers making sure the tarp is large enough to simulate a flat area at the volcano's base....
Curated OER
Treasure Hunt
Pupils actively search a the ground outside and find several types of leaves, lichen, feathers and trash. They place items into journals, write entries, draw pictures and ask questions about the items found on their exploration.
Curated OER
Animal Signs
Students discuss the many different types of animal signs that can be used to identify and track animals. They participate in an hands-on activity in which they examine tracks, trails, homes, territory markings, and even "scat" left by...
Curated OER
Dichotomous Key
Students draw comparisons between organisms. They classify organisms. Students are introduced to dichotomous keys and how to create and use a dichotomous key to identify a variety of objects. They begin by defining classification, and...
Curated OER
Using Imaginary to Introduce the Endocrine System
Students examine the functions of the endocrine system. In this body protective systems lesson students identify body reactions, define terms and complete an activity.