Bar graphs are simple ways to display data. Taking numbers and creating a bar graph makes it easier to read and draw conclusions. From bar graphs, you can easily compare data from more than one source. In this lesson, students will read two temperature bar graphs of data from Africa using authentic NASA data. They will identify major parts of bar graphs and make a generalization statement based on ... Full description.

Line plots are a useful way to display data especially change over time. During this lesson, students will view NASA data displaying the amount of the Sun's energy absorbed in Australia throughout one calendar year. This lesson also allows students to connect the idea that the sun heats up land, air, and water. Students will practice drawing conclusions based on graphed data. Full description.

Energy from the sun reaches the Earth and some is absorbed by the air, land, and water. Some of the energy is reflected back into space, meaning it does not heat the land, air, or water. In this lesson students will read a color plot of Earth's absorption of the sun's radiation. They will evaluate causes for difference in absorption rates at different points around the world and draw conclusions about ... Full description.

A learning activity for the "All About Earth: Our World on Stage" book in the Elementary GLOBE series. In pairs, students will create experimental conditions in terrariums in order to study what plants need to live. Variables to study include the presence or absence of soil, water, and sunlight. Students will record the growth of radish plants as well as observations of "the water cycle" in their ... Full description.

A learning activity for the "All About Earth: Our World on Stage" book in the Elementary GLOBE series. One of the "big ideas" in Earth system science is the notion of interaction among parts of the Earth system. In the Elementary GLOBE book All About Earth: Our World on Stage, the children in Ms. Patel's class discuss instances of how the four major spheres of Earth's system interact. They symbolize ... Full description.

The class will brainstorm, write, create, and produce a play in which they represent how all the Earth systems are interconnected. This play can be based on the Elementary GLOBE book "All About Earth: Our World on Stage" or on other student-generated topics representing interconnections of the Earth systems. The purpose of the play is to serve as a performance assessment providing students with the ... Full description.

Using a color chart, students will make observations outside during each of the four seasons. During each session, they will try to find as many colors as possible and record what they see. As a class, they will make charts describing the colors they find in each season. At the end of the school year, students will compare their results and generate conclusions about variations in colors in nature ... Full description.

Where oceans and seas meet land, the change is abrupt and sudden. The plants and animals that call this transition zone home have interesting adaptations. Users can view pictures and read about several types of shorelines and coastal features (sandy shores, barrier islands, rocky shores, tide pools, estuaries, salt marshes, mud flats, and mangrove forests), the plants and animals that inhabit them, ... Full description.

Discover marine creatures from the tiny zooxanthellae that make the coral reefs home to the giant mammals of the vast seas. This resource provides very clear explanations and pictures to teach about the marine ecosystems of shorelines, temperate oceans, tropical oceans. Full description.

This site provides excellent background information on deserts. Large print and superb pictures make this site very appealing to younger students. Topics include: What is a Desert Like?, Types of Deserts, What causes Deserts?, Deserts of the World, Desert Plants, Desert Animals, and links to other desert sites. Full description.