Subject(s): Music Grades(s): Grades 2-3
You may also want to take a look at our Weekly Science Experiments section!
Astronomy:
- This simple idea uses computers to teach about the planets
- Here’s a brief idea for teaching moon phases
- In this fun idea, students create travel brochures for the planets
- Students learn the names of the stages of the U.S. Space Program in this lesson
- Here is an integrated thematic Solar System research lesson plan
- In “Moon Munch,” students bite out the phases of the moon from Nilla Wafers
- In this idea, students send postcards from Pluto
- This lesson uses an astronomy website and Kidspiration 2 software to make a planet graphic organizer
- This is a solar system lesson with an art component
- Students create a photo story of the eight phases of the lunar cycle here
- Many creative kinesthetic devices are used here to help students learn the planets and their characteristics
- Young students write and illustrate sentences about “Earth and the Eight Milky Way Planets” in this lesson
Atmosphere & Weather:
- This is a lesson about air
- Here’s a lesson plan on clouds that involves making one in a jar
- This lesson plan is on melting snow and thermometers
- This is an idea for teaching seasons and precipitation
- This lesson on thunderstorms involves a thunderstorm simulation
- Here’s a lesson plan on lightning safety
- This one is for studying the uses of water
- Here’s a multidisciplinary plan on “The Water Cycle”
- The following are 5 ideas for a unit on Weather:
- This idea looks at forecasts and how we prepare for weather
- This one looks at the instruments used to forecast the weather
- This idea brings in a weather forecaster from your local news
- Here’s an idea for using poetry (reading and writing) to help think about weather
- Students view a video of Bill Nye the Science Guy in this idea
- This atmospheric science unit is on types of clouds and how they are formed
- This is a lesson on tornadoes and their location
- In this lesson, students classify real and crafted snowflakes
- This lesson employs bubbles to observe changing wind speeds and directions
- Here we graph the weather with help from the weather channel website
- In this webquest project, students discover how the water cycle relates to changes in matter
- This is a changing seasons webquest
- Here students create a water cycle diorama, a rainfall journal, and a photo story of the water cycle and weather systems
- Children (Special Ed) learn rain concepts here by making a rain cloud out of construction paper and yarn, after discussing a related story and Power Point
- Find more weather lessons plans, videos and addition resource links on our Seasons, Severe Weather, Natural and Man-made Disasters page
Biology – Animals:
- Below are the parts to a small unit on Birds:
- This one is on dinosaurs and involves creating “Dinosaur Prints”
- This lesson on birds focuses on their beak adaptations
- This dinosaur lesson plan focuses on the Pteranodon
- This lesson is on researching and charting farm animal information
- This one is on Frogs and uses the Senses to Observe their Characteristics
- Here’s a game idea called Animal Tic-Tac-Toe
- Here’s a large, 5 day thematic unit on Penguins
- In this lesson, students work in groups to study different animal habitats and their own survival
- In this lesson, students create 3-D models of ocean animals, and you create a 3-D ocean bulletin board
- This is a “Producers and Consumers” tag game idea
- This is an excellent multidisciplinary Flatfish Unit:
- Children identify animals using camouflage in these activities
- Here students label the parts of an owl’s body with descriptor words
- These center activities serve as a delightful introduction to the common garden snail
- In this unit, students capture SMARTboard images of nesting hawks observed live via the internet for a photo presentation about their life cycle
- This lesson on sequencing and the food chain asks “Which came first? The chicken or the egg?”
Biology – Human Body:
- A great Human Body activity
- Something different – a fun lesson idea on Feet
- This lesson plan is on the Interacting Systems of the Human Body
- This in depth lesson plan is on Discovering The World Around Us with our Senses
- This great lesson plan on the Heart is called How Does Your Heart Rate?
- This Science lesson is for introducing the Human Skeleton
- This interesting lesson mixes two topics: The Five Senses and Poetry
- This is an in-depth lesson on the Five Senses
- Here’s a lesson on the 5 Senses that uses “Brave Little Monster” and was written by the book’s author
- In this idea students use Smell to make Hypotheses about Objects
- Here is a lesson on the human genome project
- In this excellent taste bud lesson, students predict, sample, describe, identify and chart bitter, sweet, sour, and salty Jelly Bellies.
