Beacon Lesson Plan Library

   Lesson Plans - Learner Level 2: Science

• 3-2-1 Blast Off! (Authored by Denise Russell.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This lesson in motion offers students the opportunity to work cooperatively in groups to assemble and launch a rocket.

• A Busy Pump (Authored by Diane Schmidt.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students demonstrate how the human heart works with a written summary and labeled illustrations.

• A Dog Eat Dog World (Authored by Rhonda Traweek.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students label animals as producers, consumers and/or decomposers and explain the basis of that designation. They distinguish between aquatic and terrestrial organisms.

• A Rocky Situation (Authored by Laurie Ayers.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This lesson is for Days 4 and 5 of the unit Bedlam in Bedrock. Students use reference materials to explore how rocks can be broken down to form soil, the processes of weathering and erosion, and how landforms change over time.

• Alien Behaviors (Authored by Lisa Capon.)

Subject(s): Applied Technology, Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students work in cooperative groups to list and classify which human characteristics are learned and which are inherited. Each student then writes a letter identifying and explaining learned and inherited human characteristics.

• An Invitation to Simple Machines (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: The principal with a hurt foot needs our help! Students are challenged to devise ways to move the principal around the school by exploring simple machines. They then write an invitation for parents to come view the simple machines and web page reports that students create.

• Back Up (Authored by Laurie Ayers.)

Subject(s): Science, Social Studies (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This lesson is for Day 10 of the unit [Inventions and Inventors]. Students have fun participating in a review game by identifying significant people who have made contributions in the fields of communication, technology, and science.

• Beams and Bones (Authored by Joyce Dowlatram.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: The human body is like a house. Students use this analogy to learn how some parts in the human body interact.

• Benjamin Franklin and Electricity (Authored by Paul Baldauf PhD.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This is an interdisciplinary lesson combining exercises in Language Arts and Science, and includes discussions and written assignments on one of the seminal figures in science, Benjamin Franklin, and continues with simple experiments in electricity.

• Body Systems in Action (Authored by Carolyn Garner.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This is the last lesson, days 13-16, of the Unit Plan, What Makes Me Who I Am? Students research the body systems. Cooperative groups create and present a short skit demonstrating how systems work together.

• Cell Cookies (Authored by Dawn Pack.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students create a plant or animal cell they can eat! A cookie, frosting, and candy pieces serve as the cell's parts. Class discussion will lead to the understanding of the cell's parts and the role the cell plays in tissues, organs, and body systems.

• Cell-a-bration (Authored by Kelly Toomey.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students compare and contrast the structures of a plant cell and an animal cell by creating a graphic organizer and a food model in preparation for writing an essay comparing and contrasting the two kinds of cells.

• Cells in the Making (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: How do cells keep us alive? Through reading and hands-on activities, students learn about parts of a cell, and their functions in carrying out processes for life. Study skills are taught and modeled as students make entries in science notebooks.

• Cells, Building Blocks of Life (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: What is the basic unit of all living things? Through reading and hands-on activities, students learn about cells, and their function in carrying out processes for life. Study skills are taught and modeled as students make entries in science notebooks.

• Change Agents (Authored by Karen Marler.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students conduct experiments and complete observation logs about three erosive change agents and their effects on a variety of surfaces. They present their log information to others through a song, poem or skit.

• Changing Ways (Authored by Laurie Ayers.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This lesson is for Day 8 of the unit Bedlam in Bedrock. Students use reference materials, sketches, diagrams, and models to understand scientific ideas about ways landforms change over time.

• Colored Clouds (Authored by Melissa Lee Herring.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: In this lesson learners will observe particles that make up warm water move around faster than particles that make up cold water. This will be demonstrated by observing clouds made of food coloring mixed with different temperatures of water.

• Conservation Station (Authored by Jennifer Carter.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Don't let your eyes mislead you. Size does not always matter. Students will be amazed once they've measured the volume of four containers that vary in size and shape.

• Crazy Putty Ratio (Authored by Georgia White.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Mathematics, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students mix various ratios of liquid starch and glue to make craxy Putty (their variation of Silly Putty) using knowledge of measurements and ratios. They chart their ratios, make observations, and write summary of activity.

• Critter Counting (Authored by Anne Hargrove.)

Subject(s): Mathematics, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: In Critter Counting, students generate, collect, organize, display, and analyze data using a graphical presentation.

