National Park Service
Rock Ranking
Junior geologists sort rocks and soil. They separate a sample of river gravel by size, shape, color, and other characteristics. To include Common Core standards, you could have little ones graph the number of particles in each sample.
Teach Engineering
Pill Dissolving Demo
Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh that one is the fastest. The teacher demonstration is the second part of a four-part series. The class observes how different pill types dissolve in simulated stomach acid. They determine which one dissolves...
Curated OER
The Food Pyramid
Learning about nutrition and how to eat healthy foods is very important for kids these days. Here is a lesson, designed for 4th graders, that teaches these important skills. Pupils plan nutritional meals by using the USDA's Food Guide...
Peace Corps
Introducing Culture
Growing up within a culture leaves a lot of ideas and values unspoken. Take a closer look at the cultures in which your learners live with a discussion activity that addresses cultural identity and traits of those living within the...
National Security Agency
Going Green with Graphs
In this unit designed for second graders, youngsters are introduced to conducting surveys and creating tally charts based on the data they gather. Students then construct bar graphs, and observe the relationships between the two...
Curated OER
Animals Piece by Piece
Learners sort organisms and objects into groups according to their parts and describe how the groups are formed.They identify body parts of animals from puzzle pieces, assemble the puzzle, and name the animal.
Curated OER
Hey, Look Me Over!
Students make observations about mealworms using hand lenses, rulers, and cotton swabs. Students complete their own mealworm observation chart, then they share their observations with the class. This is one station out of five in an...
Curated OER
To Classify Beans And Peas
First graders record information on a bar graph and interpret the information given. They identify five different kinds of beans and three different kinds of peas. They work in groups of four and sort the beans by size or shape.
Curated OER
Classification of Animals
Middle schoolers explore animal characteristics by participating in a SMART board activity. In this animal classification lesson, students utilize a sorting chart to divide different animal names by their observable characteristics....
Curated OER
Incredible Seeds
Second graders are given a group of seeds and put in small groups. They classify their seeds based on their observations with 90% accuracy. Students draw a picture of each seed showing at least 2 characteristics of each. They write 1...
Curated OER
Rocks, Rocks & More Rocks
Second graders work together to examine different types of rocks. They sort rocks according to their characteristics and properties.
Curated OER
Rocks and Minerals
Fifth graders examine different types of rocks and classify rocks by their different characteristics. In small groups they sort their rocks into two categories, then create three categories to sort by on a sorting worksheet. Next, they...
Curated OER
Classifying Living Things
Young scholars identify how to classify living things. They classify various concepts including family members, kinds of clothing, numbers, shapes, and vocabulary words. They discuss how to classify various concepts and classify...
Curated OER
Worming Your Way Through the Soil
Students study soil, living and non-living particles in the soil, and learn about composting. In this soil study lesson, students study soil samples and discuss the living and non-living components of the soil. Students classify the...
Curated OER
Look At Those Leaves!
Young scholars observe, measure, and sort tree leaves. They examine leaves individually, in groups, and in relationship to the entire tree. Pupils take a walk outside for a "Leaf Walk." Students are each given a lunch size paper bag, so...
Curated OER
Big Bones, Little Bones
Students investigate archeology. In this archeology lesson, students research the process of excavation. Students participate in a mock-excavation and sort objects by physical properties.
Curated OER
Biodiversity
In this biodiversity learning exercise, learners sort and classify animals by their observable features using a dichotomous key. Students then respond to questions about complete and incomplete metamorphosis.
Curated OER
Water Cycle
Students perform experiments with water to observe the principles of evaporation and condensation. They make models of the water cycle and discuss the processes that occurred in their experiments with their jars of water.
Curated OER
Look At Those Leaves!
Students sort tree leaves. For this plant biology lesson, students collect leaves and group them according to size, shape, and color. Students discuss their observations.
Curated OER
Can You Identify Arthropods?
Third graders sort and classify the four Arthropod classes. They are given puzzle pieces of one Arthropod example. Each group is to put their puzzle together, glue it on a piece of construction paper and label the ir puzzle.
Curated OER
Look at Those Leaves!
Students observe and sort tree leaves. For this plant biology lesson, students observe various types of leaves and identify the characteristics of each leaf. Students measure and sort leaves according to size and color.
Curated OER
Uses of a Tree
Students identify and explore the resources we use that come from trees. In this reading comprehension lesson, students sort word cards about resources that come from trees into groups based on the type of resource.
Curated OER
Wacky Water Critters
Students visit a local creek or stream. They collect water samples from the creek and observe and sort the "water critters" they find in the sample, observing smaller organisms under a microscope if necessary. They identify each organism...
Curated OER
Colored Dots 1
Students observe that colored markers are a mixture of many different colors by performing a chromatography experiment. They make observations, record information, and make generalized inferences from their observations.