Autumn is a great time to welcome new students, start new classroom routines, and jump into the Science curriculum. There are many fabulous science lessons and activities to teach in the fall. These hands-on science and reading activities are such a fun way to learn about apples, pumpkins, and leaves in second and third grades.

Which science topics are great for fall?

Aligning your science lessons to the season around you is a great way to make real-world connections. Fall is often filled with warm days, crisp nights, and many familiar sights. In the fall we often study apples, pumpkins (Hello, thanksgiving!), leaves, decomposition, and seasonal animals like turkeys or deer.

The easy way to teach pumpkins, apples, and leaves…

Plan your fall science units in a snap with these three hands-on, engaging science and reading units all about pumpkins, apples, and leaves. They’re perfect for 2nd and 3rd grade and integrate science and literacy standards. Just click and print!

check out fall science

LEAVES

Leaves are changing on the trees and falling from their branches. Students see this and might be wondering why this is happening. Jump feet first into some fabulous activities about leaves. These might include getting outside to become observers/detectives of leaves, conducting an experiment to answer the question “Why Do Leaves Change Color?”, doing art projects with leaves, and much more.

Check out this blog all about leaves activities.

APPLES

Apples are a such fun fall topic. There are many awesome books and YouTube videos about apples to engage students as they begin learning. Have students experiment to find out why apples turn brown. Take a look at and compare the nutritional information of various products made with apples. Learn about the life cycle of apples and create a spinner craft.

This blog has more details and ideas for teaching the topic of apples to second and third-grade students.

PUMPKINS

Pumpkins are another fall-tastic topic. Whether it’s watching YouTube videos, reading about pumpkins, learning the life cycle, or doing math with pumpkin seeds, there are plenty of activities to engage students as they learn about pumpkins.

For more details on these ideas, check out this blog about pumpkin activities for second and third grade.

Autumn is a natural time to teach apples, pumpkins, and leaves. Have fun engaging in these topics and teaching students to love science (and fall).

A classic symbol in elementary school is an apple. Apples are put on “Welcome Back” bulletin boards, teacher newsletters, and classroom walls. There are endless examples of activities about apples for Kindergarten, but Apples are also a great unit of study for older students in second and third grades! Explore the best apple science and literacy activities sure to engage 2nd and 3rd grade students.

WHY do APPLES TURN BROWN?

Get hands-on with apples and conduct an experiment to see which substances will keep apples fresh the longest. This science experiment is also a great way to teach the scientific method.

Left Brain Craft Brain provides step-by-step instructions to answer “Why Do Apples Turn Brown?”

The EASY way to teach about apples in 2nd and 3rd grades.

Are you ready to explore apples this fall? In just a few clicks you can print all the science and literacy pieces you need: nonfiction reading, comprehension activities, apple life cycle crafts and worksheets, and more!

see the apple unit

exploring apples with youtube videos

Learn all about apples with these engaging videos that are perfect for older elementary students. Even I learned new things about apples!

1. Check out these fun Apple Facts by Hey! Guess What?

2. Peterson Farms Inc. shows How Applesauce is Made in the Factory.

3. Check out this Apple Time Lapse by Mountainview Orchard Inc.

4. Follow along with SciShow Kids as they experiment with making caramel apples. This video mostly teaches chemical reactions, the Maillard Reaction, and food science, but it could be a fun way to integrate other Science topics into your lessons on apples.

learning about apple anatomy

Have you ever tried to dissect an apple? Exploring the inner anatomy of an apple is a great way to get hands-on without having to spend too much money. Grab some local apples, help students cut them in half, and learn about what’s going on inside an apple.

READING ABOUT APPLES

Reading about apples is another way to engage students. There are some fabulous information books and storybooks about apples. These are a few that come to mind:

• Gail Gibbon’s “Apples” gives some historical information about apples and describes how farmers grow apples today. (Click here for the Amazon.ca link to Gibbon’s Apples) 

• The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall is a story about an apple tree through each season.  

• The Apple Orchard Riddle by Margaret McNamara engages students as they try to discover the riddle about an apple orchard. (Click here for the Amazon.ca link to The Apple Orchard Riddle)

Students can also read this age-appropriate printable nonfiction reading passage about the life cycle of an apple. After reading, complete two engaging comprehension activities so kids can show what they’ve learned.  

LIFE CYCLE SPINNER

Teach a lesson on the life cycle of an apple and complete an apple spinner craft to display each life cycle stage.

There are three versions: the first asks students to color the pictures, the second has space for students to create their own drawings, and the third is nearly blank so students can color/label their own pictures. Check out the template by clicking on the link above. 

APPLE POEM CRAFTIVITY

The Applicious Teacher has a fabulous Apple Poem Crafitivity. This project would be a good way to integrate Literacy and Science (specifically the five senses).

apple nutrition

Ask students to raid their recycle bins to find various packaging for products made from apples such as apple sauce, apple juice, and apple crisps.

