This resource provides a database of standardized information on plants. Click on Photo Gallery to view photographs of various categories of plants, including noxious plants and crops.
"Explore things on, in, around and about the earth," with this web site dedicated to K-12 education from the United States Geological Survey. Homework help, science topics and fun learning games for students in Kindergarten through High School.
Unit plans at two levels, K-grade 2 and grades 3-5 develop understanding of the issue theme, We Depend on Earth's Climate, by focusing on adaptations and environments of local plant species and polar mammals. The units are modeled after a learning cycle framework built around five key steps: Engage, Explore, Explain, Expand, and Assess. The lessons are aligned with national standards for science education and English language arts.
Unit plans for Grades K-2 and 3-5 are a regular feature of the magazine Beyond Weather and the Water Cycle. The plans draw on articles and resources in a themed issue and are aligned with national science and language arts standards. This unit is designed to provide elementary students with the opportunity to investigate how the annual rings in trees help scientists learn about past climates. It uses hands-on experiences and nonfiction text to answer the unit question: How do trees help scientists learn about the past?
See what might be hiding up in the branches of a tree. Includes audio narration in English, Spanish, and Turkish with text in English.
Explore the outdoors and watch as these children make and sort collections of things that come from nature. [1:26]
Children grow plants from seeds and learn what seeds need to grow. [1:26]
Explore a small area in the woods to discover what tiny plants and animals live there. [1:25]
In this activity, students use models to investigate the process and consequences of water contamination on the land, groundwater, and plants. This is a good introduction to building water filters found in the associated activity, The Dirty Water Project.
Read about where different fruits and vegetables grow. Includes audio narration in six additional languages with text in English.
A book about carrots. They are good for people and many animals like to eat them too. Includes audio narration in nine additional languages with text in English.
A storybook about the beauty of flowers. Includes audio narration in English, Spanish, and Turkish with text in English.
The teacher leads a discussion in which students identify the physical needs of animals, and then speculate on the needs of plants. With guidance from the teacher, the students then help design an experiment that can take place in the classroom to test whether or not plants need light and water in order to grow. Sunflower seeds are planted in plastic cups, and once germinated, are exposed to different conditions. In particular, within the classroom setting it is easy to test for the effects of light versus darkness, and watered versus non-watered conditions. During exposure of the plants to these different conditions, students measure growth of the seedlings every few days using non-standard measurement. After a few weeks, they compare the growth of plants exposed to the different conditions, and make pictorial bar graphs that demonstrate these comparisons.
Create lessons to show that plants use air and water primarily to grow with help from the resources on this site. Use the work samples, phenomena, assessment templates, and videos to help students understand the requirements of plants to live.
An extensive coverage of the evolutionary history of plants. Click on a topic in the outline and you'll go to a good discussion on this material.