Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Tracking Sunrise and Sunset

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students collect, record, and graph the sunrise and sunset times. They explain how the relationship between the tilt of Earth's axis and its yearly orbit around the sun produces the seasons.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Precession

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners explain how Hipparchus, around 130 BC, used a shift in the predicted location of a lunar eclipse to detect a slight shift in the path of the Sun around the sky. They examine the elliptical orbit in which the Earth travels around...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Taking Risks: Drug and Alcohol Abuse

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students discuss a video about drug and alcohol abuse and their connection to risk-taking. They answer questions on a risk factor sheet about the use of tobacco, drugs, and alcohol. They discuss long and short term goals and how not...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Make Way for Wild Migrants

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Young scholars discuss the threats facing migratory species and track the seasonal journeys of wildlife in real space and in cyberspace. Once they have gathered information from several sources, they create a portfolio to share with...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Watershed Management

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students investigate the concept of a watershed. They conduct research into the concept using a variety of resources. Students take a field trip to a local watershed to make observations. The outcome is a report concerning the outside...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Thoreau Look at Our Environment

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders write journal entries o school site at least once during each season, including sketched and written observations of present environment. They can use sample topographical maps and student's own maps. Students can use...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Temperature Comparisons

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students practice plotting temperature data points on a line graph in groups and examine the temperature differences at the same time of year. They graph the temperatures in Lannon, WI, and Mitchell's Plain, SA. After the data has been...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Investigating daylight

For Teachers 6th - 12th
students investigate a natural factor affecting their everyday lives: daylight. First, they collect data on sunrise and sunset in their hometown, create a Microsoft Office Excel chart to help them understand the data pattern, and offer a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Woods and Pond

For Teachers K - 2nd
Learners participate in hands-on activities to explore their natural surroundings. They recognize that ponds and woods are ecosystems and compare differences between the two. They identify trees by their bark and leaves.
Lesson Plan
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RIDE THE WILD LEAF

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students identify and interpret that leaves provide food for new trees and plants. Students cut out leaves and glue them on the appropriate number on included worksheet. Students collect different types of leaves and make leaf rubbings....
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Blowing in the Wind

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students identify and interpret maps, graphs, charts, tables and political cartoons. Students identify what a compass rose is and review its meaning in relation to standard directions. Students design their own weathervanes. Students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders discuss the weather and how it changes during the different seasons. They listen to a read aloud of Judy Barrett's, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. They write and illustrate a news article about the weather that is found...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Look At Those Leaves!

For Teachers K - 1st
Students observe, measure and sort leaves.  For this leaf lesson students divide into groups and observe the different kinds of leaves. 
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Curated OER

Mars

For Students 4th - 7th
After reading a short excerpt about the planet named after the Roman god of war, Mars, your class will answer four comprehension questions. The activity challenges them to fold over the paper and answer the questions without referring...
Lesson Plan
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Water 1: Water and Ice

For Teachers K - 2nd
Learners examine the changes as water goes from solid to liquid. In this states of matter lesson plan, students observe and record the changes to water as it changes from solid to liquid and back to solid.
Lesson Plan
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Think GREEN - Utilizing Renewable Solar Energy

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students use data to find the best renewable energy potential.  In this solar energy lesson plan students import data into Excel and explain how solar energy is beneficial. 
Lesson Plan
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Rain and Rainbows

For Teachers K - 5th
Students explore the weather system by analyzing water properties. In this precipitation lesson, students review weather related vocabulary terms and discuss how rainbows are created by light hitting droplets at the right time. Students...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Central Park Field Trip

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students visit the park to observe signs of spring in the forest and pond environments.  In this field trip lesson, students explore the park for various items
Lesson Plan
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Location, Location, Location: Civilization's Ultimate Advantage

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discover how geographical advantages, locational and regional, ultimately led to western Eurasian societies' disproportionate accounting of world power and innovation. They utilize a workbook which can be downloaded within this...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Splish-Splash: Daily Use of Water

For Teachers K - 5th
Learners explore the daily use of water in Kenya and Ghana. In this Peace Corps activity, students compare similarities and differences between water use by people in Kenya and Ghana and their own communities as...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Salt: White Gold

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the importance of salt for trade routes and the economy of a community.
Lesson Plan
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A Pressing Project

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students create a collection of pressed plants. In this plant lesson, students use newspaper, plywood, and a rubberband to press plants they previously collected.
Lesson Plan
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F.B.I.

For Teachers K - 4th
Students create a worm bin full of fruit and vegetable scraps wit paper and observe what happens over time. In this decomposers lesson plan, students observe that the fruit and vegetable scraps become new soil.
Lesson Plan
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Water and Ice: Part 1

For Teachers K - 2nd
Students observe the state changes in water. In this matter lesson, students observe, measure, and describe water as it changes state. Students explore how water can change from a solid to a liquid then back again. They journal their...