Curated OER
Ask the Antlion
Middle schoolers observe and examine the life cycle of antlions, recording their observations of the live insects in a journal. They view an antlion on a video microscope, draw the body parts, and replicate their experiment at home.
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Clearly Classified
Learners investigate plants and insects. In this science classification lesson, students create separate categories for insects and plants by characteristics. Learners discover scientific names of insects.
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A Bug's Journey
Students examine the artwork of John Baldessari that was inspired by a 16th century drawing of a beetle. They analyze a drawing of a beetle, discuss the insect's characteristics, and write a story from the perspective of a bug. Also,...
Curated OER
Investigating Crickets and Their Body Parts
Second graders investigate the body of a cricket. In this biology lesson students use tools to gain information about the insect the cricket. Students observe and identify features and describe how these features help the cricket live in...
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Termite Trails
Learners observe termite trail-following behavior. In this termite trails lesson, students draw a circle or other shape approximately eight inches across with a ball point pen. Teacher taps out termites into the circle and request that...
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Choose Your Defense: Spines, Vomit and Camouflage
Students investigate defensive mechanisms of insects and organisms. For this biology lesson, students draw imaginary caterpillars as well as imaginary parasites that will harm the caterpillar. Students utilize the Internet to discover...
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Flowers and Their Life Cycles
First-time florists will be able to label the structures of simple and composite flowers after reading this handout and answering the comprehension questions. There are a couple of grammatical errors in the text, but the content is...
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Stator limbatus Study, Part 1
Second graders experiment identifying beetle emergence and exit holes in seeds, count them, look for beetle eggs with a magnifier and count how many beetle eggs they find. They then graph on a data sheet the findings from their research.
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Bug Hunt
Pupils strengthen observational skills by searching for insects in their home and classroom. In this observation lesson, students use magnifying glasses to classify what kinds of bugs were found. Pupils then create a bar graph to display...
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A Bug's Journey
Students research the art of John Baldessari. In this art history lesson, students examine Baldessari's drawing of a beetle and discuss the characteristics of these bugs. They write a story from a bug's perspective and create their own...
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Shattered Images Value Study
Students create cubist drawings using grids and enlargement.
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Pollinators and Wildflowers
Students explore how plants depend on pollinators to reproduce. In this pollination lesson students dissect a local flower and collect and identify pollinating insects.
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Living and Nonliving Things
Students photograph five objects from a bag and five objects from the outdoors. Students categorize things by living and non-living and by properties such as color, size, structure and needs. Students draw conclusions about the basic...
Michigan State University
In Search of Life
Explore the habitats around you with an activity that takes kids out of the classroom to learn about the local variety of habitats and the living things that call them home. In small groups, scholars investigate their surroundings,...
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Izzy the Insect
Students recognize the short vowel i in written and spoken language. Through listening activities, they discriminate the vowel sound /i/ from other phonemes. Students associate the phoneme with its letter representation and identify them...
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Bug Hunt
Students examine the different characteristics of bugs in their local area. They take characteristics of bugs they have observed and create their own new insect. They draw their new bug and share it with the class.
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Home Sweet Home
Students examine the animals that live in trees. They identify their sounds, footprints and droppings. They draw pictures of the animals as well.
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Hand Print Adjective Booklet
Students practice using adjectives by describing animals, pictures or insects. In this language arts lesson plan, students collaborate to brainstorm a list of adjectives which they turn into an adjective booklet. Students utilize their...
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Nature Art Exploration
Students draw a nature landscape using watercolors. In this life science instructional activity, students share their personal experience on the beauty of nature. They create clay models of different native animals.
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Design a Pollinator
Students make a scientific drawing of a pollinator with at least five traits that make them well adapted to a given plant(s). They describe in their science notebook the adaptations that make their pollinator well suited to a given plant.
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Wetland Safari!
Young scholars identify how humans, fish, plants, birds, insects and other wildlife benefit from wetland environments. They observe a wetland and its inhabitants, draw a migration map that represents how birds use wetlands in traveling...
Curated OER
How Do Weather Conditions and Lunar Cycles Affect Fishing Success?
Middle schoolers use weather measuring devices to record and study weather conditions at different locations, during different times. They attempt to draw conclusions about the relationship between weather conditions, lunar cycle and...
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The Very Clumsy Click Beetle
Second graders determine what it means to be clumsy before listening to Eric Carle's, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle. They examine the part where the click beetle does flips before drawing three frames that show the beetle flipping. For...
Curated OER
Honey Bee Facts And Figures: Math Skills
Students practice their mathematics and mapping skills using examples from honey bee biology. Discuss why the colonies were found in this pattern. They examine food and water in the area, and how many humans live in the area where...