Take time to compare the nutritional value of each item. Try to compare the sweetened and unsweetened apple products as well. Students might be surprised by what they find!  

Explain that all foods fit into a balanced diet, so it’s not bad to eat certain foods occasionally. However, we can be mindful of how much sugar is added to apple-related products.

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Fall is here, so apples are here. Enjoy teaching some lessons about apples to your second and third-grade students!

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Leaves change color to become vibrant reds, oranges, yellows, and browns. Leaves fall from the trees. Piles of leaves are found on lawns. These are all good indicators that fall is here! So it’s also a great time to teach about leaves. There are some fabulous science activities for second-grade and third-grade all about leaves.

CONIFEROUS AND DECIDUOUS TREES

There are a wide variety of trees, but they all fall into one of two categories: deciduous or coniferous. Coniferous trees keep leaves on their branches all year round. Deciduous means ‘falling off’, so these trees shed their leaves every fall to conserve energy in the winter. 

The EASY Way to teach about leaves in 2nd and 3rd grades.

Ready to learn about leaves this fall? In just a few clicks you can grab all the science and literacy pieces that you need: nonfiction reading, comprehension, science and math integration, and a fun art project!

see the unit

the anatomy of a leaf

Did you know that there are many different parts to a leaf? These ‘anatomy’ of a leaf teaching posters are a great way to learn the parts of a leaf. Then, head outside and grab your own!

YOUTUBE VIDEOS about the science of leaves

Learn even more about leaves with these engaging videos that are perfect for 2nd and 3rd-grade students. These are some of my favorite YouTube videos to show in class:

• SciShow Kidz - Why Do Leaves Change Color? 

• SciShow Kidz -  Trees that Never Lose Their Leaves. 

• Colossal Cranium - Why Do Leaves Change Color?
  
  
  

READING ABOUT LEAVES

Reading about leaves is another way to engage students. Learn about how leaves decompose in the Fall with this printable reading passage. Then follow up the reading with comprehension questions. 

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get outside and explore autumn

Bundle up and head outdoors. Give each student a clipboard with paper, a crayon, and a pencil. Have students record their observations about leaves like shape, color, texture, etc. Then have students do leaf rubbings of a variety of leaves. 

While students are out making observations, have them collect leaves from a variety of trees. Give each student a small basket or Ziploc bag to contain their leaves. These leaves can be used for more leaf activities in the classroom. 

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LEAF DETECTIVEs

Become leaf detectives and engage students’ observation skills. Use magnifying glasses to take a closer look at the fine lines and details on a leaf. Challenge students to draw what they see. 

Examine leaves and discover the differences between coniferous and deciduous trees. Check out SciShow Kidz’ Guess that Tree for info about telling the difference between some common coniferous tree needles.  

Do leaf pressing by getting students to press leaves in a book, or get fancy and create leaf press bookmarks like these ones from Buggy and Buddy. 

teaching symmetry with leaves

Teach a lesson about symmetry. Students will take a leaf, cut it along the line of symmetry, and glue it to a piece of paper. Next, they will sketch in the missing half and use pencil crayons to color/shade so it’s symmetrical.

Students can also use a variety of collected leaves and arrange them to create a land art installation, or have them glue the leaves to a piece of paper.

ART WITH LEAVES

There is an abundance of leaf art activities to be done in the fall. Read Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert. (Click here for the Amazon.ca link)This is a book where all the pictures are created with leaves. Then have students glue leaves into various configurations to make leaf creatures. Read the book Leaf Man to get students thinking about what their creation might look like. 

Create a leaf garland like this one from Hands on As We Grow 

Follow along with these instructions by Elementary Art Rocks and paint leaves using lines and repetition. 

WHY DO LEAVES CHANGE COLOR EXPERIMENT

The word ‘chromatography’ means a technique to separate the compounds of mixtures. Leaves get their color from different pigments like green, yellow, orange, and red. 

To engage students with a hands-on experiment to separate the color pigment in leaves, check out this experiment about Leaf Chromatography by Home Science Tools. This experiment doesn’t use any fancy equipment. The materials needed are common house items like coffee filters, plastic wrap, and rubbing alcohol. 

Teaching about leaves can be simple, yet engaging. Have fun teaching your second and third-grade students all about leaves this fall!

The season is here for sweaters, scarves, jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin pies, and pumpkin spice lattes. Families head to the pumpkin patches in droves and there are orange pumpkin decorations in many stores. So what better time than this to teach about pumpkins? Explore these activities and experiments about pumpkins that are perfect for kids in 2nd and 3rd grades.

pumpkin science - videos

Start your learning on pumpkins with some engaging videos that are perfect for older elementary students. These are some of my favorite pumpkin videos on YouTube

1. A Pumpkin Grows by Scholastic - Introduces the lifecycle of a pumpkin

2. SciShow Kids, “Why Do Pumpkins Get So Big?”

3. SciShow Kids, “Dissect a Pumpkin!”

4. Explore the question “Are Pumpkins a Fruit?” with Hey! Guess What.

The EASY Way to teach about pumpkins in 2nd and 3rd grades.

