Science: Lesson Plans

 

Science Resources

 
ACSI/Purposeful Design Publications does not endorse these resources and recommends that each one be evaluated for usefulness and appropriateness prior to use in the classroom. ACSI does not guarantee the functionality of the resource links, since each link is maintained by each individual website developer.
 

Lesson Planning—Tools for planning and development of science instruction.

 
 
Lesson Plans: All Grades
  • EdHelper: Offers lesson plans, theme units and daily open-ended science questions. This site requires registration.
  • Lesson Plans Page: Numerous lesson plans in all areas of science are presented on this webpage. First, choose your grade level and then pick a topic.
  • Youth Net: One hundred thirty mini lessons in science are offered at this site for K–5. Each lesson provides grade level appropriateness, an overview, objectives and activities.
  • ProTeacher Directory, Science and Technology: Offers a variety of science lessons and other resources. They are sorted by topic, not age.
  • Discovery Education: This lesson plan library for K–5 offers science lessons, which include the grade level, standards met, bench marks and vocabulary at the end of each lesson.
  • Smithsonian Education: Lessons at this site are very detailed, and include an introduction to the topic and give experiments that can be done. Grade levels are listed right away. Some Smithsonian items take an evolutionary stance.
  • CanTeach: Provides numerous simple lessons by topic and grade level.
  • Reach Out! Michigan: Presents a large collection of elementary science lessons divided by topic or grade level.
  • Teach-nology: Offers numerous lesson plans for science divided both by subject and grade level. They also supply links to additional resources.
  • Internet4Classrooms: Is a website designed to help teachers effectively use the internet in the classroom. Choosing a topic leads to numerous links for lessons, activities and informational sites. Many of these would also be good for research projects, some even for the younger grades. It also includes a wide variety of activities. Choose the topic at the top of the page, or grade level sites at the bottom of the page.
  • Education World: Compiled these science lessons from teachers all around the country. Seven science topics include agriculture, chemistry, history of science, life science, process skills, physical science and space science.
  • The Teacher’s Corner: Offers lesson plans for earth, life, and physical sciences as well as thematic units, seasonal items, and printable worksheets.
  • Canada Online: Presents varied elementary science lessons about the five senses, magnets, planting, simple machines and weather.
  • Scholastic: Offers over one hundred and fifty lessons related to the books they sell. Each lesson lists the grade levels, time required, a brief synopsis of the book, and an activity that coincides with it. No purchase is necessary. These lessons would be good to use independently or as an excellent way to expand the books that are mentioned. Many of these will already be in your library.
  • Lesson Planz: Offers an extensive collection of science lesson plans divided by age group. The specific science topic can be typed into the search box.
  • The Teacher’s Guide: An extensive collection of biology lesson plans for elementary students are offered at this site from Teacher Created Resources.
  • Annenberg Media: Presents Journey North, a unit study about migration. Students from K–12 examine wildlife migration and seasonal changes. Lessons, activities, and information are available. On-line instruction for students is also provided as are teacher pages. Outstanding pictures with thought provoking questions are featured.
  • The Teacher’s Guide: Teacher Created Resources presents a large assortment of lesson plans about the weather. Ages are not always given.
  • Geology: Earth Science lesson plans for all ages are divided by topic. Each lesson gives the appropriate grade level, objectives, materials and procedures.
  • NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Offers Solar System Exploration, which gives activities related to the planets. Grade levels are listed.
 
 
Interactive Worksheets: All Sciences
  • New York Science Teachers: Elementary activities and resources for starting a school garden, and the many different topics in science.  Great ideas for engaging students.
  • Science-Teachers: Offer Space Science Teaching resources for life science, space, earth, and physical science. This site contains several crossword puzzles, word searches, and constellation maps.
  • First School Years: Supplies primary worksheets for various science topics including a sun experiment, identifying day and night animals, a foil investigation and vocabulary words.
  • Teach-nology: Is an excellent site for finding and producing free worksheets. Though it is a membership site, much of what it offers is free.
  • Awesome Library: Provides various sources and links offering science worksheets for all ages.
  • Jefferson Lab: Presents hands-on activities, worksheets, puzzles and games as well as interactive games and puzzles on a variety of science topics.
  • Sciencespot: Provides numerous activity sheets, review pages, and puzzles.
 
 
Life Science—The Human Body
  • First School Years: Provides a variety of worksheets about the human body such as Teeth and Eating, Health and Growth and Label the body Parts. Most of the worksheets apply to the primary grades, but some could be used for upper elementary students as well.
 
 
Life Science—Animal Ecosystems and Habitats
  • The Wellington Zoo: Has produced an excellent four-page booklet about animal groups which could be used for most elementary grades
 
 
Life Science—Plants
  • Teaching Ideas, Downs CE Primary School: Provides this worksheet for ages 7–11 on which the students Label the Plants. The webpage includes both the worksheet and a teacher’s guide.
  • Abcteach: Provides this worksheet, to use in making a comparison between two plants.
 