- This lesson on lungs is called the “Breathing Machine”
- This is a user submitted revision of “The Breathing Machine” lesson
- This great five senses lesson includes a “listening walk”
- “The Color of We” is a multi-disciplinary look at skin color
- “Love Your Lungs” is an excellent respiratory system lesson
- This is an excellent five senses learning station lab
- Here is a taste test for your taste buds
- This exercise teaches the anatomy of the eye, the usefulness of models in science and critical thinking
- Students make replicas of bones in this collaborative art project to call attention to the atrocities of genocide and mass violence
Biology – Insects & Spiders:
- Here is a lesson on Ladybugs and Aphids
- Here’s one on Spider Webs
- Here’s a lesson for Valentine’s Day called Love Bugs, used to discuss Bugs
- This lesson on Spiders uses the book “The Very Busy Spider”
- Here’s an idea for teaching about Insects and Spiders
- This lesson looks at Arachnids and their Webs and compares them to Insects
- A lesson on Spiders (Structure, Appearance, & Habitat) and Scientific Theory
- Below is a complete multidisciplinary thematic unit on Butterflies:
- This lesson on insects involves observing a cricket
- Here are some ideas for teaching about spiders using “Miss Spider’s Tea Party”
- “The Amazing Caterpillar” lesson utilizes live butterfly kits, internet sites, books, puppets, etc. to investigate the life cycle of a butterfly
- This cooperative learning mini-lesson teaches the differences between butterflies and moths
- This lesson is “All About Ants”
- Here is a multi-disciplinary lesson on “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” and sequencing of events
- The complete metamorphosis of butterflies is the subject of this lesson
- Students summarize their butterfly life cycle research here with the help of a graphic organizer
- Here students observe the life cycle of mealworms while taking care of their needs
- In this “All About Butterflies” lesson, students make colorful models and create a life cycle chart using Kidspiration software
- “Chipo’s Gift” is a thematic cross-curriculum book unit about an inquisitive mopane worm
- In this new Chipo’s Gift activity, two species of moths will be compared and contrasted
- Here is a “Baggie Butterfly” art project to complement an insect unit
Here children order the steps in the butterfly’s “life cycle” and learn the meaning of that word
Biology – Plants:
- This science lesson on leaf observation uses some math
- Here is a lesson on seeds
- This tree lesson uses leaf rubbings and “The Giving Tree”
- Plants are the subject of this lesson, and the book “Jack’s Garden” is used
- This brief idea on seeds uses a jelly bean to show how seeds grow
- Called “My Life As A Tree,” this lesson is on Tree Rings, Bark, Cambium, and Heartwood
- In this lesson students create Art from the Natural Dyes in Vegetables
- This lesson looks at Plants compared to Trees, Edible Parts, and involves a Celery Analysis
- In this idea students go on a Nature Walk to look at Trees and Leaves
- This lesson on Plant Parts involves their Function and a Mobile
- In this lesson, the poem “Tommy” inspires students in their house plant maintainance and observation tasks
- Students learn the parts of a seed and the effects of lack of sunlight on the growth process in this multi-disciplinary lesson
- Here students investigate and create flowers using inventive materials for an “April Showers – Bring Me Flowers” mural
- Learn the four ways that seeds travel in this lesson
- This is an idea for growing shamrocks
- In this lesson, students use yarn to illustrate the life cycle of a flowering plant
- A carnation magically turns green in this osmosis idea
- In this greeting card idea, students collect and identify leaves, write a poem and discuss photosynthesis
- In this well-developed lesson, students create a Photo Story 3 presentation on the life cycle of a plant.
- This poster idea teaches the differences between monocot and dicot plants
- Students observe the life cycle of a flowering plant grown from seed over a period of time in this “5E” lesson plan
- Zig Zag Zinnias are paper sculptures of flowers in a pot for Mother’s Day or for teaching about parts of a plant
Biology – Other:
- This idea is on Oceans and the Math topic of Classification of Seashells
- This lesson is on Germs and Cleanliness
- Here’s a lesson for looking at Where and How Plants and Animals Live
- “Life in a Pond” is an outstanding web-enhanced lesson on pond ecosystems
- This simple idea transforms plants (collected leaves) into animals (art project)
- Here is a short food chain lesson idea
- In this lesson, students sort things found on the beach and classify their origins as animal, plant, or human
Chemistry:
- Two recipes that are useful in Science for exploring substances like Flubber
- A Science lesson on Acids and Bases for the earlier grades
- This is a good lesson plan on Changes of State of Matter
- This is an idea for Mixing Colors using an Eyedropper
- This idea is on exploring Chemical Reactions with Milk
- This lesson helps students learn the differences between Solids, Liquids, and Gases
- Explore Solids, Liquids, and Gases using Balloons with this lesson
- Students Mix Food Colors to Dye Eggs in this lesson appropriate for Easter
- Here’s a lesson on Food Chemistry; Acids and Bases in particular
- In this clever Easter science experiment, students witness absorption, diffusion, and primary color combinations while dyeing coffee filter Easter eggs
- The entire class models molecular behavior in this clever gas-liquid-solid lesson
- This awesome demonstration is simply magic – seriously, go try it now!