Ready to learn about pumpkins this fall? In just a few clicks you can grab all the science and literacy pieces that you need: nonfiction reading, comprehension, and an engaging STEAM project!

see the unit

FUN FACTS

It can be fun to sprinkle in fun facts while learning about a topic. Barton Hills Farm has compiled a list of 25 Fun Facts about Pumpkins. They also put together a detailed description of the life cycle of a pumpkin.

pumpkin literacy activities

After doing some initial learning about pumpkins via videos, have students read about the life cycle of a pumpkin with a grade-appropriate reading passage. This nonfiction reading passage explores each stage in the life cycle of a pumpkin using age-appropriate scientific vocabulary.

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When you’re done, follow up with a pumpkin life cycle flipbook. This project uses the information from the nonfiction reading passage to create a fun and informative flip book project.

carve a pumpkin

Many students have fond memories of carving pumpkins with their families. It may be difficult to have each child carve a pumpkin in class, but YOU could carve a pumpkin while students act as guides.

Have students draw out potential designs and vote on which design to create on the class pumpkin. 

Before carving, read “How to Carve a Pumpkin” with these differentiated reading passages. Complete the comprehension booklet where students sequence the steps of pumpkin carving and get to sketch out a design for a jack-o-lantern.

Want to take it a step further and carve a class set of pumpkins? Try using parent or older-buddy volunteers to help prepare the pumpkins (open the top, remove the seeds) and then carve in small groups! (The other group can work on the nonfiction reading activity above).

I’ve had success asking local grocery stores or farms to donate the pumpkins to our class. Many will do it for free/cheap if you’re willing to wait until the day before/of Halloween.

pumpkin math

The book How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara is an engaging way to open a lesson that integrates math and science. 

Before opening the pumpkin, have students estimate how many seeds they think are inside. Record these guesses. After opening the pumpkin, show students the contents and have them reestimate. Some students might be surprised at how many seeds there are in a pumpkin!

Next, have students count the pumpkin seeds. Try grouping the seeds together and skip count the piles by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, etc. Compare the actual seed count to the students’ estimations. Discuss if their estimations were reasonable. Why or why not?

Try drying the seeds overnight. Give students a handful of seeds to color using markers. Let students make patterns with their coloring pumpkin seeds!

Don’t forget to roast some seeds so students can eat some 🙂

art integration - the journey of a pumpkin seed

To get students thinking creatively, have them make a comic that shows a pumpkin seed’s journey as it turns into a ready-to-harvest pumpkin! The template for this is included in this resource about the pumpkin life cycle.

There are plenty of fun and engaging pumpkin activities for second-grade and third-grade students. Enjoy this season! And as the saying goes…“When life gives you pumpkins, make pie.” 

We drink water, cook with water, bathe in water, swim in water, clean with water, etc. I’d say water is pretty important and definitely integral to our lives. Come and explore the wonderful world of water with your students by learning about why water is important on Earth and how much water on the Earth is usable. Plus, check out some water activities you can do at home or in the classroom!

How much water is on Earth?

Most of the Earth is covered in water. In fact, 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. But only 3.5% of that water is freshwater and most of this water is frozen!

Why is water important to Earth?

People use water for many reasons, including cleaning, cooking, drinking, and bathing. Water is also essential for growing crops. Many places use water to heat and cool buildings, and it can be used to generate electricity. Plus, drinking water is important for our health. Water is very important!

The EASY Way to Teach Water and the Water Cycle

Learn all about water on earth with this hands-on unit that has everything you need.

Scripted lessons… check!
Vocabulary … check !
Reading passages… check!
Hands-on projects … check!
Engaging? Double check!

check it out

Reading about Water on Earth

When students are learning a new science topic, it’s helpful to have students read about it. Plus, it integrates reading right into our science lesson! These Water on Earth’ reading passages and comprehension booklets are perfect for this. They’re in two levels so you can differentiate them for your class.

With the passages, students will learn about why water is important. They will also be learning where water is found and the different types of water (ie. freshwater and saltwater). Grab them here!

Group Activity - exploring Sources of Water

Group projects are a great way to have students engage with a topic and also practice skills like teamwork, conversation, problem-solving, and task management.

This Sources of Water group activity is perfect for all of this! Assign each group a water source to research. Each group will become the ‘expert’ on their own source of water, and teach the rest of the class about it. Eventually, the whole class will have compiled a booklet of information about all of the water sources!

The activity can be found in my Water Cycle science unit!

