Great for distance learning use!

This HUGE bundle contains EIGHT high-interest informational texts to support NGSS life and earth science units! Each resource begins with an engaging informational text before students APPLY what they learn with comprehension questions and an activity. Activities vary for each resource including; graphing data, analyzing maps, designing solutions, creating a poster, writing a presentation, matching concepts and sketching ideas. Great to use as classwork, homework or put in a couple in your subfolder for worry-free, engaging work while you are gone!

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❤ All resources cover standards in Science and Language Arts! ❤

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BONUS ACTIVITY! Yours free - bean plant graphing activity! Students create a double line graph using two different variables for growing plants. Great for math or science time!

Resource breakdown -

Yellowstone Wolves-

During the 1930's, people viewed wolves as dangerous and destructive animals and sought to remove them from Yellowstone National Park. This three part informational text takes students on a journey from the wolves removal in the 1930's to their amazing return in the 1990's and the subsequent transformation of Yellowstone's present day ecosystem. The ecological changes after their removal were widespread and evident. An excellent lesson about the power of nature's interconnections and the cascade of events that can occur when a species is removed from an ecosystem.

Part One - Students read about the removal of the grey wolf from Yellowstone National Park in the 1930's. Comprehension questions and predictions are required before moving to part two.

Part Two - Students next read about the cascade of ecosystem changes after the wolves disappeared from Yellowstone. After the reading, students complete a graphic organizer regarding the changes that occurred and answer comprehension questions.

Part Three - Finally, students read about the exciting return of the grey wolf and how the ecosystem changed once again. Students then answer comprehension questions and higher order questions at the end of the activity.

Woolly Mammoth -

Engaging informational text about the woolly mammoth! Students discover where the woolly mammoth lived, how it was perfectly adapted to its environment and what lead to the mammoth's demise. After reading the text, students answer comprehension questions before developing and sketching a possible solution that could have saved the woolly mammoth from extinction.

The Amazing Story of the Peppered Moths! -

Introduce your students to the amazing scientific phenomena of the peppered moths in England during the 19th and 20th centuries as the Industrial Revolution drastically changed their environment! Students are first introduced to what natural selection is and what it is not using a diagram and explanation. Next, students read an informational text about the story of the peppered moths and how natural selection changed the population over the course of 100 years. Finally, students create a bar graph using data provided to find patterns in the populations of light and dark colored moths before analyzing their graphs and answering questions.

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❤ This resource covers standards in Science, Math and Language Arts! ❤

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T-rex Reading Passage and Mapping Activity

Students will love reading about Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurs rex ever found before answering comprehension questions about the text.

Next, students become junior Paleontologists as they analyze information about ancient environments to help them locate T. rex fossils in the United States. This fun and engaging activity is aligned with NGSS standards: 3-LS4, 4-ESS1, and MS-LS4. Students are given two different maps; one that shows where all the Tyrannosaurs rex fossil have been found in North America and the other shows the ancient shallow interior seas that once existed. Students analyze both maps to make connections about the environment when T. Rex was roaming the earth and why the fossils are found where they are today. Students will then use the maps to predict where Paleontologists should search next for T. rex fossils.

Animal Senses -

Engaging informational text about animals' amazing senses! Students read through the text before sketching a familiar animal with an amazing sense or senses. Next, answer answer comprehension questions and a draw echolocation paths from a bat to different objects in nature. Students also have some fun by matching animal senses to the animal.

Students then draw a map using only their memory of a path they are familiar with using as many details as possible before coloring the map in. The path could be from school to home, to a nearby relatives house or from one room to another room in their house. Students then explain their path and the senses that have helped them remember their path! Great to hang in your classroom or hallway to show student engagement.

Antarctica Food Chain -

Students learn about Antarctica's food chain in a fun and engaging way! Students begin with reading an informational text about Antarctica's food chain throughout the seasons. Next, students answer comprehension questions before cutting out pictures of species to create a model of Antarctica's food chain. Finally, students write a presentation to explain their food chain model.

Amber Reading Passage -

Introduce your students to amber and how scientists are using amber to unlock mysteries of dinosaurs and the ancient world. Students read an informational text about where amber comes from, how it traps specimens and how a quarter sized piece of amber found in a far-off marketplace held many answers to a growing debate; did dinosaurs have feathers?

After students read the informational text, they answer comprehension questions and sketch a picture of a species becoming trapped in amber. Finally, students are shown a picture of a piece of amber containing dinosaur bone fragments and feathers and an illustration of what the dinosaur looked like 99 million years ago when it was encased in its golden tomb. Students develop a story to go with the picture and illustration before listing all the features the dinosaur has that resemble a modern day bird.

Bees: The Great Pollinators -

Informational text about the life of bees and how we need their help! Adorable quick activity included!

Aligned Standards -

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) changes the paradigm of how science is taught. NGSS employs three dimensions when examining scientific phenomena; scientific practices, core ideas and crosscutting concepts.

NGSS alignment for this activity –

3-LS4 - Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

4-ESS1 - Identify evidence from patterns in rock formations and fossils in rock layers to support an explanation for changes in a landscape over time.