- In this changes in matter lesson, students go outdoors to make slushies
- An “Edible Slime” alginate polymer is mixed up here from brown seaweed
- In this activity, students make a rubber ball from latex
- Here students identify different states of matter in everyday classroom objects
- Does a square bubble wand make a square bubble?” Click here to find out
Ecology – Rainforests:
- This rainforest bird lesson is an introduction to research and CD art
- Can you guess who is in the Kapok Tree? This descriptive paragraph lesson answers this question
- After comparing the “Magic School Bus in the Rainforest” book to its video, students research and present rainforest animal facts to the class here
- See our Social Studies – Environment – Rainforest lessons for more on this topic
Ecology – Other:
- Here is a lesson on the causes of pollution
- This lesson plan is on forest ecology and human interactions with Forests
- Here’s an idea for an Earth Day song
- This is a brief idea for studying soil with discussion questions for class
- Aquatic wildlife and pollution are the topics taught in this lesson plan
- This miscible/immiscible lesson demonstrates how oil and detergents pollute water
- This is an ecology lesson on the endangered Manatee
- In this lesson, students learn the difference between the terms reuse and recycle
- Cartoon stories are used in these lessons to promote keeping (FOGG) fat, oils, grease and grit out of sewer systems
- The student categorizes nonrenewable vs. renewable resources in this lesson and learns the effects of overusing our resources
- Groups view and create videos on habitats and their organisms in this lesson
- Students identify causes of pollution and ways they can prevent it in this bilingual photo story
- This ESL recycling lesson integrates English vocabulary, science and environmental consciousness
- Students love this Earth Day Jeopardy game activity
- “Taking Care of the Earth” is a four seasons lesson plan
- See our Earth Day and Social Studies – Environment lessons for more on this topic
Geology & Earth Science:
- A lesson on Landforms and the Weathering of them
- This lesson is on Volcanic Eruptions and involves creating a Volcano in class
- Listed below are the lessons for a big multidisciplinary unit on Rocks:
- This section is meant to be a general Exploration of Rocks in general
- This one is on Rocks from an Ant’s Eye View
- Here you can teach Art Concepts using Rocks
- This lesson introduces Moh’s Hardness Scale to test the Hardness of a Rock
- This part is on Native Americans and their Rock Art
- Similar to the one above, this one is on Native American Rock Designs
- This part deals with “Pet Rocks”
- Here’s an interesting idea for keeping Pet Rock Journals
- Rock Sculptures are the subject of this lesson
- This portion is on Rock Streaking
- Careful here, this one is on Rock Throwing
- To integrate Music, this section is on making “Rocky Music”
- This part is on Weight and Balance with Rocks
- Below is a collection of ideas for an Ocean Unit:
- Here’s a general overview of the Ocean Unit
- This part is on the Ocean Plants
- Ocean Animals are the subject of this section
- This portion teaches about the Ocean Food Chain
- Teach about the Oceans of the World with this part
- This lesson discusses the difficulties in Crossing the Ocean
- This section focuses on Literature on the Ocean
- Here’s a discussion of the Ships on the Ocean
- This brief idea on Rocks uses Sylvester and the Magic Pebble and includes a Critique of the book
- This lesson plan is an Exploration of Volcanoes
- This is a very interesting Geology lesson where students eat “Metamorphic Rock Pancakes”
- A 5 Step lesson plan on Erosion
- This lesson involves an Experiment with Volcano Explosions
- In this geology lesson, students dig for chocolate chip fossils inside cookie rocks
- This outstanding cartography lesson combines the elements of art, geography, geology, math, and more
- Here the rock cycle is demonstrated with chewing gum and Pop Rocks
Physics:
- A Science Lesson on Magnets
- A Science lesson on friction
- A lesson on sound that incorporates music and literature (The Magic School Bus)
- This is a well-developed unit on Magnetism:
- This lesson is called “What is Work?”
