Curated OER
Deep Subjects - Wells and Ground Water
Here is a phenomenal lesson plan on ground water, wells, and aquifers. Young geologists study how water exists underground, how water moves through the soil, and how water is extracted to be used as drinking water. Some excellent...
Curated OER
Making Regolith
You may not be able to take a field trip to the moon, but that doesn't mean your class can't study moon rocks. Using graham crackers as the moon's bedrock and powdered donuts as micrometeorites, young scientists simulate the creation of...
NASA
Erosion and Landslides
A professional-quality PowerPoint, which includes links to footage of actual landslides in action, opens this moving lesson. Viewers learn what conditions lead to erosion and land giving way. They simulate landslides with a variety of...
Curated OER
On the Surface
Students draw and label the 15 major rivers in Texas. They then draw and label another map with the major lakes and reservioirs of Texas. Students use the maps and locate and label the location of the following major Texas cities:...
Curated OER
Wormhunt!
In this worm worksheet, students get soil wet and wait for worms to appear. Students complete the activity and then answer short answer questions about their findings.
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
What is Groundwater? Our Underground Water Supply
Learn about the consequences of groundwater with a lesson about the different ways California handles water conservation and pollution. After reading a passage about the water table, learners apply what they have read to six...
Curated OER
The Water Cycle
Students simulate the water cycle. In this water cycle lesson, students create a model of the water cycle. Students draw the water cycle and write a paragraph explaining their drawing.
Curated OER
Aquifer Model
Students, after researching and brainstorming about aquifers and locating aquifer maps of Texas, participate in the building of a model of an aquifer complete with a pumping station. They also answer a variety of questions at the...
Michigan Sea Grant
Water Quantity
It may be tricky for a young mind to conceptualize that less than 1% of all water on earth is useable for humans to drink. Simulating the amount of fresh water available on earth by removing measured amounts of water from a five-gallon...
Curated OER
once and future MOON
Beyond the phases of the moon, this comprehensive lesson plan covers geologic history and geology. Amateur astronauts examine photos of the lunar landscape, experiment with the creation of craters, and delve into information about the...
Scholastic
Study Jams! Mosses and Ferns
Mosses and ferns are some of the world's oldest types of plants. Here is a quality 10-slide presentation set to gentle background music for beginning botanists to view and enjoy. Accompanying captions explain that these are both...
Rivanna Regional Stormwater Education Partnership
Does It Soak Right In?
Which materials are best for groundwater runoff, and which are best for percolation? Discuss the water table with several experiments about different types of soil, pollution, precipitation, and filtration. The experiments assign roles...
Biology Junction
Water Properties and More
Did you know many insects use cohesion or surface tension to walk on water? Using a presentation, scholars learn the more important properties of water. It extends into the concepts of solutions, suspensions, pH, and more.
Curated OER
Effects of Weathering
Here's a great geology lesson for 3rd graders on weathering and erosion of soil. After a class discussion on how nature can "move a mountain," learners take a look at how a modern phenoma called acid rain can also cause weathering and...
Teach Engineering
Are We Alone?
Find an answer to the age-old debate of whether life exists on Mars. Groups determine criteria to help look for signs of life on Mars. The activity has the class simulate testing Martian soil samples for signs of life before drawing...
Curated OER
Our Earth
In this Earth's environment worksheet, young scholars complete a crossword puzzle given 35 clues about a variety of topics related to our Earth. Topics include ecosystems, precipitation, biomes, energy transfer, soil, weathering and rocks.
Space Awareness
Oceans as a Heat Reservoir
Oceans absorb half of the carbon dioxide and 80 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Scholars learn how and why the oceans store heat more effectively than land and how they help mitigate global warming. Pupils...
K12 Reader
What Glaciers Leave Behind
Glaciers may seem distant and stationary, but they are huge deposits of moving ice that have made changes to the earth's surface. Your pupils can learn about the different types of impressions left by glaciers by reading the short...
California Academy of Science
Discovering Rainforest Locations
How many rainforests are there, where are they, and do global factors effect their locations? These are great questions that have great answers. Children in grades four through eight use several different maps to determine why...
University of Wisconsin
Noting Notable Features for Rain Gardens
Eight groups in your class are each responsible for a different aspect of surveying the campus for a suitable rain garden location. Features to consider include water flow, topography, sun/shade patterns, land surface, vegetation,...
Curated OER
WATER HERE AND THERE
Introduce the topic of water conservation with a little drama. Dressed as snowflakes, hail stones, or rain drops class members dramatize the events in a narration of the water cycle. The series of lessons that follow focus on...
Curated OER
Water Filtration
As an example of nature's water filtering system, young ecologists conduct an experiment in the lab. They construct a funnel out of a plastic bottle, fill it with specified layers of materials that simulate layers of soil, then run muddy...
US Environmental Protection Agency
Aquifer in a Cup
Young scientists create their very own aquifers in this science lesson on ground water. After learning about how some people get their drinking water from underground wells, young learners use sand, modeling clay, and aquarium rocks to...
KOG Ranger Program
The Value of Oregon’s Forests
No matter where you go, you're in the middle of a forest in some way. Use a lesson about forests and the many ways they contribute to our world, including the ecosystems of animals and plants living in their shady soil.