K–5 Science Lessons

Teach these free hands-on, interactive mini-lessons covering life science, physical science, and Earth and space science.

Grades: Kindergarten - 5th Grade

• Seasons

  Students manipulate online models of the Earth to better understand how the seasons are a product of the sun and Earth system. Students confront common misconceptions to refine their thinking and arrive at a better understanding of the seasons.

• 4th Grade: Earth's Seasons
• 5th Grade: Length of Day

• Energy in Motion

  Students explore the concepts of energy in motion, speed, and collision; and create models, using materials typically found in a science classroom.

• 4th Grade: Energy and Speed
• 5th Grade: Energy in Collision

• Organisms and Ecosystems

  Students explore the concept that living organisms have important roles in the survival of an ecosystem. Students create models and act out different organisms' interactions. New and improved lessons coming in October!

• 4th Grade: Food Chains
• 5th Grade: Ecosystem Resources

• Shaping Earth

  Students explore the different factors that change Earth’s surface and how long that can take. They learn about time scale as they uncover how geologists and other scientists use clues to describe Earth’s distant past.

• 4th Grade: Storytelling with Rock Layers
• 5th Grade: Weathering and Erosion

• Heredity

  Students use the Polypad interactive tool to explore how birds’ heredity is affected by several different factors. By gathering and inputting data, students observe the different physical traits that result from variations in bird heredity.

• 4th Grade: Inherited Traits vs. Acquired Traits
• 5th Grade: Environmental Influence on Organisms' Survival

• Vocabulary Games

  Students practice using and making connections with vocabulary in Earth and space science through several digital vocabulary games.

• Upper Elementary: Changing Landforms Vocabulary Game
• Upper Elementary: Water Cycle Vocabulary Game
• Build Your Own Vocabulary Game: Spinner
• Build Your Own Vocabulary Game: Connections
• Build Your Own Vocabulary Game: Polygraph