Curated OER
Soil Treasure Hunt
Students explore the concept of soil and decomposition. In this soil and decomposition lesson, students investigate bags of soil. Students then learn how animals and other organisms help in the decomposition process.
Virginia Department of Education
Permeability and Porosity
Covering both permeability and porosity, scholars perform a hands-on experiment testing various soil types. The material includes a pre-lesson plan worksheet to help focus pupils on the task at hand.
Skyscraper Museum
Building a Skyscraper
The construction of skyscrapers is no simple undertaking, involving the careful coordination and planning of many different people. The third activity in this series explores this detailed process by first teaching children about the...
Curated OER
SCRUMPTIOUS SOIL
Young scholars engage in investigations that lead to the discovery that earth materials consist of rocks, soils, water, and air. They build models of soil profiles, using breakfast cereal and other edible materials. They observe how...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
American Indians and their Environment
People could take a page in ingenuity and survival from the Powhatans. Deer skins became clothes, and the members of the Native American group farmed the rich Virginia soil and hunted in its forests for food. Using images of artifacts...
Curated OER
Landforms of Illinois
Fifth and sixth graders are introduced to the primary landforms of Illinois and discover how they were created. Landform cards are made for each pupil. They use the twenty-questions format until they have identified each one. Then,...
National Park Service
Living & Non-Living Interactions
What better way to learn about ecosystems than by getting outside and observing them first hand? Accompanying a field trip to a local park or outdoor space, this series of collaborative activities engages children in learning about the...
Alabama Learning Exchange
The Earth Has Many Layers
Students conduct an experiment. In this Earth's layers instructional activity, students learn about soil, sand and rock. They complete their own Jell-O Mountain and investigate the Earth's layers on-line.
Curated OER
I Got a Lava Livin' to Do in Pompeii
Scholars imagine themselves as citizens of Pompeii in 79 AD. First they are assigned a job (or place in society like a child or slave). Then they record their daily activities for the weeks leading up to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in...
BBC
Ourselves
Young biologists identify parts of the body, sort humans from other animals, and list the difference they see. Learners are split up into groups of three, and each group must find pictures in magazines of humans and other animals. They...
Virginia Department of Education
The Hydrologic Cycle
There is the same amount of water on earth now as there was when it was formed. The water from your faucet could contain molecules that dinosaurs drank! Young scientists build their own hydrologic cycle model and observe it for five...