Elementary, K through 5
Elementary School Algae and Plant Lessons
Plant + Algae = Total Photosynthesis for the Earth
One kit, and a week that runs on a windowsill. Three sealed bags go up on Day 1: a radish growing from seed to seed, an algae culture, and the same algae with brine shrimp grazing on it. Nothing is added after that, and by Friday the three look nothing alike, so students measure the difference instead of being told about it. The same box runs every other lesson on this page, from what green water does to light in kindergarten through designing a controlled experiment in fifth grade. What Eats Light? is finished and free to download right now, written once for K-2 and again for 3-5, with a teacher plan, student pages, assessment, and a standards sheet for your administrator.
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Life Science
Pick your state once and every card on this page updates. Texas and Florida teach several of these a year or two earlier than NGSS does.
Kindergarten
Needs of Living Things
Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals need to survive.
Sunlight and Water for Growth
Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
Grade 5
Photosynthesis
Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.
Grade 4
Structure and Function
Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that support survival, growth, behaviour and reproduction.
Life Cycles
Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles, but all have birth, growth, reproduction and death in common.
Complete and Incomplete Metamorphosis
Part of the life cycles standard, and its own standard in Florida. Brine shrimp add body parts one moult at a time rather than rebuilding, which makes them the clearest contrast to a butterfly.
Heredity and Traits
Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.
Grade 5
Food Chains and Movement of Matter
Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers and the environment.
Earth's Systems and How They Interact
Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere interact.
Human Impact on the Environment
Obtain and combine information about ways communities use science to protect the Earth's resources and environment.