• Dangerous Storms (Authored by Debra Giambo PhD.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: The lesson promotes awareness of media language for dangerous storms. It stresses preparation, evacuation, and emergency assistance, and problem-solving techniques for emergency situations. Use in a second or third grade classroom with ESOL.

• Decidedly Different (Authored by Carolyn Garner.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: In this first lesson of the Unit Plan, What Makes Me Who I Am, students study why scientists need to use observable characteristics, how they sort the characteristics, and why they do so. Journal entries allow students to reflect and make inferences.

• Destination Outer Space (Authored by Michelle Barlow.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This lesson allows students to use effective writing skills, their imagination, and their knowledge of the nine planets. Students use these three items as they create travel pamphlets to the planets in our solar system.

• Digital Plants...Alike and Different! (Authored by Shannon Flynn.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Use digital cameras and games to motivate students to learn about plants! Students get to take their own pictures of plants and compose them into a learning game about the similarities and differences of plants.

• Discovering Our Planets (Authored by Elizabeth Elliott.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: In this lesson, the children explore through research and activities our solar system of planets. Using cooperative grouping and interactions, the students will gain an understanding of how the characteristics of the planets differ from one another.

• Distance over Time (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Mathematics, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: What is velocity and how is it determined? In this lesson plan, students are actively involved in experiments to measure and calculate the magnitude of speed, known as velocity using algebraic terms.

• Does One Tree a Forest Make? (Authored by Linda Kitner.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students take a walk around the schoolyard looking at and identifying the trees. One leaf for each tree is collected. A chart is developed that represents the population of trees on the schoolground.

• Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor? (Authored by Karen Hamilton.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: The students predict, infer, investigate, compare, and evaluate five different brands of gum of the same flavor to discover how long it takes for the flavor to disappear. The chewing time for each brand of gum is timed and results are recorded in a journal. Final results are graphed and presented to the class. Students develop inquiry questions and make applications to real world situations.

• Edible Rock (Authored by Angie Worcester.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students experiment with gelatin Rock Strata to possibly discover fossils and identify the effects of erosion and weathering on the sedimentary rock. They illustrate and summarize their findings.

• Feed Your Cells (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: What happens to the food we eat? How does it help our bodies? In this lesson, students learn about the human digestive system through reading and activities. Study skills are taught and modeled.

• Film at 11 (Authored by Abby Hill.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students, in a two-person team, research, create, and present a TV news report simulation about a hurricane disaster in their hometown.

• Flight Fair (Authored by Christy Clanton.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Mathematics, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: The teacher seizes the teachable moment to announce The Flight Fair, an opportunity for the students to conduct their personal investigations into paper airplane flight.

• Float My Boat (Authored by Gail Stukey.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Why will a small piece of wood sink, but a huge boat will float? Is it magic or is it density? In this lesson students will start with the same raw materials and come up with a wide variety of results in the use of density and the displacement of water.

• Florida Water Cycle (Authored by Carlos Lopez.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Discover the water cycle process that affects Florida. Students observe the water cycle in both a graphic presentation and a demonstration to learn about the stages and sequencing of the water cycle.

• Forces of Change (Authored by Laurie Ayers.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This lesson is for Days 9 and 10 of the unit [Bedlam in Bedrock]. Students create a class reference book about ways landforms change over time and share their Earth Explorer projects.

• Frictionally Speaking (Authored by Dawn Pack.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: All you need to teach your students about the effects of friction on a moving object is a handful of marbles, a paper cup, and string.

• Fun Photosynthesis (Authored by Stephanie Callaway.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Give your students a chance to be the sun! Creative dramatics are used to internalize knowledge of the process of photosynthesis. Students analyze and predict the relevance of photosynthesis as it relates to the food chain and survival of all organisms. Students construct meaning and assimilate new learning through sentence mapping, drawing, writing activities, and acting-out opportunities. This mini-unit addresses the Marion County objective as follows: The student will describe the process of photosynthesis.

• Galaxy Adventure (Authored by Dianne Parks.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students work in groups to create a mnemonic device, give an oral presentation, and create a pictorial representation of the correct sequence of the planets and asteroid belt from the sun.

• Here It Goes Again! (Authored by Martha Cordell.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This lesson is designed to encourage first grade students to work on patterns in nature and to recognize how different living things adapt to different environments.