Project: Conserving Water

Conserving Water: a flipbook project based on a guided inquiry question.

To teach about water conservation, a guided inquiry project is a great option!   This flipbook (included in the Water Cycle unit) will have students answering the question “How can we conserve water?” Students can pick their own focus and then do some basic research.

While doing this project, students will look for information about why conserving water is important and they will hunt for solutions to the problems they discover. They will present their information in the flipbook.

Alternatively, students could present their findings in another way: website, a model, a book, a TED talk, etc.

This project (teaching guide, flipbook template, assessment) is a part of the complete Water Cycle Unit.

water cycle bag activity

The Water Cycle Ziploc Bag is an old favorite for many. This water activity is a great way to have students observe the water cycle in action. Simply draw the water cycle on a ziplock back, add some water, seal the bag, and tape the ziplock to a window. After a few days, you’ll be able to see the water in action: evaporation and condensation. Take a detailed look at the activity right on the Ziploc website!

become a water detective

Have children brainstorm ways they can conserve water. Here are a few quick and practical things they might come up with:

• Turn the tap off while brushing their teeth

• Put a water saver in the toilet tank

• Limit time in showers

• Instead of dumping undrunk water down the sink, use it to water plants

• Rewear clothes if they aren’t dirty so the washing machine doesn't have to be run as many times

Become drip detectives. Did you know that a leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons of water per day? And a dripping faucet can waste over 5 gallons of water per day! So teach children to become leak detectives so the problem can be fixed right away!

Water is everywhere! We use water every day and often it goes underappreciated. Children can learn a lot about water when a few fun and engaging water activities are implemented. 

When we think of warm weather, we generally think about sunglasses, flip flops, sun, flowers blooming and the promise of summer days at the lake. And as a teacher, I also start to think about how those beautiful blooms came to be…enter pollination!

So how exactly does pollination work and why is it important? As spring approaches, we have a great opportunity to get outside and teach our students all about the fascinating phenomenon of nature. So let’s take a look at pollination.

Why is pollination so important? Science lessons for 2nd grade.

How Does Pollination Work?

Worksheets to help students understand how pollination works. Both can be found in the Pollination Spring STEM activities.

Pollination is how pollen transfers from one plant to another. This is largely done by the work of bees or other insects.

The insect lands on the flower to drink nectar. In the process, pollen from the anther (the male part of the plant) sticks to the insect’s body. When the insect travels to a new plant, pollen transfers to the stigma (the female part of the plant). This is necessary for seed production.

Did you know that one bee can pollinate up to 100 flowers in just one trip from the hive? Just think about what a whole colony of bees can accomplish in a day!

Why is Pollination Important?

Pollination is an essential part of growing food. Without pollination, seeds cannot be produced. Thus, fruits and vegetables wouldn’t be able to grow. And as a result, we wouldn’t have as much healthy food available to eat. 

The Easy Way to Teach About Pollination

Looking for a FAST and FUN way to teach about pollination that includes nonfiction reading, comprehension, and a STEM challenge?

Click and print. Planning really is that easy.

grab the pollination activities

Pollination Videos for Kids

There are plenty of engaging ways to teach elementary students about pollination. First, let’s check out some YouTube videos:

1. As always, I’m a huge fan of SciShow Kids! Check out this awesome video called “Flowers and Their Pollinators: A Perfect Match!”

2. Dr. Binocs gives a VERY detailed overview. In this animated video, Dr. Binocs goes into depth describing the male and female reproductive parts of plants. He also describes how pollination happens through self-pollination and cross-pollination. 

3. In this video Jovanna interviews Dr. John Purdy. Together they answer an important question: Why do we Need Bees? 

Take a Peek at pollination outside!

While studying nature, why not go outside and get right in it? On a nice day, head outside to see pollination in person. Go on an outdoor walk in the springtime and look for pollinators in action.

Have students make observations about what they are witnessing. Not only is this a fun activity that activates their detective skills, it also helps kids to see the value of animals that pollinate. Bees and insects are not just pests, they have an important job to do!

Nonfiction Reading Activity

“What are Pollinators” is a set of leveled nonfiction reading passages and corresponding reading comprehension booklets.

Nonfiction reading all about pollination makes a great quick (and no prep) activity. Print off and photocopy this nonfiction reading passage about pollination. This activity was designed to be an easy way to differentiate your instruction because it has two levels of reading passages and two levels of comprehension booklets.

Busy Bee Game

If your students enjoy running around and being active, play a game of “Busy Bee”. This is a game I invented, but you’ll probably see where I gleaned inspiration for this game.

Place a number of hula hoops on the floor of the gym or in a field. These will be the flowers. Put a number of bean bags into half of the hula hoops. The bean bags are pollen. Students are working together to transfer beanbags to all the hula hoops.

