UC Berkeley
We’ve assembled a database of lessons vetted for both scientific accuracy and pedagogical soundness. Search for lessons by topic or by keyword. Or check out the 3-5 Conceptual Framework to search by the concepts each lesson addresses.
Search grades 3-5 lessons and resources:
Found 18 resources:
Two- and ten-minute trees
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 2-10 minutes
Overview
Use these quick and simple classroom activities to better develop your students' tree-thinking skills. Each takes just a few minutes and helps reinforce key ideas about tree reading and common ancestry.
Tree of Life poster without images (medium)
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Poster
Time: 2-10 minutes
Overview
Print this 18x24" poster for your classroom wall. For ideas about how to use the poster in your class, visit Two- and Ten-minute Trees">Two- and Ten-minute Trees.
Tree of Life poster without images (large)
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Poster
Time: 2-10 minutes
Overview
Print this 28x36" poster for your classroom wall. For ideas about how to use the poster in your class, visit Two- and Ten-minute Trees.
Tree of life poster with images (large)
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
- 13-16
- General
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Poster
Time: 2-10 minutes
Overview
Print this 28x36" poster for your classroom wall. For ideas about how to use the poster in your class, visit .
Reconstruction
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 50-60 minutes
Overview
Students reconstruct sentences by reassembling the words that have been cut apart.
Preying on Beans
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 50-60 minutes
Overview
Students act as predators searching for prey (beans) in two different settings to demonstrate the processes of adaptation and selection.
Observing Brine Shrimp
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 50-60 minutes
Overview
Students observe brine shrimp eggs, create an appropriate environment for their survival, and observe their growth.
Mealworm Metamorphosis
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 50-60 minutes for initial observation and set up. Approx. 10-15 minutes for daily observations.
Overview
Students will observe offspring (mealworms) that do not initially resemble their parent organism (darkling beetles) throughout complete metamorphosis. Students will also create and maintain an appropriate habitat for the mealworms.
McKittrick Fossil Find Classroom Activity
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 50 minutes
Overview
In this lesson, students play the roles of paleontologists on a dig. They “unearth” a few fossils at a time and attempt to reconstruct the animal the fossils represent.
Textures Are Everywhere
Grade Level(s):
- K-2
- 3-5
Source:
- Janulaw, Sharon
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: 30 Minutes
Overview
Students use their sense of touch outdoors and record and compare their observations.
Tennis Shoe Detectives
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
Source:
- Heindel, Sharon
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: Two 40-minute periods
Overview
Students make observations, examine data, and form hypotheses about a set of footprints and what they can tell us.
It’s All Relative
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: One class period
Overview
In this lesson, students find pictures of living things and arrange them in collages, categorizing them according to which they think are more closely related to which.
How Much is a Billion
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
Source:
- Monk, Anne
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: Variable
Overview
In this activity, students get a sense of how big a billion really is, which is necessary in order to understand deep time.
How Did Plants Change Our Planet?
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- California Academy of Sciences
Resource type:
- Video
Time: 5 minutes
Overview
Botanist Dr. Nathalie Nagalingum explains how, more than 400 million years ago, early plants played a notable role in adjusting Earth's physical surface as well as our planet's climate. She meets with paleobotanist Dr. Cindy Looy to discuss the evidence that scientists currently have to support her story.
Understanding Geologic Time
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Online activity or lab
Time: One class period.
Overview
A web-based module in which students gain a basic understanding of geologic time, the evidence for events in Earth's history, relative and absolute dating techniques, and the significance of the Geologic Time Scale.
Diversity Walk
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: One class period
Overview
In this lesson, students take a walk around the school grounds to discover the diversity of life that exists there.
Coping with Environmental Differences
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: One class period for initial set up. Approx. 10-15 minutes for daily observations.
Overview
Students will observe and conduct an experiment to see whether differences in salinity (the environment) have an affect on the hatching rate and survival of brine shrimp.
Xenosmilus
Grade Level(s):
- 3-5
- 6-8
- 9-12
Source:
- UC Museum of Paleontology
Resource type:
- Classroom activity
Time: ~40 min
Overview
Students play the roles of paleontologists on a dig. They "unearth" a few fossils at a time and attempt to reconstruct the animal the fossils represent.