• How Body Systems Interact (Authored by Brenda Mason.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students demonstrate learned knowledge that the human body is made up of different systems whose functions are related.

• How Much Is Too Much? (Authored by Dorothy Davis.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students observe the construction and workings of an aquifer. They record and react to the effects of pollution on the aquifer.

• Human Body Quiz (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Are your neurons alive? Does your larynx vibrate? Students review the various functions and organs of the human body systems as they participate in “The Human Body Quiz” in preparation for the summative assessment of the body systems.

• I Need Air (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Our cells need oxygen to live, but how do they get the oxygen? In this lesson, students learn about the organs of the respiratory system as they read articles and participate in activities. Study skills are taught and modeled.

• Imagine That (Authored by Laurie Ayers.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science, Social Studies (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Information dangles from the ceiling! That’s the effect when students gather information using a variety of references and create mobiles of inventions or scientific discoveries. This lesson is for Day 5 of the unit [Inventions and Inventors].

• In Line with Time (Authored by Laurie Ayers.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science, Social Studies (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This lesson is for Day 4 of the unit [Inventions and Inventors]. Students participate in constructing timelines of significant contributions in the field of communication. Class interaction follows to provide practice in interpreting the order of events.

• Inside Information (Authored by Laurie Ayers.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science, Social Studies (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This lesson is for Day 3 of the unit [Inventions and Inventors]. Students use a variety of references and write to inform as they explore significant inventors and inventions and the impact of the inventions in the field of communication.

• Interaction Actions (Authored by Carolyn Garner.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This is the fourth lesson on the sixth day of the Unit, What Makes Me Who I Am? In this lesson, students work in cooperative groups to brainstorm characteristics that are the result of interaction with the environment.

• Is the Sun our Heater? (Authored by Jeanelle Kingry.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Why is it warm in Florida and cold in Alaska? Students explore and discover how the sun provides heat to the earth, depending on the surface as well as the angle of the sun’s rays. (This lesson focuses on the sun as a source of heat only.)

• Keep It Quiet! (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Mathematics, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: How can a container be soundproofed? Learning about sound waves and how they behave in various media will enable students to create a soundproofed container.

• Know Your Place in Space (Authored by Kathy Morgan.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: The purpose of this lesson is for the students to understand the positions of the nine planets in respect to our solar system and understand the unique characteristics of each planet.

• Life and Death (Authored by Wesley May.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This is a great interactive game students can play to review how living things are classified. This lesson and assessment should be used after the GLE (SC.G.1.2.5.3.2) has been introduced.

• Machines Help (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Do you know what simple machines are at use on the school grounds? After reviewing the six simple machines, students locate simple machines on the school grounds and chart what machines are found and how they are used to make tasks possible.

• Make Life Simple (Authored by Linda Wenzel.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This activity introduces students to simple machines. Pictures of real world objects help students know the six simple machines.

• Marbles in Motion (Authored by MAdele Carson.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students will learn how to play different games of marbles while learning the scientific concepts of force, motion, mass, acceleration, friction, and inertia.

• Matter Matters! (Authored by Karen Hamilton.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This introductory lesson offers an interactive opportunity for the students’ prior knowledge to be expressed and extends an understanding of the states of matter (solid, liquid, gas) through inquiry in preparation for more indepth experimentation in heating and cooling.

• More Volume Please! Don’t Be Dense! (Authored by Dawn Pack.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students use their knowledge of mass, volume, and density to determine volume and density. It is assumed that students have seen demonstrations of and have had guided practiced with the measurement procedures and tools used in this lesson.

• Moving to the Beat of the Heart (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Are you familiar with the thump of your heartbeat? In this lesson, students learn about the organs of the circulatory systems as they practice various study skills. Students learn how to establish their resting heart rates.

• My Machine (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: How can simple machines affect our health and lifestyle? Students use their knowledge of simple machines to build their unique machines. Their written reports explaining their machines will be published as web pages.

• Nature of Game Balls (Authored by MAdele Carson.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students will investigate how mass and size will affect the motion of balls when dropped from the same height.

• Nine Around the Sun (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Have you wondered about the planets in our solar system? Using this lesson plan as a guide, students explore and record the characteristics of the nine planets. Students learn about gravitation as it applies to orbits.

