Curated OER
Language Arts: Ode to the Ordinary
Eighth graders select ordinary objects, determine their uses, and write poems about them. Once they select an object, they create a web about its uses to serve as an outline. Once they have written their own odes, 8th graders meet in...
Curated OER
Science: Her-bariums Galore!
Students collect and identify plant species and construct herbariums both at school and at home. By gathering data from both locales, they draw conclusions and make predictions about plant diversity. Upon completion of the exercises,...
Curated OER
Bird Ecology Unit
Tenth graders conduct various activities utilizing the scientific method to formulate a hypothesis, conduct a controlled experiment, collect and analyze the data and communicate their results through a poster. They also identify...
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Fossil Kit II
Youngsters examine four fossil replicas and chart their time periods, vertebrate or invertebrate, and the names of other organisms living at the same time. A specific fossil kit is available for sale if you do not have the same samples....
Curated OER
Let's Go Exploring!
Use a Courbet painting of a cave or tunnel opening to reinforce the importance of descriptive writing. Writers of all ages use sensory details to describe what the scene depicts as they pretend to be in the painting. Then they imagine...
Chicago Botanic Garden
Leaf Litter Ecology Lab
Some organisms spend their entire lives in leaf litter. The third in a series of six is a great lesson exploring the community of leaf litter. Groups gather and then spread leaf litter over white paper and remove leaves/twigs while...
Curated OER
Ecology and Ecosystem
Students are introduced to the concepts of ecology and ecosystems. In groups, they use the Internet to research one of six topics. They present their information to the class sharing the most interesting information they found. They...
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U.S. History: Antebellum Heroes and Villains
Eighth graders research and write reports on key figures of the Antebellum Period. The projects also include pictures, bibliographies, and timelines about their assigned figure. In addition, 8th graders present oral reports to classmates.
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Introducing Habitats and Biodiversity
Students identify habitats in Arizona. Theys define and illustrate a food web, and explain the importance fo biodiversity.
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Stella the Swan
Students study the similarities and differences between ducks, geese, and swans. They tell the story about how water fowl adapt to life in water using props.
Curated OER
Science: Fossil of a Carbonized Plant
Pupils classify leaves by shape and margins and use them to create models of plant fossils. By using paper over a leaf, they simulate fossilization of organisms onto sedimentary rocks. Following instructions on worksheets, students...
Andrea Mulder-Slater
Happy Accidents Painting
A person can see a lot of different things when he looks at the amorphous clouds. The same is true when you let your watercolor paints do as they please. Little artists create haphazard art with watercolors, then use ink or marker to...
Curated OER
Forest Ecosystem
Young scholars take a field trip and explore a temperate rainforest. In this rainforest lesson plan, students discuss many items they see on their journey and experiment with different tree leaves.
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Stella the Swan
Students analyze the telling of a story with props. They study similarities and differences between ducks, geese and swans, how wildfowl are adapted to life in water, how wildfowl move and feed, and wildfowl family life, how they nest,...
Curated OER
Central Park Field Trip
Students visit the park to observe signs of spring in the forest and pond environments. In this field trip lesson, students explore the park for various items
Curated OER
Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC)
Students study flavinoids and how they exist in the plant kingdom. In this pigment lesson students complete a lab activity to see how flavinoids move in substances then record their observations.
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Is It Slimy? Does It Have Fur? Is It Really a Bird?
Sixth graders identify the different types of vertebrate animals based upon their major characteristics, as they create collages in groups. Collages show pictures of vertebrate animals labeled with the appropriate structural...
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To Be or Not to Be - Abiotic/Biotic Factors
Students define and compare/contrast abiotic and biotic factors presented while using web cameras on the Web World Wonders website.
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Uniquely Leaves
Fourth graders study the uniquely diverse structural design of leaves and demonstrate knowledge of interdependence between structure and environment through research, laboratory activity and written summary.
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The Monarch Watch
Students collect and examine the life cycle of monarch butterflies. They also tag butterflies and release them as part of a nation-wide project to study monarch butterfly migration.
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Discover a Pond Food Web
Students study the biodiversity of animal life in a pond. They investigate the interdependence between pond organisms by completing a pond dipping activity and completing a checklist.
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The Magic School Bus Makes a Stink
Students learn along with Ms. Frizzle's class. In this Magic School Bus lesson plan, students discover the secret to what makes things smell through their own investigations.
Curated OER
Big Cat Locations
First graders explore different environments while studying the habitats of big cats. In this big cats lesson, 1st graders draw pictures of their favorite cats, learn about the areas where cats live, design a zoo habitat and make a...