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

Students apply prior knowledge of living things, structures of living things and how living things sense and respond to their environment. For this habitat lesson, students review the basic needs of organisms to survive. Students create...

Fourth graders read and share chapters of The Boxcar Children. In this wants and needs lesson, 4th graders understand through their reading the differences between wants and needs. Students complete a worksheet about wants and needs...

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.

How has the Internet of Things affected our lives? Scholars examine the massive influence of mobile devices in this analysis lesson, which begins with a seven-minute documentary clip. They also read a New York Times article (linked)...

Students explore the cycles of an ecosystem.  In this environmental science lesson, students work in groups to research the nitrogen cycle, the water cycle, or the oxygen-carbon dioxide cycle. Students prepare a PowerPoint or other...

Young people today have to be very careful with how they present themselves online. Show them the possible impact of their online activity and what employers might see when performing a basic search. The lesson plan provides a video clip...

Fourth graders research pioneer life. In this pioneer lesson, 4th graders read the book Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder and discuss what life was like for early pioneers. They research pioneers and show what they...

Learners brainstorm the basic needs of the community and create a chart. In this volunteerism lesson, students recognize people in the community who have given charity in the community. Learners read biographies of these charitable...

First graders differentiate between turtles and tortoises. In this turtles and tortoises lesson students are visited by a turtle and a tortoise. Students write a letter with an illustration after the animals visit the class.

Sixth graders participate in mapping and other activities to understand why ancient civilizations developed as they did. In this ancient civilization lesson, 6th graders recognize that there were three important climate zones and...

Students investigate the global food chain by creating a visual chart.  In this ecology lesson, students discover the elements needed for life to sustain itself, contrasting living things vs. non living things.  Students fill...

Examine how living and non-living things work together in a reading passage about ecosystems. Class members read the text and then respond to five response questions that relate specifically to the content of the passage.

Young scientists discover the importance of scientific investigation by observing live crayfish. They carefully observe the patterns of crayfish in different environments. Then they discuss their conclusions and define what all living...

Read the story "Sunflower House,"  by Eve Bunting with your 2nd graders to investigate the relationships between plants and animals. They will discover how living things change during their lives by creating their own sprout houses....

Students investigate nearby forests and record their interactions with trees as well as wild life.  In this ecology instructional activity, students read the book, In the Woods: Who's Been Here?, and attend class observational field...

Students discover cells make up all living things. In this life science lesson, students investigate living organisms and the cells that create them. Finally the students create a testable question, conduct an investigation, and draw...

Students explore the differences between the four sectors of business. In this nonprofit business instructional activity, students give examples of needs met by businesses and the importance of the community nonprofit sector.

Young scholars explore interrelationships among plants and animals.  Students listen to Where to, Little Wombat? by Charles Fuge, and contribute words and phrases for a classroom animal and plant survival chart. Young scholars take...

In this forests and people instructional activity, 3rd graders brainstorm what forests are used for, discuss forest habitats, and how human interventions have affected trees and animals that depend on the forest environment. Students...

Students explore human behavior by exploring mental and physical disabilities. In this learning disability lesson, students identify the different disabilities students have which prevent them from working at the same pace as the rest of...

Students investigate the lives of pets by videotaping them.  For this animal life lesson, students videotape a cat and other pets using school cameras in a computer lab.  Students review the footage from the cat and other...

What's the difference between behavioral adaptations and physical adaptations? Learn about the various ways that organisms adapt to their environment with a worksheet about the creatures of the Hudson River.

First graders assist in making a list of the many things that Brown Bear saw in the story. They create an illustration of the person, place, or thing that they wrote about in their pattern sentence.