• No Bones About It (Authored by Stacey Schlichter.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Ah, the skeleton, that old sack of bones! Actually, it’s the framework for all vertebrates and comes in very handy. Students will obtain valuable knowledge on the skeletal and muscular systems as they explore the Internet and create a model arm.

• North by Way of a Magnet (Authored by MAdele Carson.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: During the study of explorers and on magnetism, students will learn about the use of magnets in navigation. They will magnetize needles and make their own compasses.

• Ocean Patterns (Authored by Erin Cleveland.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students observe how waves and the tide affect the earth.

• Oh Deer! (Authored by Candace Parker.)

Subject(s): Mathematics, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students interact as deer, food, water, and shelter in an activity to demonstrate how nature is constantly changing according to changes in the environment. They construct a graph to show this concept.

• Oh, Let the Rain Fall Down (Authored by Jeanne Barber-Morris.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Using the three phases of the water cycle and five science vocabulary words, students write a narrative paragraph(s) describing the journey of a raindrop during one day.This introduces personification.

• On the Move (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Can you wiggle your ears? It takes control of the face muscles to wiggle your ears. In this lesson, students learn about the muscular system of the human body as they read articles and participate in activities. Study skills are stressed.

• Organizing Organs (Authored by Carolyn Garner.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This is the fifth lesson for days 9-12 in the Unit Plan, What Makes Me Who I Am? Students examine the parts of a cell. They compare and contrast plant cells to animal cells. They understand how cells are organized to form structures (tissues, organs.)

• Our Body Systems (Authored by Shelia Scofield.)

Subject(s): Health, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students demonstrate learned knowledge that the human body is made up of different systems whose functions are related.

• Out of This World (Language Arts) (Authored by Candace Parker.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Groups of students research the planets of our Solar System and create a guidebook for travel through the Solar System.

• Out of This World (Science) (Authored by Janice Jowers.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: The students complete three hands-on, cooperative activities to learn the positions of the planets from the sun. They then draw a pictorial representation of the position of the planets.

• Out of This World (Solar System) (Authored by Sue Jones.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: The students arrange the planets in the correct order by working in small groups, participating in a class discussion and by constructing a pictorial model of our Solar System.

• Over the Rainbow with Isaac Newton (Authored by Paul Baldauf PhD.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This is an interdisciplinary language arts and science lesson focusing on the nature of rainbows. (composition of light) It includes a poetry assignment and a science experiment with an assessment.

• Paper Airplane Project (Authored by Judy Fox.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: In this lesson, students have permission to make and fly paper airplanes. Have fun while you are teaching the scientific process.

• Plant Parts with Sequencing Cube (Authored by Elizabeth Elliott.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students learn the parts of the plant by looking at live plants, listening to the story [Jack's Garden] by Henry Cole, researching and sequencing the various plant parts.

• Playground Games (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Mathematics, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This review lesson allows students to use their knowledge of velocity and wave behavior while competing in playground games.

• Problems in Pollutia (Authored by Kelly Toomey.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students work in groups to make recomendations about environmental issues arising in the imaginary kingdom called Pollutia. They present short speeches highlighting action they believe should be taken and ideas of how each problem should be solved.

• Putting Our Solar System in Order (Authored by Kristina Robinson.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students use a Website to explore sizes, composition, and characteristics of the planets. They then form a model of the planets orbiting the sun. Students’ models demonstrate the planets’ different sizes.

• Ready, Set, Go! (Authored by Diane Schmidt.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: The students conduct an inquiry-based investigation to generate, collect, organize, analyze and display data in order to determine the effect of net force on an object.

• Rice (Gohan) Observations (Authored by Christy Williamson.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Mathematics, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: The student estimates, observes, and records observations of rice (known as -gohan- in Japan) in two experiments and communicates the results.

• Rise and Review (Authored by Laurie Ayers.)

Subject(s): Science, Social Studies (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This lesson is for Days 7 and 8 of the unit [Inventions and Inventors]. Students work in small groups to brainstorm responses to teacher posed questions as a means of review and present their Interview Projects.

• Rock On! (Authored by MAdele Carson.)

Subject(s): Mathematics, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: In making different types of candy and cookies, students will have models of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks.

• Roll On (Authored by Linda Kitner.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This is a structured inquiry lesson on force and motion. Students observe how forces such as gravity, friction, equal, unequal forces and change in direction cause marbles to move. Small groups develop and present models to explain the forces they observe.

