What do living things need to survive? Students will explore in their outdoor setting for animals in their habitat and generate a list of things found in the environment that support the life of the animals observed. In groups, students will identify the basic needs through a sticky note activity and then research these basic needs for the animals that appear in the fiction book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? As a culminating activity, students will tap their creativity and use humor to write and publish a silly science-based storybook using Book Creator (or other publishing tool) about the basic needs and thneeds (things that we might think we need, but don’t really need) of these animals.

Working in teams of four, students act as botanists and use non-fiction on-line text to conduct Self Organized Learning System (SOLE) research to uncover the needs and life cycle of a plant for the school garden.

Students dissect fruits to investigate and estimate the number of seeds in each type of fruit. They germinate and plant a seed in the school garden and in the classroom to make observations of the growing plant over time, tracking and recording each stage of the plant life cycle. Students taste the flowers, seeds, and fruit of the new plants when the plant has reached the flower stage of the life cycle.

After visiting the school garden to identify and pick vegetables ready for harvest, students create a poster model to show the journey food takes through their digestive system. Students then compare and contrast the digestive process of a plant (garden vegetable) with that of an animal (human). Students will further identify and compare nutritious and innutritious (junk) foods for both humans and plants.

Students explore outdoors to search for plant body parts (roots, stems, leaves, and flowers) and explain the function of each part of the plant as it relates to the plant’s survival. Students then research a vegetable from a list of vegetables commonly grown in a school garden in order to sketch that vegetable with body parts, describe the function of each part, and discuss which body parts are typically eaten. As a mathematics connection, students use triangles and quadrilaterals to create a model of a plant with all four main body parts.

Students will explore their outdoor space to construct a definition of the word “food”. Students will makeobservations of the ways in which organisms get energy necessary for survival. As a culminating activity,students will create their own meal menu and provide an explanation of why they chose to include each item intheir meal

Students explore the school outdoor space and/or school garden to make observations of different objects found there. They collect three objects and place them in a paper bag. Back in the classroom they give clues to their classmates based on the object’s properties so that classmates can guess the objects in the bag. Students then work in groups of four to sort all their objects based on different properties.

Students actively engage in physical activity while making observations about the effects that movement/exercise has on their body. Students then research the positive health impacts of exercise and why they should reduce screen time and build healthy sleep habits. Ultimately, students develop a plan for making healthier choices at home and at school.

As a culminating activity for the Grade 4 Out Teach lessons, students collect data in their outdoor space and create a frequency table and bar graph. Then, students apply their frequency table and graphing skills as they begin to collect data centered around their crafted Healthy Choice Plan for School and Home. Students create a frequency table and bar graphs to help monitor their healthy choice behaviors.

Students research healthy benefits of nutritional foods using nonfiction text and the Healthy Me! graphic organizer. Students then share their research findings using the Jigsaw cooperative learning strategy. As a formative assessment, students construct an exit ticket response regarding the health benefits of a favorite healthy food.

Students investigate how the major body systems (digestive, circulatory, respiratory, muscular, skeletal, and nervous) function during a traditional childhood tag game. As a culminating activity for the 5th grade Passport Lessons, students engage in project-based learning (PBL) to create a Healthy Living Plan and share research findings regarding the benefits of eating healthy foods and vegetables on the major body systems.   

Students brainstorm the negative impacts humans have on the earth and learn to call this term the carbon or ecological footprint. They then explore their outdoor space to identify both the negative and positive impacts humans have on the environment. Next, positive actions humans can take to make the planet sustainable are researched so that students can generate a list of things kids can do to sustain the earth. Students make and present posters of the things they will personally commit to doing. As an optional, but impactful activity, a tree is planted in the outdoor space, marking the commitment to continue to reduce ecological footprints and increasing ecological handprint, leading to a more sustainable planet.

Students measure the length of a pea pod and a carrot in non-standard vegetable units (a pea seed) and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of measuring using non-standard measures. Students then practice measuring length of classroom objects to develop the skills of measurement accuracy and precision. In the outdoor garden, students measure three different fruits, vegetables, and/or herbs that are growing there. They convert their measurements between different units of measure in the metric system. For example: The tomato is 14 cm long or 140 mm long. Finally, students research the health benefits of the fruits and vegetables they measured and taste these healthy foods if they wish. 

Students explore their outdoor space for information about what is growing in their garden. Depending on the season and region, teacher may use a different fruit or vegetable to discuss. They then research fruits and vegetables growing in the garden and report the health benefits of these foods.

Students will study the soil both in the school garden and then in their outdoor environment at home. They will compare the various soils to identify the soil types they observed and discuss the plant life each soil type supports. Students will time the flow of water through different soils and observe the amount of water held in these soils. They will also observe the filtering ability of soils by noting the clarity of the water before and after it passes through the soil.

Students play the Animal Parents & Babies Matching Game to study the similarities and differences between babies (offspring) and their parents. They explore their outdoor space in search of plant offspring and parents and share their findings with peers. As a culminating activity, students create additional Parents & Babies index cards and life cycle posters to further investigate and compare the life cycles of various animal and plant species.

Students explore the school garden to make observations and inferences about which plants thrive in the current environment and which plants may decline or even perish. Students then generate scenario cards to describe situations where plants or humans thrive, decline, or perish. By constructing and monitoring an “Earth System in a Bottle”, students investigate which environmental conditions are needed for plants to thrive.

Students play the Up, Down, and All-Around game in the outdoor space describing the relative positions of a chosen object or organism. Back in the classroom, students open a sugar snap pea, count the number of peas in the pod, and describe the relative position of the peas. Using the three-dimensional Peas in a Pod paper cut-out model, students practice counting and describing the positions of the peas in the peapod. Students then explore the motion of objects using a crafted paper model whirly bird representing a maple seed pod.Finally, studentscreate and enact a skit with partners to show and describe the relative positions of humans (themselves) and go back outdoors to move through a sidewalk chalk obstacle course to show their knowledge of various motions.

Students, taking on the role of meteorologists, make observations of local weather to determine if the school garden is getting enough rain to give the growing plants the water that is needed. Students read science-based texts about how to plant and maintain a garden and about planting fruits/vegetables in patterned rows. They will use that information and their background knowledge to develop a plan for planting that will require them to count plants and arrange them in rows so the plants can share water and resources.

Students study photos and look for clues regarding weather conditions and seasonal variations. Students make and record weather measurements in their outdoor space, including temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction, humidity (optional) and cloudiness over time. As a culminating activity, students study local climate patterns to determine the best time to plant fruits and vegetables in their outdoor space and create analogies to describe the difference between weather and climate.