Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Let's Talk About Spiders And Bugs!

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders study the differences between spiders and insects. They observe four different specimens in the classroom.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ugly Bug/Snuggly Bug

For Teachers K
Students demonstrate an understanding of rhyming words by creating buggy pictures and a sentence containing rhyming words. They listen to the story, 'Creepy Beetles,' then engage in an activity where they identify the rhyming words.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Science: Backyard Bugs Data Collection

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students practice data collection skills by observing common bugs found in their local environment. Once the data is collected they complete data sheets to compare, contrast, sort, and classify the insects. The instructional activity...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rainforest Complexity and Diversity

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders investigate the diversity of plants and animals in a rainforest. They watch an online story developed by the Rainforest Alliance, observe and record animals in their local area, explore various websites, and compare and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Conservation in Small Spaces: Butterfly Life cycles

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students discuss ways that butterflies and moths change during their lifecycles, observe caterpillars, and explore how their different body parts work.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Logic and Problem Solving: Math Hunt

For Teachers 5th - 8th
In these math lesson plans, pupils discuss how math problems are written to reflect real-world situations. They complete an online Math Hunt using specific web tools, and work individually to create their own Math Hunts....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Wetland Pictionary

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students create a game for reviewing vocabulary. They make cards with definitions of the words. Then the cards are used to play the game of Pictionary or a modified game. The teacher could have the students generate their own game in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Habitat Happenings

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students examine the characteristics of the Prairie Creek Habitat in Illinois. In groups, they travel between various stations writing haikus and reading brochures. They identify what occurs in each habitat and identify the animals...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creating a Pollinator Garden

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students build a pollination garden. In this pollination lesson, students read directions and build a pollinator garden that will produce flowering plants for pollinator organisms to use in pollination of other plants.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Venus Flytrap

For Teachers K - 12th
Students study the Venus Flytrap including its habitat and how it eats.  In this ecology lesson students complete several experiments using a Venus Flytrap to see how it reacts to various conditions. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Animal Signs

For Teachers 1st - 9th
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Key To Classifying Animals

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Explorers of the environment construct a dichotomous key for a variety of organisms and design a key to classify Galapagos animals based on descriptions and images. The lesson includes a link to an animal gallery and the worksheet for...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Remainder of One: A Math-Manipulative Lesson

For Teachers K - 5th
Students listen to the reading of the book "A Remainder of One" and use math manipulatives to recreat "bug squadrons".
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

THE PEANUT WIZARD

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students read information about George Washington Carver and outline the information. They are given peanuts in the shell, students examine them and eat them. Students discuss the following questions: Why did George Washington Carver...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Honeybees are Vanishing

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Students decide if they agree with a series of statements about the bee population, then read a news article about the disappearance of millions of U.S. honeybees. In this biology and current events lesson, the teacher introduces the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

America's Rain Forests Can It Be Real?

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students examine the attributes of unusual plants and animals before determining how they are adapted to specific habitat. They complete an associated worksheet. They make posters with information that they find during research sessions.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Macroinvertebrate Sampling

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students identify macroinvertebrate species to investigate ecological systems and the relationship between humans and the environment.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Complete Metamorphosis

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students use a map and colored pins to plot the migration path of Monarch butterflies. They use data found at the Journey North website. Commas are also used in the activity to show how they are put in a series of words using butterfly...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tree Friends

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students are introduced to tree structure and use. They identify their special tree using all senses except sight. Students identify six different internal parts within a cross section of tree trunk (bark, phloem, xylem, cambium,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mini-Ecosystems

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders identify the living and non living things in a book read aloud and discuss the interactions represented in the book. Then, they research and include a list of food that each animal needs in an ecosystem. Finally, 3rd...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Development in Drosophila melanogaster

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Pupils study the least familiar aspect of development in Drosophila melanogaster; the development of the pupa. Students isolate and culture "First-day" pupae. They are dissected daily to study the progressive developmental changes.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Food Web

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students are able to define food web, and identify the interdependence of organisms within a system. They are able to describe how natural events and human activities can impact a food web.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Oddball Out

For Teachers 5th - 6th
In this science worksheet, students examine 4 pictures in a row and circle the invertebrate that is different from the others. There are 4 rows of pictures. Answers are provided upside down on the page.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Trees at Work... Just Look!

For Teachers K - 3rd
Pupils investigate the significance of trees. They collect magazine pictures of animals that live in trees, list products that are made from trees, collect twigs and create an item using the sticks, and bring in and discuss food from trees.