Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making Field Journals

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students follow a bookmaking format to create a book and use it as a garden journal. In this science journal lesson, students follow book making directions to create a garden and science journal.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Cell Cycle and Cancer

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars compare and contrast the cell cycle of frog eggs, normal cells, and cancer cells. They watch a video about early development of the frog embryo, generate a hypothesis in small groups, and listen to a teacher-led lecture. ...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Water: The Liquid of Life

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders complete a lesson on the properties, types and amounts of water on Earth. In groups, they travel between stations to identify water resources in Illinois and pollution sources. They complete the lesson with a field trip...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What's Living in My Mouth?

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Young scholars articulate in written and oral formats that bacteria can be found living everywhere. They explain in written and oral formats why the immune system is necessary. Students are presented with an opportunity to see bacteria...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mellowing With Age, A Closer Look

For Teachers K - 5th
Students realize that aging is a "natural, continuous process" and develop sensitivity to the needs, desires, and capabilities of the elderly by interviewing elderly community members and photographing age related things.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Presto Change-o: Caterpillars to Butterflies

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students use the Internet to explore the four stages of a butterfly's life cycle. They make a model of a butterfly using macaroni, sticks and leaves.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Trial of the Bloody Sucker

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students study creatures that drink blood. For this blood suckers lessons, students watch videos to learn about creatures that drink blood. Students divide into groups and make posters about the organisms. Students then participate in a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Forest Objects

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students explore the forest. In this ecosystems lesson, students rotate through sensory activity centers, brainstorm, and read about temperate forests.
Assessment
Science Matters

Post-Assessment

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Twenty questions make up an assessment designed to test super scientists' knowledge of ecosystems. Scholars answer multiple-choice and short-answer questions about organisms, food chains, energy flow, and more.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Composting

For Teachers 6th - 8th
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making Weather-Tracking Tools

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students build tools to help track the weather. In this weather lesson, students follow directions to build a rain gauge, barometer and hair hygrometer.
Unit Plan
Curated OER

Information Reports

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students practice essay skills. In this essay skills lesson, students select an essay subject and take notes for their topic. Students create a web for their essays. Students organize, write, revise, and publish their essays.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Going in Cycles: The Life of an Aluminum Can

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students investigate the manufacture of aluminum cans and consider the energy and resources saved when the cans are made from recycled material. They explore the concept of closed-loop recycling using charts, worksheets and discussion.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Nature's Recyclers

For Teachers K - 4th
Students create environments to demonstrate how earthworms interact with their surroundings.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fiber of Life

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students examine the importance of plants to individuals and society through a multi-discipline set of activities. They observe and draw different leaf structures and then create a book about trees and photosynthesis. They explore ways...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Frogs, Fabulous Frogs

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Learners have the opportunity to both interpret and replicate the different shapes and textures observed in the life cycle of a frog. When students apply the watercolor wash to the crayon texture rubbings the designs take on a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Household Pests

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders discover the various habitat requirements for assorted household pests from ants to wasps. They conduct various activities including researching the life cycles moths, cockroaches, and mosquitoes
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Land Use Issues

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students discover seeds are a source of life. They also label the parts of a seed and examine the conditions which are needed for the seed to start growing. They follow the life cycle of seeds.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Butterfly

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Learners use a purchased kit to explore the characteristics and life cycles of several butterflies including the Monarch, Western Swallowtail, Red Admiral and Painted Lady. They create a plaster casting of each species for study and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Caterpillar Habit

For Teachers K - 2nd
Young scholars watch a caterpillar change and become a butterfly. In this lesson about the life cycle of a caterpillar and a butterfly, students prepare and maintain the habitat of the caterpillar. Young scholars observe the stages of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Miracle of Winged Migration

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Students explore the life cycle of insects by researching butterflies. In this insect migration lesson, students identify the Monarch butterfly, where they inhabit, and what their migration consists of. Students utilize the Internet to...
Worksheet
Curated OER

The Case of the Broken Loop

For Students 4th - 5th
For this environmental awareness worksheet, students complete 8 pages pertaining to waste, landfills, recycling and composting. Included are: matching words and definitions, crossword puzzle, scrambled letters, a code, word search and a...
Lesson Plan
Texas Instruments

Greatest Common Divisor and Least Common Multiple

For Teachers 8th - 12th Standards
Students solve problems using the GCD and LCM. In this algebra lesson, students factor and simplify equations using the greatest common and least common factors and multiples. They factor integers in pairs.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Insects Are Helpful!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students see that insects do lots good and are very valuable to humans and nature. This is part of an ongoing effort to dispel fears of insects. They rotate through a series of centers that have examples of how insects contribute to our...