DiscoverE
Core Sampling
Simulate soil sample assemblages. Individuals create soil layers in a cup. They then use straws to collect core samples from these layers. What information can they glean from the core samples, I wonder?
Facts and Files
The Nile
While it may not be possible to take an entire class to Egypt and explore the ancient wonders, it is possible to engage your young historians in activities that ask them to research these and other antiquities and place them on their...
American Museum of Natural History
A Whale of a Tale
What's the most interesting fact about a blue whale? Learners read an interview about the similarities between the Titanosaur and the blue whale displays at the American Museum of Natural History. Pupils learn not only about blue whales...
American Museum of Natural History
A Walk Through the Ruins of Petra
Walking through the ancient Nabataean city of Petra can be a challenge. A tour begins with a 20-minute walk down a rocky slope through the narrow Siq to get to the famous Treasury known to Indiana Jones fans. But that is just the...
Curated OER
Looking at Landforms-Based on the Washington Quarter Reverse
Learners use a Washington State Quarter to examine different landforms and discuss natural resources. After a class discussion on the items found on a Washington State quarter, students brainstorm a list of natural resources found in...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan # 2: Forest Poems
Learners read and write poetry. In this poetry writing lesson plan, students read and discuss several poems with a "forest" theme, and then write their own forest haiku. Possible publication in the Natural Inquirer is described.
Curated OER
Tourism and Preservation
Students explore the importance of preserving nature. In this science lesson, students discuss why natural sites shouldn't be made into tourist destinations. Students write an agreement form supporting a solution to avoid overcrowding.
Curated OER
Emily Dickinson & Poetic Imagination: "Leap, plashless"
Young scholars analyze the poems of Emily Dickinson and write their own nature poem. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read Dickinson poetry and analyze the use of imagery, sound, and metaphor. Young scholars write their own...
Curated OER
Spring Lesson Plans
Students complete activities for spring such as counting petals, tracing spring words, and going on nature walks. In this spring lesson plan, students also read spring stories.
Curated OER
Wild Wonderful Walk
Students explore the outdoors. In this poetry lesson, students spend time outdoors and write a poem about what they felt and saw. Students can do this activity in pairs or alone. Students blindfold their partner to focus on sounds and...
Curated OER
Shakespeare: The Nature of Writing and the Writing of Nature
This lesson plan uses Shakespeare's writing as a model for elementary students, encouraging them use their imaginations to explore to the evocative powers of language. It gives them a manageable piece of text which they can master and...
Curated OER
Strange Winter Weather Affects Nature, People
Students react to a series of statements about the weather, then read a news article about the affect of unusual winter weather on people and animals. In this meteorology and current events lesson, the teacher introduces an article with...
Curated OER
Wonderful World of Bats
Students create a book about bats. They write a letter to a scientist containing questions about bats. They compare the socialization of bats to humans; compare the needs of bats to humans and other animals.
Curated OER
Readers Who Struggle Can Learn From Wonderful Teacher/Student Created On-Level Reading Projects
Students create their own books. In this book making lesson, students pick a subject and take photographs of it. They use these photographs to write their own story using their sight words.
Curated OER
Library Curriculum: What Would a Wonderful Library Be Like?
Second graders complete a KWL chart about libraries. They create a book using writing patterns of a particular author. Students decide criteria for awarding the Second Grade Librarian Award to books in the classroom library, and use a...
Curated OER
Teaching With Pourquoi Tales
Learners read and discuss several Pourquoi tales--legends that explain why certain natural events occur. They complete a variety of activities surrounding each tale and then write their own Pourquoi tale.
Curated OER
Natural Wonders of China And Japan
Students identify some of the attributes of China and Japan and compare and contrast the way Chinese, Japanese, and American artists represent nature in art. The lesson is for upper-elementary classrooms.
Curated OER
Underwater Nature Trails
Students research dive sites on an underwater nature trail that would introduce divers to the wonders of the reef surrounding South Caicos. They then recreate each dive site using shoe box diorama and create an information station at...
Curated OER
Wonderful Water
Students identify the various states of water and its natural flow downward. As a class, students take digital pictures of different forms of water and create a multimedia presentation describing their photographs. Groups of students...
Curated OER
Mystery, Myth, and Wonder: The White Elephant
Learners examine the role of the elephant in the culture of Thailand through many different class activities based on a PBS program "The White Elephants of Thailand with Meg Ryan". Students also look at the impact of technology on...
Curated OER
Interpreting Photographs: Part One
Photography is a wonderful artistic medium used to express feelings, historical events, and nature. This worksheet provides three critical-analysis questions that require learners to take an in-depth look a photograph both physically and...
California Academy of Science
Poetic Reflections
Poetry is a wonderful way to explore language, express topical understanding, and incite creative thinking. After a trip to the local natural history museum (or zoo), learners write an acrostic or a cinquain poem describing one of their...
W.K. Kellogg Biological Station
Succession: Patterns in the Field and in Seeds
Have you been wondering how to use that natural trail at or near your school? This activity gets kids outside with a purpose: learn about ecological succession through field observations and collecting seed and soil samples. The resource...
Curated OER
An Introduction to Modern Economics
Practice reading comprehension with this informational economics worksheet. Learners read a 2-page explanation of the beginnings of modern economics and how it plays a role in society. This reading discusses natural, human and capital...