 
Physical Science
  • More resources coming soon!
 
 
Earth and Space Science
  • Exploratorium: This site will figure a scale size solar system for you. When you set the size of the sun, it will configure the size of the rest of the solar system for you.
  • Teach-nology: Offers Weather Teaching Theme activities, games, worksheets and lesson plans.
 
 
Research Resources
  • Internet4Classrooms: Presents Elementary Science Topics, and refers to many topics, which would be good for research projects. This site also includes a wide variety of activities.
  • Missouri Botanical Garden, Habitats: Offers an interesting research site about habitats. Choose a habitat to find basic information. More in-depth information can be found by selecting from the tool bar on the left.
  • Missouri Botanical Garden, Biology of Plants: Provides an excellent resource for researching plants. This site includes short video clips of seeds germinating.
 
 

Grades K-2

 
Lesson Plans
  • Scholastic: Offers over three hundred and fifty lessons related to science and the books they sell. Each lesson lists the grade levels, time required, a brief synopsis of the book, and an activity that coincides with it. No purchase is necessary. These lessons would be good to use independently or as an excellent way to expand the books that are mentioned. Many of these will already be in your library.
 
 
Worksheets
 
 
Life Science—The Human Body
  • Scholastic: Students will conduct research under an assigned human body system in order to complete a medical residency in the classroom.
 
 
Earth and Space Science
 
 
Research Resources
  • Harcourt School Publishers: Offers Animal Communities. This is an African animal resource for primary grades. Very basic descriptions are given of nine different animals from Africa.
 
 

Grades 3–5

 
Lesson Plans
  • Science Spot: Lesson plans for ten different science topics can be explored at this site. Any needed worksheets for the lessons are also supplied. Clicking on Lesson Plan Links at the bottom left of the page will bring forth numerous additional links for the topic. Ages are not always listed.
  • Strange Matter Exhibition: Discover the Secrets of Every Day Science at this interesting site. This would be an excellent site to display on a screen in your classroom. You can zoom in on objects, transform things, watch different items get crushed or improve things. An extensive teacher’s guide is available that includes lessons, activities and corresponding worksheets.
  • Texas State Energy Conservation Office, Infinite Power: Seven separate unit studies about Renewable Energy are offered, each unit study is very thorough.
 
 
Worksheets
 
Life Science—Animal Ecosystems and Habitats
  • Boggles World, ESL: Studying amphibians This helpful ESL site offers a frog crossword puzzle, life cycle diagram, and reading comprehension sheet.
 
 
Life Science—Plants
  • Science-Teachers: Create a crossword puzzle on photosynthesis for upper elementary students.
 
 
Physical Science
 
 
Earth and Space Science
 
 
Science Fair Ideas
  • Science Buddies: The Teacher’s Guide to Science Fair Projects.  Includes worksheet, rubric, project schedule, safety information, parent guide, and printable assignment worksheets.
  • Science Fair Center: This site offers water testing kits for examining water as well as science fair information for students, parents, and teachers.
  • Proteacher, Scanning Electron Microscope: Build a microscope using the Teacher Resources at this site. Also offered are outstanding photos of microscopic objects such as a deer tick and a fly’s foot. Additional resources and experiments are available.
  • Super Science Fair Projects: Ideas, topics and experiments, as well as Science Fair Kits and display boards offered here.
  • Project Based Learning: Provides an excellent Science Project Checklist for use with class projects. This checklist can easily be customized.
 
 
Visuals for the Classroom
  • The Concord Consortium: Provide visual simulations for teaching science to elementary students
  • Arachnoid, Why is the Sky Dark at Night: This Elementary Physics webpage demonstrates how heated molecules work, an excellent but simple visual that could be used in a classroom situation. The site also offers other related topics.
  • Janus, Astonomy Workshop: This site provides good classroom visuals for the orbits of the planets, which are brief, but give a comparative perspective of the speeds and paths of the planets. Other activities are provided as well that illustrate distances in outer space.
  • Good Earth Graphics, The Virtual Cave: Displays outstanding pictures of different types of caves.
  • National Geographic; Naica Crystal Caves in Chihuahua, Mexico: Can see some great photos by clicking to the left of the story of the Giant Crystal Cave Come to Light. For more information, click on the related story of Giant Crystal Cave’s Mystery Solved.
 
 
Research Resources
  • Chem4Kids: This site offers a variety of science topics from which to choose. The brief descriptions would be suitable for upper elementary students.
  • MathMol: What is Matter is a thorough information page for upper elementary.
  • Kidport Reference Library: How Plants and Flowers Grow presents information on several plant topics such as different types of pollination seeds and bulbs. Other links are also available.
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