If you want to add an extra challenge, you could add in a time challenge; see if students can complete the task in under 2 minutes! 

Pollination STEM Challenge

Pollination Painting is a great STEM Challenge for second and third grades.

This pollination STEM challenge is super hands-on… plus it’s a great art tie-in. Students will use the materials provided to build a device that transfers paint “pollen” from a station in your classroom to their papers. In the end, you’ll have created a piece of art that will display nicely on a bulletin board!

Students will be given a template of a flower (from this Pollinators STEM activity) and then they’ll have to figure out a way to transfer paint to the flower template.

stick-it-to-me Pollination Experiment

Do your students love doing hands-on experiments? Why not have your students try to discover creative ways to attach various objects to their own bodies! For instance, students might discover that various materials stick better to velcro than others. Or students might discover that some tapes are stronger than others. This little experiment is a fun jumping point for discussing how pollen sticks to insects.

Pollination is an important part of nature. And it’s an exciting topic to teach our students. What pollination activities are you going to use to teach your students? 

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Lessons about pollination for 2nd grade.
Picture: a bee sits on top of a white flower.

Have you ever seen a chipmunk running around with food in its cheeks? Or come upon a buried stash of acorns? These are not just fun discoveries, they are examples of seed dispersal in action! Teaching students about how seeds are dispersed is such a fun science topic, and there are some interesting/interactive ways to teach how seeds spread.

All About Seed Dispersal: Activities and Experiments for Elementary Science

How do seeds disperse?

Let’s take a quick look at what seed dispersal is. Essentially, seed dispersal is the way that seeds spread around so plants can grow in new areas. Without seed dispersal, plants would be stuck growing in the same place season after season and the seeds would also be competing with each other for the resources needed to survive. Seed dispersal allows plants to find new locations to grow and thrive.

seed dispersal examples

There are five main ways that seeds spread: animals, wind, water, explosion, and fire. Here are a few examples:

• Seeds get stuck on a dog’s fur and as the dog walks around, the seeds drop into new areas.

• Seeds get eaten by a bird. The bird flies away and…how do I put this delicately?...poops on something. There are seeds in the bird’s droppings and the seeds grow in a new location.

• Have you ever heard the term “squirrel away”? Well, squirrels store food for the winter and often bury a cache of seeds and nuts, which can lead to plants growing in new areas.

• The wind carries seeds to new locations

• Water lilies and coconuts rely on water to spread their seeds.

• Eucalyptus plants have seeds with a protective layer that needs to be melted away by fire before it can grow. 

• And some plants, like violets, will eject seeds to disperse them.

Seed Dispersal YouTube Videos

Videos are a great way to create excitement when introducing a new topic, and YouTube has a handful of really great ones about seed dispersal. Youtube videos.

Here are some fun videos about how seeds spread:

1. This SciShow Kids video introduces students to the question “How do Plant Seeds Travel?” The video also shows the structure of seeds and how this helps seeds spread. For example, burs have little hooks on them which allows these seeds to stick to animal fur.

2. This is a fantastic video of Maddie who explores the forest searching for seeds. She also explains how seeds get spread.

3. This is a short one minute video that gives a quick overview. It doesn’t give all the ways for seed dispersal, but it’s a good start if you’re looking for something super quick.

4. Want to show seed explosion? This video from the Smithsonian shows a great time-lapse of seed dispersal by explosion.

Nonfiction reading and worksheets

Using nonfiction reading in a science class is a great way to meet multiple standards in the same lesson! 

In this STEM and Reading lesson set, students read a passage entitled “How Did That Grow There?” Afterward, students complete a worksheet about what they read. This not only helps to develop comprehension skills, but it also allows them to solidify the information they just read.

Then I have students create a comic that shows a seed’s journey to a new location using one of the seed dispersal methods from the passage (I took this word for word from the project description…). This gives students a creative outlet for deepening their knowledge!

Need to differentiate? I have a 2nd set of nonfiction reading passages about seed dispersal that comes in two text levels AND two comprehension levels. It’s easy to mix and match to make the assignment work for your class.

seed dispersal stem challenge

Getting hands-on with a STEM challenge is one of the best ways to explore how seeds spread. In this activity, students will create a seed dispersal device.

Using miscellaneous crafting supplies like egg cartons, pipe cleaners, and rubber bands, students will be tasked with creating a device that will spread seeds over a distance (not just dump them in a single location).

Make sure to allow students time to plan and test their devices as well. Not only does this activity teach students about seed dispersal, but it also allows them to practice other skills like design, cooperation, communication, and revising.

float vs. fly

For another hands-on activity, try conducting an experiment about which seeds float and fly. Give your students a variety of seeds. Have stations set up with straws and bowls of water. Students can use the straw to blow the seeds to see which will fly away and they can place the seeds in the water to see which seeds will float.