• Scientific Method and Crystal Growth (Authored by Paul Baldauf PhD.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students use a hands-on experiment in crystal growth to learn about the nature of science as inquiry. In addition to science as inquiry, the students will learn about mineral crystallization and rates of crystal growth.

• Signs of Autumn (Authored by Cathie London.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This is a culminating activity on the study of photosynthesis, how chlorophyll is important to leaves, and why leaves change colors in the fall.

• Simple Sequencing (Authored by Sharon Ussery.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students will be moving to the music to find their sequencing partners in this stand up version of musical chairs. Students will organize a series of three pictures and as a group write sentences that will describe their pictures.

• Sinking in the Rain (or Drought) (Authored by Lisa Fenn.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: The students learn ways that sinkholes are formed as well as the effects of sinkholes on humans and the natural environment.

• Skateboard Renegade (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: What does skateboarding have to do with showing responsibility? Reading skills and strategies are taught while students use the novel, [Skateboard Renegade], to explore responsibility. A variety of simple machines is identified and their uses explored.

• Spring into Science (Authored by Suzanne Roberts.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students become investigative scientists through observing, recording, and analyzing data collected from Wakulla Springs Video Web Camera.

• Succeeding at Kite Day (Authored by Christy Clanton.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Mathematics, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Succeeding At Kite Day is a learning invitation that encourages students to design a successful kite for flying at the annual spring, school-wide Kite Day.

• Systems Working Together (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: How do the systems of the human body work together to carry out the processes needed for life? Through various activities, students become aware of the interdependence of our body systems. Students also practice reading in the content area.

• Take A Splash into the Gene Pool (Authored by Carolyn Garner.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This is the third lesson and fifth day of the Unit, What Makes Me Who I Am? Students further explore inherited characteristics by conducting a simulated experiment where they create a person using simple genetic coding.

• The Human Body, Incorporated (Authored by Linda Kitner.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Joe is the CEO of the Human Body, Incorporated. He is downsizing. The students research each body system and write a letter to Joe persuading him to keep specific body parts as employees.

• The Incredible Edible Rocks (Authored by Cathie London.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: As a culminating activity to the study of rocks, students observe three different goodies and compare them to the three different types of rocks, noting the similarities and differences.

• The Making of an Organ (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: How do cells make up our organs? Using a science reading, the study skills of outlining, note writing, and using a graphic organizer are taught. Students make a model of a tongue showing cells, tissues and the organ.

• The Many Phases of the Moon (Authored by Elizabeth Elliott.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This lesson expands students' knowledge of the phases of the moon. Using a daily newspaper from the Internet, students develop an understanding of the phases of the moon in relation to the calendar days. ESOL strategies are incorporated to assist with reading and include cooperative learning activities.

• The Plastic Bag Greenhouse (Authored by Elizabeth Elliott.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students observe, record, and describe how roots, stems, and leaves grow.

• The Skeleton Within (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: We know that dancing skeletons aren’t real, but are our bones alive? Through an article read and various activities, students learn about the bones, joints, and other attributes of the skeletal system. Students create outlines and graphic organizers.

• The Water Cycle and Clementine (Authored by Paula Sanders.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: After a demonstration and discussion of the water cycle, a water cycle song is learned to the tune of Clementine. Students then draw and label the water cycle in their journals, add vocabulary words to the word wall and complete KWL charts.

• Three Switches (Authored by T. Sundeen.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students will discover three types of electrical switches and form connections to their lives with examples that they generate.

• Three, Two, One, Go! (Authored by Michelle Hill.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This activity allows students to know why the height of an inclined plane affects the speed at which an object travels.

• Timeline Shuffle (Authored by Laurie Ayers.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science, Social Studies (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: It’s a lineup! Students become actively involved in creating a timeline of significant technology achievements and scientific discoveries. This lesson is for Day 6 of the unit [Inventions and Inventors].

• Turtle Sightings on BEACON Sitemaker (Authored by Sheila Ryan.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students work together in groups to create web-based reports that demonstrate structural characteristics of sea turtles and how they have adapted to live in their marine environment.

• UFOS (Authored by Cathie London.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Watch out for flying objects! The lesson employs the construction and utilization of a catapult to understand that motion is determined by the effect of forces on an object.

