Students investigate living organisms and define the properties of a living species.  For this life characteristic lesson, students examine plants in their class and discuss whether or not they are alive.  Students create a...

First graders complete a variety of experiments with solids, liquids and gases. They read books about matter, identify the characteristics of solids, liquids and gases and the sort and classify a variety of matter. Students make...

Students enjoy making 3-D figures while learning about rectangular prisms, pyramids, vertices, edges, and faces. After a lecture/demo, students use marshmallows, toothpicks and a worksheet imbedded in this instructional activity to...

Help kindergartners develop the academic language they need to master the Common Core standards with this list of math vocabulary. Including the definitions of each term as well as a set of word cards with supporting images and examples,...

Students participate in various outdoor science activities to enhance their observation, classification, and analysis skills. In this outdoor activity, students begin by observing a tree from a straightforward angle, then from the...

First graders critically analyze living and nonliving objects, then develop a list of characteristics to classify objects on a science walk. They make a book to close out the lesson.

Students study binomial nomenclature and museum-based research. They create a curiosity box, label the objects in their curiosity box , develop a classification scheme for the objects, and create a database of all objects collected by...

Students learn five songs to define and develop understanding of the attributes of two- and three-dimensional figures and the meaning of mathematical terms. They classify objects as either two- or three-dimensional, through the use of...

Kindergartners listen to a story read by their teacher, then use magnetic shape pieces to construct simple designes. They "build" their own house using pre-cut paper shapes. This age-appropriate lesson would be an excellent choice for...

Students practice figuring out how items have been sorted. They also sort buttons in small cooperative groups. They color and sort their own paper buttons and then give their button sort to another student to see if he or she can figure...

Students create a classification tree based on grouping candy with eight different properties. This allows students to understand how living things are classified.

Students examine and sort objects by specific attributes and apply prior knowledge. In this properties everywhere lesson, students work in groups to arrange objects in categories then discuss various sorting options while...

Youngsters recognize and identify shapes. They draw, and use modeling clay to make shapes. They also identify shapes in their environment and in the Navajo culture, then compare the shapes and sort them into groups. This is the...

Fourth graders explore the topic of waste and recycling. In this useful waste instructional activity, 4th graders classify objects and sort them into most usable and least usable categories. Students complete an activity sheet and have a...

Young scholars write free flowing thoughts and feelings in their journals. They practice observation skills. They write using adjectives to describe an object. They choose a special button from among many unusual buttons.

Fourth graders sort trail mix by type and use that information to create different types of graphs for comparing.

Students explore motion by observing the movement of people and duplicating those movements. They compare and contrast various kinds of movements and identify different types of movements in pictures. They build an object that can be...

Students study classification systems by sorting Legos and determining how the different pieces are classified. They list as many attributes as possible to use for sorting.

First graders gain a better understanding of types of clouds. They recreate clouds using Kidspiration. The types of clouds they study about are cirrus, cumulus, and stratus clouds.

Students explore the observable properties of matter and utilize them in classification. They use a binary classification system to divide objects, then justify their scheme.

Students examine the role Martin Luther King Jr. played in America's history and what life was like in the 1960's. They watch and discuss an online video about the childhood of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the holiday enacted in his...

First graders use Hershey chocolate bars to practice fractions.  In this fraction lesson, 1st graders review different fractions and figure out different ways to represent fractions with the pieces of the Chocolate bar. This lesson...

Learners participate in a number of hands-on shape-related activities. They match and sort shapes by attribute, read books about shapes, complete shape art projects and explore and compare parts of shapes.

Students classify rocks into groups after they observe the rocks and identify properties that can be used to divide them into groups. They then identify other properties that could be used to classify other objects into groups.