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About LEARN NC
LEARN NC, a program of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
School of Education,
finds the most innovative and successful practices in K–12 education and makes them available to the teachers
and students of North Carolina — and the world.
Resources aligned to this objective
Records 1–20 of 21 displayed: go to page 1, 2
- Animal adaptation
- This lesson focuses on the adaptations, body structures, and behavior of animals. The students will explore animal growth and adaptations of animals. This lesson is designed to be taught during the reading of Stone Fox.
- Author: Jennifer Fessler and Karen Wright
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4)
- Animal environments: Day 2
- Students will group animals using common characteristics. Students will develop an understanding of animal adaptations. This lesson is one in a series of lessons: Understanding Animal Adaptation: Day 1; Animal Environments: Day 2; Diamante Poetry Using Environments: Day 3. This is lesson two.
- Author: Cheri Cole
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4)
- Animal report
- After studying the various animal groups, students write a report about an animal of their choosing using well-formed paragraphs.
- Author: Kay Sims
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4)
- Animal slide shows!
- This project is a culmination of a science unit on animals which integrates computer skills, language arts and art. After a study of animals which includes classification, basic needs of animals, animal adaptations, and animal behaviors, the students will use the computer to complete a slide show of one animal they have studied at length.
- Author: Margie Bartolomucci
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4)
- Archaeobotany
- Students will use pictures of seeds, an activity sheet, and a graph to identify seven seeds and the conditions in which they grow. They will also infer ancient plant use by interpreting archaeobotanical samples and determine changing plant use by Native North Carolinians by interpreting a graph of seed frequency over time.
- Format: lesson plan (grades 4–5, 8)
- Habitat photo album
- Students will use digital cameras and explore the outdoors searching ecosystems for opportunities to take pictures of different habitats and the components that go into them.
- Author: Colleen Buchauer and Lesley Brooks
- Format: lesson plan (grades 4–5)
- Inquiry using digital images
- This lesson begins a unit of study to create the atmosphere of questioning and knowledge grounding. Digital images are given to students. Students investigate the images for information.
- Author: Darlene Ryan1
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4)
- Operation Beach Teach
- This lesson is the introduction to an integrated marine science unit which culminates in an early fall trip to Hammocks Beach State Park. (See attachment: Pre-Activity). The unit is designed to hook students into science and provide joyful learning experiences across the curriculum.
- Author: Math Science Education Network
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4)
- Trees of North Carolina
- Students complete activities including tree and leaf identification, species comparison, online research, measurement, and creative writing in conjunction with monthly visits to the "Iredell County Outdoor Education Site"
- Author: Amy Luna and Kathy Beck
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4)
- Animal adaptations
- Students participate in classroom discussions about animals.
- Provider: American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Format: lesson plan (grades 4–5)
- Beluga whales in the ice
- This lesson asks students to think about how beluga whales survive in icy Arctic and subarctic waters and why they sometimes need to migrate.
- Provider: National Geographic
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4)
- Bird beaks
- In this Science NetLinks lesson, students explore the relationship between a bird's beak and its ability to find food and survive in a given environment.
- Provider: American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Format: lesson plan (grades 4–5)
- Cicada invasion
- In this lesson, from Science NetLinks, students consider how some animals, periodical cicadas, survive well in a particular environment due to the species' life cycle.
- Provider: American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4)
- How a blue crab changes as it grows
- Students explore the BlueCrab Archives website to understand the changes that a blue crab goes through during molting, and why it is important for scientists to understand these changes.
- Provider: American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4)
- Introducing biodiversity
- In this Science NetLinks lesson, students use online resources to identify the basic components necessary for biodiversity and the critical and countless benefits of habitats, as well as the serious present and future threats to their ongoing existence.
- Provider: American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Format: lesson plan (grades 3–5)
- Paperbag paleontology
- Cornell Paleontologist John Chiment enlists the aid of younger school children in sorting through materials collected at a dig site and, in the process, demonstrates that anyone can “do science.”
- Provider: American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Format: Web resource
- People and endangered species
- Students examine some endangered species and the ways that human activities contribute to species endangerment. Students are asked to devise their own species protection plans.
- Provider: National Geographic
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4)
- Really wild animals: Will people change them forever?
- This lesson from Xpeditions asks students to consider the ways in which human activities in the rain forest might affect the behaviors of some well-known African mammals, particularly in the Congo River Basin.
- Provider: National Geographic
- Format: lesson plan (grades 4–5)
- Social trade-offs
- The purpose of this lesson, from Science NetLinks, is to make and evaluate decisions by weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each alternative. In the lesson, students practice the skill of decision-making through role-playing.
- Provider: American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Format: lesson plan (grades 3–5)
- Webcams in the classroom: Animal inquiry and observation
- Students observe animal habits and habitats using one of the many webcams broadcasting from zoos and aquariums around the United States and the world.
- Provider: IRA/NCTE
- Format: lesson plan (grade 4)