Take a neighborhood walk

If you’re looking to get out in nature and your students are prepared to get a little dirty, you can do a nature walk. However, before going, give students socks to slip over their shoes. Then have students walk around. When you’ve completed the walk, have students remove the socks and check out what might be attached. Maybe they will find some seeds on the socks!

These are just a few activities to teach how seeds spread. The topic of seed dispersal can be engaging and exciting. It’s a necessary part of nature and we have the privilege of helping out students marvel at the wonder of this natural phenomenon.

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Lessons about how seeds are dispersed for elementary science. Picture: a chipmunk sits on top of a sunflower with cheeks full of seeds.

Integrating multiple subjects together is one of my favorite ways to teach.  I look at almost any social studies or science unit and try to think about how I can weave my other subjects into it as well.  It’s engaging for students and so convenient for me (hitting multiple learning outcomes at once… yes please!) Teaching the water cycle is one of my favorite science units because it naturally lends itself to so much cross-curricular integration.  These water cycle activities are engaging for students and just so interesting to teach.  

Teaching all about the water cycle in 2nd and 3rd grades.
Picture: A child stands in the rain under a rainbow umbrella.

Teach About Water with Picture Books

Before we even start looking at the science of water, I want my students to understand why we are studying water in the first place.  From a guided-inquiry perspective, we are looking at the question Why is water important? I like to put this question on a bulletin board or make an anchor chart that we will refer to.

My favorite picture book to use as we explore this question is “One Well: The Story of Water on Earth” by Rochelle Strauss”. One Well is a beautifully illustrated non-fiction book that walks us through the different ways that water is used, consumed, and threatened on our planet.  From the jacket:

“One Well” by Rochelle Strauss and
”Hope Springs” by Eric Walters are displayed on a table.

“Imagine for a moment that all the water on Earth came from just one well. This isn’t as strange as it sounds.  All water on Earth is connected, so there really is just one source - one global well - from which we all draw our water.  All living things depend on Earth’s One Well.  Life would be impossible without it.  But the water in the Earth’s well is threatened by our growing population and increased demands.  What can we do to protect it? One Well answers this important question while telling the eye-opening story of water on Earth.”

For older students, Hope Springs, by Eric Walters, is a great picture book about limited access to water.  Hope Springs is a story about Boniface, an orphan in Kenya during a season of drought. The book shines a light on the reality that many people in the world live in fear that there is not enough water for them to survive. Although the book deals with heavier content, the story is ultimately one of hope and kindness.  It’s a great book to tie the water cycle, and water conservation, into a greater global context. 

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Water on Earth Reading Passages and Comprehension

Don’t have a picture book that works? These differentiated reading passages all about water on earth a great way to introduce where water can be found on earth (and show students just how scarce freshwater is!)

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“A Day Without Water” lapbook project is displayed on a table.

Imagine a Day Without Water

It’s so easy to take for granted the easy access we have to water, and how often we use it!  Think about all of the times you have used water before you arrived at school.  Did you brush your teeth? Wash your face? Grab a drink? Have a shower? Rinse your plate? Turn on the sprinklers on your lawn? This lapbook project asks students to stop and imagine that, for just one day, all of their taps ran completely dry!  What would their day look like? What would be different? 

After this writing project is complete, I like to use this as an opportunity to help students connect to others who may experience limited access to water on a daily basis.  This is a great chance to talk about ways that, as a class, you may be able to help.  (Can you fundraise together? Write cards? Collect supplies?)

Teach the Stages of the Water Cycle

This one might seem obvious, but when we are teaching the water cycle, we like to get hands-on with activities and classroom displays that help students to understand the stages of the water cycle.  

This bulletin board uses the vocabulary cards from the Water Cycle unit to display the stages of the water cycle in a way that is clear for students to understand and provides a great reference for them to come back to as the science unit goes on. I also have also had students cut/glue the stages of the water cycle onto a fun worksheet (or complete it in a digital, Google Slides version) so that they are very familiar with the stages and the vocabulary!  

This water cycle in a bag science experiment is such a fun and hands-on way to learn about the stages of the water cycle.  I love how it uses cheap everyday materials that you probably already have in your classroom.

Make a Plan to Conserve Water

Water Cycle inquiry flipbook project.

Once students understand the water cycle and have explored our inquiry question why is water important, we like to end the unit with a small guided inquiry activity.  This project puts students in the driver’s seat and asks them to ask the big questions about conserving water.  Students get to choose their own focus and create a flipbook to address the problem that they see!

Have any more activities to go with our water cycle unit?  I’d love to hear about them!  Leave a comment below or connect with me on Instagram. 

A Complete Water Cycle Unit is Here!

Looking for a whole unit? This complete water cycle unit features project-based learning, a guided inquiry project, directed lessons, small group projects, vocabulary games, and detailed teacher instructions all along the way.

No planning is needed, just print and that’s it!

