Curated OER
Exploring the Sun's Role in Living Systems
Students create graphic organizer webs that illustrate their thinking about seasonal physical and biological changes caused by changes in sunlight. They identify the central role of sunlight in living systems.
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Autumn Learning Fun
Students discuss autumn. For this language arts lesson, students discuss words that are associated with the season of autumn. Students read books about autumn.
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Hickory Dickory Dock: The Biological Clock
Young scholars investigate the effect of day length on animal migrations. They view a Powerpoint presentation, identify their own personal migrations and cues, answer discussion questions, and test a hypothesis about seasons.
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Heading South
Students look at the migration of different birds. In this migration lesson, students discuss why an animal migrates and problems that can occur during migration. They look at several downloadable maps that show the specific routes of...
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Planting Seeds Around the World
First graders discuss the book The Lorax and research what living things need. In this environmental lesson, 1st graders investigate how humans affect the growth of plants. Students conduct an experiment with sunflowers.
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Forest Food Webs
Students consider the interdependency of life in a temperate forest by studying selected organisms from an Asian temperate forest and creating a food web.
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Wild Arctic
Students explore key terms, including food web and food chain. They discuss Arctic plants and animals, devise at least three Arctic food chains and create a food web showing connections among Arctic life.
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Natural Features of Our Community
Second graders read about and discuss natural features of communities. They listen to a guest speaker, such as a park ranger to expand their knowledge of natural features. They go on a field trip, if possible, to a local zoo or...
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Dynamic Wetlands
High schoolers construct and observe a model of two different types of wetlands. In this wetlands lesson, students create a model of a wetland with constant drainage and a wetland that maintains a well-saturated soil. High schoolers...
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Biomes Internet Lesson
In this biomes worksheet, students use an on line source to complete a table of the Earth's biomes. Students include the types of plants in each biome, the types of animals, the climate and any details about the biomes. Students answer...
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Baa, Ram, Ewe.... Sheep Tales
Students explore animal characteristics by reading animal stories in class. In this sheep habitat lesson, students identify the uses for sheep in our agricultural based society and the importance of wool in our economy. Students read...
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...
Virginia Department of Education
Evidence of Evolution
What an impression fossils make! In this activity, aspiring paleontologists view fossils and construct a timeline to further understand how the lack of natural adaptation caused historical organisms to become extinct. While they...
Curated OER
Bearly Any Ice
Students participate in a prey-predator game. After reading background information, they discover the impact from the changes global warming presents to the polar bears and ringed seals. They role play the role of either the seal or...
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Haiku: Observation and Writing in the Japanese Garden
Students observe a Botanical Gardens. Upon returning to the classroom, students write their own Haiku based on their observations.
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Wetland Adaptation
Fourth graders study the impact of the wetland environment on the migration of birds. They make a list of the important reasons on a large piece of paper to be posted in the classroom and point out the biggest wetland in the state (The...
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Water Quality and Dissolved Oxygen
Students investigate the relationship between dissolved oxygen and organic materials and aquatic organisms. This is a 3-lesson series in which students explore dissolved oxygen and then design an experiment testing the effects of changes.
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Mammals, Mammals--Everywhere!
Students explore the habitats of mammals and their physical characteristics. They research examples of mammals that must deal with daily changes in their habitat and how they cope with them. In small groups, students create a table...
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What Living Things Need
Learners apply the process of scientific inquiry to explore how living things are dependent on one another for survival. They match animals with their generalized food source. Students predict what happens to the organisms when their...
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Sunflowers, The Circle of Life
Learners investigate and observe plants and animals in nature. They find out how life cycles are present in much of nature. Students use appropriate graphic organizers for information gathering. Learners use sequence life cycles of...
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Weather and Climate
Young scholars identify the words plain and climate and discuss what would happen if it never rained. Students identify and interpret the weather in Poland and create a web illustrating various weather patterns. Young scholars write a...
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A Long Winter's Nap
Young scholars explore the process of estivation, hibernation and torpor and the ways that frogs adapt to seasonal weather changes.
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Pollution Solutions
Students visit a local park to test the quality of the aquatic environments. They search for sources of pollution and examples of pollution control. Based on their obeservations and experiments, they rate their local environment.
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Life Cycle of Butterflies
Students identify ways plants and animals make changes related to the seasons, specifically focusing on the life cycle of butterflies.