Life Science Resource File

Kayla Bernhardt, Haley Fong, Austin Sayler,Dayna Domingo, Lexi Wilhelm, Allison Opp

Standards

Life science content standard C: As a result of activities in grades K-4 , all students should develop

understanding of: The characteristics of organisms Life cycles of organisms Organisms and environments

Life science content standard C: As a result of their activities in grades 5-8, all students should

develop understand of: Structure and function in living systems Reproduction and heredity Regulation and behavior Populations and ecosystems Diversity and adaptations of organisms

National Life Science Standards

Science Literature

Life Science Literature: Plants

Explain the relationship between seeds and the plants which they produce.

Also, reveals the mystery of how seeds are formed and grow into plants, detailing

the life cycles of flowers, trees, fruits,

and vegetables.

The tree starts out as a leafy playground, shade provider, and apple bearer for a rambunctious little boy and then gives

up all for its friend as the boy grows into a

man.

This picture book admirably conveys the miracle of a seed. Flower pods burst and dispatch

their seeds on the wind; the air-borne seeds are subject to myriad disasters; and the ones that make it through the perils

of the seasons to become mature flowering plants are

still susceptible to being picked So the tiny seed grows into a

giant flower, releasing its seeds and continuing the

cycle.

Life Science Literature: Animals

Simple text explains the varied ways in which such animals

as beavers, hummingbirds,

termites, and bald eagles build their

homes.

A variety of familiar animals, depicted in

colorful collages, invites young children to copy

their antics as they wiggle, stomp, thump, and bend across the strikingly designed

pages

This fun and engaging ABC book is the kind where each

page is full of things beginning with the featured

letter. The main animal or two are named on the page, and

the rest are left up to the reader to find and discover-

sometimes as many as six or seven animals or objects. If

you think you've missed one, there's a little list in the back.

Life Science Literature: Human Body

Arnold has swallowed the Magic School Bus! Now,

instead of seeing an exhibit of the human body at a museum, the class is taking a look at Arnold's stomach, his intestines,

his bloodstream, and more from the inside on

this heart-stopping fieldtrip.

A topic that's close to our hearts-literally!

Meet the characters and processes that that

keep the human body chugging along. From

the basic building blocks like Cell, DNA, and Protein, to Bones, Muscles, and all of the

fun-loving Organs, readers will cozy up with the guys on the

inside.

There are over 200 bones living and growing inside you that make up your skeleton. There are also ligaments and joints that hold your bones

together, and cartilage in your bendable parts like your ears and your nose. Learn all about

what a skeleton can do because this isn't some make believe Halloween skeleton,

this is the real skeleton inside you.

Life Science Field Trips

North Dakota Heritage Center- classes will talk about the gardening process that we use for the plants today, from this we can look back and see the differences in plants and animals year ago.

  Bismarck Zoo- take a trip and research different animals that

are present there. Also, learn the kind of habitats that the animals need during the different seasons. Also learn about what the zoo keepers do for the animals.

McDowell Dam Nature Park or Fort Abraham Lincoln Park Nature Walk- class will go on a nature walk to look at different plants and also can talk about the different animals that live on the land. Also students can discuss what kind of plants the animals need to eat in that area.

Life Science Field Trips

North Dakota Game and Fish Department- students will be able to look at different animal prints and other characteristics that define the animal. Also students can do different crafts such as fish printing.

Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery- students will see different fish that are in the hatchery and also learn about how the fish are raised in these environments and what happens with the fish when they leave the hatchery.

Find a local farm and visit the animals and crops/plants that are present there.

Life Science Field Trips Continued

Dakota Dinosaur Museum- classes can take a trip to the Dinosaur Museum in Dickinson, North Dakota. The students will be able to discuss what dinosaurs ate, if they were herbivores, carnivores, ect.

Greenhouse- students will observe the different plants that are grown in the greenhouse. They will also be able to see what the plants need to grow, they can compare and contrast the plants as well.

Life Science Field Trips Continued

http://www.knowitall.org/sclife/

http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/fil/pages/listvirtualgr.html

Life Science Virtual Field Trips

Bulletin Board Ideas

In this bulletin board students will use the bone names to place next to the different bones on the skeleton. Different bones can be added or taken away from this list of bones and also a different skeleton can be selected.

•Skull

•Femur

•Ribs

•Vertebra

•Clavicle

•Sternum•Phalanges

•Pelvis

•Tibia •Fibula

•Ulna

•Radius

Everyday the grade 1 and 2 class has a mystery envelope that is hidden in the classroom. The Mystery Cow sends a little note that has clues about an animal. The students have to guess what animal the Cow is giving clues about. When the students have guessed the right animal there is a picture of that animal in the envelope that they get to look at. We discuss what we know about that animal and what habitat it lives in. We then take the animal to the back of the room and decide what bulletin board habitat it belongs to.

This bulletin board idea would be great to have children be

involved in knowing where their food is coming from and how it is grown. A class lesson could

be making the different parts of the plant and then also putting

it on the board to the left, where it grows at. Also making

the chart below helps the students put the different fruits

and vegetables in the categories where they belong.

“I’m Lost”-Divide the bulletin board into six areas with a title for each area (Insects, Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, & Mammals). Place a folder with pictures of animals from all areas in a place near the board. Provide a way for the pictures to be attached to the board that is age appropriate.

“Plant Munchers”- create a large generic plant that includes areas for a flower, seed, root, fruit, leaves, stem, and any other plant parts. Add unlabeled arrows pointing to each part, in an folder close to the board place labeled papers with the plant part. Children can use this area to arrange the labeled parts with the plant.

“Body Systems”- place a large drawing of a human body on one side of the bulletin board. On the other side place the different systems( digestion, circulation, respiration, ect.). Challenge the students to attach smaller cards with labels to show the steps that occur in that system. Example- the digestion system would have cards that say: food eaten, food enters stomach, and so on.

Additional Bulletin Board Ideas

Demonstration Ideas

Build a Terrarium Discover Changing Leaf Colors

Demonstration Ideas

Ocean In a Jar Measure Your Pulse

Demonstration Ideas Continued

Nurse Visit◦ Students will learn various aspects of the human

body and how a nurse needs to know how the human body is built.

Tree Nursery Visit◦ Students can visit a tree nursery or greenhouse to

learn of the various types of plants and how long and tedious the process can be for plants to grow under certain conditions.

Demonstration Ideas Continued

http://www.education.com/activity/life-science+plants-animals-the-earth/?page=3◦ Site filled with various demonstrations for

different areas and grade levels of science.

Demonstration Ideas Continued

Life Science Starter Ideas

Our Senses, Windows to the World Question: How do we know the world around us?

Children will use their five senses to solve a mystery. First place a popcorn popper in a mystery box and do not allow students to see what is in the box. Have students use their sense of touch to feel popcorn kernels in a black bag. Make sure students touch but do not see the kernels. Turn on the popcorn popper and let the children use their sense of smell and hearing to guess what is going on inside of the box. Allow the students to see the popcorn and finally taste the popcorn during a class discussion on the five different senses.

Life Science Starter Ideas

The Incredible Life in the Lawn Question: What is the life like in the lawn?

Children are assigned a plot of lawn that is left not mowed. They make careful descriptive models of life in the lawn during the school year, recording their observations in their lab notebook, raising questions and conducting experiments throughout the year.

Life Science Starter Ideas Continued

The Wonder Machine- Learning Center◦ Design an area of your classroom that allows students to

discover more about the human body. Create activity cards or guide sheets to help students through the various activities in this center.

◦ Activity cards include: Find your pulse- count heartbeat for ten seconds

Perform different exercises and count heartbeat again Take a breather- record how many breaths taken in a minute Bright eyes- observe changes in partner’s pupils when you

turn the light on and off Different bodies- measure height of a partner and compare

to class What’s inside?- construct models of the organ systems

Life Science Starter Ideas Continued

Attention Getters

Do you see any living things in this picture?Do you see plants or animals?

To introduce students to the idea that not all living things are plants or animals, show your students different pictures of plants, animals, fungi, and protists. Ask students the questions below.

Attention Getter: Is it a plant or Animal?

Attention Getter: Nature Walk

To begin a unit on the needs of plants an animals, take a nature walk with your class. It does not have to be to any where special and can just be a walk around the school neighborhood.

-Estimate how many animals they will see-Guess what types of plants and animals they will see-Bring camera to document the animals and plants-Chart the recollections of what students saw and heard on their walk on chart paper upon returning to the classroom

http://www.fantasticfunandlearning.com/35-seed-activities-for-young-kids.html

To begin a unit on plants and how they grow, give students a variety of seeds to investigate. Have students compare seeds and also make predictions on what type of seed they think each one is.

Attention Getter: Seeds

Cooperative Ideas

Life’s My Game, Amy’s My Name In a group pick a person that deals with a life science

career. Do research as a group and have one person dressed as the person. The group and the person dressed will describe what they do, their working conditions and educational background.

Big as a Whale In groups students will pick three animals and draw a

life size outline of these animals. Label their head, tail, feet and other body parts. This gives students the time to compare their own size to other various animals.

Cooperative Ideas

Endangered Animals Project Students in small groups will research and present on an

endangered animal (ex. about where they live, what their habitat was like, what their animal eats, how they gather their food, what dangers the animal faces, what is being done to protect the animal, and how they would protect their animal)

Best Classroom Pet Students in groups will debate which animal would make

the better classroom pet from a list given by the teacher. Students would search for expenses of their animal, what the animals diet is, how to care for them, and what kind of home it would be contained in (ex. Fish tank, cage, etc.)

Cooperative Ideas Continued

Cooperative group spelling game Students get into groups of 4 or 5 with one of them

being the “gluer” and the others being the “cutters”. The “cutters” will cut out letters with scissors to spell the vocabulary word correctly from their sections of their newspapers. The “gluer” then glues the words to their correct life science definitions. There is a set time and the team with the most words spelled correctly wins.

Cooperative Ideas Continued

Discovery Ideas

Discovering Leaves

Summary: In this activity, students will participate in a leaf scavenger hunt and

assemble a basic leaf collection. They will use their collection to explore how diversity in characteristics such as leaf size, thickness and texture help plants survive in their environment.

Real World Science Topics: An exploration of how leaves of different plants use specialized

characteristics to collect sunlight, store and conserve water, and take in carbon dioxide so that they can produce food for the plant.

An exploration of external parts in plants and how different plants use these external parts (particularly leaves) to survive in their environment.

An exploration of how specialized characteristics, called adaptation, in livings things provide survival advantages to certain organisms and that those organisms are more likely to survive

Objective: After completing this activity, students should be able to recognize that

there are many kinds of plants with special features that help them survive. Students in grades 2-3 should also be able to explain how these special leaf adaptations help the plant survive in its environment

Discovery Ideas

SensesSummary: In this activity, students will explore the five senses by performing

a variety of activities. Real World Science Topics: An exploration of how the human body uses multiple sources of

information to make decisions. An exploration of the sensitivity of different areas to touch. An exploration of the link between the taste of a food and the

senses of taste and smell. An exploration of the ability of the brain to judge the source of a

sound based on which ear the sound gets to first. An exploration of the limits of peripheral vision.  Objective: Students will identify that the human brain uses many sources of

information to understand and react to the surroundings.

Discovery Ideas Continued

Yeast Chemical ReactionsSummary: In this activity, students will produce different chemical

reactions with yeast. They will observe and measure how balloons inflate during this chemical reaction. They will then create a chart to track their observations and develop hypotheses to explain the reactions.

 Real World Science Topics: An exploration of simple chemical reactions. An exploration of single-celled organisms.Objective: Students will gain an understanding of the ways yeast, a

single-celled organism, feeds on sugar and produces a chemical reaction.

Discovery Ideas Continued

Insect DissectionSummary: Students will learn about the parts of an insect and

their function and then will design and build their ultimate insect.

Real World Science Topics: Insect body parts have developed adaptations to allow

them to live and thrive in their environmentsObjective: In this activity, students will learn about the body parts

of insects. They will learn about the function of these parts and how they may help the insect survive in their habitat. The students will create their ultimate insect.

Discovery Ideas Continued