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Spring is in the air, can you feel it? As the weather starts to warm up, and we start to thaw out a little bit up here in Canada, it’s the perfect time to think about our next set of science lessons. Spring is my favorite time to teach about life cycles because we can naturally observe them all around us. If teaching about the life cycles of living things is on your science lesson plans this spring, take a peek at six of my favorite ways to keep students engaged as we study how plants and animals grow and change.

Teaching all about the life cycles of living things in lower elementary. The life cycle of a butterfly is depicted.

1. Grow plants in the classroom

A student observes a bean plant and writes in a plant observation journal.

Study the life cycle of a plant in a hands-on way by planting a bean seed in a simple plastic cup in your own classroom. (You can read all about how we used inquiry-based science to grow and study our bean plants here!) Then, we use plant observation journals to make note of the various stages of plant growth, and track the growth on a simple graph (hello, math integration!). Watching students get excited about growing their own bean plant never gets old. I’ve done this activity year after year, and I’m always amazed at how many students decide to continue growing their bean plants at home. 

2. Set up a Student-Led Reading Station

Gather books about the life cycles of plants and animals and set them up in  a reading station in your classroom.  In a perfect world, these should be available from your school or district library, but your local library may also have titles available.  Ask your students which plants and animals they are interested in! Give students time during silent reading or science to freely explore the books and learn more about the plant or animal of their choice.  Need a few reading passages at students’ levels for your station? Grab my free digital and printable life cycles of living things reading passages (with comprehension questions) to add to your reading station!

3. Head outside and observe life cycles in your neighborhood.  

If are able, walk around your school property or neighborhood in the spring! Point out buds on trees, flowers, and things sprouting from the ground. Bring notebooks and pencils to sketch examples of living things and moments in the life cycle of a plant or animal. 

4. Get hands-on with a life cycles project

Read about the different stages in the life cycle of a salmon and create a fun flipbook project to help students show what they’ve learned.  It’s the perfect way to integrate non-fiction reading into your science lesson. This project is part of the complete Life Cycles of Living Things science unit for second grade. 

Teach Plant & Animal Life Cycles Today!

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5. Observe a Life Cycle

Observing a complete life cycle is such a fun way to get students engaged in science.  This can be done in a few different ways:

• Ordering butterfly kit for your classroom.

• Growing plants with your students.

• We have even asked families with young pets to bring them in at different intervals so we could observe the changes.  One year a family with a new puppy graciously brought it in 3-4 times for these observations! 

 6. Watch YouTube videos about the life cycle of animals

Sometimes videos can give students great visual representations about simple life cycles.  Check out some of my favorites at a few different levels.

• The Life Cycle of a Frog by Peekaboo Kidz (4 min)

• The Life Cycle of a Butterfly by National Geographic, timelapse, no words (2 min)

• The Life Cycle of a Salmon by National Geographic, narrated (3 min)

Text: Teaching all about the life cycles of living things in second and third grades.
Image: A child looks into a tank at an aquarium.

What do you do when a topic seems too tricky to tackle? Up here in British Columbia, our Grade 2 Science curriculum specifically covers 'Chemical and Physical Changes' - students are expected to understand that materials can be changed through physical and chemical processes. It's a much more complex version of the question "Can this change be reversed?"

How to teach physical and chemical changes in lower elementary.

Keep Science Lessons as Hands-On As Possible

At the beginning of second grade, many students are still 7 years old. Where our lessons on force and motion had a lot of familiar language, this chemical and physical change vocabulary can seem new and overwhelming. At the beginning, students find it hard to tell the difference between a chemical and a physical change.

When trying to teach this to elementary students I've found that HANDS-ON has been (by far) the most effective method. When students can see, touch, and create different chemical and physical changes it's so much easier for them to discern the difference between the two.

Along with using proper terminology (I drill the words "chemical change" and "physical change" into their heads over and over during their entire unit!) we make sure to stop and practice these changes over and over.

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Nonfiction reading passages: Reversible and Irreversible Changes

Some curriculums and school districts don’t use the terminology ‘chemical change’ and physical change’ - they go a little simpler with ‘reversible and irreversible changes’. In the NGSS for 2nd grade this is as deep as it goes. This set of nonfiction reading was designed to work with curriculums that use the ‘reversible and irreversible’ change vocabulary - but it’s a great starting point for any science lesson on this topic!

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Begin with Teacher-Led Lessons to Build a Solid Foundation

Is the change physical or chemical? A Science anchor chart.

We start our physical and chemical changes unit by front-loading information that will help them along the way. Together, we define the terms "chemical change" and "physical change" on an anchor chart (they complete their own mini-version in their science notebooks too!). Then, we work in pairs or small groups to talk about potential changes, and why they might be chemical or physical. It's a simple activity, but it helps to bring focus back to the anchor chart as they think about the questions we posed: Is something new being created? Can this be reversed? What can we observe?

