I had the honor of working at a nature center for nearly a decade coaching teachers to use nature as a vehicle to teach science through authentic and place-based experiences. I am now a nature preschool teacher by day and content creator by night sharing my love of science and ELA with other educators. Let's make science a priority in your classroom by making it more approachable, digestible, and enjoyable!

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Science

Winter Animals and Water: 2nd and 5th Grade NGSS Activities [Ep. 58]

Ep. 58: Winter Animals and Water: 2nd and 5th Grade NGSS Activities

Winter animals and water activities

Liquid water is essential for animals to survive winter but it’s hard to come by. If you live in a region with freezing temperatures, water is frozen as snow or ice (or is trapped underneath ice), making liquid water a hot commodity. Let’s take advantage of this natural phenomenon to use animal activity to analyze states of matter and how the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere interact.

In this episode, we’ll talk about activities to investigate winter animals and winter that are paired with Next Generation Science Standards for grades 2nd and 5th. I’ll share the standard that inspired the activity, how the activity relates to states of matter and spheres, and descriptions of how to use the activity with your learners.

The following standards are paired with activities about winter animals and water:

2nd Grade: 2-ESS2-3: Obtain information to identify where water is found on Earth and that it can be solid or liquid
5th Grade: 5-ESS2-1: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact