Our Friend the Worm! - Introducing Worm Composting into the Classroom part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is an introduction to setting up a composting worm bin in the classroom. It is part of a yearlong study on the interaction and influences that living system have on each other.

Erosion in our World part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is a field investigation where students observe evidence of erosion and deposition in the schoolyard or designated area.

Rock Characteristics Exploration at Minnehaha Falls part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is a field investigation where students observe and develop ideas about rock outcrops and rock characteristics.

Investigating Soil Composition - Soil Soaks Up Water part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is a classroom quick lab where students explore sand, soil, and water in relation to absorption and permeability.

What Happens to Water When it Hits the Ground? part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
Students will test the percolation rates of 6 different soil samples. Three of the samples are measured sand and clay and three are collected from the schoolyard and wetland.

Cloud Inquiry Investigation & I.D. part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is a lab and field investigation where students gather data on cloud types and identify properties of cloud formation.

Sinking Water: A Connection With Glaciers, Ocean Currents and Weather Patterns part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This lesson has activities where students will learn about buoyancy and explore how hot water rises and cold water sinks. As an extension and real-life application, students will see that glacial run-off is occurring at a rapid pace and the cold glacial water could potentially change ocean currents thus influencing global climates.

Mapping the Glaciers part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This earth systems field lab begins with an in-class guided inquiry experience which uses Minnesota Geological Survey 3-D maps of the upper Midwest to determine where they believe glaciers may have had an influence. They will determine this by looking at landscapes and compiling their own evidence from the maps. They will also offer evidence for a hypothesis they generate which involves the direction that the glacier was traveling. The two-day lesson ends (after student presentations on their findings about glaciers) with a field investigation of one of our parking lot snow banks. Students will compare and contrast what they know about glaciers, with one of our parking lot snow banks, determining any similarities with how the landscape may have appeared during the Pleistocene.

Observational Skills: Observing and creating sketches of an outdoor environment part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
In this series of activities, students observe and sketch the environment outside their school using their senses. Students create a classroom book using one of their sketches.

Using Benthic Marcoinvertebrates Captured by Rock Baskets to Determine Biodiversity in a River. part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
In this ecology investigation, students will build and place rock baskets to collect benthic macroinvertebrates in a local waterway. They will observe and identify their macroinvertebrates and use the data to determine the pollution tolerance index for various areas of a river.

Let's get sedimental: A study of the process of sediment deposition and particle sorting part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
In this classroom lab, students will investigate particle sorting and deposition.

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.

Seed Investigation part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity involves seed collection and exploration of common seeds.

Singing the Water Cycle part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity teaches the water cycle using song and movement.

Backyard Science...The Five Senses part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This lesson uses centers to reinforce the five senses incorporating backyard science in the wonderful world of nature.

Natural Stream Tables part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is a field investigation on stream tables.

Geologic Field Investigation: Investigating Coastal Features of Western Lake Superior, Inferring Possibilities of their Origins part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This geologic investigation will have students observing and investigating coastal features of Western Lake Superior using inquiry-based investigable questions, and inferring possibilities of the coastal features' origins.

What Is Water? part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
What Is Water? is an introductory lesson that introduces students to the properties of water and its presents in the environment.

How Clouds are Made part of MnSTEP Teaching Activity Collection:MnSTEP Activity Mini-collection
This activity is a classroom demonstration where students observe how clouds are formed.

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.