Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Growing plants

For Teachers K - 1st
Students explore plants and recognize that they are living things that require light and water to grow; students identify, name and match the parts of plants.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Science Unit Lesson Five

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders review how and which plants operate in terrariums. In groups, they follow instructions to make their own terrarium and place different types of plants in it. To end the activity, they review the steps in the water cycle and...
Lesson Plan
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Rosa Parks Community Garden

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students explore gardening and nutrition in the Rosa Parks Community Garden. They work in stations to discuss food choices, the life cycles of plants, and mini-composting. After starting in one station, they rotate to try each activity.
Lesson Plan
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Birth, Growth, And Development

For Teachers K - 5th
Students understand that all living things have a life cycle that includes being born, developing into an adult, reproducing, and eventually dying.
Lesson Plan
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Web of Life - Ecosystem

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders play the roles of various organisms in an ecosystem (focusing on insects) and pass yarn or string around to other organisms from largest animals to the smallest. The end product is a web which shows how all of these animals...
Lesson Plan
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The Nitrogen Cycle

For Teachers 1st - 12th
Students design and create a compost pile in order to study the Nitrogen Cycle. They then use the scientific method to determine if plants grow better when they add organic matter from their compost pile to the plant's soil.
Lesson Plan
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Seed Plants: Angiosperms

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students describe flowering plants and see why angiosperms are the most successful plants.  In this angiosperms lesson students identify angiosperms and explain how they reproduce. 
Lesson Plan
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Growing Plants

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Students explore plants and recognize that they are living things that require light and water to grow. In this online plant biology activity, students identify, name and match the parts of plants. Extension activities and suggested...
Lesson Plan
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The Great Pond Safari

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students study pond life by visiting a pond and completing an associated worksheet. They play an online game based on the pond learning experience.
Lesson Plan
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Go To The Head of the Cloud

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students pretend they are water droplets traveling through the water cycle. Using their text, they discover the steps in the cycle and the different paths water can take. They write a report about their journey through the water cycle...
Lesson Plan
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The Marvels of Mud

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
Young scientists roll up their sleeves and get a little dirty in this three-day earth science investigation. Following the scientific method, children monitor the growth of algae in pond water samples in order to determine...
Lesson Plan
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Chicago Botanic Garden

Plant Phenology Data Analysis

For Teachers 7th - 9th Standards
Scientists monitor seasonal changes in plants to better understand their responses to climate change, in turn allowing them to make predictions regarding the future. The last activity in the series of six has scholars analyze BudBurst...
Lesson Plan
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Fall Lesson Plans

For Teachers Pre-K
Students participate in various fall activities. For this fall lesson, students take a trip to a farmers market and purchase the ingredients needed for vegetable soup. Students paint fall scenes and create a fall story. Students discuss...
Lesson Plan
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Bears

For Teachers K - 1st
Students complete a variety of bear-related activities. They sort and graph teddy bears, distinguish between real and non-real bears and research bear life cycles and habitats.
Lesson Plan
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Why Is An Apple Like A Suitcase?

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students examine a variety of fruit to discover that each has seeds. Through experimentation, they discover the role that fruit and seeds play in a plant's life cycle.
Activity
Michigan Farm Bureau

The Little Red Hen

For Teachers K - 2nd
No one will be saying "Not I" with a lesson that combines The Little Red Hen with the life cycle of a wheat stem! After reading the story in your class, pass out wheat stems to your learners and have them examine the plants closely,...
Lesson Plan
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The Very Hungry Caterpillar

For Teachers K
Here is a good activity on butterflies and caterpillars. After listening to The Very Hungry Caterpillar, young learners put cards that depict the life cycle of a butterfly in the correct order. There are some good ideas for center...
Worksheet
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Bug Detective

For Students 3rd - 4th
What happens when a living thing dies? After reading a paragraph of background knowledge on the life cycle of bugs, third and fourth graders work through four clues to figure out which bug is which. When they finish, they can study the...
Lesson Plan
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Life Cycle of Brassica Plants: Planting Seeds

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students explore botany by participating in a calendar class activity. In this plant observation lesson, students examine a diagram of a Brassica plant and identify its anatomy before planting their own seeds and viewing the changes over...
Lesson Plan
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Bringing Up Birdy

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students explore biology by creating diagrams of animal life cycles. In this baby bird activity, students view video clips of birds being born from incubation to flying on their own. Students utilize the Internet to research birds and...
Lesson Plan
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The Inside of an Apple

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students review the life cycle of apples before they study information about the inside of apples. They work in small groups to color and identify the parts of the inside of an apple. Finally, they use real apples to have an hands on...
Lesson Plan
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Forest Succession

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Learners research environmental change and why forests cannot stay the same for long.  In this environmental growth lesson, students discuss the life cycle of a tree and examine tree cookies to discover the age of these specimens....
Lesson Plan
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How a Seed Grows and Who Grows It

For Teachers 1st
First graders explore biology by viewing PowerPoint presentations in class. In this plant life lesson, 1st graders identify the life cycle of a plant and how to properly plant a seed outside. Students view a movie about plant life and...
Lesson Plan
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Brine Shrimp Life Cycle

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders investigate the life cycle of the brine shrimp. They use a variety of resources to find the details of each step. Students compare the life cycles of different organisms. They create diagrams of the different stages while...