Use science stations to give a real-life experience

My BEST way to help students to really discern the difference between a chemical and physical change is to try it out in as many experiments as possible. I do this using stations. Using science stations gives my little scientists a chance to use the scientific method (that we learned about here!) to test what they know about changes and decide if their experiment resulted in a physical or chemical change. I set up six different stations in the class, and we rotate through them. There are a few different ways you can do science stations in an early elementary classroom.

• Set up six identical stations and have all students complete the same station at the same time. This one works best if your class is a little less mature and you feel they will need a lot of guidance to move through the stations. Then complete the stations over a number of different days.

• Set up only one or two stations, with multiple stations of each. (i.e. Set up three ‘A’ stations, and three ‘B’ stations, and divide your students into 6 groups). This also reduces the number of different Science experiments you have to manage and set up at one time. The next day, set up two different sets of stations.

• Set up 6 different stations at once. For students who are comfortable working independently in small groups, this one is my personal favorite. If we are completing this unit in the 2nd half of the year, I tend to lean towards this option. We will set up 6 different science stations, and put one group at each station. I find this option to be difficult at the beginning when small group skills are still being developed.

Physical & Chemical Change Science Lessons

It’s easy to teach about physical and chemical changes with this set of scripted lesson plans! Nonfiction reading, 6 science stations, lessons, and vocabulary are all included!

Print and teach. It’s that easy.

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Teaching about force and motion is one of the most fun parts of our science curriculum! The whole topic naturally lends itself to so many hands-on experiments and challenges that it’s easy to keep kids in second and third grade engaged and having fun. These Science lessons are easily some of my favorite ones we do all year.

When we cover force and motion in elementary (second, third, and fourth grades) we do a little bit of everything: push forces, pull forces, friction, static electricity, magnetic force, air resistance, and more!

The Easy Way to Teach About Force and Motion

Everything you need to teach about forces and motion in 2nd and 3rd grades. Nonfiction reading, STEM Challenges, Experiments, Worksheets and scripted instructions.

Print and teach. It’s really that easy.

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Start With Force and Motion Vocabulary

Although I am a big believer in student-led learning, I always start my units with teacher-led information. When I scaffold learning this way (by front-loading the teaching) I'm giving my students a solid foundation for the hands-on experiences that are coming later on. For force and motion, we start with learning all of the basic vocabulary. I'll set up a word wall, and we'll use simple non-fiction readers to help to teach unfamiliar concepts. These force and motion worksheets serve an important purpose in our classroom!

Then, when we start getting into group and student-led lessons, my students are being tripped up when they encounter words like "static electricity" or "magnetic force" or "friction" because they have a basic understanding of most of these already.

Helpful Force and Motion Videos

In the past, I've used videos and youtube clips to help students really understand these physics concepts. If you can access YouTube at school, these were great videos to help introduce new vocabulary with visual aids!

This first video introduces the difference between pull forces and push forces.

This video is all about Friction! We used it before our Friction stations to give students a little more background knowledge before some hands-on exploration. (Plus, the host is really engaging!)

Force and Motion STEM Challenges

The Force and Motion unit includes 3 hands-on stem challenges!

I have always been a big fan of STEM challenges. If you haven't done one before (*insert mind-blown emoji) , this is a GREAT place to start. The open-ended nature of these challenges let students be successful as they guess/test scientific theories at an age-appropriate level.

In our force and motion unit, we do a handful of STEM challenges and the Magnet Maze is probably one of my favorites. It's so creative and my students had the best time gathering materials and creating their magnet mazes. When they're complete, we take the time to test each other's mazes. It's a blast. You can grab the worksheets and teacher lesson plans for this STEM challenge below!

Nonfiction Reading About Forces and Motion

One of the best ways to give students scientific background knowledge is nonfiction reading. I firmly believe in integrating science and reading, it’s a great way to set students up for success. When students can access nonfiction about each science topic (at their level) it can level up the engagement.

Force and Motion reading passages and STEM extension

This is a set of paired passages all about force and motion, and using forces in real life. They’re written to be at a third grade level and are also aligned to the CCSS - so you’re meeting two sets of standards at once! This particular resource also includes a STEM challenge that’s all about catapults - the ultimate force and motion tool

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‘Balanced and Unbalanced Forces’ a set of differentiated nonfiction passages

If you JUST need nonfiction reading, I have a set of differentiated passages all about balanced and unbalanced forces. It’s a good place to set the stage and teach students the differences between the two!

Ready to teach the entire Force and Motion unit? I have an entire unit’s worth of lessons, hands-on activities, and experiments that are ready to go! Everything you need to teach all about forces in second and third grade is here and ready. Just print, read, and teach.

Ideas, lessons, and experiments to teach about force and motion in a second or third grade classroom.