- Below is a collection of lesson plans to form a Magnet unit:
- Force, Motion, and Velocity are the subject of this lesson using Balloon Rockets
- A lesson plan that looks at how Sound Travels Through Objects
- Another good lesson on Magnets – Poles, Strength, and Attracted Objects
- This is a Special Education lesson idea on What Sinks and Floats
- Here are 3 lesson ideas on Sound and Musical Instruments
- This is a Song that can be used to help teach about Simple Machines
- A brief idea for exploring items that Sink or Float
- This physics idea has students predicting and comparing results of bouncing various sports balls
- Read this lesson and then “Go Fly a Kite”
- Here students “Go Fly A Kite,” and learn about drag, thrust, lift, and gravity
- This is a 20-day unit on renewable energy and energy conservation
- In this Leonardo da Vinci lesson, students also study Italian phrases and make a parachute kite, a compass and a scaled map
- The phase changes of matter are studied here by making ice cream in a recloseable plastic bag
Other / Multiple Topics:
- Here’s an idea for hosting your own science circus
- Here’s a lesson on decoding Braille
- This end-of-year activity produces next year’s bulletin board
- Here children sort natural and man-made objects
- This lesson models how to glean information from text to write an informative paper
Art Connections:
- This idea involves creating “Penguin light bulbs” (best after studying about them)
- An Art lesson for making Playdough Christmas Ornaments
- This lesson on Rainbows involves students creating a Crayon Resist
- This idea involves using dried Leaves to make Glitter Art
- Here’s an artistic idea for learning about Spiders
- This lesson idea is on Color and Paint Palettes
- This Art lesson involves Painting (or Drawing) Sunsets and Landscapes and some Geology study too
- This is a Thanksgiving project-based multidisciplinary learning plan
Computers & Internet Connections:
Language Arts Connections:
- Students learn about pumpkins with “The Pumpkin Book” here
- “W is for Worm” is the title of this cinquain poem lesson
- The question “What if Dinosaurs Returned?” is answered in this classroom book lesson
- This is a well-developed “Cam Jansen and the Missing Dinosaur Bones” lesson
- In “Poppin’ Corn,” students use descriptive language, inventive spelling and their five senses
- Here insect literature is read
- “Chipo’s Gift” is a thematic cross-curriculum book unit about an inquisitive mopane worm
- This is a program for writing and illustrating a hardbound class book
- This lesson teaches a writing process for informative non-fiction science research-based papers
Math Connections:
- A Science and Math lesson on volume (uses pumpkins)
- This lesson on Angles integrates Science, Social Studies, and Art
- This Math and Science lesson plan involves creating Favorite Flower Graphs
- Teaching Temperature is the title of this lesson involving Fahrenheit Vs Celsius
Music Connections:
- Here classes compose their own concert songs about frogs or other themes
- This Vivaldi’s “Spring” lesson correlates music with weather and history
- Here “The Magic School Bus’ takes us through a unit on sound
Physical Education / Health Connections:
- In this lesson, students demonstrate their knowledge of the three states of water in a shuttle run
- In “All the Fish in the Sea,” students cross the ocean while avoiding obstacles
- Students prepare and eat a healthy vegetable snack in this step-by-step idea
Social Studies Connections:
- This lesson on Cacti is called Cactus Hotel
- Here’s a four part thematic unit on Aviation:
- This lesson on Oil Spills focuses on Writing a Letter to a Senator
- The unit below is on Simple Machinesand includes 10 lesson ideas:
- The unit begins with an introduction to the Simple Machines Unit
- First we look back to before there were any “Machines,” and look at Simple Machines like Corkscrews and Screwdrivers
- Lesson 2 involves exploring Simple Machines in groups
- This part focuses on Safety Equipment needed for some Machines
- This is a Matching Activity with Simple Machines and their Definitions
- This second part of lesson 4 continues the Matching Activity above
- Lesson 5 discusses Assembly Lines and the making of products
- Levers are the subject of this part of the unit
- We continue with Wedges in this lesson
- This lesson discusses Pulleys and their use
- Force and Work are discussed in this portion of the unit
- This brief idea involves Wheels and Axles
- After reading The Borrowed Hanukkah Latkes by Linda Glaser, why not make some?
- In this creative lesson, students make an animal and choose an environment
- This well-developed lesson on the components of a community includes a suggested science component
More Lesson Plans: HotChalkScience.com
Now You Can:




-
Share
-
Save
- Print
- E-mail
- PDF
- Comment
- Report
Rate: