Lesson Plans

In this lesson, students will demonstrate an understanding of the transfer of matter (energy) in various ecosystems by constructing a model food chain. In the food chain, students must show how an ecosystem provides energy from a producer to the consumers and ending with a decomposer.

The students will begin by working in groups to compete with their peers by sorting food chain picture cards (producers, consumers, decomposers of an ecosystem) in the correct order. Students will be assessed at the conclusion of the lesson with a multiple choice exit ticket quiz.

This unit was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.

Students will develop an understanding of the purpose of the Declaration of Independence by synthesizing the grievances listed by the founding fathers.

In this lesson, students will use technology to construct a model of a balanced ecosystem that shows how energy cycles from one organism to the next by completing research and writing short passages about their ecosystem. Students will then compare their balanced model ecosystem and describe a change or introduce an invasive species to show how the balance of their model ecosystem will change to adapt. As students are designing their model they will also describe the relationships of the components that make up an ecosystem and causes/effects of unbalanced ecosystems. 

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

Matter is not created nor destroyed; it simply changes from one form to another.  This law of conservation of mass challenges elementary students’ ideas about matter, because many children may think that matter is created or destroyed in a chemical reaction.  In this lesson, students will challenge their preconceptions about matter by experimenting with physical and chemical changes to determine that the total weight of the matter does not change. Students will use math to show that the total weight of matter is equal to the sum of the weight of its component parts, and they will graph this information to show that the weight of matter is conserved during physical and chemical changes.

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

In this lesson, students will examine time lapse photos and videos to see the movement of stars during the night. Students will use star wheels to track the visibility of constellations throughout the year and graph the number of days a constellation is visible each month. Using data from the graphs, they will collaboratively construct a large-scale model of the sun, Earth, and constellations to better understand the role Earth’s movement and axial tilt play in the visibility of stars. Finally, students will draw a diagram and write an explanation of the apparent movement of stars using data from the graphs and class model.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.   

Students will collaborate, design, and construct a device that filters contaminated water. 

This lesson was created as part of the 2016 NASA STEM Standards of Practice Project, a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

In this lesson, which was adapted from Gravity and Falling Objects, students predict what will happen when different objects are dropped at the same time from the same height, and then test their predictions. Next, they will observe objects of different masses being dropped and leaking cups being dropped into a bucket. The activities in this lesson will demonstrate that all objects fall at the same rate, regardless of their mass. Finally, students will predict what will happen when two balls of the same mass but different volumes--and then two balls of different masses but the same volume--are dropped at the same time from the same height.

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

Young students may think the sun is the biggest and brightest star in the universe since it appears to be the brightest star in the sky when viewed from Earth. In this lesson, students will use flashlights to construct a model of the difference in stars' appearances due to their distance from Earth. Then they will use the Internet to research the sun and stars to create a poster, picture book, or digital presentation to explain that the sun is not the biggest or brightest star--it only appears that way due to its proximity to Earth.  

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

This lesson is designed to help students become comfortable with idioms. Students will work closely with idioms to discover meanings and present them to the class.  Students will use technology to present the information.

In this hands-on investigation, students will utilize the hydroponic method to grow a bean plant from  a bean seed. Over the course of a 2 week time period, students will make detailed observations and sketches of the actual bean growth and make predictions about growth patterns over the weekend time periods.

Students will create a cartoon to defend the position that plants obtain materials needed for growth primarily from air and water.

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

During this lesson, the students will learn how matter transfers within an ecosystem and within the environment

*This lesson can be taught over a two-day period. 

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

This lesson will utilize the talking drawings strategy, in which students will begin the lesson by drawing a picture of a plant to illustrate how they think plants make their own food. Then, the teacher will introduce the process of photosynthesis using an interactive presentation to explain photosynthesis in a pictorial format. As the teacher describes the process, the students will create a scientifically accurate drawing of a plant engaging in photosynthesis. Lastly, students will create a writing piece that will describe the process of photosynthesis and construct a scientifically accurate illustration of the process of photosynthesis.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

Students will create sun shadow plots to demonstrate how the position and motion of Earth with respect to the sun causes changes in the length and direction of shadows. Students will observe and record shadow data for an entire day.

After collecting the data, students will analyze the data and create a line graph to determine at which time of the day the longest shadows are created.

This lesson was created as part of the 2016 NASA STEM Standards of Practice Project, a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

If water covers 70-75% of our planet, then why should we be concerned about water quality and conservation? This lesson helps students understand that 97% of our water is present on Earth in the form of salt water, and therefore, unavailable for helping support life on Earth. Another 2% of Earth's water is frozen, which leaves us approximately 1% in groundwater, lakes, streams, and water vapor. 

This lesson was adapted from a lesson series from 4-H SET (California).

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

In this lesson, students investigate photosynthesis through hands-on experiments, videos, and discussion of text. They work in small groups with picture cards to create a chart showing how plants transform carbon dioxide, water, and light energy into carbohydrates and oxygen. After working collaboratively, students will create their own diagrams of photosynthesis. Because plant observations must occur over time, this lesson will take several days to complete.

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

In this lesson, the students will learn about the Boston Massacre and how this event led to the American Revolution. The students will understand that when governments are unjust, sometimes people revolt. The students will compare and contrast the two sides of the American colonists in the 1770’s, “Colonists Should Fight the British for Independence” versus “Colonists Should Not Fight the British for Independence.” In addition, the students will create a web video on one event that led to the American Revolution. This lesson is designed to integrate technology, such as WeVideo, with social studies.

In this lesson, students will share their background knowledge of gravity and how it affects skydivers. After a brief whole group discussion on gravity, students will work in small groups to explain why the International Space Station does not fall to Earth. Finally, students will create a model helicopter to provide evidence that the gravitational force of earth will cause the helicopter to fall downward toward the center of Earth.

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

Students will develop an understanding of volume and density by analyzing, calculating, and measuring a gummy bear. The students will determine the cause and effect of a water-soaked gummy bear. Students will measure water and gummy bear with accuracy, record data, and communicate their results.

This lesson results from collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

In this lesson, students will research one Native American group from each of the six main biomes in North America. Students will use their developing technology and language arts skills to find reliable sources on the internet, evaluate and integrate information from these texts, select a suitable digital platform to share their findings, and create a cohesive presentation showcasing their mastery of the learning outcomes. Students will discover the climate, landforms, water, and other natural resources available within each region and how they were used by the natives living there. Students will explore the relationships between the cultures found within each region and its resources. 

This unit was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.

By growing organisms in a variety of environments, students will explore different materials that living things need to survive.  

This lesson was created as part of the 2016 NASA STEM Standards of Practice Project, a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

This inquiry-based lesson provides an introduction to density allowing students to explore density and its relation to objects floating and sinking. 

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

The majority of Earth's surface is covered by water, but only a small percentage of this water is freshwater.  In this lesson, students will learn where saltwater and freshwater are found.  Then they will use models to show the distribution of different types of water in different reservoirs and depict this information using bar graphs and pie charts.  Finally, they will use their data as evidence to support the idea that freshwater should be conserved.

This lesson was created as part of the 2016 NASA STEM Standards of Practice Project, a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

Students will discover how plants, animals, and fungi are all interconnected in a giant web.  They will construct a model of a food chain to explain that energy in animals' food is used to sustain life.  They will also acknowledge that all food chains start with energy from the sun.

This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.

If you grab a bunch of jump ropes and tell your kids you're going outside, you can trick them into thinking they are getting recess. Instead, you can surprise them with a math lesson about how to identify the points on the coordinate plane! 

This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

The student engineers will design and build a new water filtration system for an overpopulated, poverty-stricken community that is drinking contaminated water from wells, rivers or springs not treated by municipal water systems. 

Students will be involved in planning, designing, building, collaborating, calculating, budgeting, analyzing, and reflecting on a real-world design challenge. 

This lesson was created as part of the 2016 NASA STEM Standards of Practice Project, a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

In this lesson, the students will learn that plants need water, air, nutrients, and sunlight to grow.

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

**This lesson can be taught over a three to five day period. Simply repeat the steps as the students will become more knowledgeable of the target.

In this lesson, students will examine the amount of annual and seasonal rainfall in four cities to compare decimals to the hundredths place. Students will add and round digits to the thousandth place. Students will utilize technology by navigating to a specific United States climate website to get relatively current and accurate data.

This unit was created as part of the ALEX Interdisciplinary Resource Development Summit.

This lesson will help students determine the causes and events leading to the American Revolutionary War.  Students will participate in a whole class "game" to understand taxes and the phrase "taxation without representation".  Then students will illustrate their views of the causes of the Revolutionary War using comic strips.

Students will collect data on an investigation where two or more substances are mixed together. Students will analyze the investigation to decide the type of change, chemical or physical, that occurred during the investigation. Students will use their observations from the investigation to create a short movie where they will describe the data they used to determine the type of change that occurred during their investigation. This lesson will work best for classrooms equipped with classroom tablets or schools that allow students to bring their own device.

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

Matter is made of particles too small to be seen.  But if we can’t see these particles, how do we know they exist?  In this lesson, students will plan and carry out investigations with air and simple solutions to provide evidence that all types of matter are made of tiny particles that are invisible to the human eye.

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

HyperSlides are digital lessons/units that help students learn the material in a way that is engaging and inquiry-based. Students will work together to complete a HyperSlides unit centering around animal adaptations for standards in grades 3-5. Students will work creatively and collaboratively with a variety of Course of Study standards that engage students through using Google Slides and Hyperlinks to assist in the understanding of animal adaptations. This project will take several class periods to complete. After an introduction to the Hyperslides, students are encouraged to work at their own pace, but Hyperslides can be assigned on a daily basis.

This Lesson Plan was created in partnership with the Birmingham Zoo.

This hands-on, minds-on activity helps students use what they already know about customary measurement to help them add and subtract fractions with like and unlike denominators.

This lesson is adapted from a lesson entitled, "Marble Run", from the NASA Education Guide Amusement Park Physics with a NASA Twist.

Students will explore the effects of force, speed, motion, and gravity in creating a roller coaster track for a marble.

This lesson was created as part of the 2016 NASA STEM Standards of Practice Project, a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.

This lesson will allow students to experiment with different objects to predict and explain the results of their experiments on the objects as they relate to density. Through this experiment, students will be able to understand the cause and effect relationship to explain the objects sinking or floating. 

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.