Describing Fall Leaves Through Words and Music part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This is an integration of science leaf observations with musical composition for early elementary students.

Investigating Biological Classification: Organization of All Living Things part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
Students will investigate the organization of all living things through and learn how to classify through process of classifying their own shoes. Students will complete the classification of a Jaguar and write their own pneumonic device to remember the order of biological classification. (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species)

Fish Habitats part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This is a unit for K-2 students on fish habitats. The last day is a field trip to a local lake.

Investigating Classification: Minnesota Vertebrates part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is an interactive game that helps students learn that vertebrates are classified into five groups and that each group has common characteristics that distinguish the animal group from other respective groups.

Pondering the Pond part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is designed to help students learn common names of pond life in Minnesota. To be most effective students should make a visit to the pond before participating in this activity.

Plant Identification part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is a field investigation where students identify native MN plants and record the common name, scientific name, and important information about each.

Comparative anatomy of bird vs. human leg bones. part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is designed to compare and contrast the anatomy of the leg bones of a bird vs. a human.

Comparing Two Leaves part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This is an inquiry where students will be comparing and contrasting two different types of leaves with a partner.

The Flow of Energy: Balancing Ecosystems part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is a guided inquiry by students into balancing ecosystems through food chains and webs.

Classroom Phenology: Using the Environment as a Source of Data and Observations part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is a classroom and schoolyard investigation where students collect daily temperature and precipitation readings, weather observations, and weekly phenology reports in a phenology binder and in nature journals. Students then analyze this data and compare to recorded values in the Weatherguide calendar.

Energy Flow through Organisms: An Introduction to Photosynthesis and Respiration part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This classroom activity introduces students to energy flow through organisms, producers & photosynthesis, and consumers & respiration.

Introduction to Dichotomous Keys part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is a lab where students learn to classify objects that are similar into groups and technically describe their classifications. Introduction to dichotomous keys.

Determining Bird Populations Through Counting part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is a field investigation where students gather population data on bird species. The students will create bar graphs and interpret their findings. Based on their experiences and data, they will write an answer to the guiding question.

Bacteria Growth Inquiry: Bodily Bacteria and Healthy Hygiene Habits part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
In this inquiry activity, students generate investigable questions to explore the link between hygiene/cleanliness and bacteria growth/population. The students will present their conclusions, and video clips containing additional information will be discussed.

Observing Leaves and descriptive writing part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
In this activity students will explore leaves using inquiry and their senses.

Food Chains: Nature's Restaurant part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
In these life science activities, students will participate in field observations of living things & do research of animals they observe to create a food chain & present it to the class. Students will participate in a food web simulation game.

Looking for Living and Nonliving Things part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is a field investigation where students begin to generate ideas about what is living and nonliving by observing and recording what they see in a defined area outdoors and later sharing things that they think are living and why.

Investigation a food web: producers, consumers, and decomposers part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is a field investigation where students list plants and animals they observe. Students will organize their data as producers, consumers, or decomposers and create a food web showing how they affect each other. They will predict what will happen if the food web becomes imbalanced by extinction or over population.

Introduction to Nature Journaling part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is a field investigation where students will learn the importance of detail when nature journaling.

Save an Animal Board Game - Impact of Human Activity or Natural Disasters part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This student activity engages the students' thinking by listening to a story, brainstorming ideas in small groups about how human activity or natural disasters could possibly impact an animal's environment, and then reinforcing that thinking using a board game called Save an Animal.