Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What's The Weather?

For Teachers K - 3rd
Students explore the role that remote sensing plays in predicting our weather. Students investigate weather websites, and read about the three kinds of clouds. Students record and draw their observations in science journals.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Hat

For Teachers K - 1st
Honing reading and communication skills through the theme of farm animals is the focus of this lesson. Students read a book about Scandinavian farm animals and complete prediction journal activities. They complete a worksheet about the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

This is Your Life

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Middle or high-school pupils choose a scientist to research. They collect biographical information and explore their contributions to scientific understanding. With all that they compile, they create a scrapbook of the scientists' life....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Tour Down the Hudson River

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers discuss how the Hudson River is an ecosystem made up of both biotic and abiotic factors. They view the PowerPoint the Journal Down the Hudson River. Students become aware of where the Hudson River begins and ends, the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

To Whom It May Concern! Writing for a Variety of Audiences

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Elementary learners write friendly letters with the same subject to two contrasting readers or audiences. They choose words and phrases that will be the most effective for the audience they are trying to reach. They read both letters and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Natural Inquirer Ecosystem Article Lesson

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Young scholars discover new ways to preserve the ecosystem by completing graphic organizers.  In this environmental lesson, students read an article from the Natural Inquirer in small groups and fill out a graphic organizer based on...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I Wonder What An Important Observation Is...

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students discover the importance of descriptions and detail in their writing. They write in their scientific journals and are evaluated by the teacher. They write a descriptive piece and evaluate their own writing as well.
Lesson Plan
Novelinks

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: Question Answer Response Strategy

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Readers of Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry are introduced to the Question Answer Response Strategy (QAR) as a way to increase their engagement in and comprehension of the novel.
Lesson Plan
Centers for Ocean Sciences

Ocean and Great Lakes Literacy: Principle 7

For Teachers 5th - 12th
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take your class on an underwater adventure. The final installment in a seven-part series involving salt and freshwater bodies takes junior oceanographers below the surface in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

One Giant Leap

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students brainstorm important scientific advancements of the twentieth century. They examine the implications of the completion of the first rough draft of the human genome on society. They research a selected scientific advancement of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Walking on Thin Ice

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine scientific evidence of changes in the Arctic ice cover. They participate in a simulation of an international conference and debate the relationship between global warming and changes in the arctic ice cover.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fun With Food

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students participate in hands-on scientific experiments relying solely on household kitchen materials.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Shades of Gray

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine their own strengths and weaknesses and try to determine if it is a result of nature, nuture or both. After reading an article, they discuss how gender may or may not account for differences in intelligence. They...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Breezy, Chilly, or Freezing?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students assess the factors which influence the sensation of being "cold" in a particular situation. They study the complexities in measuring temperature by reading and discussing the article "Beyond Brrr: The Elusive Science of...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Vikings in Vinland

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students examine the role of archaeology in gaining information about past civilizations. After reading an article, they discover evidence of the Viking settlement of North America. They summarize the information in the article by...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Shedding New Light

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students consider why photographs in space might not show stars and research the importance of light in this phenomenon. They research other scientific processes related to light or its absence and create "How It Works" posters about them.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cooking Up an Explanation

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students pose scientific questions about food items and research their explanations. They then create recipe cards with the answers and present their findings in a cooking show format.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Constellation Prizes

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students study meteors, meteorites, and comets by reading and discussing a related New York Times article about the Leonid meteor showers and the methods that scientists are using to study from these meteors. They create a comet in the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Interview With A Psychoanalyst

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students discuss health topics they would like to know more about. They read an article interviewing a psychoanalyst. They resarch any questions they have about a specific scienctist. They write their own newspaper article using...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Who Gives a Hoot?

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students look at owl migration and its impact on the environment and the food chain after reading an article from The New York Times. Students then apply this information to and research different food chain situations for other species...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Book of Life

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students discuss the factors that make a good children's book. After reading an article, they explore the prevalence of science in children's literature. In groups, they research a topic and translate it into easy language for a child...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Halls are Alive with the Sound of Music

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students discuss physical places in which had good or bad acoustics. After reading an article, they discover the relationship between the physics of sound and concert hall acoustics. They calculate the speed of sound and compare their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Arthur's Halloween

For Teachers 1st - 2nd
Students read a story and respond.  In this caring and helping others lesson, students read Arthur's Halloween making predictions as they go.  Students write a report on caring, create a caring journal where they record how...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

We, the First People

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students explore new support regarding the earliest peopling of America by examining multiple theories on the migration of the first people to America, investigating related archaeological finds, and creating research-based scientific...