• Up, Up and Away with the Scientific Method (Authored by Cis Thurston.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Up, Up and Away with the Scientific Method introduces the scientific method to kick off the school year or as science fair time arrives. Help your students use the scientific method to design a way for a balloon to be suspended between the floor and ceiling.

• Wading Through the Water Cycle (Authored by Michelle Nivison.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Are you having trouble understanding the Water Cycle? This lesson will help you wade through the facts and vocabulary. You will soon be swimming with knowledge about the Water Cycle!

• Water Conservation (Authored by Erin Cleveland.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: After learning how water is wasted and can be saved, students make a commitment to change their habits in order to conserve water.

• Water Cycle - A SiteMaker Presentation (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Language Arts, Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: The student researches and writes a report on a specific element of the water cycle. The final draft of this report is published using SiteMaker, a Web page multimedia program available free from Beacon Learning Center.

• Water, Water, Everywhere (Authored by Laurie Ayers.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This lesson is for Days 2 and 3 of the unit, Bedlam in Bedrock. Students explore the concept of change and associate it with changes in their lives, in nature, and eventually with changes in the Earth’s water cycle.

• Weather Watchers (Authored by Christy Clanton.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Weather Watchers establishes the class as meteorologists at work, collecting, graphing, and reporting school weather conditions to their younger kindergarten buddies.

• Web Your Way Through the Food Chain (Authored by Karen Smith.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: After completing this lesson, students have a better understanding of the role of producers and consumers in a food web, and how they receive energy from the food they eat.

• What a Waste! (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: How does the body keep its cells clean? Through reading in the content area, study skills, and various activities, students learn about the kidney, bladder, and function of the excretory (urinary) system.

• What Is the Matter with Water? (Authored by Joanne Johnson.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: How fast can you make an ice cube melt? After students observe water as a liquid, solid, and gas, they compete to see how fast they can make an ice cube melt.

• What's the Matter with that Cup? (Authored by Kelly Neal.)

Subject(s): Mathematics, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Which restaurant gives you more bang for your buck? Students measure volume, circumference, and height of fast food cups, find which one has the greatest volume, and compare/contrast those measurements to discover any correlations between them.

• What's the Reaction? (Authored by Lisa McElfresh.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This activity provides students with an opportunity to combine substances and compare their reactivity. The students find that observable changes take place in the color, behavior, or state of substances when a chemical change takes place.

• Where in Our Solar System Are We? (Authored by Karen Cook.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Are you lost in space? See a class activity that demonstrates the relative positions of the planets in our solar system. Stop here for help to find your way home!

• Where, Oh Where, Did The Manatee Go? (Authored by Diane Schmidt.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students become researchers, looking for the factors that affect the manatee’s environment in south Florida.

• Who Wants To Be A Raindrop? (Authored by Cathie London.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students play a game which will show them how the water cycle can be affected by temperature and land features.

• Who's the Frog Jumping Champion? (Authored by Bess Weber.)

Subject(s): Mathematics, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Who’s the Frog Jumping Champion in your class? Students construct a model of a simple machine (lever) to investigate the affect that applied force has on an object (plastic frog). This is a fun, hands-on, investigative activity that incorporates both science and math measurement skills in meeting state standards.

• Who? Who? Whoooooooo? (Authored by Marica Brady.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Is it poop? Is it a hairball? What is it? It’s an owl pellet! Share one of the most popular pieces of children’s literature, POPPY by Avi and conduct an owl pellet dissection, as students learn how animals interact with one another in an ecosystem.

• Wiggle, Peak, and Roll (Authored by Carolyn Garner.)

Subject(s): Mathematics, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: This is the second lesson of the fourth day of the Unit Plan: What Makes Me Who I Am? In this lesson, students learn that characteristics are inherited.

• Work Made Easy (Authored by Lisa Murphey.)

Subject(s): Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: Students perform investigations to determine the combinations of lever and fulcrum placement to lift a weight most easily. They then assume the role of an archeologist with the task of moving a large rock from a dig site.

• You Have Nerve! (Authored by Sandi King.)

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science (Grade 3 - Grade 5)
Description: How do you know when your nose itches or when you are hurt? Did you know that body parts communicate using the nervous system to send messages to and from our brain? Students learn about the nervous system as they participate in a variety of activities.