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Wildlife Burrows
Burrowing animals are busy! Get your middle school ecologists busy as well by having them create a scale model of a burrowing population. They also design a PowerPoint or poster to explain their models.
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Mother Nature's Laboratory
Students research how various plants and animals adapt over time to specific habitats and for specific purposes. Students produce a pictorial report on an example of an animal or plant's adaptation.
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Yummy Plant Parts
Middle schoolers examine plant parts. In this botany lesson, students examine various edible plants and how their adaptations help them to grow. They observe stems, leaves, roots and flowers of plants and discuss the relationship between...
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Habitat Unit - Day 2
Students explore abiotic factors that affect habitats. After a class lecture, students work in groups to answer questions about plant tissue, production and growth. They share answers, complete a crossword puzzle, and create a habitat...
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Social Studies: Classroom Culture
Sixth graders compose a list of classroom cultural values. They begin with a list of unacceptable behaviors. Each student presents two ideas they think should be part of the class culture. Students try to persuade classmates to accept...
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Extreme Environments
Students examine extreme environments and the characteristics that make them. In this adaptation lesson plan students see how animals have adapted to these environments.
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Learning From Leaves: From Observation to Inference
Students examine the adaptation of plants to their environments. They analyze and observe the structure, shape, and internal structure of various leaves, and make inferences about the structures.
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Design-A-Weed
Learners create a "super weed" that prospers in teh harsh conditions on plant Weediv. They comprehend how weed adaptations give the plants an advantage over native plants. Students define the term adaptation. They give three examples...
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Rainforests: What Are They?
Second graders investigate rain forests by reading a habitat checklist. In this environment lesson, 2nd graders read the book The Great Kapok Tree, and discuss what characteristics make up a rain forest. Students explore a...
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It's not just pretty - it's a survival method!
First graders write explanations for why certain animals can only live in certain environments. In this animal survival lesson plan, 1st graders take pictures of animals and place them into the right environment after a lesson on the...
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You Can Depend on Me
Students identify how they depend on others, and examine and discuss the images on the California Quarter Reverse. They view and discuss images of various habitats, complete a Habitat Research worksheet, and create a habitat diorama.
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Taking Care of Business
Students participate in a service project. In this stewardship instructional activity, students review the concepts of philanthropy and environmental stewardship. Students practice being good stewards by researching public areas in their...
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Critters & Complementary Colors
Students discover how specific colors compliment each other. Students use paints and pictures of animals to create a picture with analogous color harmony. They explain the characteristics of analogous colors.
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Conservation and Environmental Protection
Students brainstorm a list of environments and animals from around the world that need protection. They then design and create a slogan about an animal or environment and an environmental protection poster.
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Animal Life Histories Derived From Morphology
Students learn the mechanisms of natural selection by deducing information from the physical appearance of the animal.
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Grounded for Life
Second graders become familiar with the lives of penguins including their life cycles, habitats and basic needs. Students will experience the lives of penguins through stories and video.
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Environmental Science/Water Pollution
Students study natural habitats, aquatic life, renewable and non-renewable resources. They discuss conservation efforts for sea otters and desert toad in this units.
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Hide & Seek Butterflies
Students examine a variety of butterflies and discuss how they believe they get their color variations. In groups, they brainstorm the advantages and disadvantages of their color schemes. To end the lesson, they watch butterflies in...
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Caterpillar Camouflage
Students list animals, plant parts, and reasons for caterpillars to camouflage themselves. In this animal and plant adaptations lesson plan, students also play a game where they use colors as camouflage.
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Animal Adaptations
Students use items from boxes to dress up classmates as animals adapted to a given environment.
BBC
Bbc Nature: Wildlife: Desert
Explore the fascinating world of the desert and discover what lives and grows there through videos, pictures, news, and external links. Listen to the various sounds happening in the desert.
Other
Desert Natural History/sonoran Desert
Discusses the habitats in the Sonoran Desert region and the subdivisions of the Sonoran Desert (Lower Colorado River Valley, Arizona Upland, Plains of the Sonora, Central Gulf Coast, Vizcaino, Magdalena, and foothills of Sonora)....
World Wildlife Fund for Nature
World Wildlife Fund: Our Earth: Ecoregions: Habitats: Deserts
An overview of the climate conditions of deserts. Includes examples of plants and the adaptations that allow them to survive in the dry climate. Includes a link to information about animals that live in a desert habitat.